Bubbles and Troubles by Bebe Balocca

the water and mud once every day, or else our lives come to a rapid and painful end.”
    Carmen spun on Brock, spitting venom. “Are you telling me that you changed me—changed my life —without even discussing it with me? Don’t you think I ought to have been involved in the decision, Brock?”
    “What in the hell were you thinking?” Lowell thundered. “It’s not up to you, Brock. This is our stronghold, our safe place, and no mortals may ever enter it. Father has kept us safe and set apart for over two hundred years.”
    “Ah, it’s all starting to make sense now,” Carmen seethed. She pointed an accusing finger at Brock, whose feathery, ash-grey hair stood wildly on end. “You came to these woods when you were just seven years old, Brock. Sure, you’ve lived for over two hundred years, and, what’s that you said? Age means nothing to you?” She laughed mercilessly. “Age means nothing to you because you are still a child , Brock. You want what you want, and fuck your family and fuck me if we happen to want something different. You believe you know best and you don’t give a shit what anyone else feels.”
    Gavin raised one hand and silence fell in the candlelit cavern. His face was as cold and stony as the rock walls above the rushing underground stream. “No one can say that I do not love my children,” Gavin said calmly. “I have hewn a home for them in these woods and devoted myself to their safety. Brock, you have violated the trust I have placed in you. By bringing this woman to our home and then permitting her to bathe in this place, you have forever broken the bond between us.”
    The colour drained from Brock’s caramel-brown skin until he looked as pale as a glass of skim milk.
    “You are banished, Brock. You are no longer welcome in my home or in these bathing caverns. Be gone.”
    Brock’s jaw worked and cords of strained tendons stood out on his mud-spattered neck. “It’s a mistake, Father,” he argued. “You need me to save the woods, and you need Carmen, too.”
    Gavin took one menacing step towards the mudbath. “Get out,” he ordered.
    Slowly, Brock rose. Carmen caught a glimpse of his finely sculpted body, slickened with mud, before he splashed into the underground stream. Briskly, he scrubbed the silt from his nude body and climbed out on the rock bank of the stream. Korbin handed him a pair of rough grey wool trousers, a long-sleeved thermal shirt, and a pair of brown leather boots. After dressing hurriedly, Brock paused to look at his siblings and father.
    “Goodbye, then, family. I wish it hadn’t come to this.” Only Korbin looked sympathetic. Paloma, Lowell and Gavin stared coldly back at him. “And good luck, Carmen. I never meant to hurt or offend you. I just believed that it would be easier to make you one of us first and explain it all later.” He chuckled sadly. “Maybe I am just a child, after all.”
    He took a deep breath and exited the cavern.
    Carmen, still soaking in the warm mud bath and seething about Brock’s actions, waited for one of the others to speak. The silence seemed to amplify until it became unbearable. “So, what now?” she asked at last.
    Gavin shook his head. “You cannot leave, that’s for certain. Not now. Your future is tied forever to Fair Woods and to the Living Waters. To live elsewhere would mean death. True, you are new to magic and young in mortal years. You do not require a daily visit to the waters as we do now, but you must still bathe here every few days, or else your life will ebb from you as the traces of Healing Waters and Living Earth fade away. We will teach you our ways and make a home for you here. We will feed you and clothe you and teach you our ways.” He gritted his teeth. “Perhaps one day you will even learn to like it here. Regardless, you must stay. Brock has made that decision for you and for all of us.” He turned and began to walk towards the cavern’s exit.
    “Wait a minute, Gavin,” Carmen