Chapter 55

Three things that make life worth going on: good drink, good food, and good friends.

Aphorisms for a Quiet Life by Ruddtha Redstone, Chairman of Toolets Manufacturing, Sunderland

A familiar carriage drove up the roadway to Pixie Hollow trailing a cloud of dust. The noise and the dust sent some of the Pixies into the air, flying to hiding places.

“There are dragons coming up the road,” Bu yelled, running to the side of the building where Rob Woodway was working on Gan’s vegetable patch. The little Pixie clung to the gardener’s shoulder, the first safe place he could find.

Rob stopped his work with a hoe in mid-stroke. “Dragons?” he asked, leaning on the tool to get a better look at what might be coming up the road. “I don’t see anything scary.”

“Like the one you hitch to Mistress Gan’s cart. Four of’em. Pulling that big box! Don’t let them eat me!”

Rob turned his head to try to get a better look at the tiny man. “Those are horses, Bu,” Rob said. “They don’t eat Pixies. They’re like Betts. They’d rather eat oats.”

“Oh,” the tiny man said. “But they’re big and noisy! Look how much dust the box is making! Are you sure they aren’t monsters?”

“Pretty sure. Let’s go see who it is.”

As Rob moved to the front, a few of the other Pixies, their curiosity bigger than their fear, followed behind the gardener and Bu, but at a safe distance.

Gillie laughed at Bu while she followed.

“I saw you panic!” she said, landing on Rob’s cap. “Just like a big baby!”

“Well I saw you fly to the top of the roof!” Hilby said, pointing.

Gilly crossed her arms, and turned her face away from him in a huff. “You only saw me because you were right there with me!”

“That’s enough of that,” Rob said, looking down the road. “That looks like Lady Elaine’s coach. Who’s the madman driving it?”

“Someone who likes dragons?” Bu suggested.

“Horses, Bu. Those are horses.” Rob said. He looked up, trying to see the Pixie on his head. “You go tell Mistress Gan who’s coming.”

“Why not me?” Bu asked.

“You can go to, if it makes you happy. I want to talk to the driver.”

Bu flew off.

It took a few moments for the dust to settle after the carriage pulled up to a full start.

“I should have known,” Rob mumbled to himself once he made out the driver. Stepping up, he looked at the driver’s seat. “Hey, Brit, don’t you know how to drive this thing without kicking up a dust cloud when you get near someone’s house?” the gardener sometimes coachman asked, coughing slightly in the dusty air.

Brit, a lanky brown haired Bauchan, pulled his kerchief off of his face. Dust had marked the upper part of his face, leaving him two-toned. He leaned over from the driver’s perch, looking down.

“And a good morning to you, Rob Woodway. I see you have a bit of the dirt on you, too,” Brit said, noting the dirt on Rob’s boots and knees.

“At least it’s honest work-the-land dirt, and not stupid dirt. Didn’t anybody ever tell you about the dust damper? That rod at your left hand, with the touchstone on it. Press it twice before going up someone’s driveway. All the dust the horses kick up will settle down before your wheels touch it, and the wheels won’t kick up any more.”

“Huh,” Brit said. “They told me to use it if I get stuck in mud.”

Rob rolled his eyes. “That’s if you press the touchstone once. Pay attention man. And give the horses some slack. You’re not rushing to a fire.”

He walked over to the side of the carriage, and opened the door. “Are you all right, Lady? Brit, well he’s more used to hay wagons than coaches.”

Elaine nodded, while holding a handkerchief up to her nose. “Is it safe to get out yet?” she asked.

“I think so,” Rob said.

She reached out her hand and let Rob help her out of the carriage. “Brit doesn’t have much experience driving the carriage,” she said. “I knew that when I came, but sometimes, we have to make do with what we have. Unless you want to go back to Allynswood…” she said. Her voice was a bit wistful. “But no. You need to be here.”

“What happened to Bothan? He was always pretty good at driving.”

“At his mother’s house today, and I didn’t have the heart to fetch him to do such a simple errand. His mother’s doing poorly.”

“It’s not my fault I don’t know what I’m doing,” Brit said, defensively. He glared at Rob. “Nobody ever let me get around the carriage very often.”

Elaine looked up. “And nobody’s really blaming you, Brit. You did well for what experience you’ve had. This is the way you learn!”

Gan stepped out of the house, wiping her hands on her flour-streaked apron and Moxie sitting on her shoulder. As she stepped out, her cat Pye streaked out, and jumped on the bench near the door, eyeing the carriage carefully.

“You think it’s scary, too?” Moxie asked the cat, flitting off Gan’s shoulder and floating above the animal.

The cat meowed in response.

Ignoring the two of them, Gan focused on Elaine. “Now this is a surprise,” she said. “Coming out here in such a fancy vehicle.”

“Ah, my riding horse bruised her foot, and needs to take it easy for a bit. Gweir has the trap out, and there wasn’t really any other way for me to come here without walking.” She shrugged. “So it was the fancy one or not at all.”

Gan nodded. “To be honest, I didn’t expect you to come calling until Gweir went back. I hope everything is all right.”

“Everything is,” Elaine said with a smile for a moment, but then faded. “Maybe. Or isn’t. I don’t even know right now. I needed someone to talk with. Do you have time?”

Gan tilted her head, looking at her friend carefully. There was definitely an air of trouble hovering over the Lady of Allynswood. “Of course I do. Come in, come in. I was just putting my bread on to bake and getting ready to make lunch.” She slipped an arm around her friend’s arm. “I’ll make you a cup of tea, and we can talk it through, just like we used to do when we were younger.”

She walked her friend inside.

“I didn’t know the bigs had troubles,” Rosebud said as the two women vanished over the threshold.

“That’s silly,” Moxie said. “Don’t you remember the old hermit? He had lots of troubles. Drank too much, never took a bath, saw ghosts everywhere.”

“I thought he was just weird,” Rosebud said.

“Even weird folk have troubles,” Dahlia said.

Rosebud shrugged and flew into the house.

Inside, Gan set Elaine down and wiped the flour-sprinkled table clean before putting on the tea kettle. “You really did catch me right after I got the loaves in the oven,” she said.

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Elaine looked at the cozy cottage, dominated by its kitchen area, with food canisters and pots and jars arranged in neat order.

“It’s so different here than at Allynswood,” Elaine said. “Somehow, wherever you live, you make it feel like home, even in a space as small as this.”

Gan opened a drawer and took out a clean cloth to cover the table with. “It’s not so small, not really. I have room for my books and my makings, enough room to read and write and bake. I don’t need much more. My place in Comrie wasn’t much larger, and there I didn’t have a barn or a root cellar. Nor a gardener and handyman. I feel rich.”

“And you have us, too,” Hilby said, landing on the fireplace mantle.

“Yes, I do. You Pixies make sure I never feel lonely,” Gan said, nodding. She spread the cloth over the table, and put a small dish of spring flowers on the center of the table.

Elaine smiled at her friend. “You’re the only person I know who’s not a Pixie who seems to know just how to deal with them.”

Gan took out her teapot and began to measure out tea. “They remind me of my little ones at the school.” A shadow crossed her face for a moment. “I hope Melusine is coping with all that, the silly questions and runny noses and skinned knees.” She took a deep breath.

“I never skin my knees,” Rosebud said, flying by to take her favorite place on the timbers above the main window.

“No,” Gan said. “You just find the oddest places to take a nap. Like my travel bag.”

“Oh does she?” Elaine asked.

Moxie landed next to Elaine. “Yes she does. One day I found her curled up in an owl’s nest. No telling what would have happened if me and Arne hadn’t pulled her out first.”

Elaine shook her head. “Not the best place for a small person to sleep.”

“But it was so comfy,” Rosebud said.

“Might have been,” Arne said from his perch on the roof timbers. “That is, until you became owl food.”

“Well, sleeping in my travel bag wasn’t as dangerous,” Gan said, taking her big spoon off of its rest and giving the soup pot a stir. “She got to go to go to Goblin Market with me.”

“I’m so jealous,” Moxie said. “She got to go to the bakery and everything!”

“Met a lizard man there. He was pretty nice,” Rosebud said.

Elaine’s eyebrows went up. “A lizard man?”

“He wasn’t a lizard,” Gan said. “He was the nice first year Dragonkin man who works at the DIC office.”

“Looks like a lizard,” Rosebud insisted.

“Oh, you must mean Umber. Arriane has told me about him. She’s talked with him several times. He sounds like a nice person.”

“Oh?” Gan said. She reached into one of her cabinets and took out two carrots and a half head of cabbage, and began to wash them in a basin.

“I think she sympathizes with him being so far from home. She knows something of what that feels like,” Elaine said. “Is there anything I can help you with? I might be Lady of Allynswood, but Edelkyn does let me into the kitchen once in a while.”

“No, no,” Gan said. “I do this every day. I probably could do it in my sleep.”

“Gan makes the best soup,” Moxie declared.

There was a chorus of agreement from the other Pixies in the room.

“Well then,” Elaine said, chuckling. “Far be it from me to interfere with your masterwork, Gan. Just remember I offered.”

Gan finished her washing, and dried her hands. “If you want to do something, you can take out a couple of tea cups from that cabinet,” she said, pointing to the dish cabinet. “The water’s just about ready.”

Taking the kettle off the fire, she quickly filled the tea pot, covered it with a cosy, and sat it on the table before turning back to her food work.

Elaine opened the cabinet. “You still have these cups?” she said. “I remember when you bought them in Comrie.” She brought two brightly painted cups and their saucers to the table. She traced the floral pattern, intertwined vines of red and blue flowers on a cream background. “How did you ever manage to hold onto them?”

Gan stopped her chopping of carrots to turn and look. “Ah, those cups. I put them into storage while I was at the White Island. I didn’t know how well they’d take the coming and going back and forth. And then, when I came back, I just was careful of them. They reminded me of a special time.”

“Ah, that was a special day,” Elaine said, nodding. “I wonder if we knew then what we know now, how our lives would have turned out differently.”

Gan put her chopped carrots into a bowl. “I think I would have squawked more when Grendel applied to work at the school.” She began working on shredding the cabbage.

That made Elaine laugh. “Oh, Master Gwaher!” she said, doing a fair imitation of Gan’s voice, “When Grendel was a student here, he used to sneak into your tower at nights when you were out at conferences! And you should know what he did in the broom closets!”

Both women began laughing in earnest. “I don’t know if that would have changed anything, to be honest. He finished his education with impeccable marks, and his clan wanted him in badly.”

She gave the cabbage a final chop, added it to the bowl, and poured the bowl into the soup pot. “And now that’s done.” She wiped off her cutting board and washed it and put it away, then sat down. “The only thing left to do is take out the bread, and I’ll be able to give you my full attention.” She poured them both a cup of tea. “So what brings you out here this morning?”

Elaine looked down into her cup and sighed.“I was so happy when Gweir came home,” she said. Her voice drifted off and she stared out of the window as she gathered her thoughts. “I love my husband, but sometimes I wonder about the wisdom of marrying a man who wants a military career...If I had known what it would be like when I was young, would I have?”

Gan reached over and touched her friend’s hand. “Did something happen?”

Elaine shook her head. “Nothing really. He went out hunting today, which usually means he’ll be out most of the day. I know Tam was hoping to go riding with him today, but he was gone before Tam got up.” She shook her head. “That boy is growing up so fast. Gweir is home so little the last couple of years. He’s going to miss all that time they could have had together.”

Gan gave her friend’s hand a squeeze. “A boy’s only young once. That’s a sadness. Did Tam take it well?”

“Not really,” Elaine said.

Moxie fluttered down next to the Daoine lady and patted her arm. “You need to give him a piece of your mind for making him sad. If Arne did that, I’d push him off the roof.”

“Alas, Gweir can’t fly, so pushing him off the roof wouldn’t be a nice thing to do.” Elaine gave the little Pixie a small smile. “But thank you.”

The room had been filling up with the smell of baking bread. Fergus, one of the Pixies that stayed outside most of the time except at meal times, flew in. “Is it lunch time yet? It smells so good in here.”

“Not yet,” Gan said. “Soup is still cooking, and the bread’s not quite done yet either. Probably another hour.”

He gave a disappointed sigh. “I hate being late. But an hour early is too early to wait. I’ll go hang out at the apple tree.” He flew out of the window.

Gan got up, and took out some racks, then rummaging in a drawer, found her pot holders. “Don’t be surprised if there are a whole flock of Pixies who come in once I pull the bread out. Happens most days.”

“Pixies like bread?” Elaine asked.

“I love bread,” Moxie said. “It’s my favorite.”

Gan went to the oven door. “I thought it was sugar cookies.”

“That’s my favorite, too,” Moxie said, nodding.

“So which one is your real favorite?” Elaine asked.

Moxie crossed her arms, and looked if she was thinking hard. “Bread is my favorite, and sugar cookies are my favorite. I can’t choose! Both!”

Chuckling, Gan opened the oven door, and pulled out two large round loaves of bread and put them on the racks. “Maybe that’ll hold us a couple of days. Maybe.”

Moxie flew over the loaves, inspecting them. They were beautifully shaped, slashed at an angle, and a perfect golden brown. “So lovely. So delicious!”

As Gan predicted, the room was soon filled by Pixies attracted to the scent of fresh bread. To get them to calm down and give her some peace, she sliced some of the last loaf, and passed out bread to everybody who came in. One by one they drifted outside having their bread hunger appeased. Soon it was only Gan and Elaine, Moxie and Dahlia still in the room.

Gan sat back down at the table. “Now you get my full attention, Ellie. Is there anything you can say to Gweir that might get him to pay Tam some more attention?”

“I don’t know,” Elaine said, pouring herself another cup of tea. “I remember how proud he was of Tam when he was born, and today, it was like making time for him was too much to do.”

“You need to talk to him, Ellie,” Gan said. She went to the counter, and took a few cookies out of a jar, put them on a plate, and brought them to the table. Moxie perked up at the sight. “Hear, have a cookie. You know cookies make you think better when you have decisions to make.”

“You’re probably right about talking to him,” Elaine said, taking one, breaking it in half and dipping one half into her tea. “But it feels harder and harder to reach him any more. Every time Gweir comes back from one of his military assignments, he comes back a little more changed,” Elaine said.

“Spending time apart can do that to a couple.” Gan took a cookie, broke it in half, and broke one half into small pieces, handing bits to Moxie and Dahlia. “Shhh, don’t tell the others,” she said to the Pixies.

“It’s not just that we’re spending time apart. Something about the things he’s seen, the things he’s done. Or something in the air. He won’t talk about it. He’s even worse about this last assignment. He said it’s all secret.”

“I’ve heard that type of change happens,” Gan said. “It maybe starts with wanting to shield loved ones, but sometimes the work itself becomes a heavy burden.”

Elaine sighed again. “He says he does it for me and Tam...but if he changes himself so far from the man I married, what if there is no us left?”

Gan took her friend’s hand. “I’m not the best person to ask. My life has been change, change, change, one class of children to another. The closest I had to a stable person in my life was Master Gwaher, and he never changed in all the time I knew him.”

Elaine nodded. “I understand. Still, I saw this happen to my parents, too. They didn’t have the excuse Gweir has. Mother got more and more involved with Alder Branch activities. My father escaped into his histories, left more and more of the work of Allynswood to his steward Arris and to me. Then Mother announced she had been offered a permanent position on the White Island. Sometimes, they both show up at the same times for holidays, but there’s not much left between them beyond a history of once having been a close couple. Marriages breaking down doesn’t have to be caused by trauma. It just has to be the end of Us, dissolving into to Me and Thee.”

“Do you think you’re reaching that point?” Gan asked.

“I don’t know!” Elaine exclaimed. “But I’m scared of it. Scared that the King’s Guard is turning into Gweir’s true wife.” She covered her face with her hands. “And I don’t know how to cope with that.”

Gan reached out and gave her friend a hug. “Be sure to make a life that is yours,” she said. “If you always have your life, you’ll be able to handle everything else.”

Elaine nodded. “I try. I have Allynswood and all the families who are depending on me. Most of the time, it’s enough.”

“And when it’s not, you can come here. I’ll always feed you tea and cookies to help get you back on your feet.”

“Sugar cookies cure everything,” Moxie declared.

“Maybe they do,” Elaine said, and took another off the plate.