She who walks in Darkness

A quiet creak disturbed her from her thoughts and she looked up from the bench on which she was sitting. The door into what she supposed was the pantry had opened slightly and the head of a tiny elf popped around it, surveying her with apprehension as if fearing her reaction to his presence. A warm smile lit up her face as relief flooded through her, she hadn’t realised until that moment how much she craved the physical presence of another being, something to ground her from the strange direction her life had taken.

Emboldened, the elf opened the door wider and stepped around it, followed in quick succession by three more, all with expressions of curiosity on their faces. Whilst they were each wearing a pillow case, Thea was pleased to see that the material, silk if she wasn’t mistaken, had been cut and tailored appropriately to resemble a sheath style tunic, two tied with a neat sash similar to a belt and the other two tucked in at the waist by a neat white cotton apron. She couldn’t be sure but Thea mused to herself that these slight wardrobe differences might reflect the gender of each elf, after all it was otherwise hard to tell! Each elf wore a different colour, moss and light green for the two males and soft pastel shades of peach and lavender for the two female elves. Looking down she saw they each wore shoes fashioned out of a soft black leather, something to protect their feet from the rough surfaces of the outside world. This surprised her, considering shoes to be an item of clothing, and she blurted out “Are you free?” before she could stop herself, a blush flaring on her cheeks as she realised the impertinence of the question.

The first elf stepped forward as the other three tittered merrily behind him, as if delighted by her question.

“We are indeed free Miss”, his croaky voice coming somewhat as a surprise, she had imagined it to be higher pitched. “We were freed around four years ago from the service of the Master and now we choose to work here to honour him.”

Four years ago she mused thoughtfully to herself; that was around the time she had started SPEW. Brushing the thought aside she questioned them again.

“So you work for my father? You are well provided for?”

The smallest elf dressed in the lavender tunic stepped forward this time, almost stumbling over her words as she made to reassure Thea of her father’s kindness to them. “We do Miss, we do! And the Master is very kind to us! We are paid each week, have any time of we request and on Elvish holidays, he cooks for us!” Her high pitched voice conveying the awe she felt at this last statement.

The elf in peach stepped forward next, equally as excited “And we are dressed well and comfortably, we no longer have to go outside in the rain and snow with bare feet and he gave us all lodging in the mansion with perfect elf sized furniture!”

Well that explained the rooms in the attic annexe then she thought wryly to herself, unable to keep from smiling at their delight. The elf in peach continued on, “We are here to be taking care of you Miss, I am Thyme, this”, gesturing to the little elf in lavender, “is Chives, this”, waving at the male elf in light green, “is Dill and this”, indicating the first elf that had approached her, who was standing quietly allowing the others to chatter on, “is Basil!”. Basil gave a small bow in acknowledgement, he was clearly the oldest and most dignified of the four.

Trying to supress a giggle at the names of the four elves who were beaming up at her, Thea quickly introduced herself to each in turn.

“We are knowing who you are Miss” tittered Chives, the more confident of the four, “You are the reason we are like this, we have been waiting for you, Basil has been waiting for you to come back since you were a baby!”

Seeing an expression of puzzlement flit across Thea’s face at Chives’ statement, Basil cut across. “I am thinking you must be tired Miss Thea, you have after all had a trying evening. I will accompany you to your quarters. Chives, Thyme,” he turned to address the two smiling elves, “you will bring some light refreshment up for Miss Thea, perhaps a hot beverage?” He looked at her questioningly.

“That would be lovely” she smiled and taking his cue to leave, followed him out of the door towards the west wing.