“I’m done here!” shouted one of the goblins, Korr, as he dropped a piece of wood on the ground right outside the broken window.
It was morning now, and Helena had allowed them both to stay in her house. They didn’t have a bed to sleep on, but neither of them complained, for as long as there was somewhere safe they could stay, they were content. Kala hardly slept, however, so there were dark-green bags under her eyes, and her movements were somewhat slower than Korr, who, as Kala dropped her pieces of wood, was running into the house to inform Helena of their work.
“Where is your sister?” Helena asked once the little goblin rushed in through the door.
“She’s almost done—hey!” he suddenly exclaimed after answering as he lifted his face, closed his eyes, and sniffed the air, “What is that? It smells very tasty!”
“It’s coffee,” Helena answered, lifting the steaming wooden mug from the table and then lowering to show Korr. “Would you like to try it? People usually have this to wake up, but I just like the taste.”
“Really? Then I think Kala should be the one drinking it,” he said and quickly turned around. “I’ll bring her in!”
Helene watched the little goblin running outside for a moment, before moving to the simple metal pot over the kitchen counter, where a red stone shot a flame upwards under it to heat it. She picked another couple of wooden mugs and poured a little of the remaining brown liquid into each one and then waited as Korr dragged Kala through the door.
“Here you go,” she said, handing one over to Korr, and then waiting for Kala to approach.
She didn’t move from her spot as Kala still carried a look of suspicion over Helena’s seeming friendliness. It didn’t take long for her to sniff the air, and then look at Korr, who was holding the mug with both hands and waiting for her to pick hers with an expectant look. Kala then looked at the mug being offered, her eyes set completely on its contents, and then turned to look up at Helena once more.
“What is that…? Are you giving us muddy water?” she asked, crossing her arms.
“This is coffee—though, some people do say it tastes like mud. I prefer mine to be softer, so it’s somewhat expensive to get… but I have my means,” Helena answered with a chuckle.
Kala inspected the drink for a few seconds longer, before being lightly shoved with an elbow from Korr. “Come on. I want to taste it already.”
“Okay,” Kala finally relented and reached for the mug with both hands.
Korr widely smiled and then turned his attention to his own mug, but still waited for Kala to move with him. It didn’t take long for the sister to take a deep breath and then lift the drink up; matched by Korr. They both drank a mouthful of the drink for a few seconds, after which Korr quickly lowered his drink and brought out his tongue with his face scrunched in.
“Bwagh!” he exclaimed, “This is too bitter!”
On the other hand, Kala kept drinking for a while longer, eventually emptying the mug, before lowering it with a face of satisfaction. “That was really tasty.”
“What?!” Korr replied, turning wide-eyed to look at her and the empty mug, before looking at Helena. “Did you give us different drinks?!”
Helena chuckled and just shook her head. “Not at all. Some people have a different taste for it, and it seems like Kala likes the bitterness of it.”
“Bwagh,” Korr brought out his tongue once more while shaking his head. “I think I’ll keep drinking water. Here.”
Korr turned to Kala and handed his own mug, before turning to look at Helena, and lowering his head slightly as a sign of respect, to finally leave the house with his tongue out. Helena just looked at the little goblin leave while chuckling, and then looked at Kala, who by now had drained her brother’s mug as well.
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“Thank you very much,” she answered, raising both mugs up to Helena. “You said it was expensive… we don’t know what that means for humans, but our elders said that we have to pay for things like these, so we’ll find a way to repay you for everything.”
“Ah, don’t worry about that,” Helena said, taking the mugs and putting them on the table. Kala lowered her head deeper than Korr and turned to leave; however, as she was about to cross the door, Helena called out to her: “Wait.”
“Hm?” Kala replied, freezing her movements and only turning her head to look back with a questioning gaze.
Helena didn’t answer and walked to the door as well. She looked at the sky, which by now had turned blue and bright. She then turned to look around at the woods, seemingly looking for something, before finally settling her eyes on the little goblin that was vigorously picking pieces of wood and carelessly stacking them next to the window they were supposed to repair.
“You shouldn’t be outside anymore. Go fetch your brother,” Helena ordered and turned to go back inside.
“Eh? Why is that?” Kala asked, tilting her head slightly to the side.
“There might be people coming to my house during the day if I’m not in town, and if they see you, we’re all going to be in trouble.”
Hearing that, Kala’s face paled, and her eyes widened. Helena calmly walked to the table at the side of her home and sat down on one of the chairs, causing some of the wood pieces to creak slightly. The sound snapped Kala out of her daze, which is when she finally rushed to where her brother was.
She desperately warned Korr of what Helena just said, causing him to loudly gasp, followed by wood hitting the floor and then the sound of both of them running back into the house.
“W-what do we do!?” shouted Korr, his arms on top of his head, and Kala standing next to him with widened eyes.
Helena calmly crossed her legs and just looked at them for a few seconds. Her serene demeanor caused both goblins to slightly calm down, with Korr lowering his arms. After another few seconds, Helena finally nodded.
“I might be able to hide you.”
“Really?! Is there somewhere in this home where we can stay during the day?” Kala said, snapping her head from one side to another as if she was looking for a spot.
With a chuckle, Helana shook her head. “There’s no need for something like that.”
“Huh? What do you mean?” Korr questioned while tilting his head slightly to the side.
“You’ll hide in plain sight,” Helena answered with a confident smile.
Both Korr and Kala looked at each other with a confused frown, but once Helena stood up, they turned it to her. She took a couple of steps towards them, and they stood in place, wondering what it was that she was planning to do. However, she simply walked around them a couple of times, inspecting them from top to bottom until she was finally back in front of them.
“Simple enough,” she said, then pointed a finger at them, only to then quickly snap her fingers.
From the snapping spot, a couple of bright red sparkles flew out, brightly illuminating the whole house as they immediately flew towards the goblins who had been blinded by it. They covered their eyes and huddled together, waiting as the light passed. Finally, they both carefully opened their eyes, and once they caught a glimpse of each other, they both widened them at the same time.
“Who are you!?” they shouted simultaneously, jumping backwards and away from each other, “Huh!?”
Helena chuckled while nodding. “Korr, that’s Kala.” She pointed her finger at one of them, before moving it to the other, “And Kala, that’s Korr.”
Standing at the spot where she first pointed was a small human girl, with pale white skin, and long brown hair. Her eyes were large and green, her nose tiny, cheeks chubby, and her mouth carried a soft pink hue. This girl was looking wide eyed at the boy standing in front of her.
He was similar to her in almost every aspect, save for the short brown hair, and slightly sharper eyes; and like her, he was looking at her wide eyed.
“Korr!?”
“Kala!?”
Both of them exclaimed at the same time with their mouths hanging open as they pointed a finger at each other. A chuckle from Helena caused them to look up at her, but all she did was nod. “Pretty good job on my part, right? And that’s no illusion, you can feel your hair and every part that looks like it—though, it’s just temporary, I’ll have to recast the spell after a day, which should be more than enough time to run some errands.”
“Run some errands…?” Kala asked, tiling her head.
“Ah! Like fixing the window!” Korr affirmed with a nod, which was followed by a look of realization by Kala.
“No,” Helena denied, causing their faces to turn confused once more. “We’ll have to go to town.”
They looked at her for a moment, not quite realizing what that meant for a moment, only to then exclaim with a loud gasp that was ignored by Helena, who by now, was already picking her basket and going for the door.