The next day, just as he’d promised, Edmund stopped by at approximately the same time he had the day before. And, as promised, there was a plumber with him. “I do rather think it’s Ed to the rescue!” The prince said cheerfully as I let them in.

I had to laugh. “Indeed!”

“Where’s the issue at, ma’am?” the plumber asked.

I showed him to the kitchen, saying, “The kitchen sink won’t work, and I have no clue how to fix it, usually I’m rather handy at mending things myself…but this is a bit beyond me, I’m afraid.”

“Alrighty then, miss. I’ll have a look at it. Now, you and Prince Ed can pop out for a bit, and when you come back, I should be done, or at least have an idea of how to fix it.”

“Sounds good to me!” Ed said, eager to get a move on. “Now I have about two hours before they might potentially notice that I’m gone, so let’s get a move on!” he said, offering me his arm.

“Okay then.” I took off my apron, linked my arm through his, and let him lead me from the house.

We walked to the promenade by the river, which was only a short amble away from Cooke Street. It was a lovely place, with trees on either side of the walkway, providing ample shade for us as we walked and talked about nothing in particular.

It was nice to have someone to talk to, as it had been pretty quiet around the house, since Gabriel had been gone most of the time since the ball, having thrown himself completely into his work. It was probably partially my fault that he was gone all the time, since I hadn’t really adjusted to him as an elf yet…and was still angry at him, honestly, and struggled to forgive him.

But to be fair, talking with Ed was…very dissimilar to talking with Gabriel, as I’d already noted. And I found myself wishing that it was Gabriel instead of the prince.

“What are you thinking about, Joan?” Ed asked after a moment of silence. I’d come to realize that he didn’t really like silence.

“I was actually thinking about what to make for dinner.” I told him, which was a lie, but I didn’t want to hurt his feelings with the truth.

“Don’t you sound like a housewife!” he laughed, “I think you’d make an excellent housewife.”

To my surprise, I felt my heart rebelling at the idea of ever being just a housewife, having to cook, clean, and run after children every minute of the day. I mean, I could handle the first two, and had to tolerate it for the sake of my job, but I really wasn’t sure if I really wanted children at all.

“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t think that I’d do very well with children as well as the housework and cooking…” I frowned.

“Nonsense, you’re a woman.” He insensitively waved off my statement as if I knew nothing of what I was capable of.

“Excuse me?” I blinked, feeling anger stirring in my chest.

“I mean, you’ll settle down, and find that it’s really what you want, it’s only natural, since you’re a girl. It’s what women exist to do, you know?”

I bristled. “I’m sorry, but not every woman or girl is the same, and lumping all of us together like that is just wrong.” That was one thing that I wasn’t going to have. Gabriel had once offended me with a sexist comment, but he had said it in frustration, lashing out when I’d upset him, not that that was acceptable. But Ed said it in full belief and earnestness. I stopped walking, and let go of his arm, causing him to stop, and turn towards me, confused. But I continued speaking before he could cut me off. “In fact, I think that women were made for more than just keeping the house, cooking, and having children. I myself am ill-suited for having children. I’m not the kind of woman that is alright with wasting my life away as a housewife.” Now that I was going, I couldn't stop, and continued hotly. “When my parents died, I was sent to an orphanage to stay at until I was eighteen. I ran away, got my medical training through the government because they were absolutely desperate for healers, used that medical training as a military doctor, and now I help the most intelligent man in all of Averah to solve crimes that baffle the police. I’ve made a life for myself that’s more than just marrying myself off to the first man that flattered me. Sure, I work as a maid, so I do the cooking and cleaning, but I don’t intend to do that for the rest of my life! In fact, some day I aim to have a medical practice of my own, and to hell with getting married!” I could feel that my face was hot, but I was fairly angry.

Ed just stood there, blinking rather stupidly. “I, er…”

“Now, I’m going to go home, and I suggest you do the same. Go back to your palace and find someone more suited to your miniscule thoughts about what a woman exists for, alright?” I told him, and then stormed off, ignoring his calls for me to return, and hoping that the royal guard didn’t show up at Cooke Street that night to throw me in jail for angering a member of royalty.

I’d had time to cool down by the time I reached Cooke Street again. When I went into the house, the plumber informed me that he’d fixed the problem with the sink. Thanking him profusely, I went into Gabriel’s study, and found the money that he had hidden up there for instances such as these, times when I needed to pay someone for working on the house and he wasn’t around to pay them himself. So I paid him, and off he went, probably back to his work at the palace.

Thinking about the palace reminded me of Ed again, and I felt a little guilty. The Prince probably hadn’t deserved the lecture I’d given him, nor my anger, but he’d touched a sore nerve, for me, and that had caused my considerable temper to flare…not that it was any excuse. Knowing that I should probably apologize somehow, I sighed, and started washing the dishes.

--

As soon as Gabriel shut the door to the house, locking it securely, he let his glamour dissipate, and stretched, exhausted from his day of trawling for information.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

But something was off about the front room. His sharp eyes traveled over everything. Someone had been there while he was out. Yes, his eyes could pick out the footprints of a man, no, two men, in the carpet of the front hall. Going immediately into the kitchen, he saw that Joan was there, sipping on a cup of cocoa, looking very small and dear, all wrapped up in a fluffy robe.

“Did someone come here while I was gone, Joan?” he asked.

Joan blinked, and put down her cup. “Yes, if you must know, Prince Edmund stopped by, with a plumber.”

“Ed? A plumber?” It was Gabriel’s turn to blink, confused. “I don’t understand.”

She raised her eyebrows at him, and asked in a slightly chilly tone, “The sink, Gabriel?”

He got a sudden sinking feeling, realizing that he’d forgotten to fix it every time that she’d asked him to. “Oh…of course…I’m sorry. I really did mean to fix it. Or to ask someone else to…”

“Well, thanks to Ed, it’s fixed now, he brought the plumber with him.” She sighed.

“Good then, I suppose…But how did he know that our sink was broken?” Gabriel asked, frowning.

“If you’d been around yesterday, or even come home last night, you would know that he came to see you.” She said quietly, her voice carrying perhaps a little bit of a reprimand that he was gone so much that he didn’t know the comings and goings in his own house.

“How come you didn’t tell me this, Joan?” Gabriel asked, taken aback, if the Prince had needed his services, Joan should have let him know, which frustrated him. “You can always send a message to me through my street network.”

To his surprise, her face flushed a little, “It didn’t seem relevant, honestly. He came to your house so that you could help him find me…But of course instead of finding you, he found me, getting water from the spigot because the sink was broken, and so he didn’t need your help anymore.”

“And he came back today with a plumber because you told him that the sink was broken when he asked why you were getting water from the spigot.” Gabriel nodded, completing the story on his own. “I see. That was kind of him.”

“It was.” Joan nodded, and picked up her mug again. “I was on the verge of going and finding a plumber myself.”

But Gabriel sensed there was a little more to the story than that. “So why didn’t you? You’re not one to sit around and let other people do things for you, typically.”

“Well, he did promise to come by again and bring the plumber, and take me on a walk while the plumber worked…so I thought, why not have someone to talk to for a little while? I got most of my work done before he came the second time.”

This caused Gabriel to frown, not liking the fact that Joan was spending time with another man…not that he had any say over who she spent time with. “Oh…I see…did you have a good time?”

--

“It was alright.” I shrugged, choosing to leave out the part that I’d gotten angry with the prince, and had stormed off.

“That’s good then, I suppose.” He said in a calm voice. I couldn’t read him, so I honestly couldn’t tell how he felt about me having gone on a date with Ed, if it could be called that.

“Sure.” I shrugged. It was quiet for a few moments. “There’s some leftovers from dinner, if you want them.” I told him.

But he seemed distracted, and shook himself. “Hm? Oh, no thank you, Joan, I’m not hungry.”

“You’ve had a long day, haven’t you?” I asked him as I finished my cocoa, and put my mug in the sink.

“Yes, yes I have.” He sounded tired.

“Would you like some cocoa?”

“No, I’m quite alright, Joan, thank you.” The tall elf smiled a little. “I just want to go to sleep now, I think.”

“Well, if you’re certain about that.” I teased a little, smiling back at him, perhaps a little tiredly, but feeling more comfortable with him than I had in a very long time. Perhaps, after spending time with someone else, I was able to remember why I’d grown so fond of him to begin with.

He headed for the door, then paused, “Goodnight, Joan.”

“Goodnight, Gabriel.” I said as he left, finding it nice to use his first name again, and wishing that I had some sort of a chance with him. Sure, we were sort of friends again, and that was alright, but before he’d become elvish again, we had seemed…I don’t know, almost more than friends. Maybe I had just misinterpreted everything because now he seemed to have very little time for me.

--

The thought of Joan with another man, particularly one that was able to offer her the kind of happiness that she deserved, made Gabriel’s blood boil. Ed was human, first of all, he hadn’t lied to Joan about who he was, and then changed drastically on her, he was amiable and good with people, and was a prince, for goodness sake! It didn’t seem fair. Sure, Gabriel knew that he was far more attractive, would be forever young, and understood the burden that being a magician involved…but he found that humans were typically attracted to the people that understood them the best, and that usually meant other humans.

The elf kicked his chair angrily, sending it flying across the room like it was paper, where it slammed into the wall, and shattered. Sighing, he used his magic to fix the chair, realizing that he’d forgotten his own natural strength. Throwing himself on the couch, he brooded moodily, annoyed with life.

Gabriel was entirely in love with her, there was no doubt in his mind about that now, and he would wait as long as it took to make her aware of it. He just had to gain her trust back, first…and that, apparently, wasn’t an easy thing to do. Of course, he completely understood why, though. He had lied for so long about who he was, and she had trusted him completely, and then the truth had came out, and he was afraid that he’d pushed her so far away that she would never come back to him…not that she’d ever been his to begin with. Nor would she ever be his, per say. Joan had a fiery spirit that wouldn’t be subdued, and he liked that about her. The small woman’s kindness knew no bounds, and ran rampant, and had indeed reined Gabriel himself in, rather than Gabriel’s cool intellect taming her, as he’d initially expected, but he found that this was entirely acceptable.

The problem was, at the moment, that he missed her, and everything about her. There was a wall between them that hadn’t been there before, and he hated it. He loved her, and missed her, and was miserable without her. The thought occurred to him suddenly that he should just tell her that…it could fix the problem…but it also could make it worse, and could make her run away from him, and then it would take him forever to find her again.

Gabriel sighed, staring up at the ceiling, feeling miserable. Myles had been right about one thing, sentiment was a nuisance…but not a weakness, no, not a weakness.

What he felt for her was certainly not a weakness. He’d never imagined that he would fall in love. Women had always baffled him, even elfin women. And Joan continued to baffle him. She was a mystery to him, a good mystery, though, not a mystery in the way that the sinister M was, whoever, or whatever, the criminal actually was.

The elf shuddered, pushing the unpleasant thought about the criminal mastermind out of his mind, and choosing to think more about Joan.