Pansy blinked at them, her lips parting around a soft “o” of surprise, as if she’dforgottenthat they were still there. “Is that a problem?” she asked. “It was in the cupboard, and you’d told me how goblins often put sugarfern in tea, so I assumed—”
“That you needed it more? After all that I’ve already sharedwith you?”
The tea had been Ren’s one and only indulgence, the one thing they’d allowed themself to keep in the overwhelming face of their clan’s need. Now, the inherent selfishness of it all was plain to see. Because if a halfling needed it more than they did…
Ren swallowed, unable to finish the thought, their throat squeezing around an unexpected clot of shame.
Pansy, meanwhile, had the decency to look somewhat ashamed as well – even if only for a moment. She came back at them quickly, her chin raised high in stubborn halfling defiance. “I’ve shared with you too! Remember who’s been cooking all of your meals.”
“With ingredientsIgrew!” Ren plunged headfirst into their own anger, desperate to scald away the miserable burn of their shortcomings. Because someone had to be the villain here, and it wasn’t going to be them. Not for this.
Pansy sniffed. “I bought a fair number of them myself, actually. But, honestly, Ren. It’sjusttea.”
“Then drink your own!” they snapped.
“I don’t— I forgot to bring it with me,” she admitted after a beat, her gaze dropping briefly to the floor.
For a moment, Ren could only stare at her, speechless. How was it possible that she looked more embarrassed by her own forgetfulness than by the fact that she’d simply assumed Ren had a limitless supply of tea?
“It’s okay, Pansy,” Blossom said, placing a gentle hand on Pansy’s shoulder, swaddled as usual in a fluffy cardigan. “I don’t need any tea. Water is fine.”
“But it’s not elevenses without tea,” Pansy protested weakly. “It’d be like having steak for second breakfast!”
Asecondbreakfast? Ren’s head spun. Did halflings have second dinner too? Second lunch? Was there two of everything? It seemed unreal, unthinkable. No goblin would dare engage in such wanton excess. But halflings clearly knew little else.
Disgust tore from Ren’s throat, visceral and sharp, twisted as the thorns that wound around their thoughts, blotting out the truth. Greed, gluttony and selfishness – that’s all halflings were. They didn’t damage the land like the dwarves did, but that was almost certainly only because the vast majority of them never bothered to set foot beyond the bounds of their own villages. All they lacked was opportunity; Pansy was proof enough of that.
Upper lip peeling back to reveal the gleaming points of their canines, Ren said, with all the cold venom they could muster, “I’m not sure what I was thinking, expecting anything different from agreedy, selfish halfling.”
They spat the words, whetted to knife-point sharpness. And as Ren pushed past the two halflings into the welcoming darkness of the floor below, the last thing they saw was the barest quiver of Pansy’s lower lip.
The blade had hit home.
The cottage’s lower level, with all of its cool darkness and moist earth that smelled of home, proved far less comforting than Ren had expected. A current of unease prickled beneath their skin, insistent and relentless. No matter how studiously they dedicated themself to rearranging the contents of their potions cupboard, which, to be clear, was already plenty organized – immaculately so, even – the feeling continued to pick at them, whizzing through their thoughts like an especially irritating gnat.
Ren told themself it was just lingering fury; the fire smoldering in their gut simply hadn’t extinguished quite yet. However, the conclusion, plausible though it might’ve been in isolation, didn’t stick, and that proved equally intolerable.
Letting out a snarl of frustration, Ren slammed the cupboard shut only to wince when the glass panes along the front gave a worrisome rattle. Okay. Clearly distractions weren’t working and, at this rate, would probably end up doing more harm than good. Because Renlikedthis cabinet, even if it looked like a rainbow had vomited all over it in that distinctly halfling sort of way. It was large, sturdy and altogether suitable for their purposes. Not to mention, the thought of having to secure a replacement sent a shudder roiling through them. The sheer inconvenience of it all! Not just finding an appropriate substitute, but also getting it down here, a task that would almost certainly require a full complement of featherflight talismans, which Ren didn’t have.Ugh. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the loss of the cabinet would mean one less thing of Ren’s in a house that seemed to be rapidly skewing towards Pansy, given the sudden rug infestation.
That was it!Understanding unfurled across Ren’s brow, smoothing out the wrinkles their frustration had carved. No wonder they felt so uneasy. They were meant to be pushing Pansy out, and apart from the dirt they’d ultimately been forced to clean up, all they’d done was plant some Running Beans in a garden she didn’t seem to care about. Granted, they’d also applied some growth paste, but that had proved equally unsuccessful, much to Ren’s consternation. Meanwhile, Pansy was throwing down rugs, putting up paintings and knitting who-knows-what. And Ren – Ren was hiding downstairs like a petulant child who’d just come off a tantrum. Truly the pinnacleof so-called goblin “craftiness”, that.
Ignoring the slight twinge that hooked into their belly – the one that said,No, you’ve rather missed the mark yet again– Ren began to gather what they needed. First, several sheets of moss, all in various shapes and sizes; then, a squat section of log, perfectly proportioned to serve as a side table, its graying bark festooned with scraggly bits of lichen and flat whitecaps; and, lastly, an especially large red-and-white-spotted mushroom, its head bulbous and soft, hastily glazed with a Potion of Ever Endurance. While the moss had been easily procured from the cottage’s lower level, the latter two items had necessitated a short trip into the forest, which Ren had undertaken at a near sprint – at least, in one direction.
The return journey would’ve doubtless proved equally quick had Pig been around to help, but for once she was nowhere to be found. Not even Ren’s voice had been able to reach her. It was strange. Ren could’ve sworn they’d passed her on their way down, curled up on a patch of moss near the base of the stairs; Mushroom had been there, too, actually. But by the time Ren had set out in earnest, the two of them had vanished.
In the end, it didn’t matter. Ren needn’t have rushed. Pansy was well and truly occupied, having holed up in the kitchen with Blossom, where they spoke in low, hushed tones that Ren could’ve strained to hear, if they so cared. They didn’t. Not really. The fact that they’d overheard Pansy complaining about “the kitten plan”, as she called it, not having immediately driven them from the cottage, was nothing but pure chance.
Granted, they’d smiled at it, gratified to know that their own stubbornness had proved equally maddening. But when Blossom replied with a thoughtful, “It’s so strange that the kitten seems so taken with Ren, though. Cats are usuallyexcellent judges of character,” Ren’s smile promptly vanished. Instead, there was only that same tightness in their throat from earlier, and not even the sight of the sitting room decked out in moss and wood and mushrooms, alongside the halfling rugs and hideous knitted pillows, could chase it away.
But maybe once Pansy saw it…
As luck would have it, when it came time for Blossom to leave, the two halflings took the long way around, bypassing the sitting room entirely.Probably because I’m in here, Ren thought with an oddly sour note.
From the entryway, Blossom asked, “Is it really okay if I take the rest of the cookies? They’re so delicious I’d completely understand if you wanted to keep them for yourself.”
Pansy laughed, and Ren nearly flinched, the memory of her trembling lip cracking across their consciousness. “You’re acting like I can’t just make another batch,” she said, all warmth and openness. “I’m sure Ren will give me some more sugarfern if I—” Her jaw snapped shut with such force that even Ren could hear it.
“Oh, Pansy,” Blossom said. “Do you want to spend the night with me in Haverow instead?”
