Ye not look at ye sun again,” Quinn said sternly. Now his vision was very clear, and everything was sparkly around the edges. “What’s a nonce?”Īfter a few minutes, he opened his eyes again and looked at Quinn. Colors stained the backs of his lids and ebbed, as if a miniature breeze floated the splotches across the horizons of his eyes. He rubbed his eyes and opened them again. Colors were fuzzy but sparkly in some places. “I forgot about the eye thing.” When he opened them again, the world looked different than it did before. He searched the sky for the sun and, as Quinn had warned, pain seared his eyes when he found it. The sun was warm on Merry’s skin and felt good, and he tried to remember when he last enjoyed it. Of course, other than Quinn, he didn’t really know any other guys, so he had no one to compare himself to, but giggling like a girl and blushing all the time? Those were symptoms of, like, a really, totally, very, exceptionally, extremely awkward and definitely uncool kind of guy. Man, I must be the lamest guy who ever existed. Quinn paid no mind to his horse, their fanciful flight, or the rade as he watched Merry with nothing but adoration in his eyes. He quickly stifled his laugh with a small groan and glanced at Quinn. Their mirth filled Merry’s veins with a happiness so pure it made him feel giddy, and he giggled. They laughed, sang, and spun on the air leaving glitter to trail in the wake of their revelry. Where all the fae came from, he didn’t know, and he didn’t care. Though he was terrified and held on to the horse’s mane for dear life, Merry couldn’t ignore the beauty around him.

Fairy by C. Kennedy