Ondine M. Winkless

The Keepers

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. There weren’t always ships in the Sea, either, but no one bothered much about that. Ships were useful, and if they drifted in from beyond the Edge, no one was going to complain. Even the battered ones could provide materials or kindling. Some were in good enough shape to sail. The rest simply crowded together over the years, catching and linking and moving as one on the gentle waters. Some said that the floating Village of Rusenflyte created itself, and the villagers came later. Just where some of those villagers came from—well, perhaps there weren’t always humans in the Fae Realm, either. But, neither were there always ships in the Sea. Nor, apparently, dragons in the Valley.