Faerie Field Conservationists

Today’s prompt was sent in by A. Howard. Thank you!

If you’d like to submit a prompt, contact me by SS messenger, email, or drop a comment. 🙂

“So you’re saying that we need to build a bridge here because fay think motorways are rivers?” Abigail frowned.

She’d worked hard to get where she was today, and part of how she’d managed that was zero tolerance for people making fun of her. This was setting off emotional sensors.

While Wes lacked this context, he could read her suspicion and that anger was revving up behind it. He scrambled to head it off - and did his best to hide his mounting anxiety, in case that was held against him.

“N-no, no, it’s… you see, most species of fay aren’t bothered by rivers, per say. It’s more… they… um.” He faltered and took a deep breath. “It’s about boundary lines. Rivers are the oldest territory markers. The lines where one region ended and another began. And while those lines are metaphorical to us, to fay they’re real. And a wide boundary line,” he waved at what would be a dual carriage, “one which is also a transport network, so it’s contained by additional internal boundary lines…”

Abigail’s face was smoothing out. He relaxed.

“So it’s like we’ve put a bunch of walls up.”

“Exactly!” Wes beamed.

“And they can’t use tunnels like most critters?”

“Umm… sometimes. But it’s complicated, and depends on how deep-”

Abigail, correctly deducing ‘that will be more expensive, not less’, waved this aside. “Alright. Over the top wildlife passage. Do they need anything special?”

“Ah, no iron near the surface, and native plants - here, we have designs listed on our…” Wes delved into his battered backpack to produce a handful of flyers.

“Alright.” Abigail absently folded them (more neatly than they had been originally) and tucked them into her case. “I’ll take this to the planning team and tell the beancounters to call you people.”

“Thank you so much!” Wes was bubbling with victory and released stress. “This crosses an important thoroughfare connecting two clans of Sidhe and-”

Knowing that letting an environmental nerd (or any nerd, actually) get started on their special interest would cost her hours and sanity, Abigail gave a kindly smile and put on her ‘polite but firm’ voice. It worked on most members of the public. “This is still an active construction zone, so I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Don’t worry, your concerns will be passed on to all relevant parties.”

“Oh, I - thank you.”

Wes fumbled his backpack back on and waved reassuringly to the golden deer-like figures peering from the far side. Who apparently hadn’t Shown themselves fully, given how Abigail squinted in that direction and then looked oddly at him.

“I, er-”

“This way, please. Let’s get you someplace safe.”

“R-right.”

Wes dutifully followed, his mind filled with drafting emails and remembering where he’d parked his bicycle.

Prompt was “Faeries can’t cross running water. Or motorways.”

[Note that in some traditions it *is* the running water itself which presents the barrier. I decided that the ‘boundary lines’ explanation was much easier/quicker to apply to motorways and so better suited for the flash format.]