chapter 8 #3 (veruca)

Amira had the strangest sensation. Fear, amazement, curiosity, humor (it took all that she had not to laugh at the woman's stature), and again, that same feeling for Jessan.
"Um... Ms. Waddle-" amira was cut off.
"Aunt Helga, dear." the tiny woman said.
"Right... Aunt Helga-"
"Much better, dearie."
a little impatient, amira said, "If you don't mind me asking, how do you know who we are?"
"Ah... a very good question..."
amira waited for Helga to answer, but she didn't.
"Mhhmm." Amira could tell Jessan and delia were getting impatient. "well...?"
"Oh you don't think I'm going to tell you, do you? Just give away the biggest secret of us Carver elves? I don't think so."
"Wait. Carver elves?" asked Jessan. "What-"
"Now, now... you couldn't have thought that i was just a little old mortal?" asked Helga incredulously, "Being who you are I'd of thought that you would have guessed that by now."
"Sorry, we just never heard of... your type before..." Amira was cautious.
"Well." huffed the Carver elf. she walked over to the shelf containing Great Beasts from A to Z, and pulled out the immense book with a large 'C' on it. flipping through the pages, she was saying, "Oh, come now. I know it's in here somewhere...... ah, here it is." Helga turned the book so that amira, jessan, and delia could she the picture of a flower that looked strangely familiar.
"this is the Ciela flower. Symbol of the Carver elves. i have it on my door..." she pointed past a pile of old candles to the door. 'so that's what it is...' thought amira. "This book says that we like to collect things, we like to raise cats, our favorite hobby is carving, and we don't like to be disturbed by humans. that is unless they are accompanied by a cousin!"
"A what?" asked jessan who was having trouble taking all this information in one blow.
"A cousin. Your friend Delia here is a Forest Elf. or at least part Forest Elf."
Delia was beginning to faze back into her shy self again. she turned her face away and looked at the incredibly cluttered floor. she had refrained from talking most of the time she was at Helga Waddle's house, but now she must speak up.
"I'm sorry. I never told you the whole story. My mother, Princess of Sindalla, about a month or so before she was to be married to the prince of Bethian," delia was speaking quietly as if she didn't want to hear it herself, but Amira noticed that she didn't say 'my father, prince of Bethian'.

"She still had no clue that the reception was about to take place. You know royal marriages. and her parents, my grand parents, had not told her anything. It was to be a surprise. Well, she secretly loved the young wizard apprentice who was about her age... maybe a little older. One day, she accidentally let slip that she had been courted by him to her mother and father. As you have probably guessed, they were outraged! So, she ran away to be with the young wizard."
"What was his name?" asked Jessan.
"...They... never told me. But anyway,... The king and queen of Sindalla had this huge search party to find their daughter...."
all this talking about kings and queens made amira homesick. she missed her father, she missed her mother. she missed reading in the palace library. she missed having school in the courtyard. she was so busy missing things that she missed part of the story that Delia was telling her.
"... and they found her. Then they took her back to her parents who paid the huge sum of reward money they had promised. They asked my mother who she had run away with, but she wouldn't let them know. for fear they might chop off his head. When the time came for her and the prince of Bethian to marry, mother could do nothing but succumb to her parents' orders. she married prince Harold of Bethian, and they never found out until it came. i was born on all Hallows Eve, Vindelia Milshare of Bethian. but i had green eyes, neither my mother nor the king had the same, brown hair, mother had red and the king blond, and, to my father's disgust, pointed ears. no one could believe it... except mother. she knew that the wizard she had run away with had been half elf, had brown hair, and green eyes. the king was so angered that he beat her and made her tell him what had happened. when she did, he denounced me as his daughter, and princess. I grew up unwanted by him, and as an outcast. He never spoke my name. He never even acknowledged my existence. so, mother seeing my misery sent me to live in the nearest kingdom of Gradle. and the rest you know........" Delia was trying to hold back her tears, but did not succeed.
Jessan held out his hand to her and said in a kind tone, "You needn't be sorry. It must have been hard."
this, for some reason, irritated Amira. why did this simple, kind, gesture of friendship make her... annoyed?
"Oh, dearie." said Helga, who had been listening in ernest, was about to cry too.
suddenly, a gust of wind started blowing out side the small cottage. amira quickly tried to change her emotion from annoyed to sad. it started to drizzle.
"Now..." said jessan who was beginning to cram all that information into his head, "time to do what we came here for..."
but before anyone could reply, Catire burst into the room.

chapter 8 #2 (violet)

"I was going to tell you two earlier, but it never came up. after a while i sort of forgot myself. lots of people around my old court used to say that my family is related to some creature. when my ears get wet, they point up." delia was looking like them like she had said something horrible. she obviously hated this part of being herself. amira didn't mind though, and she was sure that jessan thought it was extremely fascinating. what amira didn't like was how many secrets delia had. maybe it was just because she was still getting over being shy. she knew that anything that she hid would upset jessan, so that thought didn't occur to her. she walked over to sit on a rock besides jessan.

"What are you doing?" amira asked him.

"reading about hippotruckles. they're quite fascinating. did you know that they were used as spies because their nature is so mysterious. as we speak, their is only one in existence. " jessan eyed amira as he said this, wondering if she would take it all sitting down. it couldn't be as easy for her as the rest of them, and he knew it.

"So... the only one lives in my land. with my parents. parent. if there's still one left.." amira leaned closer into jessan. this scared her. although she was no longer next in line, it would be obvious to the old one now that the trio in question were out of her spell. they would be a target. there was no way that she would take THAT sitting down. nothing would happen to them.

"you know what this means?" amira said. "we've got to go back," jessan stood up quickly at the thought of that.

"No! the kingdom isn't safe for you, love." he tried to calm himself. but amira hadn't meant that. that's not where she wanted to go back to.

jessan knocked on the door. "Listen to me, you two.. at the first FLICKER of danger, we're going to leave." this was not jessan's favorite plan, but they all knew that it made sense. the little woman that lived in this cottage seemed to know a lot... how to play chess, how to train cats, and a lot, a LOT about magical creatures.

the door creaked open. a little woman came in, holding three kittens in each arm, with a bottle of milk balanced on one foot. jessan choked back a giggle. amira, who jammed him in the ribs, seemed to be the only one who noticed.

"What do you want?" she asked in a sharp tone, looking at their faces. first amira, who she regarded thoughtfully, then jessan who she passed over as a mere stable boy. not only did she look at their faces, but also their necks. when she reached delia's face, she looked at her neck, then back up at her face. she gasped when she came to her ears.

"I'm sorr--" delia was cut off short as she realized that the old woman, about three and a half feet tall, had the same kind of ears. and there was something that looked familliar in the way she started.

"Why come in!!!" the old woman said, all of a sudden very happy to help them. "i don't have much food, but i can offer you tea. the newt kind, you know. i'm sure that you have tasted it my dear?" she looked expectantly at delia. when she saw her confused expression, she sighed, but it was more in disappointment than anything. "i guess we'll just stick with plain old mint then? ah, well, yes." she led them into the room that they had been in earlier. then, she bustled into a room to the right, that seemed to be the kitchen. the trio took this opportunity to talk... or whisper.

"we should give her the book back.."

"we should give her some food for taking it"

"we should be very careful. i don't trust her."

"good grief, jessan, just turn something into food."

delia ran outside to get a rock. amira watched jessan pat his pocket. then the other one.

"IT's not there!" this whisper was broken, worried. scared to death, really. amira didn't have time to panic. the old lady came back.

"here you are. it's just mint drink up!" she said.

"Ma'am" amira started, not sure how to say what she wanted to. "we were here earlier. we found this book." she took out the book and handed it to her. "we wanted to give you food for taking it, since you said that you didn't have any. but, we seemed to have lost the spell. my name is--"

"amira. the princess." the old lady interrupted. she looked jessan over. "You're jessan, the stable boy. her mate." she jerked her head in amira's direction. amira blushed, and studied the floor, even though she couldn't see it. "and you are delia" she talked directly to her. "you all ran away, and i wouldn't believe this story that you have told me if i didn't have this spell of yours." she held out her hand, and delia handed her the rock. the spell was said, and in the old lady's hand laid a golden platter with a splendid ham lying on top of it. "Alright dears. my name is Helga. Helga Waddle. you can call me Aunt Helga, or granny helga. eat up!" she gave them each a fork and sat back to watch.