---
title: "Dancing on Fae Waters"
description: "A figure was dancing above the newly discovered pond. Her feet moved across the surface with grace, as if the flowing water was ice and she was a skater. Long…"
url: https://www.independentpress.com/article/dancing-on-fae-waters
date: 2026-09-27
categories: ["Fiction"]
author: "Dyani Palmer"
---

# Dancing on Fae Waters

![Maeve](https://images.ctfassets.net/ewtdlsoyixc1/2LtSubkIHZYaVGGUBN0iyv/0ebf4c603fbd1c044ea114e86ab9371f/b97c1337-bc7c-481d-838a-05907d9a0685.jpeg)

Her figure was dancing above the newly discovered pond. Her feet moved across the surface with grace, as if the flowing water was ice and she was a skater. Long hair swung around her as she twirled around and around the pond. Flowing sleeves followed each movement like wings prepared to take flight.

It was mesmerizing.

Violet stared, frozen in place at the tree line of the clearing. It was a scene out of a movie, one her twelve-year-old mind failed to grasp. Daylight shimmered over the water surface, making the scene otherworldly. She stood, watching silently as the dance came to a close and the figure came to a halt in the middle of the pond.

“I wasn’t expecting an audience today,” the figure said smoothly, tilting her head to stare at Violet with laughing eyes. “Are you lost, little traveler?”

Violet jolted from her awed stupor, and grinned at the staring woman. “That was amazing! You’re _on _the- How are you doing that? Who are you?”

The woman let out a chiming laugh, “Curious little thing, aren’t you?” she said almost to herself. “You may call me Maeve,” she said. She held out her hand and beckoned Violet to come closer, “Would you like to see how it’s done?”

Violet sucked in a breath and looked at the offering like it held the secrets to the universe. She had always loved adventures; oddities found in deep corners, off beaten paths on a hike. The best trips included the amazing, and she happened upon the grandest sight yet.

She stumbled closer to reach for the offered hand—

“Vi? Where’d you go?”

-all startled back down to Earth. A crunch of a twig behind her and the rustling of leaves meant Dealla was behind her- one of the only people who could keep up with her and the main reason for their long-lasting friendship.

The woman, Maeve, hummed like a song and lowered her hand. “Maybe another day.”

Violet frowned, “Can’t you stay and show both of us?”

“That’s not how it works,” Maeve said apologetically, “It’s only meant for those who find me.”

Violet grinned, at the thought of the discovery. “Another day then,” she agreed.

With a smile like sugar and between blinks, she was gone. Leaving only mist and rippling water behind. Violet greedily looked around for any sign of the mysterious woman, but there was nothing. She laughed and stepped to the edge of the pond. “What a day,” she murmured.

Dealla came stumbling out of the woods, pushing away the branch that was in her way. “You couldn’t pick a path that doesn’t bite back?” she complained the moment they made eye contact.

“Nope,” Violet grinned back, “This one led to greatness.”

“Greatness, huh?” Dealla asked as she walked up to stand beside her friend, “All I see is a pond.”

–

The paths Violet liked to hike were the ones deep in the woods on the edge of town. There were three clear paths that meandered through the forest, mostly used by tourists looking for an adventure. Violet knew those paths like the back of her hand and was bored of them by the age of eight. The fun began when she ignored the beaten paths and made her own way through the woods. New sights and sounds, flowers blooming and creeks burbling where they didn’t on the main paths. Her parents despaired over following her, to the point that they simply made sure Dealla, her friend but also four years older than Violet, always accompanied her on her hikes with instructions to return before sundown.

Violet acquiesced to Dealla’s supervision but never stopped pushing to explore and find new paths in the forest. It’s not like there was anything to worry about, the town they lived in had no crime to speak of. The only major crime Violet could remember was from a story Dealla told her to spook her, with a flashlight held under her face around the campfire.

Ten years ago, a girl had gone missing in the woods, and no one ever found her. No one knows where she went or who took her. The case went cold and nothing else was done. People worried the kidnappings would continue, but they never did. A little girl was gone and then nothing else happened. Eventually, reluctantly, the town went back to the same sleepy pace it always lived by.

With only a ghost story for a major crime, Violet was confident in her safety around town. There wasn’t anything to worry about, and the siren song of something new didn’t encourage caution. Violet could almost hear Maeve humming every time she stepped outside. She could see a figure dancing every time she was by a body of water.

For a week, these glimpses of a woman singing and dancing on water followed her. It only made the want to go back burn in her gut.

“You okay?” Dealla asked one day, when she picked Violet up from school. She usually didn’t, but her parents were working late. “You’re quieter than usual.”

“I’m fine,” Violet said distractedly, “I’m just thinking about my next adventure.”

Maeve’s humming got louder, the want and the need grew like a balloon in her chest and drowned out any response Dealla gave.

–

Violet snuck out the next chance she got, which was the ensuing weekend. Her room was closest to the patio doors, and her parents were heavy sleepers, not even stirring when she opened the doors a little too loudly. She grabbed her bike, which she had left in the backyard, and took off with an almost hysterical giggle.

Violet had never done this before, as much as she had pushed the boundaries her parents set. Sneaking out had never appealed to her before, not when she could accomplish the same results with her parents’ permission. 

But desire was too hard to ignore. It was an almost visceral need to go back, to watch that woman dance again and see if, only for a moment, Violet could dance like that too. She knew that Dealla would never agree to let her go alone, especially if she knew the whole story. For someone who enjoyed hiking off the beaten path with her, she could be quite cautious.

“There’s a difference between an adrenaline rush and actual danger,” she would always say. Violet never disagreed but could never remember those words when the unknown was within her grasp. She could barely recall them now over the excited thrumming in her chest and the voice in her head urging her to go.

The bike ride to the forest path was long, but Violet was determined. She had done this ride before, and like the trails, she knew it like the back of her hand. Time didn’t scare her, nor did the ache of muscles from pedaling like a mad woman for forty-five minutes to get there as fast as possible. She wouldn’t let her chance at this new adventure slip through her hands. She pushed her way through the winding, tree covered path, and barely paid attention to the sights she would normally hold so dear. She snapped a branch clean off the tree and tossed it aside to clear her path forward.

At last, she reached her destination. And, with luck, Maeve was there dancing. Violet grinned, breath stolen once again at the sight of her dancing on water like gravity didn’t affect her.

“The little traveler is back,” Maeve noted with the same smile and tilted her head like a bird. Even her eyes watched with the intensity of a hawk. But a woman who dances in the woods was bound to be a little odd, so Violet moved closer.

“You said that you’d show me how to stand on water if I came back,” Violet burst out. 

Maeve hummed out a song in thought and smiled wolfishly, “Did I?”

“Yes.”

She twirled in place, eyes never leaving Violet. Again, she held out a hand in invitation. “Well, then. Come on, traveler, let’s have some fun.”

Violet grinned and let herself be pulled closer by the humming song coming from Maeve’s lips. Imagine how many things she could do if she could walk on water, how many places she could reach that were previously denied to her. She hungered for the power, and even more for the adventure. Without a second thought, she gripped Maeve’s hand. 

She pulled the young girl closer, and Violet’s breath hitched as her feet touched the water. They didn’t go through, balancing neatly on the rippling water.

“Amazing,” she whispered and laughed as Maeve spun her around the pond. 

“Of course it’s enchanting,” Maeve giggled like ringing chimes. It looked like she used blood to paint her lips red. Up close, Violet could see her eyes were so dark that the iris blended into the pupil. “Would you like to see more?”

Violet’s eyes went wide and grabbed Maeve’s other hand in excitement, “Yes, please! I want to see more!”

Maeve laughed, “I was hoping you would say that.”

Violet blinked.

Maeve’s hand curled around Violet’s like a claw, and for the first time, Violet knew what Dealla meant. She tried to pull her arm back but the grip was iron. Maeve’s eyes were dark and her grin was full of teeth. Her face, lovely and ethereal, contorted into something monstrous under the force of her glee. Like they were still dancing, Maeve dipped her, leaving Violet hanging with her head perilously close to the water.

“Come with me on another adventure, little traveler.”

Before she even had a chance to respond, fight, _scream_- she was pushed under the glistening water of the pond and water stole the air from her lungs.