Talori mulled this over. "Fascinating! I did not realize there was so much variety among a single fae race. Do you know many other fairies?"
"Sure," Brennan said simply. "I've been more of a loner the past couple of centuries but fairies tend to stick together. I've bounced around from group to group. Most of them have been water fairies but there's the odd earth, fire, or wind fairy too.
"Wind fairies and water fairies date each other somewhat frequently so I've met plenty of those and they have earth fairies everywhere. Fire fairies typically live where it's hot so I've met less of those but I have met them.
"They're interesting fae. There's this clan of them living in Las Vegas and they're nearly as rowdy as the werewolf packs I've encountered. But fire fairies can also be found in Texas, Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Florida.
"There are a handful of them near where I live. I've run into them plenty of times. Let me tell you—do NOT go clubbing with those guys. I made the mistake of letting them drag me along once and the entire night was insane. I had to stay in bed for two days to recover while they were back to normal in a matter of hours."
"Clubbing?" Talori asked curiously.
Brennan shuddered at the memory. "It's this thing humans do. We went to a nightclub owned by some elves that usually caters to humans on spring break or other tourists. Humans typically go there to dance and drink alcohol but this particular one is popular with fae during the off-season because of who owns it.
"That night, the whole thing was rented out for fae only because it was some werewolf alpha's five hundredth birthday. The werewolves were crazier than the fire fairies but they were the ones who dragged me directly into the center of the mosh pit so my wings nearly got crushed."
Talori didn't end up understanding more than half of that so he had to explain what things like alcohol and mosh pits were. He didn't mind elaborating.
She was enthralled since merfolk didn't have anything like that. At least to her knowledge since she wasn't allowed to leave the coral palace. She was especially curious about dancing because it was different with feet than it was with tails. But when she asked for a demonstration, Brennan had to refuse.
"There's no music and I'm not much of a dancer even if there was."
"Aww," Talori said with a pout. "Now I will never get to see surface-dweller dancing."
Her disappointment hit him oddly hard but he would not budge. He wasn't about to dance without music for someone he only met yesterday.
Wow. It had really only been a day. It felt like much longer since it had been the most eventful day he had in decades. Probably the most eventful since the night he went clubbing and that was more than twenty years ago.
"Sorry," Brennan said lamely. "If it makes you feel any better, I can do some more flying tricks. I'm a lot better at those than dancing."
Why did he care if a mermaid he barely met was disappointed? Because she had been so interested in everything he had to say and had given him so much information he thought he would never have?
He was more relieved than he should have been when she perked up at his suggestion. He wasn't some trick pony. The last time he had done anything like this for someone else was back in Massachusetts in the 1950s when he was left in charge of babysitting a young wind fairy for a water and wind fairy couple he knew.
Talori wasn't a baby, though she was still relatively young for an adult fae. Harmony was more than twenty years younger than her.
She was just as delighted as that baby had been because she had never been exposed to flying before tonight. Brennan was slightly gratified that someone new to flying thought it was amazing.
It truly was. He wished he was able to do it more often. He could swim whenever he wanted, even if he had to conform to human standards to do so and not use his magic, but his flying had been restricted ever since they took over.
He missed being able to freely race through the trees or skim his toes over the stream as he raced his brother. Those were much simpler days.
Now his flight was primarily restricted to various forms of hovering. Which he resorted to as soon as he finished his tricks. He had to save some energy for the swim back so he sat cross-legged in midair about a foot above the water.
Talori's eyes were shining and she splashed with her tail in delight. "That was amazing, Brennan!"
"Thank you."
"How does it work? I assume your wings are doing most of it since you hardly moved your limbs at all."
"You're right. My wings bear up my weight. They move faster or slower depending on how fast I want to go or what sort of flying maneuver I'm trying to do," Brennan explained.
"And I truly cannot see them? I wish to understand how they work but that is difficult without having a proper point of reference."
Talori's expression was downcast again, as it had been when he refused to dance for her. It twisted his insides. He hadn't unglamoured his wings in front of another fae since the last time he had been at a fairy friend's house.
The only time he had ever showed a fae that wasn't a fairy his wings was when he got hurt and needed a witch's help patching it up when his family was killed. That had been horribly nerve-wracking and he had never wanted to do it again.
Fairies were very protective of their wings. A downed fairy was a dead fairy, after all.
But Talori had already saved his life when she wasn't obligated to. It wasn't like she would tell anyone about him anyway. She had to keep his existence a secret from her brother.