I don't believe in dragons, and I don't believe in fair---

"There weren't always dragons in the valley.

Which wasn't great, if you were hunting dragons, but was lovely for the town of New Lyptak. The Queen of the Dragons would come down into the valley every ten years to nest, and it would destroy the entire year's worth of farming done in the rich valley soil.

Traditionally ,the Queen of the Dragons stayed out of the village and left them well enough alone. She lived in a cave on the side of the highest mountain, and ate the wild and grazing goats, bears, and other mammals that live in godforsaken places like mountain tops. In her lair, as in all dragon lairs, there was a great wealth of treasure which did not make for nice nesting material despite the rumors you've heard about dragons. The spring wheat crop, however, nicely cradled the dragon's eggs and then dried and burned sufficiently to incubate them in the fall before they hatched.

This left the Queen of the Dragon's treasure unguarded by her ferocious self for nearly 5 months, and this year was a dragon year. There were a great many things rumored to be in the Queen Dragon's collection that an adventurer could desire, but none more precious and mysterious than the Amethyst Lodestone, which was infused with the power of one of the Queen's very own cousins. It was said she had protected it from man and magic alike for centuries, hidden in the deepest part of her cave, protected by more than just her own might.

That was, if one was brave enough to venture into the mountains, sneaking past the dragon nesting in the valley. And brave or stupid enough to travel through the forest with its varying paths, and collection of creatures, before traversing the rock and snow of the treacherous mountainside where more than goats and bears bothered unsuspecting travelers.

As we last left our happy band of misfits, they sat, trying to plan while plied with ale and mead, in a tavern in the town of New Lyptack on the edge of the valley," the crack of Doug, the Dungeon Master's 2nd beer can punctuated the story, to the scattered giggles across the zoom meeting.

Doug's voice had a smooth tenor that Kenna could have sworn belonged on an audio book or at least a podcast. Even coming out of her tinny laptop speakers, it lulled her into the world of the game.

They'd been playing Dungeons and Dragons for the last year on Zoom as the pandemic loomed around them and left the majority of their group unemployed. They still played at night, 7pm, to accommodate the two of them who managed to have jobs, but it was also Tuesday, to give some of them meaning in their lives.

Kenna cracked another PBR, bought with the sweet sweet unemployment money she finally qualified for. It was only her 2nd beer and the game had just started. She doubted she'd make it through all 12 like last week but she was glad to have them in the mini fridge in her room regardless. Tonight was their 2nd session of this game, having barely got through everyone's character creation the week before. Doug did not run his game in real time, so they were simply returning to where they had left off.

Her four roommates loomed variously outside in the common areas of the apartment and their rooms with open doors. It wasn't that she didn't like them or wouldn't have been glad to share the small bounty , but Kenna was glad to have her private time at least once a week and to only fund her own drinking habit.

Doug continued to describe the tavern and place the characters in it while Kenna listened with one ear and variously added to her running to do list in her head. The list itself was sparse.

Fold laundry, buy groceries, plan what to cook for family meal before that, mail return book to the library that she didn't think she was going to read, stop looking at dogs to adopt on the internet, allow her best friend Hailey to set up an online dating profile for her since she wouldn't quit going on about it, venmo Brian for the rent/internet/power.

Before the pandemic the list would be teaming with other work: various invoices to send, schedules to update, bills to worry about and shuffle, friends to catch up with in real life, bars to adventure to, dates to go on, hot yoga, and biking, and camping trips, and traveling.

Maybe she would bike down to Central Park tomorrow and read her book there, that was a big adventure out of Harlem in these pandemic days. Oh, and the pizza box from Saturday should probably finally leave the top of the bookshelf before it started to smell.

The more she listened to the prompts the more winding the travel of the mission seemed. Kenna decided she wanted some guidance and requested her first roll. With this first turn she chose to cast a spell to conjure a tiny navigational fairy that would stay with her throughout the game or until dismissed. Being granted permission, checking she had an available spell slot and all of the correct components, and rolling the correct amount on the rolladie.net dice, Kenna sat up with great importance.

She began to read the words she'd looked up on the internet and tinkered with to make it more realistic, "By the Elements and Universal light, I call to thee send me your might, open all doors and watch over me, may roads clear and paths be shown by the fairy..."

And while waving her arms dramatically, spilled her water glass all over her keyboard, onto the written page, and had it dribble down her lap as she tried to continue to read without interrupting herself with an obscenity.

"May the sprite show me good direction and help me escape evil detection. I conjure you, my fairy guide, to join me on this wicked ride. As I will it, so shall it be. "

Finished, she muted her feed and turned off the video, while Doug decided the consequences of her turn and the other players discussed the next step in the mission.

"Fuck," Kenna grabbed the crappy take-out napkins hanging out in the corner of the cluttered desk and tried to blot the keyboard first without accidentally pressing any keys and then the paper. The paper was done for, the words smudged beyond readability, and she crumpled it and threw it into the already brimming garbage can below her. While blotting herself and trying to listen, Kenna thanked herself for at least not spilling the beer sitting safely behind the keyboard. She then cautiously moved the beer to the top of the low bookshelf next to her along with the empty water glass, she couldn't afford to replace this computer right now or waste the beer. She used the napkins to dry her hands, twisting them around her grandmother's ring to get the water underneath, and tossed those too.

Everything now back in working order, if a little damp and frustrated, Kenna turned her camera back on but left her microphone still muted. Her roommates started playing some movie loudly in the living room and she didn't want the water sound interrupting everyone's game play. Were they watching "Jaws"? Or maybe "The Shape of Water"? She tried to put it out of her head.

"Uh, Kenna?" the Claric who's turn it was stopped Doug's narration. Kenna quickly checked again to see that she was muted, she was but unmuted to say, "Yeah?"

"Is your house flooding? What's going on with your door?"

"What?"

Kenna turned. Water was pouring into her room from under the closed door, and was starting to sneak up the sides.

"Umm, I've got to go," Kenna said hastily, "Sorry guys" and quickly closed the zoom game as her anger with her roommates mounted. She swiveled her chair and began to march toward the door.

The water wasn't just coming from there it seemed, it was leaking from under all the walls. What the fuck could they have done? Kenna tried to simmer her anger, Turned on every damn faucet in the house and clogged every drain? Did someone finally allow Tucker to get the stupid inflatable hot tub he'd been wanting to put in the living room?

She tugged at the door but it wouldn't budge, the water was now around her ankles but at this rate would be at her knees in no time. She braced her foot against the door frame and tugged hard at the door handle. The cheap door bowed, allowing a little more water to gush around the sides, but did not open.

"Guys?!", Kenna shouted and knocked on her door. She'd have to worry soon about the water getting to the height of the outlets, "Guys! What the fuck is with all this water?!"

She pulled again and knocked, and shouted a few more obscenities at the door until she heard, over the rushing, a small polite cough for attention behind her.

Wheeling about so quickly as to almost slip on a soggy sock drowned under now at least 7 inches of water, Kenna turned. And saw someone sitting on the edge of her bed.

"This is my fault, I'm afraid," the person who had appeared in her room said, trying to surreptitiously dip a bare toe in the dirty soup that was her floor and avoiding meeting Kenna's startled gaze.

Kenna slunk to the floor, despite the wet, her butt splashing as she slipped toward the end of her descent.

"I'm dreaming" she closed her eyes and spoke to herself in the calmest voice she could manage,"This is just a bad dream, I knew the melatonin was making me feel more tired. It's just vivid and bad and maybe I've even wet the bed," she conceded. Peaking one eye open to the water on surging around her thighs and splashing her hand down in into it.

"You're not," the person on the end of her bed was not reassuring or cautious, just matter of fact, "And I don't really have time for you to think so, so if we could get a clean glass of water in here before more damage is done..."

"I can't get out," Kenna's eyes popped open. She was arguing with a being no larger than a 4 year old who looked 40 sitting on the edge of her bed. They were surely a figment of her imagination, but Kenna couldn't help but argue.

"The door is locked," the person said matter of factly, "You're just not thinking logically. I've seen humans do this, I believe you're simply suffering from the effects of adrenaline. If you get a glass of water it will end soon, otherwise I believe the entire room will fill."

"Can't I just use this to fill the glass on the shelf?" Kenna gestured to the water that was now up to her chest where she sat. She stood up and fetched the glass, keeping as far away from the miniature person as she could and sloshing as she went.

"Ugh, I think not," the person peered down into the water now level with the edge of the bed, "It's disgusting."

It did seem as though all the dirt on Kenna's floor, plus dirty laundry, the contents of the trash can, had turned the water into a warm and smelly soup that continued to rise.

She went to the door, and found it was locked. Well, this dream at least has logic, she thought and with some difficulty of water pressure managed to pull it open. Strangely the hallway was completely dry, and the water filling Kenna's room remained on her side of the door. Refusing to deal with the lack of logic and oddness of this image, Kenna shut the door as though to guard against it seeping out anyway. Leaving soaking footprints, she went down the hall to the kitchen where she filled the glass from the Brita in the fridge.

She paused. There was a mysterious tiny person in her room, she was soaked but there wasn't any water in the kitchen besides what had run off her clothes. Her room was flooded with water and probably all her electronics were fried. Not to mention all the books on her lower shelves were probably unsalvageable. This does not feel like a very vivid dream. She clutched the chair at the kitchen table with one hand, feeling the familiar splintering wood and peeling finish under her water-logged fingers. The kitchen was as she remembered it from this afternoon, Allen's dishes still in the sink, too many mugs in the drying rack, two coffee makers next to the fridge to service a house of 5 caffeine addicts.

Didn't Hailey say she had some drugs she had wanted to try last time she was here? Could Kenna have accidentally taken some and not known?

"Not drugs either," said a voice just over her shoulder, causing her to jump and spill half the water. "I am sorry about your room, I need the water element in a vessel to keep me tethered to you until we formally commence and since you spilled the water glass in the ritual..."

The tiny person was now sitting on the kitchen counter, slouched and swinging their bare feet over the edge. They looked happier about being away from the smelly water in Kenna's room and the fact that Kenna was actually looking at them.

"Then what exactly is happening?" Kenna demanded, rounding on the tiny person and trying to look as menacing a 5'4" woman could.

The person sat up straight at this, and drew a folded paper out of thin air.

"I, Alex, the water fairy, have been summoned by you Kenna Bailey, Scorpio Rising, of Haarlem of Nieuw Amsterdam, on Tuesday June 23rd, in the first year of the great purge, 2020 of the human understanding, with a spell on conjuring for assisting with navigation. You are tasked with saving the race of humans from the plight from the air fairies, as has been foretold by Prophecy Number 577 in the 3rd book of Human Elemental Prophecies by Julia Odharz published 1302 of the fairy understanding," the tiny person read proudly and refolded the paper, "I must say, it's a great honor, though the timing was a little tricky to get right. Really we didn't think you'd conjure anyone at all, which is probably why I got this post instead of one of the American Queen's favorites. All the favorites get the prophecies that are likely to come true, much fewer of those in the 2020s than there were in the 1740s. But since you got almost all of it technically right, I'm sure I can fudge the paperwork a little bit..."

"I'm sorry, WHAT?"