Story: Fellyans (part nine)

Fellyans

(part nine)

“No, madam, I am not to hobnob,” the elf replied. He twitched two fingers, causing a short ladder to appear below the nearest shelf. “Why, I’d thought so! The Queen’s likeness on that great tureen. ‘Interlude’ is the pattern, we have one hundred and twenty-four pieces of it in the royal cupboard…”

“It had a lid. My son lied to me about how that vanished.”

“Um, yes,” Bede said, pink-faced. His mother’s comments came audibly. “I tried it for a battleship and it sank.”

Jorinda had been teaching the sprites social conversation, at a time it seemed possible they could learn to mingle, perhaps to serve the old as companions…

“Bede, be a helper. Sit here opposite Finch. Now, you are hostess.”

“Have I got a servant?”

“You don’t.”

“Mr. Dwale, will you pour your own?”

“I prefer it, Miss. Shall I take a cake?”

“Do,” said Finch, “as you prefer.”

Bede took two cakes. The chime sounded. He braced his sliding body against a footstool. Jorinda rustled, then appeared on his left, gesturing reminder to her pupil.

“Do you like small talk?” Finch asked.

“Very much.”

Finch frowned for a long minute. “You may be wondering, then, where I got so many lovely things?”

Bede hid a smile. “Perhaps your mother left them to you.”

“Oh! I hope not! Does she need to be dead? I’ll cry!”

“No, no!” He observed his partner gaze at the ceiling. To distract Finch, he broke character, pointing out the Varkhund, the troll’s-head candlesticks, the bedbound person’s broth bowls, that his mother had got from a neighbor…

Zipping clear of the neighbor’s fate, he remarked: “I must try to keep these stories in memory. No doubt I’ve forgotten half already! If only my mother’s things could talk.”

“Was the tureen purchased hexed, and if not, is the spell registered? I don’t feel I have one such in my notes.” The elf inched his ladder aside, to test the weight of a broth bowl.

“The beak is a spout, made for sipping without spilling. And see how the eyes are holes to let off steam.”

“I asked Bede, when he rode into town to pay his taxes last, to pick up the forms. Did you ever?”

Thanking Jorinda, by averting his eyes from hers, Bede said, “My mind’s a blank. But, add the fine to any others you may assess.”

9

Fellyans

Fellyans (part ten)

(2021, Stephanie Foster)