LILJA’S NEW WATERFALL

Lilja tucked in her wings and dove into the waterfall. The water fell with her, adding speed and pushing her deeper towards the bottom. Her fingers graced the branch before she had to swim to the surface, she almost made it this time.

Floating, she let the stream carry her around as she evened out her breathing and tried to come up with a new plan. That stupid branch was blocking the crab in its den and she had the get it out. No matter how many times she dove, her tiny body couldn’t fight the waterfall’s current enough to get to the bottom.

Getting up, Lilja shook her wings dry and took flight again. Her new waterfall was beautiful, but much higher than her previous posting, and she hadn’t yet learned all the tricks to work around that.

She hovered over the edge, calculating the angles, when a flashing scale caught her attention. That’s it! Lilja flew lower and sized up the grayling lazily, swimming against the current. Young, probably looking for a new pond for himself, perfect for her needs. Lilja dove again.

It didn’t take much convincing for the grayling to agree. Lilja wrapped herself around its tail, and with a few powerful slashes, they were airborne. The grayling plummeted through the water and easily swam to the bottom. Holding her breath, Lilja tapped its sides to guide them to the branch.

She expected the grayling just to drop her off, but when she began to tuck and pull the branch free, the grayling helped. Slowly, the branch gave way just enough to free the crab, and Lilja let go. The grayling followed her to the surface and worriedly circled around her until she recovered enough to reassure it.

The sun warmed her wings as she took flight and Lilja hummed a tune with her waterfall. The brook babbled happily when she flew over the surface, her fingertips barely touching the surface. Laughing, she spun in the air before riding the rapids down just for her pleasure. The grayling greeted her at the bottom, and Lilja smiled. Everything would be fine, she could feel it in her fairy wings.