The following morning Zell was up before the sun, and found the maids already hard at work.
“Good morning Master Zell.” Elin greeted with a curtsy. “I’ll prepare some tea right away.”
“Good morning Ms. Elin. Actually would you gather your sisters in the dining room for me, please?” Zell asked, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“Of course!” She said before hurrying to find her sisters.
Minutes later they were all standing in the dining room and none of them could help feeling nervous. Every day they worried that the wonderful life they had somehow been blessed with would come crashing down.
Zell came in a few minutes later carrying a steaming kettle and a tray of buttered toast.
“Oh sorry please sit down. I didn’t mean to leave you standing in here!” Zell said, embarrassed.
“Is everything alright?” Ms. Sira asked, sliding uneasily into one of the chairs as her sisters did the same on either side of her.
“Absolutely, Ms. Sira.” Zell said, serving each sister a cup of hot tea and a slice of toast. “I just wanted to get you all together to say thank you for all of your hard work. You’ve been so amazing, and your effort has made this big strange building feel like home. My sister and I are going back to the academy tomorrow, and before that happens I want you three to have a relaxing day with no work or worries. I can’t hold a candle to you but I’ll do my best so leave everything to me!”
The sisters looked to each other with stunned faces. Such a thing as the master of a house insisting that his maids idle away a whole day while he toiled in their place was utter insanity in their minds.
“Is that really okay?” Turya asked sheepishly. “If any other nobles were to hear of something like this your reputation would be damaged.”
Zell’s sudden laugh made them flinch slightly. He quickly regained control and wiped his eyes.
“I’m sorry Ms. Turya, I don’t mean to laugh at your concerns. The day I start basing my choices on what the nobles might think, I want you to find the heaviest frying pan in the kitchen and hit me as hard as you can in the head with it.” Zell said seriously.
The elf sisters couldn’t stifle their own giggles at his remark and suddenly found themselves truly relaxing for the first time in years. They enjoyed their tea and chatted with one another, smiling genuine smiles so wide that it made the muscles in their faces sore from the unfamiliar effort.
Some time later as the sun was beginning to rise, Cora shuffled down the upstairs hallway. The smell of bacon, spices, and fragrant tea filled the house which meant Zell was cooking. She stopped and peeked in on the twins in the guest room. They were stirring as well. Nin was already standing beside the bed in her nightgown reaching for the ceiling in a mighty stretch. Rin was still sitting in bed, holding a feather pillow against her chest as she yawned.
“Morning!” Cora said cheerily. “I’ll be back with some hot water for your basin.”
“Good morning, thanks Cora.” They replied in unison. It seemed they acted more like twins before they were fully awake.
As she reached the top of the stairs, she found Zell walking up carrying two large clay pitchers of hot water.
“I can take those.” Cora said, holding out her hands. “Trying to catch them changing?” She teased him with a wink and smile.
“Ugh. What kind of question is that? Of course that’s what I’m doing! Breakfast is almost done.” Zell answered, finally getting used to his sister’s returned sass.
“Should I wake mom and dad?” Cora asked Zell as he turned back toward the kitchen.
“I say let them sleep.” He answered after a moment’s thought.
Later, a refreshed Nin and Rin joined Cora and the maids at the breakfast table just as Zell began bringing out platters from the kitchen loaded with delicious smelling food.
Vira bounced around inside of Cora’s mind like an excited puppy at the sight and smell of it. There was scrambled eggs, bacon, fried garlic potatoes, fresh biscuits, and jam made from leftover berry tart filling. It was simple fare but beautifully seasoned and cooked perfectly.
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“You were gonna let us sleep through Zell’s cooking!?” Coralia cried in mock dismay from the doorway, still in her fluffy white robe with her long frazzled hair tied up in a bun.
“I thought you might need extra sleep after trying to drink with Teacher.” Zell answered with a chuckle, pulling out a chair for her.
“Trying!?” Coralia echoed indignantly. “I’ll have you know I did just fine and barely feel like death at all this morning!”
“She was sick twice before she came down.” Arlim snickered as he followed her. Coralia puffed her cheeks and glared at him but she couldn’t even hold onto pretend anger for more than a moment.
“The mead is so sweet that I forgot how strong it was. Also Kel’s mugs might look normal for his giant paw but a normal person could swim in one.” She put her palms on her temples as she groaned. “Arlim, invent a potion that cures hangovers. Your wife commands it.”
“That would be called water, my love. And someone unfortunately beat me to inventing it.” He answered easily.
“Take him away guards! He can reflect on his insolence in the dungeons.” Coralia joked as she waved in Arlim’s direction.
Everyone was now laughing at the comical pair. Coralia sipped some hot tea and munched a biscuit while Arlim took a seat next to her. They made a cute couple even now and Zell delighted in seeing them together.
“What is everyone planning for the last day before the academy’s second official start of the year?” Arlim asked when the chuckling finally faded.
“I’m giving the maids a day off so I’ll be helping out around here.” Zell answered first.
“I’m going to practice magic.” Cora said, struggling with her last few bites of breakfast. Vira was cheering her on internally to eat more even though she was beyond full.
“We’re visiting our seamstress, and making sure everything is in order for tomorrow.” Nin said.
“What about you two?” Zell asked his parents.
“I’m heading back to the village to be ready for our shipments of supplies.” Coralia answered him between sips and bites.
“I’ll be meeting with an associate to organize the safe return of young Valis, then it’s off to the merchants’ guild to negotiate trade contracts between the village and the kingdom.” Arlim explained, tossing an arm around Coralia’s strong shoulders.
Shortly after breakfast, everyone went their separate ways. Zell walked the twins home and stopped by a butcher’s stall on his way back to negotiate regular deliveries of whole carcasses for Goggles. The butcher thanked Zell warmly, and assured him the delivery schedule was no problem. Zell felt better with that taken care of and was just about to leave the market district when something caught his eye.
It was a new vendor in town, a large barrel chested and barrel bellied man that could not have been more unique in appearance than any other person Zell had ever met. While most of the people of Vinia favored somber clothes and hairstyles, this person wore his bright yellow hair in foot long spikes with some shiny adhesive, and could shame the sun with his bright clothing. Even from a distance Zell could see his face had a vaguely wild appearance that Zell found fascinating.
His puffy sleeved shirt was white and dyed with multicolored stars and crescent moon shapes. His leather pants were colored bright red on one leg and yellow on the other leg, and held up with a pair of green suspenders decorated with dozens of flashy pins and medals. Large amethyst studs in his ears and a gold ring in one nostril completed the outrageous appearance and it took Zell a long time to discern what the man might even be selling. He couldn’t help but take a step in the merchant’s direction.
He smiled widely when he realized what was on display. Colorful, round, and fluffy stuffed animals made from wool with expertly painted button eyes that made them intensely cute were on display by the score. Zell found them irresistible.
“These are great! Did you make them?” He asked the man as he studied them intently.
“Eh? You really think so? No one has even come up to me since I set up.” The man replied with a thick accent and a deep smooth voice. “Aye I made each one myself!”
“That’s amazing. I wonder why no one is buying them though...” Zell looked around and noticed that people were eyeing him with disdain and giving the stall a wide berth. He turned back and looked more closely at the vendor and his eyes widened This man wasn’t human at all. His green eyes had slits for pupils like a cat, and there were huge canines in his welcoming smile . “Oh, you’re...?”
“I’m a leonid, well a half blood anyways.” The man answered proudly. “We’re from way south past the jungle in the Black Plains.”
“That’s amazing, I’ve never met a leonid!” Zell was suddenly overcome with excitement. “Will you be here for awhile? I’d like to learn more about you and the Black Plains but I’m busy today.”
“Unfortunately if I can’t sell any of these toys here, I’ll have to move on after today.” The leonid lamented.
“Alrighty, I’ll take the wolf, three bears, two ducks, and three bunnies with me and then would you mind delivering the rest to the orphanage?”
“Oh right, so that’ll be one silver and ten copper and... wait, what do you mean ‘the rest’?” The vendor’s face screwed up in confusion as he asked.
“All of these here, I’d like to buy them all and have them taken to the kids at Ms. Merissa’s orphanage.”
“That’ll be nearly fifty silver! Are you sure you can afford that?” The exasperated man asked, not daring to believe in such great fortune.
Zell held out his hand as if to shake hands. The leonid reached out still confused, and his eyes widened further when Zell’s hand held a coin. The leonid blanched nearly white when he saw that it was gold.
“Whatever is left over should cover the cost of delivery, correct?”
“What is your name, young sir?” The vendor bowed low as he asked.
“There’s no need for that! I’m Zell Balfonse. Thanks for making these, everyone’s gonna love them!” He said, squeezing the stuffed wolf.
“I’m Frauge, but everyone says Froggy and I’m used to it.” The leonid said. “You have a deal, and if you ever need a skilled crafter I’m your man. I love cute things and toys the most, but I can make almost anything!” Frauge thumped a fist to his chest as he identified himself.
Zell nodded, happy to meet such an interesting person and was still smiling as he carried the eight stuffed animals back home with him in a large linen sack.
He arrived back home and opened the front door, calling out as he did so. “Ms. Sira, Ms. Elin, Ms. Turya! Can you come out here?”
“Be right there Master Zell!”
“Right away Master Zell!”
“Certainly Master Zell!”
Each ‘Master’ made Zell cringe inside but the maids insisted on the title so he simply sighed it away. The maids each came from different areas.
“Hey, you all weren’t working were you?” Zell asked suspiciously.
“Not at all I was just making the beds!” Turya answered happily.
“I wasn’t either I was just folding some linens.” Elin agreed.
“Yep just doing a bit of dusting, really taking it easy like you said!” Sira added, nodding along with the others.
“That’s ALL work!” Zell groaned. “Okay for the rest of the day pretend you’re a lazy noble. I know you know what that looks like. Anyways the reason I called you out here was so you could each pick out one of these.” He opened the bag full of stuffed animals and the elves’ eyes all sparkled with wonder.
“We can really have one!?” Turya was already crying.
“Aye and pick one for your son too!” Zell said, looking at Sira.
The sisters inspected each stuffed animal as though they were choosing a mate for life. Sira chose a bunny for herself and a bear for her son. Turya immediately fell in love with a duckling and Elin agonized between a bear and bunny for a long while before finally choosing the bunny.
Zell watched them and marveled at how much impact the simple gift was having. They all at once turned to him and for once their prim and proper exterior melted and they buried him in hugs and tears. Zell extracted himself after a few moments and walked upstairs to Cora’s room. He gently set a stuffed bear on the floor in front of her door and then put the remaining ones in his room.
He spent the rest of the day waiting on the maids and cleaning the estate just as promised.