“I roasted the chicken and vegetables yesterday, but this is what I do with the leftovers.” Scarlet winked. She placed the chicken drippings in a saucepan, added salt and pepper, rosemary, bay leaves, and thyme, then turned up the heat.
“How do you know the king?” I asked Scarlet as we rolled out the pie dough on her floured table.
“Four years ago, I was taken by his father as…a maiden.”
I blinked back in surprise. “A maiden? You?”
Scarlet huffed out a laugh with an eye roll, “Yes, me.” She pulled the hair out from her face. “Hard to imagine me as a maiden now with my two little ones?”
“No, of course not,” I shook my head. “I just never thought I’d get to talk to one of you.” I lowered my voice as if hiding some great secret. “To know what really happened.”
Scarlet laughed again, “Oh, my children know I’m a human, and they know I was taken from the human lands, but I wanted to go. I was from a very poor family, and we were always hungry. I was going to have to start work as a governess by the next year, but even with my meager earnings, my family would still go hungry. So, I offered myself as a maiden so that my family would be blessed with riches.”
A story very like my friend, Lila. Both forced into situations where women were seen as more of a commodity to be sold off than anything else.
Scarlet shook her head, heat creeping into her cheeks, “I had dreams, fantasies of falling in love with the Elf King and being whisked away to my happily ever after. Luckily, Elden and I became fast friends. We knew pretty soon after meeting that we were more suited to be friends than lovers, so we made a plan.”
“A plan?” I asked as I cut away the excess pie crust from the pan. Elden hadn’t led Scarlet to believe they would become anything more than friends, and he hadn’t given Lila any encouragement. I wasn’t sure about Brooke’s story, but so far it seemed like Elden had been very forthright with his intentions early on. He hadn’t led any of them to believe they could be more than just friends. So what was this strange connection between Elden and me? Could he be starting to feel the same attraction toward me as I did him?
Scarlet whisked a mixture of milk and flour into the hot pan of seasoned broth, thickening it to a fragrant gravy. “He gave me my freedom to find out who I was. I traveled the lands withmy servant, Nadia, and found I had a love for children and for teaching. Elden helped me secure a job here in Stormhold as a teacher, and that’s where I met Rowan.”
Her voice turned dreamy then. “Rowan was the school groundskeeper. He and I fell in love. So, in a way, Elden did lead me to my happily ever after. Now Rowan and I run the school and accept all who come, human or elf.”
“There are more of us humans here?” I blinked in surprise.
Scarlet spooned the chicken and vegetables into the pie pan, then poured the thick gravy on top. I took note in my recipe book.
“Many human craftsmen and maidens live in this and neighboring villages. Out here in the wood away from the politics of the palace, it’s easier for us to remember a simpler time. To hold on to one another and not get divided by petty misunderstandings.” Scarlet laid a fresh circle of pie crust dough over the chicken and vegetables. Then she formed several holly leaves and berries from the dough to decorate the pie. “We are mostly independent, but we are a community who will always help someone in need.”
“Like us tonight.” Gratitude filled my heart. “Thank you so much.”
Wind whipped at the windows as the snow outside began to fall in earnest. Moments later, both Elden and Rowan bustled in, coated in white snow, both with armloads of firewood.
“This will have to do for tonight, my love.” Rowan dropped the wood onto the hearth next to the fire and joined his children at the table. The children glanced up from their drawings, then hurried over to their father where they climbed into his lap and showed off their scribbles proudly. Rowan kissed them both and ‘ooed and aaahed’ appropriately at their masterpieces.
Elden removed his coat and boots and joined Rowan at the table. We shared a smile at the beautiful scene. He’d helped thiswoman find happiness. Find purpose. Just as he said. Now there was a whole village out here of both human and elf living in harmony. It was unthinkable, and yet, here was proof.
Little Hawthorne made his way over to Elden on unsteady legs and held up his hands in a clear signal to be picked up. Elden smiled and obliged. The little child then sat on the table and squished Elden’s face between incoherent babbles. Hawthorne played with Elden’s nose and pinched his cheeks. Elden laughed heartily and tweaked the child’s nose.
My heart did a squeeze then, as if it had eaten too much cherry jam on toast and was somehow sticky. Scarlet placed the chicken pie in the oven, and it wasn’t long before the entire cottage smelled of rosemary and chicken and vegetables and pie crust. Oh, how I loved pie crust.
I tried to use the warmth to infuse my joy in the pie. To somehow bring my magic into the bake, but again I was too confused to fully feel one emotion. Scarlet and Elden had been promised to one another for a time. It was all too new, too fresh. Jealousy sought to weed its way into my heart.
But there was a joy in the very wood joints and plaster that made up this cottage, a magic all unto its own. I leaned into it and felt content. As we sat down to eat, I looked expectantly at Elden. A shake of his head confirmed what I already knew–there was no magic in the pie.
Frustration built up inside of me. If I could not command my heart, how would I command my magic?
Despite my worry, dinner was beautiful, full of the endless chatter of children and the comforts of fast friends conversing contentedly. We helped clean, then the children were sent to bed in the loft.
It wasn’t long before Scarlet, Rowan, Elden and I found ourselves on fluffy couches in front of a roaring fire.
“Are you storing a few things here for the winter?” I indicated the slew of stacked crates beside the backdoor.
Scarlet and Rowan shared a pained look, and I cursed myself for my curious nature. Why couldn’t I leave well enough alone?
Rowan cleared his throat and held onto his wife’s hand. “We are in the process of packing our things. We must leave our home within a fortnight before the pass closes.”
23
