The Watchtower

Brittany ruled by nine priestesses and one king. The king’s daughter Dahut gave the keys of the sea gate to a traitor, who opened the gates and drowned the city.
    “The boat people were the founders of the Seine’s boatmen’s guild, which gave Paris its coat of arms and motto: fluctuat nec mergitur —‘she is tossed by the waves, but does not sink.’ They tend to be a bit haughty, as exiled royalty often are, but there’s no denying that they have been responsible for the greatest scientific and aesthetic achievements—”
    A crimson light fairy dive-bombing into Jean Robin’s face put a stop to his speech. He chuckled good-naturedly. “Well, enough of that. I imagine you are more interested in learning the whereabouts of your friend the vampire.”
    “I’m not entirely sure he is my friend,” I answered, “but, yes. Of course, I appreciate all you’ve told me about the different kinds of fairies … it’s fascinating…”
    “Tut, tut,” he said, blushing green, “no need to flatter an old man, although it is nice to have a visitor with a brain larger than a nit.” I would have expected another dive-bomb attack from the lumignon at this remark, but instead I felt the brush of wings against my skin, and looking down, I saw that several of the multicolored fairies had settled on my arms and in my lap. “Your voice is so much more soothing than their eternal whine. You must visit again.”
    “I’d love to, only I do have to find Will Hughes first. Have you … I mean, have any of your informants seen him at Saint-Julien’s?”
    “Yes, he showed up in Paris during the winter and began to frequent the church every day. At first we paid no mind to him. Over the centuries he’s come many times to Saint-Julien’s. In fact, the park outside the church was where I first met him.”
    “Wait, you met Will? Before you became … were turned into…” My agitation caused the lumignon on my arm to stir, but then they stroked my arm to calm me down, which, oddly, worked.
    “Before I entered my arboreal state? Yes. We both were mortal then, and we both had foolish notions of what might gain us immortality. I had just planted this tree. I remember I bragged to him that I looked to trees for my immortality, and he said to me that he looked to love. Little did we each know what form our ambitions would make of us.”
    He paused and I thought I saw a sadness come over his wooden features, but then his lips quirked up into a crooked smile. “Funny how we’ve both ended up in the dark, eh? And yet when I met him I thought to myself, ‘Ah, there’s a young man who loves the light and is loved by the light.’ The sunlight, you see, had turned his hair to gold. Has he grown darker over the years he’s spent out of the light?”
    “His hair is darker than it looks in his portrait,” I answered, trying hard to keep my voice even. The image of Will standing in the sunlight had caused something to contract in my chest. Only the soft murmuring of the lumignon, who were in my hair and about my face now, kept me from openly crying.
    “Interesting,” Jean Robin replied, his woody brows furrowing. “So much is not known about the vampire. If he were truly undead, then there would be no change over the centuries, but I have wondered if the vampire’s state is not somewhat akin to mine, and if, just as the tree cells and sap replaced my human cells and blood, so some other substance has replaced the vampire’s cells and blood.”
    “Do you think, then, that the process can be reversed? Will thinks that if he can summon a creature in a lake who was able to make a fey mortal, he can be turned back into a human.”
    “Ah, so that’s why he’s so anxious to find his way back to the Summer Country.” The knotted roots growing over Jean Robin’s shoulders rippled, and I realized he was trying to shrug. “I don’t know, but I’d be curious to find out! You must follow him.”
    “Yes, that’s what I’d like to do. I’ve gone to Saint-Julien’s every day for a week, but there’s been no sign. How long was Will here before he got a sign?”
    “Let’s see … he arrived in January and then he disappeared in May…”
    “Four months! I could have to wait four months?”
    “We’ve watched seekers wait years. But then, for some a sign appears after only a few days.”
    “And there’s nothing I can do to hurry it along? There’s no other way to find the path to the Summer Country?”
    “No. At