Alvery stared at the house before him with nervousness pinching his stomach.
While the exterior of the house looked tidy and well tended to, the peri girl’s words rang in his mind… She had said he wouldn’t be able to get any work done while he stayed there.
He swallowed. He was technically a guest… surely they wouldn’t dominate all of his time… right?
The farmhouse was mostly built of the same old stone as the rest of Aniselle, save for a small addition off the left corner of the home that was half stone, half white plaster. Beside the front door that was painted a gleaming black, were large windows with shutters painted the same color, and window boxes hung with yellow impatiens fluttering prettily in the faint morning breeze. A small courtyard lay before the door that was bordered on the right by trimmed shrubbery that Alvery could see were starting to bud to flower in the near future. He couldn’t tell just what kind of flower though… And he was momentarily distracted from speculating what kind they could be by the wooden post at the end of them with a sign that read: Cremont.
The front door opened then, and out stepped an older woman. She was a mite plump, but her rosy cheeks and sweet smile made it so that it only added to her charm.
“Mr. Robin?” she called out with a brief wave before she resumed drying her hands on her apron.
Alvery gave a hesitant smile and waved, his suitcase clasped tightly in hand as he stepped onto the courtyard stones. “Good day. I take it you are Mrs. Cremont?”
“Oh please call me Eliza! Mr. Robin it sounds like you’ve had quite a trying time in our town.” She smiled sympathetically as she stood waiting for him to finish making his way over to her.
Alvery smiled but didn’t dispute her point. He noticed two handsome rocking chairs sitting to the right of the door with a small round table crafted by the same hand placed in the middle.
For a reason he didn’t quite understand, something about the chairs and their set up made a flutter in Alvery’s chest catch him off guard.
Seeing where he was staring, Eliza smiled. “Ah, my dear Eugene made these. Beautiful aren’t they? At least three different women in town have tried to buy them from me.”
Alvery cleared his throat, he was uncomfortable over the unknown reason why he was feeling so off balance…
“They are well made, I can tell.”
Eliza beamed. “I’m afraid I’m busy with some work in the garden and house work so you’ll have to wait for lunch for a meal, but would you like to see the room you’ll be staying?”
“Yes, thank you. I know I’ll be helping Mr. Cremont with some of the farm chores, but I was hoping to be able to continue my own work-”
“Oh, my Eugene just appreciates a hand here and there! Don’t fret, Mr. Robin! By mid-afternoon your days are your own!”
“Thank- mid-afternoon?” When Alvery registered what the older woman had said he stared at her retreating back in alarm.
When she didn’t slow her brisk pace despite her guest remaining glued to the courtyard stones, he gradually forced himself to move.
“Mrs. Cremont, what time does Mr. Cremont need me up in the morning to help him?” he called out after stepping over the threshold.
Alvery looked around the home, briefly noting his surroundings while also looking for his hostess.
The layout of the structure wasn’t fussy, with the majority of the space being one large room, with a rough woven red rug in front of the fireplace that divided the sitting space, and the kitchen. The kitchen was the closest to where he stood on his right.
“Your room is right here, Mr Robin, and I thought I said to call me Eliza, dear.”
Jumping at the sound of her voice, Alvery swung to his left to find Mrs. Cremont standing in front of a door that would’ve led to the newer extension of the house.
“This was our son’s room, but he is living in Scarlem with his wife and our three grandsons,” Eliza explained while gesturing Alvery through the door she pushed open.
“Ah.” He looked in to find a simple bed with a dark wood frame and rose colored crocheted blanket, its headboard pushed under the window. To Alvery’s right stood a tall dresser made of a different wood than the bed with a round mirror hung over it. Aside from the two furniture pieces, the only other decor was a small round picture of embroidered flowers adorning the otherwise bare white wall.
It was clean and quiet, with its tall window letting in ample light and a lovely view of the rolling fields.
“Thank you, Mrs. Cremont, I greatly appreciate this.”
“Mr. Robin, you need to call me Eliza,” his hostess reiterated with a small chuckle. “Otherwise I’ll feel like I’m running an inn.”
Alvery smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, I just think it odd if you call me Mr. Robin and I’m still calling your husband Mr. Cremont.”
Laughing again, Eliza waited as Alvery stepped into the room and set his briefcase down.
“How about this, once Eugene comes in and we become properly acquainted we drop the formalities all together?”
Unable to think of a reason to argue, Alvery let out a breath and nodded with a smile.
“Wonderful. Now, I need to go start on some mending, but you take your time to unpack. Eugene will have you start helping him tomorrow morning. We have breakfast just before the sunrise, so I’ll give a knock on the door to help you get going.”
“I understand.” Alvery smiled outwardly, but inside was letting out an incomprehensible shout. “Ah, it was a bit of a walk from town, where might I freshen up?”
“Oh, there is the outhouse just to the west of the house.”
Alvery was grateful that right after telling him where he was supposed to relieve himself that Eliza had stepped away from the doorway, as he was relatively certain he had turned to stone.
***
After burying himself in work the previous day in an effort to not think about his present fate, Alvery found himself blearily shoveling horse shit at an hour of the morning he never would’ve been awake for if he had any say in the matter.
Eliza Cremont’s kindness is the most dangerous weapon I’ve ever encountered in my life.
When the woman had rapped on his door while darkness still filled the room, Alvery had wanted to ignore it completely.
But then, the soft voice followed. “Robin? Breakfast is ready, dear. I made eggs and bacon for you, and just put the kettle on for a nice cup of tea.”
Barely stifling a groan into his pillow, Alvery had risen from the bed, though he didn’t risk speaking.
He was concerned that a grumble might still come out.
Pulling on his clothes and glasses, he had stepped out with his eyes barely open.
Mr. Cremont was already wide awake at the table, his breakfast plate clean as he read from a red book that Alvery couldn’t see the title of.
“Good morning. I notice you have a new shirt on. Feel free to wear one of the ones our son left behind or you’ll have yours ruined before luncheon.”
Alvery bobbed his head in response and plunked himself down in his seat while Eliza cleared her husband’s plate away before dropping a kiss on his head.
Aside from mumbling his thanks to Eugene Cremont’s wife when she set down his breakfast plate, Alvery was unable to say much else.
Shortly thereafter he was tasked with cleaning the entire barn… And that landed him in his present of being nearly halfway finished despite his regular bouts of yawning.
While straightening with a grunt and tossing more shit into the wheelbarrow, Alvery was forced to wonder when the last time the barn had been cleaned, because it seemed an ungodly amount of excrement if it had just been a day or two…
“Morning!”
Alvery dropped his shovel and let out a yelp, stumbling back in shock when none other than Tiaznia appeared.
The madwoman was hanging upside down from the beam above him, and had simply swung herself down beside his head to greet him.
“Kir! What are you doing?!” Alvery demanded while clutching his chest.
“I told you I’d meet you on your second day in the barn,” Tia explained before proceeding to do a backflip off the rafter. She landed in a squat, stumbled a little, then stood up straight wearing a lovely smile.
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“How long have you been up there?!” he asked incensed.
“I got here a little before you did. I kept waiting for you to notice me, but you seem pretty tired.”
Alvery looked up at the rafter, then back down to the slip of a woman in bare feet who was looking at him expectantly.
“Why are you here?” he asked when he realized she was just standing in front of him waiting for him to say something.
“Well you didn’t like that I broke into your room last time, so we arranged to meet here. You’re a very jumpy man.”
Gripping the shovel in his hand a little more tightly, Alvery did his best to remain composed.
“You of all people should not be surprised by how jumpy I am, and why did you want to meet with me anyway?”
“Well, I figured you seem like the type to plan everything he does, so I gathered you’d want to work out the details of our trip together.”
“I already told you that I don’t want you coming with me.”
Tiaznia didn't say anything to his flat reminder, instead she clasped her hands behind her back and began to meander around the otherwise empty barn.
“Your feet are going to be covered in shit,” Alvery observed as he took stock of her loose fitting trousers, white tunic and corset.
“Mm, I’ll wash them off at the river later on. Would you like a hand? You’re going awfully slow at this. Mr. Cremont probably knew you’d take a while which is why he didn’t have you feed the horses with him,” Tia noted idly.
Alvery felt his face grow warm as he couldn’t help but feel horribly self conscious about his lack of fitness and strength.
“I don’t need help, leave me alone,” he informed her bluntly.
As always, Tia ignored his words and casually made her way over to the barn doors where another shovel sat waiting.
“Aren’t you going to get thrown off the grounds if they find you?”
The peri woman sidled back over and set to scooping the next pile of dung that Alvery had intended to shovel up next.
“Probably, but Mr. Cremont most likely is in the outhouse by now, so I’ve got a while before he could see me.”
Alvery looked to the ceiling, sincerely wishing he had not learned about such a thing.
“If you want to leave Aniselle so badly, why don’t you just leave now on your own?” he asked after letting out an aggravated breath and resuming shoveling.
“I don’t have a reason to yet,” Tia responded easily.
“Why don’t you just decide to live here permanently then? You said you don’t think the townspeople hate you, and you don’t seem all that motivated to leave anyway.”
At this, Tia straightened and her mouth twisted to the side thoughtfully.
“If the viscount who owns the town ever finds out I’m back he’ll lock me up. Really I can only rest here and wait to find out where I’m supposed to go next. You had said you were going to Scarlem when you first arrived, but then had your travel plans change, are you going somewhere different now?”
Alvery’s eyes narrowed. She always seemed to know everything.
“It isn’t your business, and again, you aren’t coming with me.” As he bent down to resume work, a small voice in the back of Alvery’s mind made him hesitate. “I heard you were accused of burning down the tavern at one point. Is that why the viscount would lock you up?”
Tia stood straight and blinked at Alvery momentarily stunned, making him pointedly avoid her gaze all the more.
“You must’ve been speaking to Mr. Sim about me,” she laughed then shook her head and resumed working. “I like him. He’s always been a quiet rebel in my mind.”
Alvery frowned. She hadn’t answered his question, so he tried another. “How did you learn to read?”
Again, the peri girl wasn’t entirely forthcoming with an answer, but after a minute of silent deliberation, at last replied. “I learned by watching through the window of the school when I was younger. At night I’d try and teach my mother what I saw… and then while I was… away… had to learn more advanced reading and math.”
Alvery didn’t even bother hiding his shock.
“Where were you that you had to learn those things?”
Tia kept shoveling, this time no matter how long Alvery let the question linger between them, she did not reply.
“That wheelbarrow is pretty full, are you sure you can manage to steer it?” she mused aloud instead while casting a single glance in the barrow’s direction.
Alvery barely resisted probing her more about explaining properly, and instead looked at the pile of poop that he’d already amassed.
“I’ll dump it just fine.” He sighed then set down his shovel, then went and grasped the handles. “Honestly, after the town interrogated and accused me you’d think that-”
Unable to keep the wheelbarrow steady under its great weight, Alvery’s grip slipped, and the entire thing crashed to its side, dung splatting back all over the barn floor.
During the silence that followed where Tia stared at the wheelbarrow without an ounce of surprise on her face, she looked at him.
“Would you like help cleaning that up?”
Closing his eyes, Alvery fought off the urge to snap at her…
It really wasn’t Tia’s fault.
“I’d appreciate it, thank you.”
She nodded and set to righting the wheelbarrow before picking her shovel back up and resuming work as though nothing had happened.
“As a teacher this has to be tough work for you.”
Alvery froze and stared at her.
It was beginning to go beyond reason how she knew so much about him… until it dawned on him.
“You… You aren’t just being nosy with me,” he started slowly while eyeing her in a whole new light.
Tia didn’t look at him.
“You… You’ve been following me around this town ever since I got here and eavesdropping to find out everything I’ve been doing.”
The peri girl didn’t stop her work or show any signs of having heard him.
Only he seized her shovel and threw it out of her grasp, forcing her attention back to him.
“Enough. Tell me the truth. Are you here because someone sent you to look into me?”
Tia stared at him wide eyed, her face the image of innocence. “No, not at all.”
“So why are you stalking me?”
With another small laugh Tia reached up to rub the side of her neck as she began stretching it.
“I already told you. You’re who Sarkal sent for me, so… I have to know as much about you as possible so I can tell why he did that.”
Anger mixed with his stress, stopping Alvery from thinking about his next words.
“I already told you to stay away from me. I told you to leave me alone– I would never trust traveling with a peri! I just happened to come to Aniselle, and there is nothing more to that. Now stop following me around, or I will anonymously tip off that viscount everyone is so afraid of!”
His heart raced in his chest as he stared at Tiaznia.
She stared back at him without reacting all that much at first… until a touch of sadness glinted in her amber eyes.
“I see. I won’t bother you again. You know where to find me if you change your mind though.”
She then went and plucked up the shovel Alvery had thrown, and set it to rest against the barn wall before she continued on her way out, disappearing into the sunny day.
Leaving Alvery both feeling, and standing in, complete shit.