It was some of the finest work Kira had ever accomplished. A playful smirk touched the corners of her vibrant lips. She mused . . . a hunter paired with a Lady of the Forest, and a lowly farmhand with the Queen of Snow. Her meddling was crafty toil indeed, and much to be proud of.
Waves collapsed against the shore, spraying sea foam into the misted air as Kira skipped barefoot across the black sand beach. The sea lent her a rush of freedom as the waning tide drifted off to meet the horizon.
But with feelings of success came the usual tinge of melancholy. It wasn’t easy being a love sprite, pairing couple after couple to return to a lonesome cottage, perched on a jagged cliff’s edge by the ocean side. Love was always around her, but never her own. Her parents warned her when she ran off to spread her magic across the world, but heedless and headstrong as she was, their words fell on insolent ears.
“Love sprites are the lone stars in the grand scheme of love,” her mother would advise. Her copper eyes were watery and luminous as her wrinkled hands brushed Kira’s sunshine hair. “They spread so much of it that they never have any left for themselves.”
“Love isn’t for me, mom,” Kira would reply in whimsical nonchalance. “It’s a burden, a hindrance that weighs you down. I prefer to be free. Besides, it seems like more fun to stir up mischief and guide others to a path that they wouldn’t otherwise find for themselves.”
Her mother sighed, “The day may come when you will hunger for change, for a companion to walk with you on this earth.”
At the time, Kira balked. Her mother was serious as an oracle and dire as a soothsayer reciting her own doom, all too heavy hearted for a flamboyant free spirit. For Kira life was all perchance and love was a distant and flighty notion not worthy of her own attention. She would spin it out for others but divert it from herself.
As she walked the final steps up the steep slope of fallen rock, Kira remembered her mother’s words, spoken so long ago, and felt a flash of reminiscence sugared in bittersweet regret. Words once thrown away like pebbles skipped on water were now pearls of wisdom that shone their true brilliance over time.
She closed the cottage door behind her, wood brushing against sod and spindly grass. Slumping into an old, oversized arm chair, Kira pondered which tea to brew for the evening reverie. She had too much work to do and too many couples to unite to revert back to her childish memories.
An impetuous knock a few seconds later sent her instantly to her feet.
Kira stumbled to the door, shawl dragging behind her bare, sand dusted heels, trailing sea salt and dried seaweed. Had the delivery boy arrived already? She thought back to the order she placed in town, but it was only yesterday that she’d sent for the twined cages that caught fiddler crabs and starfish in the depths of the sea.
She peered through the hole in the knotted woodwork and spied the blue and white trim of a uniformed hat. This was no slight delivery boy.
As if he felt her presence behind the door, the man announced, “I wish to speak with Kira Flutter.”
Kira caught a glimpse of golden hair and a sun tanned cheek, recently shaved. He seemed non-threatening, so she opened the door.
“This is she.”
A young man stood in front of her in sailor’s garb. He had deep set eyes, blue as the waves of the deep sea on a sunny day, a straight nose, and a high brow. His face brightened and his eyebrows lifted in surprise.
