Summer Garden

Summer

Summer flinched as the doctor tore another crystal out of her skin with her tweasers, dropping the blood-drenched stone into the nearby tray with a clink. The woman looked up at her queen with concern, "You should have called me earlier."

Summer gritted her teeth as another gemstone was torn free of her arm, "I wasn't sure my body would reject the changes."

The doctor shook her head, and picked up her scalpel, nodding to her nurse that pushed aside the blood with a tiny focused channel of wind, "We might use crystals to photosynthesise at some level, my queen, but the Faen physical shell is a delicately balanced instrument. I'm rather shocked you've survived this long. How much of your frame did you infect with this magic?"

Summer hissed with pain as the scalpel dug into a muscle, "Most of it. I was nearly reabsorbed. I didn't have a lot of choices out there, doctor."

The Fae rolled her eyes and held up a crystal shard the size of a Faeling's fist. "This seems to be a worse choice."

Summer glared, "Step into the lifestream or attempt to reforge my shell into something tougher."

The doctor shook her head and turned her attention back to the gaping arm, focusing, "I will do my best to keep you alive."

The queen looked over at Astrian mindlessly playing with a butterfly, and tried to ignore the pain as the two worked to remove the crystals from her. They couldn't remove most of them, she needed them to speak, and to think. But it was obvious. She was going to die. Just a matter of time now, rather than a question.

That brought a flood of questions to her mind, and a myriad of worries. She couldn't afford to die with Janus flaunting his power, and even if she won, and got everything she wanted... She would die, and become a child again, whilst her bride... How would he react? Could their relationship survive more than one lifetime? Few friendships could. Did she even have a chance?

No. She knew it. She would die, and Trei would mourn... And then either Vastras or Luna would claim him in time. Summer would be forced to grow up, whilst loving a man she could never have.

Imprinting was a curse. There were no upsides, not in the lifecycle of a Fae.

The doctor leaned back tiredly, stretching, "I think I've got most of them from that arm. I'll stitch you up, and then give you a break. I'll be back tomorrow."

Summer nodded absent-mindedly, and turned her gaze to the ceiling.

So her chance at happiness really was gone.

Then it was time to do something stupid.

She looked sideways at the bloodied pile of crystals and smiled softly.