Dearest Lore Keepers,

Even with an extra day, February flew by! As I prepare for travel to a ministry conference this month and other spring events (Renaissance Festival, anyone?) I’m reminded of the world coming to life after a long winter. Flowers bloom, wildlife awakens, and the weather warms. So it often is with my soul after a time of hibernation. But like the earth around me, I’m alive with energy lately—much like the hummingbirds who pay my porch a visit.

Book Spotlight

Would you change the past if you could?

In Lily’s Passage, Asken is no stranger to hardship. His whole life is one of being an outcast and striving to find where he belongs. Running once again from the demons that haunt his past, he finds himself far from home with more ghosts on his heels than he left with. But he soon realizes that the past has a way of coming back around, no matter how far he runs. And that just maybe his history plays a role in shaping his future.

Reading

I’m still working my way through Following Fate by M.A. Frick, which I talked about in my previous newsletter. The fact that I’ve had time for any reading the past month is a blessing!

Research

As I slowly work my way through drafting Holly’s Portent, things like archery techniques and the healing time for certain wounds have been in my search history this month. Just your average day in the life of a writer…

Updates

Lily’s Passage is 27% funded! March means I’m gearing up for a fundraising campaign launching in April, so be on the lookout for more information about how you can get involved.

Are you tired of waiting to read Lily’s Passage? If so, I have some good news! As part of my fundraising efforts, I’ll be offering a substantial excerpt of my book available for purchase over on my Etsy. Watch for the official launch, which will be coming straight to your inbox.

In other exciting news, I’ll be dropping an official introduction to my book on my socials in the next week or so. You can follow along on my various platforms:

• Facebook | Sydney Frusti – Author
• Instagram | @sydneyfrusti
• Pinterest | Sydney Frusti
• Etsy | Poppy & Myrrh
• TikTok | @sydneyfrusti → NEW! (I’m a little terrified of making videos, so we’ll see how this goes…)

Lore

I hadn’t eaten yet and my stomach rumbled at some delicious smell wafting from a shop’s open window. The sign above the door depicting a goat bounding over a fence swung in the breeze. I headed in that direction while counting out coins in my pocket. My money was running low. Time to start looking for work again.

The bell chimed when I pushed the door open. The shop was crowded, and I stretched to see over the many heads. It seemed like a popular place with the locals, based on the amount of working folk gathered there.

My stomach grumbled fiercely now, knowing food was imminent. I perused the selection of cheeses for sale. Goat cheese with prickly pear, sharp cheddar with almond, and gouda with hibiscus were among the more exotic options. Having made my choice, I tried to hail the shopkeeper above the clamor from a group of people packed in around a single round table.

A barrel-chested elf strode in from the back of the shop, cradling a parcel and adjusting his messy apron along the way. He made his way over to where I stood. His smile vanished and his back stiffened when he noticed me. “I’m sorry, sir, but we don’t serve your kind here.”

He wrapped up the bundle he had fetched from the back and took some coins from another patron.

“I have money. You would refuse service to a paying customer?” I said.

“Can’t be too careful these days.”  He turned his back to me and addressed the raucous table of four.

I should have been angry, but this sort of thing had happened to me enough that I was only disappointed. I had hoped that this far south the people would be a little less prejudiced, but it seemed the influence of the ambassadors had spread through town. I had turned to leave without causing a scene when another voice spoke up.

“If he has money, why shouldn’t he be served?” I turned to see Farrah receiving a wrapped parcel from the clerk. With her homespun dress and long braid, she had blended into the crowd until now.

“I would stay out of it if I were you, miss. It’s none of your business who I choose to serve and not,” the shopkeeper grumbled.

Her eyes flared as she opened her mouth to say more, but I cut in, “Good day, sir.”

I let the door thud behind me as I stepped out into the square. No sooner had I stepped into the sun than the bell tinkled again, and Farrah burst out in a huff.

“What on earth. How dare he!”

“Calm down.”

She turned an expression on me so fiery I could have boiled water near it. “Why didn’t you stick up for yourself? Is this how things are where you’re from?”

People were starting to stare, so I guided her to a more private location. I sat down on a stone bench, but she remained standing. I remained quiet, letting her calm down. After a few moments she seemed to relax a little and took the space next to me.

“Thank you for your kindness, but I’m not here to cause trouble,” I said. “I have business to attend to that won’t be helped by stirring things up with the townsfolk.”

She stared down at the plain brown paper on her lap. “But it was so unfair! You were perfectly polite and had money to pay with. Just because you look like a fairy, why shouldn’t he do business with you?”

I leaned my head back to rest on a tree and sighed. “You’ve never been outside of Odelia, have you?”

She shook her head.

“As much as you might feel that your life is boring, consider it a blessing. Other parts of the land aren’t so fortunate.”

She was silent for a moment. “What do you mean?”

How could I even begin to describe what was happening in the world to someone so sheltered? Images flashed through my mind—the ashes of dwellings burned along with their inhabitants, the sunken faces of hungry orphans, maimed soldiers bleeding out on the field.

With effort, I pulled myself back to the present. “What do you know about the war?”

Her brows came together. “It started decades ago when the fairies stole our princess. The king has been waging war on them to try and get her back, but no one has ever found her.”

I studied the wisps of hair that had escaped her headscarf, how her unassuming posture made her seem so small. Although she had just become a woman, she still looked like a girl, even by elven standards.

“Yes, that’s most of it,” I said. “But after nearly forty years of fighting, how do you think most elves feel about any fairies living in their midst?”

Understanding dawned on her face. “Oh.”

An uncomfortable feeling settled on me, hating that I had to be the one to open her eyes, but she was bound to find out soon enough. Her youth was refreshing, yet a small part of me wondered if others would try to take advantage of it.

But that wasn’t my battle to fight.

Intrigued? Walk alongside Asken and Farrah in Lily’s Passage, a story of discovery and the journey to find ourselves. Longer excerpt available for purchase coming soon!

As the wind blows,

Sydney Frusti