THE TALENDE TREE

CHAPTER 15 - Watch for the Spring

When Gran woke up on the morning after the party, he saw that everyone was still asleep, except Will. For once, that wasn't surprising.
“I'm going to make a charging point,” he told Gran. “Captain Thurlgrove's been saving wires for me. That way, people on phone duty can re-charge really quickly without having to do the batteries themselves.”
“You're going to the workshop? I'll come with you.”

Captain Thurlgrove was already there, sorting out materials.
“Morning, Will! Help yourself to anything you need. Where are you going to put it?”
“I thought maybe in the entrance to Rowan Hall. That's under cover, but also handy for the elf tree.”
“Excellent. Good morning, sir, good to see you. Is there something we can make for you?”
“No, thank you, I just came to see you. I wanted to tell you how very impressed I've been by all you've achieved. Not just here, but bringing the helicopters across Europe, and your leadership of England 3 since we lost Rowan. I would like you to accept promotion to major.”
“Oh! Oh, how exciting! Thank you very much, sir.”
“It's long overdue. Keep up the good work,” smiled Gran. “And now, I am going to return to path-building. I just hope my co-workers won't be singing Five Little Ducks all morning.”
“See you later, sir,” called Will as Gran headed off. Then he looked at Gus Thurlgrove. “Congratulations, Major! Have you got a bit of steel?”

By mid morning, the phones being used to get the voting information out were all desperate for a bit of ordinary electrical power. The team started to come in from the elf tree to see the new charging point. A row of batteries, made and maintained by Will, was powering a set of points where the charging cables could be plugged straight in.
“Oh, that's so much easier!” exclaimed Colonel Arnsberg. “Thanks very much, Will. So I can just leave it there and go and get a drink?”
“That's right, sir. Bet it's thirsty work, talking on the phone all morning.”
“It certainly is. These patterns, that people have to vote on, take some explaining. And we have to get it absolutely right at this stage. A mistake here will be duplicated out countless times.”
The colonel left, and he was followed by Colonel Pesentheim and Madge, Clover and Major Jokkmokk. At the same time, another shift of five was arriving, as five was the most people that could touch the phone tree at the same time, without disturbing each other's conversations. When they'd all gone, Will settled down to keep an eye on the batteries and noticed that someone had left their notes behind. Clover... he recognised the writing. Interested, he had a look what the patterns were. It was a clever way, he thought, to keep the voting simple.
Pattern 1 wasn't much different to the old parliament, apart from the voting. It had an envoy from each region of each country, led by a President voted for by envoys alone, with decisions made by a simple majority and the President to have a casting vote. Pattern 2 was nearly the same; the only difference was that there was an envoy from each Hill instead of each region.
Pattern 3 stuck with an envoy from each Hill and decisions by a majority, but every decision had to be approved by a Council of Four Seniors, one from each order, chosen by the envoys.
Don't think much of any of those, thought Will. He read on.
Pattern Four was the same as 3, except that the Council of Four was voted for by everyone. You voted for your envoy, from your home Hill, and you voted for your Senior, according to your own order.
Mmm, that's better, thought Will.
Pattern 5 was the same as 4, except that it added a President, voted for directly by everyone. The President didn't vote in parliament, but acted as a figurehead much as a queen had once done. Pattern 6 was the same as 4, except that envoys could only debate, with all decisions made by the Council of Four Seniors, and unless they all agreed, nothing could be changed.
Very interesting. 6 would be all right if everything was already running smoothly, but it isn't. Loads of things need sorting, and soon. 6 would see nothing much get done. No, 5 is the one for me. I'd rather have a queen, but if we can't, then 5 isn't too bad.
Clover's notes finished by saying that no-one could put themselves forward. Sprites could vote for anyone they liked, and if the person elected didn't want to do it, they had to nominate a substitute. And any sprite who was old enough to want a vote, could have one.
Who would I want to come here representing Owler Tor? thought Will. Daffodil Shacklow, that's who. Recognised our Primrose was a fairy transformed into a human, and worked out right away that Ace was a loony. Very sound fairy.
Senior Elf of the realm? That was trickier. Most of the elves he really admired would loathe sitting around, talking. It would probably end up being some wise old elf from some huge colony in eastern Europe.
Which would be okay. But who would I vote for? Someone quite old, so they didn't mind sitting around, and so he had respect. Ben Gourdon. That's my choice. And for President? Ah, that's much easier. No contest there.

All day long, the message would be going out, and going out from Essen too. Will could imagine how well-organised that would be, probably by Penelope Pamisos. Someone would be phoning Owler Tor... who had a phone, there? Filbert Calder, probably. And they would send the message out to all their area, by phone to Moseley Wood and Bulkeley and Fayrfield Farm and Arley and Delamere, and by flyer to Macclesfield and Dore and Coniston and Edwinstowe, all over Cheshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, until they reached the borders with Meon Hill and Emmet Law. And Primrose and Val would send their votes in, and probably Aesculus and Viola would too. And probably there would be a few hiccups here and there, a few missed votes or a bit of sloppy counting, but it almost didn't matter. It would give a picture of what the realm wanted, and at last, everyone would have a say. After that, once all the messages had gone out, there was nothing to do but wait. You had to give people time to think, and the closing date had been set for two weeks ahead.
The batteries were doing fine. Will checked his watch. Time to go and help Rob do some pre-flight checks. The helicopters were needed today.

The time had come for the Gruski party to leave and a crowd was gathering to see them off. Wayne and Stan weren't going with them, so they went to say goodbye to Wici and Jesion and all the others they had travelled with.
“Carry on being a credit to Gruski, Stan,” beamed Jesion. “Now I must return and help Nica and Sosna cope with all this voting. We will probably have to help every colony in the forest.”
“Białowieźa,” said Wayne fondly. “Most beautiful place I ever saw.”
“Come and see us again one day, Wayne,” said Wici, kissing his cheek. “It has been a pleasure to travel with you.”
Jesion shook hands with them both and went to line up with all the other sprites who had travelled with them from Zurich. They had had difficult journeys to get here, but they were going home in style. The three helicopters were already waiting, rotor blades turning, with Pendo, Sal and Lance at the controls. The navigators stood at the doors, making sure their passengers got on the right one.
“This one for Zurich and further west,” said Douglas. “Herbert over there for north to Kysuce, Lacul Bodi and Gruski. If you're going south, over there to Rob for Drina and Pieria.”
Calla came to say goodbye to the delegates from Lacul Bodi and the Deputy Judge from Virful Hill, and so did all the other Romanians there, still united in grief. Cor Dniester came, and Sergeant Olt and Lieutenant Retezat. So did Colonel Zsennye, which surprised some people.
“He isn't Romanian too, is he, Calla?” asked Rose quietly, as they stood watching and waving as the helicopters took off.
“No, he is Hungarian,” said Calla. “But his colony was destroyed when he was little, he was lucky to survive. I remember when he joined Special Brigade, straight from school. The school at Amutria.”

Once the helicopters were out of sight, people began to go back to whatever they'd been doing. Clover was due back at the phones, but she drew Rose aside before she went.
“Message from Ace,” she murmured. “If you happen to see anyone you know, anyone unexpected, don't let on. We don't know anything about it.”
“That's a bit mysterious!”
“Isn't it? What he's up to I have no idea, I just hope he knows what he's doing.”
“Maybe he's just heard something,” soothed Rose.
“Yes, could be, I suppose – catch you later!”
Clover flew off and Rose looked around, to see if she could spot anyone unexpected, but it all looked very normal. She didn't know the name of every single sprite here but she did know their faces by now. So she put it out of her mind and went to round up some helpers. Major Thurlgrove had asked her to get a team together to clean and freshen up the houses now left empty, since the Free Sprites and the Gruski party had gone. That was about twenty houses and she didn't even know where they all were. Most of the people who'd built them were now flying helicopters, so she couldn't ask them. And she couldn't ask the major, because he had an important meeting with the Commander, Judge Wowo – everyone who wasn't Polish called her that, now – and Sergeant Olt. But fortunately, there was always Kiefer, who seemed to know everything about this place. She found him talking to Sosna and Olcha and explained what she needed.
“Droz and Kes and Vin know where all the houses are,” said Kiefer. “And the Groszowy elves know who's in which house. We'll help. I'll round them up.”
Rose went to get Ros and Linn, and with such a big team they soon got the right work done in the right houses. They stripped the beds and washed and dusted and swept. Sosna rolled all the sheets into a big ball and carried them to the washing pool.
“Thank you,” said Rose. “Let's go and get a drink now. I'll come back and wash these later.”
Not a single elf there, she knew very well, would have trusted her with a map. So she didn't feel at all guilty about not trusting any of them to wash fine white cotton sheets.

Water was abundant in the forest. To the east of Herzenwald, the land began to rise to steep peaks, flowing with countless streams, and rocky ground here and there allowed them to gather into pools of every size and shape. It was very tranquil at the washing pool that afternoon. Rose was all alone. She knelt on a granite slab overhanging deep water to rinse the sheets, listening to a couple of robins singing loudly in a nearby hawthorn bush. Already, the bush had tiny white dots that would soon turn to blossom. Rose had just laid out the last sheet on the nearby rocks to dry in the sun when a jay let out a screeching alarm call. Startled, Rose looked round but couldn't see anything wrong.
Someone had said there were lynx in the forest, and apparently lynx were very big cats, wild and fierce. Rose listened carefully. She had no wish to meet a lynx. Something was moving in the dry grasses over there. Rose picked up a stone, ready to defend herself if necessary with a well-aimed bop on the nose. Suddenly the grasses parted and a frightened mouse rushed past, not stopping, not even noticing Rose. At the same moment, over towards the buildings, an elf's voice shouted.
“Cover! Versteck dich! Cover!”
Rose was astounded. The three sprite alarm calls... Danger! meant Hide, a large animal is on the prowl. That was the one she'd been expecting. Action! meant Something bad is happening, come and help. Hearing that wouldn't have surprised her. But Cover! meant only one thing. A human. The last thing she had expected. Humans just never came here. She wasn't sure why not, but they just didn't. Then she remembered Ace's cryptic message and excitement replaced fear. Which human was it? Rose ran to see.
At the tree line, she couldn't go any further forward. Her way was blocked by sprites who had run this way to reach cover. They were jostling, pushing back, pointing, whispering. Rose craned her neck to see where they were pointing. In the distance, coming from the direction of Bodenmais, was a man. A young man, light and lithe and not tall, dressed all in black.
David! thought Rose. Oh, David, how lovely!
She watched him jump lightly from clump to clump across the swamp. She watched him wade cautiously through the forest of nettles. She saw him pause at the ferocious spikes of the blackthorn bushes, to work out how to get through. Then he was through and into the glade. There was a gash on the back of his hand which dripped onto the ground.
“Eurgh, red blood!” gasped someone near Rose.
There was a thud, too, as if someone had fainted. David wiped his hand on the leg of his jeans, looking round carefully. His face was very serious. He must have known hundreds of sprites were watching him, but he didn't try to spot them and he didn't smile. Then he saw it – Rowan Hall. His lips parted as if in wonder and then he did smile, in love and amazement. Very carefully, he walked across to the Hall. The top of its pitched roof was taller than he was. He slipped off a backpack and brought out two things. Then he knelt down and laid the things beside the door. One was a package, rectangular, flat, wrapped in brown paper.
I can guess what that is! thought Rose.
The other was a letter. Both things were already sprite-sized.
Someone at home shrunk them for him.
She thought of Val and Primrose, and then of Aesculus and Viola. She thought of David's beautiful sweetheart, Rowan, and Rowan's merry sister Laura, and their dear parents and all the lovely neighbours. She thought of the horse chestnut and of Wildside and she gazed at David with love.
You've brought home with you! You've brought home to this place.
When David had placed the package and the letter, he stood up, stood to attention in a way that would have impressed any soldier, then bowed his head. For exactly one minute, he stood motionless and Rose knew in whose memory he did that. Then he lifted his backpack and looked around him.
“Know and be known!” he called cheerfully. “And, er, Kennen und werden bekannt. Or something like that.”
“He is an Ally,” exclaimed Rose to all around her.
She stepped out from the forest fringe and waved, and at the same moment so did the rest of the Moseleys and Phil and Rob and Madge and General Herdalen, everyone who knew who he was. David bowed and smiled but did not stop to greet his friends. Rose understood why not. This was an Ally thing, and they didn't want sprites who were hostile to humans to think that they had only done this because other sprites had put them up to it.
“Clover! Over here! Together,” said Rose, and Clover knew at once what she meant. Together, while David was looking round and smiling at all the sprites now emerging cautiously from the trees, they healed the thorn-gash on his hand. David felt the healing tickle, looked at his hand, then looked right at them, smiling.
Then, walking just as carefully as before, he started to leave, when Calla Babele walked out towards him. David bowed and Calla bowed in return, deeply and respectfully. The sprites gasped, and David went on his way. When they had watched him out of sight, they turned to see what he had left for them. On the envelope it just said To the Sprites.
“Open it, ma'am!” called several voices.
The Commander looked at Hársfa Héfiz, who nodded.
“Yes, yes, go ahead! This is most intriguing.”
Very carefully, Gia opened the envelope and pulled out a short note, beautifully written on fine paper.
“At the top of this note,” said Gia, “is drawn the symbol of the Allies, a star in a tree. Then it says: Dear Sprite Friends, your Allies grieve with you and mourn the loss of the little ones murdered at Amutria School. In memory of Carpen, Cires, Achille and Silene, we send you this painting. We hope it may be a memorial to them, so that they may never be forgotten, and so that such things may never happen again.

“Ooooh!” The soft sigh from a hundred voices at once was like the sighing of a breeze.
“Would you like to open the painting, Senior Envoy?” asked Gia. She sounded as if she was struggling not to cry.
“Yes, indeed. It is quite big. If someone could hold it steady for me... oh, thank you, General Herdalen.“
He pulled off the paper wrapping and another layer underneath, and revealed the painting. Like many of David's works, it looked at the world from a sprite's point of view. At first glance, it was a meadow in springtime, with the light of dawn in the sky, rose and apricot, glowing with hope and promise. In the meadow, plants were growing. Two trees, a cherry in flower and a hornbeam, with its perfect leaves just out. Beneath them, a sea of pink campion, dotted everywhere with the taller white flowers of yarrow. Everyone knew what those plants signified.
“Oh, how very beautiful,” said the Senior Envoy. “Look, it is signed by the artist, here in the corner: David Chambers. Was that the young man who brought it, do you suppose?”
“Yes,” said Gran. “That was David. A great artist, and even better, a great man.”
Calla came to look and people made way for her. She looked for a long time in silence, then nodded.
“Yes. Yes.” Then she looked at the sprites around her. “Where are you going to hang it?”
“In the Hall?” said Gia. “It's the best place to do it justice.”
“Why don't you ask Colonel Zsennye to choose the spot?” said Calla. “Ah, there you are, Mento. Because you yourself were a pupil at Amutria School, were you not?”
“Yes, I was,” said the colonel. “I would be honoured. Let's go inside.”
There were not many decorations of any kind in the hall yet, and though the painting was large, there was a big choice of suitable positions. As many people as could squeeze in had followed him to watch. He looked around thoughtfully.
“Up there, I think,” he said, pointing to a position on the outside of the gallery, directly opposite the speakers' platform. “It will be a warning, but also an inspiration.”
“An excellent choice,” said Major Thurlgrove. “I have a hammer and a nail, if some strong flyer would like to go up and fix the nail in? Ah, thank you, Sizzle.”
“Tell me when I'm in the right place,” said Sizzle.
That led to a lot of cheerful left a bit, right a bit, but once everyone was happy, Sizzle knocked the nail in with a steady hand and gave the hammer back to Major Thurlgrove.
“Who's going to hang it?” she said. “It ought to be someone Romanian.”
“Good idea,” said the Commander. “Lieutenant Retezat, you had to bring the dreadful news. Would you?”
“Yes indeed, ma'am. And someone to hold the other side. I know there is at least one other Romanian flyer here.”
Everyone knew who she meant. Calla Babele came forward.
“I, too, think it an honour. Together, then.”
The imp and the fairy flew up and hung the painting and there was a cheerful round of applause. It looked wonderful, as if it had been created for that very spot.
“I don't know when I ever felt so moved,” said Colonel Zsennye. “Really, I had no idea a human could see the world as we do. There are some good ones then, after all.”
“There are indeed,” said Gia, looking down at the letter in her hand. “Major Thurlgrove, do you think you could make a frame for this letter?”
“Gladly, ma'am,” said the major. “It's just as precious to us as the painting. Would you replace it in its envelope before I touch it, ma'am? My hands are not as clean as I would wish.”

There was so much to talk over that it was only when the wind picked up at dusk that Rose remembered the sheets. Clover came to help her. Only one sheet had blown away and they soon retrieved it from the lower branches of a beech tree. They went indoors to the workshop and set about folding them carefully. Then they went back to their house, battling the wind all the way. Bella and Stella were looking out for them anxiously.
“We thought you'd been blown away! It's going to be a rough night.”
“Spring storms are sad,” said Rose. “So many little leaves get torn, and there'll be bits of catkin and new growth all over the ground.”
“I know, it's awful,” said Clover, kicking her shoes off. “It's always the same. Equinoctial gales, I have heard them called.”
“We can guess who calls them that,” laughed Stella. “What are the elves up to tonight?”
“Staying indoors, I hope,” said Clover. “And let's hope all the roofs stay on.”

They had a restless night. The stormy winds caused so much noise. When you live in a house built between the roots of a tree, and the tree is moving in a high wind, you feel every creak and groan, until you feel that the house will be squeezed until it cracks. And apart from the danger of having your roof blown off, there was the danger of having something heavy blown on top of it, and bringing the roof down on your head instead. But the winds that had risen at dusk died away at dawn and the fairies, glad to be up, flew out to check on the damage.
As Rose had predicted, there was a scattering of leaf and catkin everywhere.
“Spring is messy,” she said. “Everything new starts off messy, but somehow it all comes right in the end.”
There hadn't been any rain, just the wind. A big branch had come down from an ash, but it hadn't hit any buildings and Major Thurlgrove was already out here, organising the salvage of it. Ash was very fine wood, strong and good to work with, the fairies knew that.
“Everything looks all right, doesn't it?” said Clover. “Very good building work. Let's just go for a fly.”
The fairies wove in and out of the trees, enjoying the fresh chilly morning, until Rose lost a shoe. She flew down to get it, but she didn't come back, so the others landed too, to help her search. They found her not even searching for her shoe, but staring at a patch of grass.
“What is it?” called Clover.
“Look!” said Rose. “It's a bud!”
“Oh! Oh, it is! Oh, how lovely! Pick it up then, Rose, we can't leave it there!”
Rose bent down and picked up the bud. It was so light, she nearly tossed it in the air. And it was so pretty, surely it had to be a fairy. Its blue eyes were huge in its little face and its tiny fingers were so delicate.
“Oh, you sweet bud!” exclaimed Stella. “What plants are here? Lots of violet... celandine... sorrel and thyme... could be anything. How soft its skin is! It's only just come down.”
“It's green!” said Bella, who'd never seen a new-born bud before. The others didn't laugh. They knew how the colonies in London struggled.
“Yes, that's right,” said Stella. “All buds look like that, Bell. Green skin, blue eyes. Slowly the skin thickens and they go to chrysalis, then the actual sprite is born and you can see what order it is.”
“Sometimes you can guess,” said Rose. “This one's so dainty, I guess she's a fairy. But that's only a guess.”
“So this isn't her birthday?” said Bella. “Her birthday is when she comes out of chrysalis?”
“That's right,” said Clover. “Oh, my goodness, look over there! Isn't that another one?”
Clover ran over to see.
“This is amazing! Hello, little bud. Did you just fall down from the beech tree?”
She picked up the second bud, which waved its arms about in excitement and hit her on the nose.
“This one's an elf,” said Clover.
“And it's found my shoe, look,” said Rose. “Let's get back. Everyone's going to be so excited!”

The first person they saw when they got back was Debin, coming back from a walk in the forest. Debin, looking completely bemused... with a bud in his arms. Bella screeched so loudly that several people came running to see what the matter was, and the sight of three buds had them all exclaiming and asking questions and laughing with excitement. Rose had been absolutely right about that. Madge flew over to see what all the fuss was about, and joined in the exclamations herself.
“Where did you find yours, Debin?”
“In the next glade, where many oaks grow. Oh, this little one is an oak too, I can feel it! Isn't he beautiful?”
“Oh, please may I hold him, Debin?”
“Certainly, Jakub. This is a very special day! Watch for the spring, indeed!”
Everyone was clamouring to hold the babies. The babies did not seem to mind a bit. They stared and smiled, grinned and gurgled, and seemed perfectly content to have been found and picked up.
It's as if they know, somehow, thought Clover. They know they need to be found by sprites.
“This is joyful!” said Madge. “Your two were close together, Clover? I never heard of such abundance! Commander, look,” she called to Gia, who'd just arrived. “Three buds!”
“When the bough breaks, the baby will fall,” said Gia. “That windy night has brought us a real blessing. That is, brought Bodenmais a real blessing. Won't they be thrilled!”
Clover felt a tiny pang of disappointment. Of course, these were Bodenmais sprites, but she didn't want to hand them over, she wanted to keep them right here. Her face must have fallen a bit, because the Commander noticed.
“Oh, I understand, Clover, believe me!” she said. “But we can't keep them here when they have a lovely colony to belong to.”
“I understand. Of course I do,” said Clover bravely. She quickly signalled to Stella to hand the baby fairy to the Commander.
“Oh, she's adorable!” said Gia. “Absolutely gorgeous...” Her voice grew weaker. “We really must tell Bodenmais... maybe later in the morning.”
“What must we do for them?” asked Debin. “Who has looked after a bud before?”
“Ace and Will have,” said Clover. “Aesculus, when he was a bud. Here they are... hey Ace, look, we have buds! What do they like to drink?”
“Wow, three of them! Terrific. Goodbye sleep, goodbye sanity. They drink water, but they can't manage cups. You have to give them a grass straw, or make them a plastic beaker like human babies have.”
Will was already looking in his pockets. He soon found a bit of plastic and shaped it into a beaker.
“Let's go and have breakfast,” said the Commander. “Then we can give these darlings a drink.”

Everyone came to see the buds, and stayed around, smiling. It was such a cheerful sight. Calla was one of the last to arrive. She didn't coo or fuss, but nodded with satisfaction.
“Watch for the spring,” she said with great contentment. “If you take my advice, you will scour the forest. There will be more.”
That caused even more excitement. No-one wanted to clear the cups away or go to the phone tree; everyone wanted to go out into the forest.
“Wait a moment,” called the Commander, as people began to rush off. “The phones!”
“But there aren't any votes yet!” Clover objected. “Just people asking the same three questions over and over again. Why isn't one of the choices to have a queen? How do we stop people voting twice? and Do you vote for the Hill you come from, or the Hill you live near, if they're not the same? Honestly, I feel like not listening to the questions at all, but just saying, 1, Ask Colonel Zsennye, 2, Use your common sense, and 3, pick one or the other, but not both!”
The Commander laughed.
“I do sympathise,” she said, “and that last one we will take care to clarify before Round 2. But for today, I'm sure Stella will look after the bud for you while you're on phone duty.”
Resigned to her fate, Clover handed over the bud to Stella and waved goodbye to them all.
“I wanted to make a call today,” said Ace. “I didn't realise the phone tree would still be busy.”
“It does get less busy about 7pm,” said the Commander. “Perhaps you could try about then?”
“You don't have to wait,” said Betch, pulling faces at Rose's bud over her shoulder and making it giggle. “If Clover's right and hers is an elf, we've got another elf tree now.”
“Well done, Betch!” said the Commander. “That's a very good thought. It would be very helpful to know which one it is.”
“I'll show you which one Clover thought it was, Ace,” said Bella.

Bella flew through the trees, retracing their flight from early morning until she located the right spot, then went back to find Ace and guide him there.
“This beech,” said Bella, touching it. “Ooh, I think it is! It feels so very alive.”
Ace's hand had barely touched the bark before his phone bounced into life.
“Wow! Thank you, awesome beech tree! Your elf is in very safe hands. I'm just leaning on you now to make my phone work.”
He thumbed through his contacts list and pressed 'Call'.
“Morning, David!”
“Oh Ace, hi! Did they like it?”
“Like it? They loved it. Every single one of them. Loved the painting and loved the thought behind it. Opening it was an honour, choosing where it would go was an honour, even hanging it was an honour.”
“Oh, wow. That's just amazing.”
“It's so beautiful. Best ever. Everyone from home said so. Who shrunk it?”
“Val did. Biggest thing she'd ever tried. But she really gets paint. I thought she did a great job.”
“So did I. It looked so big when it was unwrapped, but once it was hanging in Rowan Hall it looked just perfect. Great sizing. And you know what, David? The elf who chose where it would go used to go to that school at Amutria. And he doesn't like humans at all. But yesterday he said he didn't know when he'd ever felt so moved. And he didn't know a human could see the world as we do, and there are some good ones, after all. David? Are you still there?”
“Yeah... yeah, sorry, just got a frog in my throat. Thanks, Ace. It means the world to know they liked it so much.
“You bet they did. They framed your letter too.”
“Oh, Ace...”
“I know. So where are you this morning?”
“Hotel room in Munich. Half way home. Give my love to everyone who knows me.”
“Will do. And you give mine to everyone at home. See you soon.”
“See you, Ace. And thank you.”

While Ace had been talking, Bella had expanded a bit of ribbon. She tied this around the trunk of the beech so it could easily be found again.
“Just till everyone knows who you are!” she told it cheerfully. “It suits you! You look great.”

They hurried back through the forest, keeping an eye open for buds even though they really thought that hoping for more than three was a bit much. They got back to see Droz Zlatni completely obsessed with another fairy bud.
“Four!” laughed Bella. “This is incredible!”
By midday, there were six. The scenes of cheerful chaos were everywhere. Very little work was being done, only the phone team valiantly sticking to their task. Everyone was smiling benignly at babies or out in the forest hunting for more. The Commander flew to Bodenmais colony, only to find similar scenes there.
“Commander!” called the senior sprite, an elderly fairy called Arnica. “You come on a happy day! Two buds arrived last night! Come and see them, an elf and a goblin, we think.”
“Gladly,” said Gia, “but brace yourselves. We have found six ourselves. So far.”
Arnica stopped in her tracks.
“Six! Oh, help, eight buds!”
“Calla Babele thinks there could be more. And these were all found close by, nowhere near your neighbours at Grafenau.”
“We will cope, we must. I think you may have to send Erle back. I hate to spoil his fun, he has never had so many young sprites to work with before, but we are going to need him. This is a very great blessing, but my goodness, buds are a lot of work.”
“They certainly are!” said Gia. “Back home in Biagioni, I don't think I did much else in my teens besides looking after buds. But you know, Arnica, there haven't been so many in recent years, I hear. Not there. Not in many places.”
“You're right. This is a shock, but a very good one.”
“Show me the two you have here.”
Gia greeted the buds and held them, while thinking what they could offer by way of help. She hadn't been right into the colony before. It was quite a way from Herzenwald, in fact you could see Bodenmais village in the distance. The countryside here was a little more open. The colony was centred around a majestic oak. It wasn't an elf tree, but it sheltered their homes. Beyond it was deeper forest.
“How about if we made a nursery for them at our base? Erle could look after them there just as well, with many young friends to share the work. And you and the rest of the colony could visit them every day, so that your faces are familiar, then bring them home here when they go to chrysalis.”
“That really would be a great help. Thank you very much! We will come with you right now.”

“Look, the colony found two as well!” Gia called as she and Arnica flew in, bearing a bud each. “So now there are eight.”
“Make that ten, ma'am,” grinned Sergeant Olt. “Really special – both imps, we think – found by... sorry, lad, what's your name... Olcha, of course.”
Olcha was beaming with pride, a bud on each arm, but Gia's heart sank. If even Luke Olt had been tempted away from his work, they were in a mess.
“Is anyone on the phones?”
“All bored stiff,” said Will. “No calls all morning. Clover says that's probably because the whole realm's too busy counting buds.”
Gia's mind reeled. Could that be true? What if that was true?
“Will, could you please call General Széchenyi at Essen. Just say, Buds came down in the night at Bodenmais – ten, and counting.”
“Will do, ma'am.”
“How're you going to tell them apart?” mused Ace.
Two buds were on the ground now, getting the hang of crawling, and thinking it great fun.
“Paint numbers on their backs?” suggested Dub.
Sizzle glared at him.
“Paint numbers!”
“It would work!”
“They're not sheep! They all look different.”
“Well, so do sheep, once you get to know them,” said Captain Dolfawr. “At first, it's difficult. You found the first one, Rose – a fairy, you thought – which one is it?”
“The one Maag's holding. No, hang on... the one that's about to fall off that chair. Ace! It's about to fall off the chair! Catch it!”
Ace caught the bud and tossed it in the air. It squealed with joy.
“Yep, that's a fairy, but I don't think it's the same one you found.”
“I think it's this one, Rose.”
“It's not! That's Debin's oak tree one!”
Gia bit her lip, and Arnica was already laughing.
“But why does it matter?” asked Campanilla. “When they're born it will be easy to tell one from another, won't it?”
“Oh yes, but they need looking after right now,” explained Captain Dolfawr. “They need water. They need a lot of water. Which ones have had a drink? No, you don't know now, do you? That's why you need to be able to tell them apart. So unless we can come up with a better idea, you will have to paint numbers on their backs.”
“D'you mean we're going to be looking after them?” said Rose hopefully.
“Yes, please,” said Arnica. “Where is Erle Bodenmais?”
“Here I am.”
“Don't worry, I'm not going to make you come home and look after the buds by yourself. I know you are having a good time here. But I would like you to take some responsibility now. These buds are family, for you. How should we care for them, do you think?”
Erle gulped. “I wouldn't know where to start. I don't know how to make plastic cups. But I did think... maybe we could make little vests for them? Then we could paint a number on the vest?”
“Good,” said Arnica. “Very good thinking! Here are numbers 9 and 10, then. I will leave you in charge.”
Gia took pity on the horrified elf.
“Don't worry, Erle. You have helped us no end, lending us your tree for the phones, and now we will help you. Come on, everyone, and help Erle. We need vests, paint, plastic beakers, cradles, blankets and a very large playpen. Yes, Will?”
“General Széchenyi says, 'Not bad, but not record-breaking. Hungerberg have twelve and Rangsdorfer's in the lead with fourteen'.”
There was a moment of awestruck silence as it sunk in that this was happening all over the realm, then suddenly everyone was slapping Ross on the back and congratulating him. Ross himself looked as stunned as Erle did. But soon, they all got busy producing the things the Commander had suggested, speculating all the time on how many buds their own home colonies might have found. By evening, ten little buds were asleep in ten little cradles. The numbers were on their cradles as well as their vests. General Herdalen himself laid the last little blanket over Number Ten.
“Aah,” sighed the crowd watching.
“Lars Huskvarna thought he could save the realm from extinction by force,” he said. “The Tree had a better idea – more buds! Simple answers are usually the best.”
“Well said, sir,” said Ace warmly. “Hey, Erle, hadn't you better get to bed? They'll all wake up at 4am, you know, and climb out of their cradles.”
“4am?” said Erle weakly.
“Don't worry,” said Ace. “Ask for volunteers to share the dawn shift, make a rota to share the work. It's easy, all you need is a bit of confidence. See, I'll be your first volunteer.”
Ace got him started, then let him carry on alone. He slipped away to the phone tree and put a call through to Rowan, as David wouldn't be home yet. Then he called for Will and Dan and went to see Rose and Clover.
“How many?” said Rose.
“Twenty,” said Ace. “Our colony nearly doubled in size overnight.”
“Val and Primrose will have their hands full!” said Will.
“They'll be having the time of their lives,” said Rose. “Look how brilliantly they look after Aesculus and Viola! They will love it.”
“But you wish you were there?” said Clover.
“Well, yes, I suppose I do in a way,” said Ace. “We'll always feel torn. It's our colony and we ought to be there. But we're doing the work the realm needs us to do and we ought to be here, too.”
“Don't worry,” said Dan. “They'll surely let you go home to tell them their names. Wouldn't it be fun if there were some more twins?”
“Chances are high, with this many buds,” said Will. “Dan's right, we'll be able to go home more often when things settle down again. Official leave... remember that?”
“It's been a long time,” said Bella. “All the same, it feels a bit like being on leave right now. Maybe we can't go home, but we can do as much work as we like, or as little.”
“Yes, there's a lull,” said Stella. “This is a time of waiting. And what are we waiting for?”
“Votes!” said Clover. “Votes for sprites! It really isn't that long now. A few more days and we'll have our first answers.”

By the beginning of April, the results had started to arrive. Each Hill had been asked to make a list of all its colonies who had voted, with how many votes for each pattern from each colony. So every call took a long time and the phone teams were hard at work in sun, wind and rain, writing the lists down carefully. Some Hills had been asked to call Essen directly, and when Herzenwald got results they sent them to Essen too. General Széchenyi herself put them all together and Colonel Dünnwald double checked them to make sure everything was added up correctly. On the evening of 7th April, the final results came to Herzenwald, to be phoned out again to the realm. The Commander read them out to everyone who was around.
“We've heard back from all 85 Hills,” she said. “That in itself is an amazing achievement. Well done, phone teams! They didn't get votes from every colony. Some weren't interested, for various reasons, and that's all right. Everyone had the chance, that's the thing. Some colonies only sent back a couple of votes, and that's all right, too. But most sprites did vote. Colonel Dünnwald estimates about 80% and expects that number to rise in Round 2, which is simpler to understand. That's better than we dared hope for. Also good news that we have a clear winner! Pattern number 5 got over 50% of the votes. So now we must all vote to choose a President, and an Envoy to represent our home Hills, and a Senior to represent our order. But this time, we're asking everyone to send their results to Essen. Once we have sent out the results from Round 1, our work here will be done.”

All through April, the spring had been appearing more brightly every day, the sun a little warmer, the wind a little softer. Suddenly, you saw the brown forest floor was green again, as the days grew longer and the light grew stronger. Dandelions and buttercups gleamed brightly and white petals shone in dark corners. Hawthorn and rowan burst out into clouds of blossom and you could almost see the leaves growing on the trees, so fast and vigorous their growth. The sap roared up through the trunks, strengthening and healing, so that bark beetles and diseases didn't stand a chance.
Insects flourished and birds were building their nests and singing not just at dawn, but all day long. The streams seemed to sparkle more merrily and the pools and lakes glowed a brighter blue. The old sprites of Bodenmais, coming every day to greet their growing buds, commented that there had never been such a glorious spring in the forest, not in their lifetimes. And it wasn't just in the Bohemian Forest; all across the realm, sprites and humans alike found themselves watching the beauty unfolding around them more carefully then ever, certain that this was a very special spring, even if they didn't know why.

In Fjaerland, they knew why. They'd heard what had happened in Sweden and they knew better than anyone what a burden had been lifted for the Talende Tree. They knew now that the Talende Tree had been using all his strength to stop evil spreading through the root network... strength that he could have been using to heal himself.
“Just imagine,” Pice Inari had explained to the new recruits, “trying to climb a mountain with someone on your back, someone who is fighting you every inch of the way. And then, suddenly, that weight is lifted, gone forever. Wouldn't you be zooming up that mountain, then?”
All of them had watched with awe as the most spectacular spring they had ever seen arrived on the mountain. The recruits studied and trained, and sent their votes in to Vingen Hill, but every day they went to see the Tree, marvelling at the speed of his recovery. The gash in his side had closed up completely, leaving only a streak of colour in the bark. His branches seemed straighter and stronger every day, and his leaves trembled with energy. Even the ground seemed to throb with power, as if a great engine was firing up in the earth.
One of the recruits, a French oak called Robert, summed up the feelings of them all.
“When I saw how few we were, I was sad. The army had gone and I would not be able to join in its great traditions. But now, I feel privileged. This is the start of something new and we are here at the very beginning.”
“Well said, Robert,” said Pice. “And there is more good news... the army is coming back. They have worked so hard for peace and now they can turn their attention to other things. Changes are planned, I know. Exciting changes, I think. But we must not neglect your training, which will be as good as we can make it. Fortunately there are a few classrooms left which didn't get burned. Let's go into a classroom now, and study some maths.”
“Ah,” said Robert. “That is not quite what I had in mind.”

Further north in Norway, at Leif and Inge's farm, soft winds were blowing over the fields much earlier than usual. Many young animals were about to be born, and Leif was already thinking about sowing seed. The old army sprites who had spent the winter there seemed to feel fresh life flowing through their veins.
“We had better rejoin the rest of the army, dear Marta,” said Ben Gourdon. “Essen, that is where we should go. There is a great deal to do there, I hear, work that we old sprites could help with.”
“I understand,” said Marta. “I will miss you all so much! But, you know, I think we will meet again. I think Mr. Hagen knows something, something exciting.”
Leif drove the sprites to the nearest railway station and saw them on their way. Then he drove home, feeling quite bereft and very ready to comfort poor Marta, who was probably in tears.
To his surprise, she came tearing to him across the farmyard, her face alight with joy. She was holding something cupped carefully between both her hands.
“Look!” she exclaimed.
Leif gasped as he saw a tiny green creature with bright blue eyes staring up at him in wonder.
“Marta! Whatever is that? It's very beautiful.”
“I think it's a sprite baby,” said Marta.

When Ben Gourdon and the others arrived at Essen they were welcomed with open arms. Everyone knew them, because all of them had been working at Fjaerland camp for decades and they had seen many generations of recruits come and go. From Dizzy Széchenyi and Poppy Rhaeadr, Penelope Pamisos and Pappel Dünnwald, from everyone there they received hugs and as for old Kristtorn, he had tears in his eyes. He and Ben Gourdon had been recruits together and he hadn't seen him for years.
“You bet you can all help!” said Colonel Dünnwald. “A lot of you were Signals. Taking down messages accurately is exactly what we need. And writing lots of numbers down and adding them up correctly. This is perfect timing, perfect.”
Some of them had been to Essen before, but not to this base, and they admired all the modern technology and of course the famous Green Room. In the evening, Colonel Dünnwald took them all up on the roof. A glorious sunset was streaking the sky, some early swifts were flying overhead and the air was warm.
“Just look down there,” said the colonel, pointing to the view of the great city over the parapet. “Every street, every tree, every patch or park is bursting with life.”
“Extraordinary!” said Major Gourdon. “I never knew Essen could look so beautiful. This office block seems to be floating in a sea of green.”

Over in England, David was thinking the same thing about the bridge over the motorway. Moseley Wood looked fantastic, in fact he'd never seen it looking so good. He couldn't describe it, except to think that every tree looked even more alive than usual. Maybe that was true, because Rowan had said that some of the sick trees seemed to be getting better. Something had happened, he knew that. He hadn't had the full story yet, but he knew he would, one day.
For now, he just revelled in the beauty of it and wondered what it would be like to see it all from above, from a fairy's point of view. Viola was up there now, a tiny speck high above, hovering like a little lark. Aesculus was crossing on the handrail, jumping blithely along a narrow strip thirty feet above the traffic. It didn't matter, it was still very early. Even the dog walkers weren't out yet.
This wasn't a time of day he'd seen a lot of over the last few years, David had to admit, but it did have its good points. So fresh and so quiet, you could actually hear birds instead of just traffic. Once he was across the bridge, he slipped through the fence into the stranded bit of Moseley Wood where the sprites usually lived. Aesculus and Viola had spent the night at his house, because Primrose and Val had been doing the night shift.
Twenty new buds on one day, then four more on the next... he grinned to himself, remembering how many of them had found a bud. He'd found one himself, in his own back yard. Val and Primrose had been delighted, but delight had been tinged with trepidation. Primrose had grown up in a big colony and knew what a lot of work a bud was. How were they going to look after twenty-four?
Everyone had offered to help, which was why David was up at dawn. They'd decided to keep the buds together, and move them when people needed a break. It wouldn't hurt them to get used to lots of different people and places. They were going to spend the morning in his house, then go to Sally's garden in the afternoon. Val and Primrose had coped alone since 10 o'clock last night. Primrose heard him coming and walked over, waving.
“Am I glad to see you. There hasn't been a minute, not one single minute, when there wasn't at least one of them awake.”
“You do look a bit weary, Primrose,” said David.
That was an understatement, he thought. Her shoulders drooped and there were shadows under her eyes.
“Where's Val?”
“Mending a broken finger. One of them decided that a good game would be trying to pull the other buds' fingers off. Most of them slapped him – and I don't know why I say 'him', utter prejudice no doubt, but probably true – but one of them was asleep at the time and he nearly succeeded.”
“We have a plan,” said David. “At least, Aesculus has a plan. We are going to have so many good games to play, they will forget about biting each other and all the rest of it.”
“And we'll tire them out so they sleep!” said Viola, who'd landed on David's shoulder.
“I literally do not know what we'd do without you,” said Primrose. “Val, David's here.”
“Oh, bliss,” said Val. “There, I think that finger is all right now. It started smiling, so I think it must have stopped hurting.”
“Which bud was it?” asked Aesculus.
Val pointed. “That one.”
Most of the buds were crawling out of the house now, heading towards the sound of voices. But one had stopped on the step for a doze.
“Oh, Sleepy Head,” said Aesculus. “I'll keep an eye on it, Val.”
“You are being such a good, sensible elf, Aesculus,” said Val. “Primrose and I are very proud of you. Did you have a good night at David's?”
“Level 20 on Fortnite!”
“Oh, clever elf!” said Val, who had absolutely no idea what that meant. “Viola dear, the weather's getting so warm, we thought you might like a thinner dress. Here it is, take it with you to try on.”
“Oh, thank you!” exclaimed Viola. “You thought of that when you were so busy? You're so kind.”
“We are very pleased with all the buds, but we're not going to forget our precious Viola and Aesculus,” said Primrose firmly. “Don't you worry about that.”
“Pop the dress in my bag for now,” said David, “while I get my lunchbox out.”
David pulled out a large plastic lunchbox. It had no food in it, just a soft woollen lining. And it had air holes in the lid. He was delighted to see that the buds began to swarm towards it. They'd already learned that this was transport to a change of scene and even more fun. Aesculus helped them crawl inside and David counted them twice. Then he snapped the lid on firmly.
“Have a good long sleep, you two. You deserve it. We'll probably all be at Sally and Gary's when you wake up. Oh, and Sally sent you this sachet. Mint tea, she thinks you'll like it.”
“Mmm... mint tea, then a hot wash, and a long sleep,” sighed Val.
“I think I could manage that,” yawned Primrose. “Good luck, the day shift! See you later.”
As they re-crossed the motorway bridge, a man and his dog came towards them from the opposite direction. Aesculus and Viola had instantly got out of sight, of course. They were very good at that. David walked past nonchalantly with a box containing twenty-four buds under his arm. What was weird about that? A man can carry his lunchbox, can't he?

Back at David's house on Hilton Street the lid came off and out came the buds, swarming in every direction. David wasn't worried. The doors were firmly closed and any tiny gaps at the bottom edges of furniture had been stuffed with newspaper and old socks so the buds couldn't get trapped under a sofa or anything. Even so, you could still lose sight of one, but Aesculus always managed to find it. David was fascinated to watch the different ways Aesculus and Viola behaved with the buds.
Viola touched them, stroked them, picked them up and petted them and happily sat helping them to drink from their little beakers. But apart from an occasional 'There, there' or 'Well done', she didn't talk to them. It was as if she knew they couldn't understand her, but that touch and feel was their whole language just now. Aesculus' approach was less sensitive, but curiously, the buds seemed to love it just as much as Viola's gentle care. He pushed them around, ordered them about and talked to them constantly. It was as if he knew they weren't really sprites yet, but they were going to be, so they had better get learning right away.
And who knows what's going in, thought David. Maybe a lot more than we think. The buds need all of this, perhaps. Just stimulation – gentle or rough, they don't mind.
They needed a drink roughly every hour, so that was the first job. Viola filled cups at the sink and David carried them through on a tray. They hadn't thought here of vests with numbers on, but they too had needed a way to tell who'd had a drink and who hadn't. They had a face paint stick and as soon as one had had its water, Aesculus painted a dot on its head. The dots soon wore off, of course, but they lasted long enough to get through one drink round.
Aesculus had one on his knee now. It was glugging quite hard and when it had finished it let out a big burp.
“Well done, Burper!” beamed Aesculus and set it down. “Keep still while I dot you. Who's next? Come on then, Snotty Nose.”
That was another fascinating thing, thought David. To him, they all looked exactly the same. He rather thought they did to Val and Primrose, too. Viola often knew which was which, but Aesculus always did. Maybe because he was still so young himself? It couldn't be a size thing, because Aesculus was bigger than Viola now. Maybe it was just observation. He saw tiny differences that no-one else noticed. And of course he had nick-names for them. Rowan and Sally, David knew, were not very impressed by the names, but Laura and Gary thought they were hilarious.

First, they laid some toilet roll tubes on the floor and encouraged the buds to crawl through them. Then Aesculus split them into heaps and pushed them through one at a time like a team race.
“Yes, Big Nose wins! Champion! Come on, Mardy Pants, can't you get the hang of forwards? This way, not that way!”
After that, Aesculus began crawling about himself and trying to get the buds to follow him.
“Choo-choo! Here comes the bud train!”
About a dozen followed him and he led them up and over a shoe, in and out of the legs of a chair and round and round a cereal bowl which David had left on the floor. But the cereal bowl had a little milk left in it and the buds could smell it. They stopped following Aesculus and tried to climb the sides of the bowl. They didn't succeed in getting inside it, but they did tip it over, so they got at the milk after all.
“Whoops,” said David. “Meant to move that! Don't tell Primrose. She says 'Buds mustn't have milk' in the same voice that some mums say 'Children mustn't have sugar'. But they do when they can get their hands on any, and they survive.”
“We'd better wash them before they go back then,” said Viola, “or they'll smell of milk.”
Aesculus' eyes gleamed.
“Play with water!”
“We mustn't drown them!” Viola protested.
“No, no, shallow water, like children. Paddling pool!”
“Mmm, that could work,” said David. “Something really wide, but shallow. What've we got?”
They couldn't think of anything but David remembered that Sally had a large pizza tray so they decided to leave that idea for later.
“Time for another drink round now, anyway.”
“I'm thirsty myself,” said Aesculus. “Can I have milk?”
“Yes, you can, and so can Viola. And I'll have a black coffee. It's only 8am and I feel as if I've been awake for hours and hours.”
Aesculus and Viola did the drinks again – the buds really were too tiny for David to cradle them properly – but this time there was a cup left over.
“OK, Aesculus, who've we lost?” said David.
Aesculus looked around carefully.
“Oh no, it's Dive Bomber. What's she climbed up now?”
David got up in alarm. The one Aesculus called Dive Bomber seemed to be able to squirm up any vertical surface, for the sole purpose of launching itself off the top when it got there. David spotted it just in time as it reached the top of his biggest speaker.
“No, you don't, that jump's way too big for you!”
David laughed to see its almost indignant expression as he put it on the floor again.
“Come on, Dive Bomber. Drink!” ordered Aesculus and when it saw the cup it crawled over happily enough.

When Viola and Aesculus had finished their milk they sat in the middle of the floor and encouraged the buds to crawl to them. Then Viola started singing and after a while the buds settled down for a little doze. David had to get up and walk around to stop himself falling asleep, until he noticed that Viola and Aesculus had dozed off too. Very quietly, David went to get a drawing book and pencils so he could sketch the lovely scene. They'd grouped themselves so well! The little elf and the little fairy, leaning against each other and surrounded by the buds, peaceful and contented, curling this way and that.
Gorgeous, thought David. There, I haven't broken their laws; it's not a photograph. But Ace will love to see this one day. I wonder what you all are?
So did Val and Primrose, he knew that. But again, the little ones were different. Not a word of speculation from either of them, about what plant any of the buds might be from or what order it might be.
It's weird. It's as if they know better than we do that it really doesn't matter. Right now, they're all buds and they all need to be treated the same. If we already knew what they were, wouldn't it change the way we speak to them, make a difference to what we expect of them?
All the same, he did wonder which one it was he'd found. That glorious day when he'd got back from Germany, to the news that there were buds appearing everywhere! He'd never forget it. Then the next morning, he'd found one himself in his own back yard, but he didn't know now which one it was. At first, they'd tried to keep track, but it had been impossible to remember which one had been found where. They knew at least one was from the biggest beech in Abney, and another from the bluebell patch on the railway embankment. Another had been found in the bulrushes... that one, they thought they did know. It was quite a bit bigger than the rest. Sally called it Moses. Aesculus called it Big Bum.
“I hope,” said David to the sleeping crowd, “that your senior sprite comes home to tell you your real names.”
Rowan, thought David dreamily.
There was only one plant in his back yard. A small rowan tree – very small, he'd only planted it last autumn, in honour of his lovely Rowan and in memory of Rowan Harpsden. Was it possible that such a tiny tree could have an elf already?

The buds didn't nap for long. Soon they were crawling again, and pushing tiny balls around, or rolling about on a sheet of bubble wrap or playing see-saw on lolly sticks balanced on old batteries. Next Aesculus brought out some tiny things made of metal and gave the buds little sticks to bang them with. This made them chortle with joy, making little snuffling happy noises.
“Too noisy!” said Viola.
“Take a break, Vi, why don't you?” said David. “Why not go and try your new dress on?”
“Ooh, yes! I will.”
“Which one's Sleepy Head?” David asked Aesculus. “Is its finger all right now?”
“That one,” said Aesculus. “It's banging away so it must be okay.”
“Wonderful. What a band this lot are going to make one day.”
David's eyelids drooped and he dozed for a little while. When he woke up, Aesculus was putting the buds on top of an upturned battery and pushing them off onto the bubble wrap. They were queueing up for their turn.

In the afternoon, David walked round to Cherrytree Close with the lunchbox. Aesculus and Viola had rushed on ahead, so Laura was waiting for him at the front door and brought him through to the garden.
“Is Rowan revising?” asked David. He knew she had important exams soon.
“Yes, but when she's finished for the day, she's coming down to play.”
“I won't disturb her then. Hi, Sally!”
“Hi, David! How did the morning go?”
“All good fun! Not lost any. Aesculus thought of loads of good games. We saved an idea for you. A paddling pool. You've got a big pizza dish that's quite shallow, haven't you?”
“Oh, that's a great idea!”
“I'll go and get it!” said Laura.

Sally's garden had already been made safe. The pond was covered over and every possible escape route blocked. Here, the buds could get fresh air and sunshine and explore soil and stone, plants and grass. And now, water. Laura set the dish down in the sunshine and filled it with water from a large jug. David set the lunchbox down on the lawn and took the lid off. Sally's two cats were in the garden. Smokey, the dignified elderly Burmese, took one look at the buds and jumped up into a lilac tree where she could observe proceedings unmolested. But her son, the magnificent four year old Elfcat, strolled over to greet these strange tiny sprites. He'd met them before and seemed to know by instinct exactly what they were. He blithely tolerated being crawled over, licked any who came near his face and best of all, rounded up any lost ones from deep within the flower borders and brought them back in his mouth as gently as if they were kittens.
The buds now swarmed around his feet. He licked them all and nudged them with his nose towards Aesculus who now had his shoes and socks off and was dancing about in the water.
“Come on, Viola, come and play!” shouted Aesculus.
“And get my new dress wet! Are you crazy, elf?”
“You tell him, Viola,” laughed David. He watched as the buds squirmed excitedly towards Aesculus, eager to see what this new game was. Then he sighed. “I'd better go. Got work to do.”
“Then don't worry about a thing. Joseph and your brother are coming round about 6. They're going to take over then, and then carry them back to Moseley Lodge for the night. And Rowan's going to pick them up in the morning and bring them to your house.”
“Wonderful. Tell her I'll have a bacon butty with brown sauce waiting for her.”
“Will do,” laughed Sally. “See you, David.”

The paddling pool was a great success. Sally pulled a garden chair into the shade and settled down to watch, just making sure everyone was happy and nothing got out of hand. Already, different personalities were showing through. That bigger one, Moses, was sitting right in the middle, a beaming smile on his face, hitting the water with the flats of his hands and watching the splashes. Some of them were crawling happily but cautiously around the edge, interested in this weird new stuff but not sure about it yet. Some were rolling around joyfully, some were splashing others, some were even trying to swim. One had had enough. It was tired. It laid its head down in the water.
“Quick, Aesculus! Sleepy Head! Lift its head up!”
Aesculus instantly grasped the danger. He lifted Sleepy Head out of the water and passed it to Sally.
“You need a towel,” said Laura. “What can we use?”
“Kitchen roll,” said Sally.
Laura came back with a sheet, folded it and wrapped up the sleepy bud.
“Let Viola hold it," suggested Sally. “You'd better fill the cups. They'll be thirsty again in about ten minutes.”
“OK, Mum.”

Still watching very carefully, Sally's thoughts strayed to Ace and Will and Rose and Clover. So once, they had been like this, tiny buds, squirming all over the place. No wonder the old elf, Cory, had had such a problem looking after them all, just him with four of them. And once they had been born, he'd left them to it, let them run wild and free and not educated them at all. And somehow, they had grown into four of the finest sprites of their generation. Well, this generation here would be well-educated, she was sure of that. Primrose would make sure of it, and besides, there were going to be more schools in future, she had heard. But she felt absolutely sure that Ace would want these little ones to have plenty of freedom too. It was part of what Moseley Wood was all about.