#Sammy Candock

[thenon-floweringfairies]

How the Forest Finds the Island

Backwater

Braking with his wings, Sen decelerated over the water, feet leaving a series of ripples as he skipped across the surface and stopped short on one of the delta's many islets. It was an unfamiliar and inscrutable place. Fog shrouded his surroundings and a myriad of insects buzzed.

Carefully, he picked his way between towering horsetails and trailing seed ferns, holding his fraying robes out of the pools his bare feet rippled through. As the vapours parted, he found his way blocked by a monolithic, muddy boulder.

He glanced back and forth, unsure whether to go around or take to the air and try somewhere else. Placing a hand on the unusually smooth stone, he decided to climb it and get a better view, when it moved.

Sen sprung back, immediately in defensive pose, as the brown mass hauled itself free with a squelch. Trailing pondweed and rotting slime, it raised itself on mighty, segmented legs and trundled with ponderous majesty into the murk, paying Sen no further heed.

"What was that?" he asked in a small voice, feeling very alone. He wasn't expecting an answer, but he got one anyway.

"That there's a sludgetruck."

A tall, thin fairy emerged from the gloom.

"How'reya, Sen, long time no see."

"Hi Simon. I'm relieved to find you here. Are your sons well?"

"Better than ever," confirmed the horsetail fairy, wading through the armpit-deep water left in the sludgetruck's wake. By the time he reached Sen, he was up to his chin. "C'mon, we'll go say hi."

"Should I…" began Sen, with a tentative step toward the deep track. Simon seemed to realise he was mostly underwater.

"Oh! Nah, we'll fly there."

His wings, arrayed in a circular configuration, rotated rapidly, lifting him seamlessly from the medium of water to air. Sen backed up, ran forwards to gather momentum and followed close behind.

-

They set down again on the shores of another muddy bank, this one clearly populated. Tall sticks jutted from the silt, lashed into platforms and bridges at the top. A pontoon of sturdy, buoyant vegetation extended out into the current.

Simon's twin boys, Benny and Sammy, came running.

"Hi Sen," called Benny, pirouetting to a stop on the mud like a figure skater.

"Oh, nice moves!" Laughed Sen, shaking hands with Sammy, who smiled and said nothing.

Simon and his extended family were known to nearly everyone. Although capable of flying great distances, fairies often settled in one spot for immense lengths of time, finding the place where their chosen plants grew best and then adapting to every aspect of it. Without prospects of settling new regions, which were oftentimes already taken, it made more sense not to uproot themselves and to focus on what they had.

The Candocks, though, were dynamic indeed. Their horsetails held near-uncontested dominance of shallow freshwater and riverbank habitats, and as such, there was always new territory to claim. Whenever a lake filled in or a new floodplain formed, they wouldn't be far behind, ready to reap the benefits.

"Let's see if the others are around," suggested Simon, throwing his head back and starting to sing, his sons spontaneously joining. As the last notes faded, Sen inquired who else was staying with them.

"Caden, Aylmer, Virgil…" hummed Simon, "and Anthon stops by sometimes."

"Ah, I haven't seen Caden in a long time! How's he doing?"

"Doin' just fine, thanks," a voice called out, a figure descending from one of the overhead platforms.

"Hey Gongsun," Caden smirked, high fiving him. "What trouble have you been getting into?"

"None, but thank you for asking. I presume you've had more than your fair share?"

"Naturally," Caden flaunted. "Why, last time I saw Drago, we ended up with the most obscene-"

"Yes Caden, thank you, that'll do," interjected Simon firmly. "We were dealing with the aftereffects for months. Anyway, the others will probably stop by shortly, if you'd like to have a cup of tea while you wait?"

"I'd love to!" answered Sen, following Simon out to a little house that bobbed on the pontoon.

As none of them had any skill in fire magic, the tea was served cold; not Sen's favourite, but Simon was being a very gracious host, so he didn't complain. They sat cross-legged on the floorboards, sipping contemplatively. Caden popped in with a stack of starchy crackers, then fluttered up to Sammy and Benny, who were launching themselves off one of the high platforms into the water.

Simon told Sen a little of the wetland's local ecology, describing how it had been sterile, black sand when they arrived, and how the slow accumulation of rotting stems as their horsetails collected in the water had begun to introduce nutrients and structural stability. Aylmer and Caden had shown up once there was sufficient mud for their seed ferns to put down roots, drawn there as if by magic. It probably was magic, come to think of it - Caden always seemed to have a preternatural sense of when fresh turf had appeared. Invertebrates and fish had begun to disperse in from the sea at around the same time.

"How are Benny and Sammy finding it?" asked Sen. "I'm sure they're used to moving around with you by now?"

"Sammy likes it," answered Simon. "Think it suits 'im better than Epiphyllia. Always some arsehole or another making life difficult for 'im there, tryna scare 'im off 'is spot. 'Ere 'e 'as room to be 'imself."

Sen made a sympathetic noise. Benny and Sammy were actually a fair bit older than he was, but they were late bloomers, so to speak. Sammy in particular had stayed under his father's wing for much of the Paleozoic. With the shaking-up of Ecosystems in the Triassic as Epiphyllia and Laurelland separated, he had become more independent, but was still shy by nature.

"How long do you think you'll stay?" Sen continued.

Simon rubbed his trim beard of horsetail microphylls. "I reckon the plants'll be fine with no further input from us. Maybe by next year we'll be setting up shop on the far side of this island, or the next."

"Do you know how many islands make up the archipelago?"

"That's the thing, mate, nobody does. Growing all the time, see?"

Sen leaned back on the floor, considering the rising lava that Osmund had been gazing over. Who, indeed, could guess the scale at which this process was being replicated.

"Also, Aylmer was saying 'e'd-" Simon stopped short as someone popped like a cork from the water and landed, perfectly balanced, further out on the pontoon. Sen couldn't help but stare.

It wasn't Aylmer or Anthon, who he knew fairly well. This was someone new.

A moss? An alga?? Sen had genuine trouble trying to piece together what kind of plants he represented from his appearance. He was pale and skinny, with an incredibly toned physique. His tresses were remarkably short and appeared plastered to his scalp. The only clothing he wore was a set of equally short trunks, likewise plastered to his hips.

As he walked with quick steps down the platform, Simon went to greet him, Sen in tow.

"Virgil, my man! What was your time today?"

"Still can't beat my record," he replied, giving Simon a quick smile before his face settled into an unreadable, stony expression.

"You were swimming?" inquired Sen, an ever-so incredulous note in his voice.

Virgil raised an eyebrow a fraction of a degree and uttered a monosyllabic "yes."

Sen paused, waiting for him to say more, but Virgil simply looked him in the eye. When the tension became too much, Sen cast around for somewhere, anywhere else to direct his attention, pretending he was interested in whatever Caden was up to.

Simon coughed. "I take it you don't know each other. Virgil, this is Gongsun Sen, Sen, Virgil Villous." They bowed stiffly to each other.

"Enchanted," said Virgil, his voice giving no more away than his face.

"Me too, I mean same, I mean, the enchantment is all mine," floundered Sen.

"Do you feel like tea?" Offered Simon.

"No thank you," declined Virgil. "I'm going to find a sunny spot."

He took off at a brisk jog.

"'Lad's on a diet," explained Simon, after a self-conscious lull. "Just sunlight and water."

"What, he doesn't eat at all?"

"Not that I've seen. Thinks 'aving unnecessary organic matter inside 'im will just slow 'im down."

"How abstemious."

Sen watched as Virgil landed on the ooze, his feet barely sinking into it, and sprang away into the mist. He had wings, but they were tiny, and certainly couldn't take his weight. Sen wondered if they were a hindrance while swimming. Or maybe he used them as fins? Shaking his head at that strange thought, he followed Simon back indoors.

-

They relaxed a while longer. Simon mentioned that Girjesh had passed through a few years back, but he hadn't seen him since. Last he heard, his plan was to cross to the next island, where conditions were just right for his jointfirs to take hold.

"By the way, are the rest of your family around?" wondered Sen. "I haven't seen them."

"Yeah, they're around. Wesley and Melvin drop in every now and again, and I believe Fabian made the crossing, but 'aven't seen sight nor sound of 'im since we got 'ere."

"Keeps to himself. I can respect that," quipped Sen, eliciting a laugh from Simon.

The mist was starting to clear, and the sun was setting over the marshes. Sen watched dragonflies hunting and ripples spreading in the water.

"Thank you most kindly for your generosity. I must come and see you again before you move on."

"You're always welcome here," replied Simon, the two of them heading outside. "Safe travels."

"Wish the others well from me."

Sen got airborne and glided back inland, the fresh sea breeze as buoyant as he felt.

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#writing #gijinka #fantasy biology #magic #science fantasy #fantasy writing #gongsun sen #Simon Candock #Benny Candock #Sammy Candock #Caden Sagen #Virgil Villous #how the forest finds the island #spec evo #spec bio