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continued. “When your mother abandoned her powers, it was expected that she would have an entirely human child, with no fairy traits.”
    Rose felt a slight twinge in her tummy. Expected that she would have. Was he saying that she had fairy traits?
    Dwennon nodded in response to her unspoken question. “I simply assumed that your gifts from the fairies had made you so at ease with nature, with the animals. It’s as if you can hear them speak as well as any wood fairy. And I assumed your dreams sight was simply the expression of the gift I’d offered you.”
    “But you think differently now, Uncle?”
    Dwennon nodded. “I think so,” he admitted. “When you were little and we believed you to be human, without fairy skill, there seemed no need to tell you the lore of our realm. But it seems perhaps it is time we tell you now.”
    Rose leaned in, nodding for him to continue.
    “Most mortals believe fairies are born that way, imbued with magical powers. And for all intents and purposes, you could say they are. But the truth is all fairy powers are borne from the Sacred Pool. It is a mystical object, with sentient qualities. We know only that all our powers are derived from it. When a fairy babe is born, the Sacred Pool can sense its soul, and within a few days it sends the babe its powers. When Blissa returned her powers and renounced claim on them for her heirs, we thought you would receive none.”
    Dwennon turned and looked at Hilly for a moment, as if communicating some secret message. “But something apparently stirred, and the Pool bestowed powers upon you.”
    Rose put a hand to her chin. “I don’t understand. What makes you think I have any fairy powers, or why the Sacred Pool would feel I was worthy?”
    “You are your mother’s daughter, so human or fairy, that makes you worthy. And even if you were not the daughter of a fairy princess, your spirit is kind and gentle. The Pool has, on occasion, elevated a human to fairy. But that is rare indeed. As to how we know, it is a recent occurrence that showed us. About a week ago, you were in your room sleeping when Hilly heard a thud and ran to check on you.”
    Rose turned toward Hilly.
    “You were fine,” Hilly said brightly, but then her face darkened at the memory. “But there was a small cyclone in your room, wind spinning in a circle. It had picked up a few things and knocked them aside. At first I worried it was coming from somewhere else, but then I noticed the frown on your face. Something of your dream was tormenting you, perhaps a bad dream. So I whispered your name. I said, ‘Rose, shh, dear. Everything will be alright.’ Your frown faded, and as it did, the little cyclone died away. You were asleep, but it was clear you were causing it.”
    “We suspect your gift is similar to your grandfather’s, King Roldan. He was an elemental fairy, meaning he had power over one of the four elements: earth, wind, fire, or water. His was water. Yours appears to be the wind.”
    The wind. Power over the wind. That had to be a mistake. It was absurd. “I’ve never been able to control the wind. Ever.”
    “Fairy powers tend to show young in fairies, but in Halflings, they emerge later. It’s as if the Sacred Pool must decide a Halfling’s worth before doling them out.”
    “Halfling,” Rose repeated. “I thought you said fairies and humans weren’t allowed to mate.”
    “It’s always been frowned upon,” Dwennon replied. “But it was not made an unimpeachable rule until your grandfather decreed it. That was the year we were attacked by a human army. That is when Roldan explicitly forbid the mating of fairies and humans.”
    “I don’t understand,” Rose said. “What does a human attack have to do with fairies and humans mating?”
    “Your grandfather’s sister, Radella,” Dwennon said. “She had fallen in love with the human king and had hoped to be his mate, but he had tricked her to learn secrets of the fairy realm and to strengthen