waiting for him.
True enough, the older sprite was there, worry on her face. But that worry was quickly replaced with shock.
"My son!" the elder sprite gasped as she pulled her son into the light of the moon. She cupped Indri's face in her hands and turned his head this way and that. She gasped some more and laughed, and wept with what seemed to be joy. "I did not think it possible. I thought for certain it was just a myth. But look at you. You've proved it wrong!"
A puzzled Indri grasped her by the arms and shook her. "Mother, what are you saying?"
The older sprite, happiness on her face, pulled her son from the balcony, towards the little fishpond that was close by. The water there was still, and reflected the light coming from the full moon. It was shiny as a mirror, and would serve the purpose of one.
"Look into the water, my son, and see what you've become," said the sprite.
--
"Tilula?"
Tilula gasped when she saw her father just outside the gates, a torch in one hand and a shawl in the other. She rushed to him quickly, and hugged him around the neck. "Father!"
"Tilula!" Taruk carefully wrapped an arm about his daughter and held her close. Her sobs made his throat ache. Oh, how he missed this little girl of his. And how miserable she must have been to have no one else but that horrid creature with her. "Dear child, I thought I was never going to see you again."
"I missed you too, Father. How about the others? Mother and Brother?" Tilula asked.
"They're both worried sick about you." Taruk took his daughter's hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. "But now you're safe, and I think 'tis time we leave for home. And never come back to this place again."
Never come back?
The words chilled Tilula. She thought she was prepared to hear them. She thought she would be all right. But hearing her father say those words was like being stabbed with a cold knife. Her heart hurt, and her tears started flowing again.
"Father, I don't think it's possible. I want to visit again."
Taruk paid no attention to the tremble in her voice. He wanted to get home as quickly as possible and assure everyone they knew that Tilula was safe and sound. "You kid too much, Tilula. Come along. The sooner we go away from here, the better."
"Father, I can't!" Tilula screamed.
"What has gotten into you?" Taruk's eyes widened when he beheld the grief that was on his daughter's face. Had that monster - did he- "Tell me, Tilula, did that monster do anything to you?"
"Father-"
"Did he touch you?! I swear upon all the forces of nature that I will see the life bleed from his black heart IF IT'S THE LAST THING I-"
"Father, I love him!!!" Tilula yanked her hand from her father's grasp and retracted. Her tears ran unbidden down her cheeks now.
Taruk's eyes widened in disbelief. "What did you say?"
"Indri has only been kind to me. He makes me laugh, he makes me smile. He makes me feel special, like there's nobody else in the world but me. He loves me? and I love him." Tilula could not hide the emotions inside her. It was in her voice, in the way that her eyes pleaded for understanding. She clutched her hands above her heart, trying to soothe it as she confessed all that she felt for Indri.
"What sorcery has claimed you, child?"
"It's no sorcery, Father. It's love. It's the way you look into Mother's eyes and see forever." Tilula bowed in front of her father. She hoped and prayed that he would understand. "Please, let me stay with him. Let me be his."
"This is outrageous?"
"All my life I've asked for nothing. Give me what I desire, just this once. Give me over to his love."
Taruk could not speak. He could not believe it, and yet he knew that Tilula would tell no lies. She had a mind of her own, and knew what things made her happy. And if she could not be happy, she was miserable.
He put the torch on the ground and grasped Tilula's shoulders. He stood her upright and caressed her cheek with a loving palm. "You know your happiness means the world to me."
Tilula's face lit up. "Thank you, Father!"
"Very well then," Taruk picked up the torch again, and linked his arm with his daughter's. For his daughter's happiness he would face Indri once again. "I will escort you inside. And hopefully we can come to an agreement that won't shock me half to death."
--
Tilula, with her father at her side, entered the mansion. One by one the sprites peeked out of their hiding places. But Tilula did not mind them, for she was by now used to their curiosity. She was more concerned with finding Indri in the vast maze of his house.
"Indri? Indri, I'm back! You won't believe who I've brought along. Indri? Indri, where are you?"
Tilula went through one door after another, until she finally reached the very back of the house. There she spotted a figure standing at the window, one she was not familiar with.
"Tilula?" the stranger asked.
And a handsome stranger at that.
He was very tall, with skin as flawless as polished ivory and eyes as rich and blue as the night. And his hair, a black so deep that it rivaled the darkness of her eyes, cascaded from his head to rest on his broad shoulders. And the rich voice with which he said her name hypnotized like no other.
"Who - who are you?" Tilula asked. She removed her arm from her father's and came forward, so drawn was she by his beauty. So alien and yet so familiar.
The man came to her then. He reached for her hands and, with his long slender fingers, lifted them to his lips. "Tilula, don't you recognize me?"
Tilula gasped, and she swayed because of what she'd just discovered. She knew this man before her. She would always know who he was. It could not be? and yet you are-
"You are? Indri?" she whispered. "I can't believe it! Oh Indri, it really is you! And yet you look - you look-"
"Handsome?" Indri laughed and, from sheer joy, picked her up by the waist and spun her around. He was happy now that his figure had been transformed, but he was even happier to discover that Tilula had returned for him.
"Only the handsomest man I've ever seen," Tilula told him once she was back on the ground. "I tried leaving, I really did. But I couldn't go. I couldn't bear to leave you here all alone. Even if you hadn't changed, I would have stayed. Belive me. Believe this? I love you."
Indri smiled at her before turning to her father. "Taruk?"
"I must be catching up to my years. Either that, or I have gone mad." Taruk stepped forward so that he could look at the prince of frogs more closely.
"You have no madness, Taruk. It is I, Indri. The man who has forgiven all your misdeeds." Indri pulled Tilula to his side and put an arm around her shoulders. "The man who loves your daughter."
"This day is truly blessed with surprises," Taruk murmured in awe.
"It was a cure to my monstrosity that transformed me. Your daughter, whose virtue knows no bounds, cured me with her kind heart. In her presence, I was purified. In her love, I learned to love in return. My love is so much that I wish never to part from her. I wish to wed her."
Tilula gasped, and more tears sprang into her eyes. "Indri?"
"Would you want that, my love?"
"More than anything."
"With your father's consent, of course."
They both looked at Taruk.
The merchant saw the love and happiness on his daughters face. And he also saw, for the first time, a helplessness and vulnerability in Indri's expression.
How could he not have seen it? It had been there all this time, a desperate need to be loved and understood. He felt shame as he recalled what he'd done to the lad. He'd discriminated Indri, categorized him as a misfit of nature. But right now Indri was in front him, a man whose true character had finally been revealed. And his character was not one of spite or malice. It was one of good intentions and sincerity.
So with sincerity too, Taruk nodded his head in approval.
--
The sprites kept flitting about, carrying towels, bowls and hot water. Their
tinkling was getting on Indri's nerves so much so that he once again stood up from his seat and paced the length of his grand hall.
Behind him, Taruk and his friend roared in laughter. Both were holding mugs of wine and having a grand time while awaiting the child's birth.
"Chin up! Nothing bad is going to happen." Anif raised his mug and took a huge gulp. He was half-drunk already. Any more wine would make him keel over.
Taruk, on the other hand, had a serious light in his eyes even though he was grinning from ear to ear. "Our women are strong, capable creatures. No woman from our village has ever died of childbirth. My daughter will be no exception."
Indri sighed and sat on his cushion. He was on edge, ready to go to his wife's side any minute. "It's not just Tilula I'm worried about. It's also the fact that our child might be born-"
The hall's door banged against its hinges, and Tilula's younger brother dashed into the room. His face was flushed in a healthy pink, and there was an energy about him that displayed his well-being. "Is it here yet?!"
"No, lad. Keep playing outside the house." Taruk ruffled his son's head and quickly turned him about.
"Oh? all right."
They watched as the boy was met by his playmates - the younger sprites - at the door. The lad was now as dear to them as the mistress of the mansion, the forest princess.
"As I was saying," Indri continued, "our child might be born with the features of its grandfather."
"Would you love your child less if it was born with those features?" Taruk asked.
"Of course not. I'll love my child all the same."
"Then it does not matter! Although? I guess the old rule applies. Hope for the best, I