Elena

            “Ellaine my dear, do you know what day it is?” Aunt Caroline asked her niece as she flipped sunny-side-up eggs onto the white platter.            “It’s Sunday.” Ellaine answered in an unconcerned manner as she helped set the utensils on the table for breakfast.            The first let out a chuckle, “Well, naturally! But today’s your birthday, you know.”            “I know. So?" The normakity of her everyday just bored Ellaine. She wanted something new. She just wished she could get away from Aunt Caroline and that hiuse that kept her inside.            “So?” Aunt Caroline imitated her as she moved away from the stove and to the table, “What do you want to do? Eat out or d

“Good morning,” Margarette greeted Finrod who had just come out of the guest room. “Want some coffee?”“And what kind of human thing is that?” He said with disgust.“It’s a drink which is usually drunk by usual people on a usual day such as this. Here.” She handed him her personally brewed coffee. “And what happened to your face? You have dark circles below your eyes all of a sudden.”“You don’t have business with my face.” Finrod had spent the whole night tossing left and right on the bed. For several hours he stared at the window, waiting for something peculiar to happen. He fervently wanted to get the damn piece quickly before someone else did. On top of that, he badly wanted to get back to Lenriad.Only the Fates knew how much suffering he had to go through just to locate Margarette’s quarters. He had gone through different routes leading to different countries and yet the witch was just so elusive. Fortunately, he finally found her.“Ahem.” The sur

            “Ouch! One more unnecessary movement and I’ll throw you out!” Finrod threatened, his eyes narrowed at Ellaine.            “Huh! Can’t you just even thank me for helping you?” She could’ve hit him if not for the long, bloody wound across his chest.            “Hey, both of you, can’t you stop bickering?” Margarette said.            Fortunately, an empty stagecoach stopped by and carried them when they got out of the forest. The coachman, a bony gentleman (precisely, a skeleton) held the reins of four ghost horses.Margarette said they are called couriers. They always appear when someone is in the brink of death. Sometimes they help injured creatures reach the nearest infirmary but sometimes they deliver them to their end.&

As soon as Ellaine went back Eugoroa, Feucher started to boil the dusts. Finrod was still unconscious but Margarette told her he was better than he looked like. He can still last a day without the dusts, in fact.            She told them how Yntreia ended up with her. She remembered the sympathy Feucher showed her.            “Don’t mourn for a long time, Ellaine.” Feucher assured her. “Death is not a stranger to us. Some just wait longer to receive him. On the other hand, the pixies are a strong clan. This is only a phase of their history.”            Now it was time for Margarette to say her piece. As Feucher busied himself in making the concoction, they went to the town square to get some fresh air.            They sat on a bench beside

True to Finrod’s words when the sun began to rise above the mountains in the East, they were already outside the city walls of Eugoroa. Back in his café, good old Feucher was buried deep with order slips unable to send them off himself.            The days of their journey were hot and extremely tiring. There was still no path made across the barren land that they had to pass. They had to travel on foot because they had neither horses nor carriage to bring them to their destination. Ellaine figured out that there were still no jeepneys, tricycles, and cars.            “What people of your world wanted here was antiquity. They loved the olden days and preserved them here.” Margarette said when she asked her why there were no vehicles.            It was such a very good thing that pixies grow fast. Ynt