No one had known what to get Idris. Alison had gone down to the archive and asked Duncan Corbett (who would be attending her wedding with Nigel Smalls after all, a great bit of gossip) to copy all the stories of local curses and their remedies into a pamphlet. Alison had worried Idris would find it overly practical as a gift, but he had been thrilled. “There are some unique stories here,” said Idris as he skimmed through it. “You know, it wouldn’t be a bad project, going from town to town, collecting their curse lore. Thank you for the idea as well.”
But the winner of the day was Rinka. Idris’s gift to her had come in a huge box he’d struggled to carry into Gwenla’s living room, and Rinka had struggled to even open it. “What did you get me, a horse?”
In the end, Gwenla had to find a crowbar to break into the crate.
“I don’t believe it,” said Rinka as she lifted something round from within it. It was a metal wheel about a foot wide,and wrapped around it was something dark that Alison didn’t recognize. “Are all of these—how many are there? Is this every picture show that’s ever been made?”
Rinka was practically yelling; she was so excited. Alison remembered how it used to scare the Halfling Mr. Theo in their building in Arcas Dyrne when she spoke too loudly. They had come a long way since then.
“It’s every picture show I could manage to find,” said Idris.
“But how are we meant to watch them? They need a projector to run them, and ‘lectrics to run the projector. Oh, this one is so cute! It’s a little fairy princess story,” she said, holding up another one of the reels that must have somehow held picture shows.
“There’s a projector waiting at Weldan House.” Idris smiled at Keir—they’d clearly planned this surprised together.
“Gwenla, everyone, you must come with us back to Weldan House,” said Rinka. “We can send you home in a carriage tonight. I have to show you all of my favorites.”
“Aunt Gwenla, can we go? Please? I want to see the pictures,” said Finnli. “We only get dwarf pictures under the mountain.”
“Let me do some washing up first,” said Gwenla.
“Sit down,” said Alison. “I’ll do that.”
“No, I insist—”
“You can supervise from the kitchen table,” said Keir, joining Alison in clearing the plates.
Gwenla sat uncomfortably at her kitchen table as Keir and Alison washed the dishes. “You really don’t have to—”
“Please, Gwenla. Let us do something. You must have been up all night making all of this,” said Alison.
“And it was worth it,” said Keir. “It was a wonderful meal.”
Gwenla finally sat back in her chair. Alison glanced back to look at her and saw she was smiling and nodding. “What wouldLady Willana have said?” she asked, recognizing Gwenla’s look when she was imagining their conversation.
“She would have loved this. Nothing would have made her happier than to see everyone together again. To see the house full of laughter. She would have been so proud of you both.”
“She would have been proud of you too, Gwenla,” said Keir. “You made this all possible.”
“We all did,” said Gwenla. “Together.”
Chapter Twelve
NEW YEAR’S EVE
Rinka
Rinka regretted agreeing to host the New Year’s celebration for Wilderise’s Hill Country at Weldan House.
It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy parties. She loved them, in fact, and she was looking forward to a night of dancing and revelry. It wasn’t even that she minded planning, although there was a lot to organize between the decorations, the catering, and the entertainment. It was good practice for Alison’s wedding, after all, and she’d been able to make some useful contacts with the help of the Weldan House staff (while keeping quiet about the upcoming nuptials in order to prevent Lord Ainsley finding out).
No, the problem was the picture-show projector. All that planning and organizing took time away from enjoying the best gift anyone had ever given her.
Rinka managed to find time at night after approving the napkin selection and listening to the string quartet rehearse to watch some of the pictures in the Weldan House ballroom, the second room in the house to have its ‘lectrics completed.
There were shows she’d never seen before and shows she thought she’d never see again. Once a picture show left the small theatre near the butcher shop, it seldom came back again.
Idris hadn’t really gotten it at first, but even he enjoyed a spooky picture with a vampire that turned into a bat.
