The Rossem Project

Haven - Part 5

     Lirenna rarely ate meat, but she felt her mouth watering at the sight of it. She'd enjoyed Esmerelda's home made pies many times in the past. She forced her eyes back to those of her hosts, though. "An anniversary is a day when a wife should eat with her husband," she said, "but there will be other days and other pies."

     The Brents gathered at the gate to wave her goodbye as she left, repeating their promise that they and the other local farms would supply her with all the food she and her family would need for the rest of the year, that being only a fraction of what her spells had saved from the rats and mice. This was the only payment the demi shae ever charged for her services (although charged wasn't exactly the right word as the farmers offered it voluntarily). All their needs were met in this way. The wizards hardly ever had to buy anything.

     Arriving back at their fairytale cottage, Lirenna wasn't at all surprised to find her husband still in the study, although he'd put aside the scrolls he'd been studying and was now engrossed in an enigmatic sheaf of papers that had been left behind by one of the valley's Elders just before his mysterious disappearance. Thomas was so wrapped up in concentration that he failed to notice his wife's return and she was able to creep right up behind him without his becoming aware of her. Looking over his shoulder, she noticed a sheet of paper that had been pushed to the side of the desk and seemed to be in imminent danger of falling to the floor. At the top was the word 'speech', underlined half a dozen times, and there were a few little doodles down the left hand side. The rest of the sheet was completely blank.

     The demi shae felt a laugh building up inside her, together with a tidal wave of pure love that threatened to sweep her away like a leaf in a hurricane. She stared at the back of his head for a few moments, feeling her love for him crash over her like an avalanche, feeling her eyes going moist with tears. Then she bent down and wrapped her arms around his neck.

     Thomas jumped up in alarm, dropping the papers with a strangled shriek, and leapt out of his chair, only to collapse in a fit of giggles when he saw who it was. "By the Gods, woman!" he swore while Lirenna hid her own giggles behind a pale, slender hand. "Don't do that to me! I thought you were a hobgoblin!"

     "Oh very nice!" replied Lirenna indignantly. "A man mistakes his own wife for a hobgoblin! A fine anniversary compliment that is!" Then she squealed in delight as Thomas grabbed her around the waist and pulled her tight.

     After a few thorough kisses and friendly fondles they got up and went off to get themselves something to eat, while Lirenna told him of her morning with the Brents. "They know about the party, don't they?" she asked, slicing a large lump of cheese to place alongside the bread and honey on her plate. "It wouldn't be proper for us to invite them, or even mention the party when we're not even supposed to know about it, but grandfather did remember to invite them, didn't he?"

     "I'm sure he did," replied Thomas around a mouthful of poached egg. He swallowed and then grinned broadly. "Remember when he came here a few weeks ago, asking not so subtle questions about how we were finding life way out here, on the edge of town? Did we get out to meet people often? Does Derry have anyone his own age to play with? The way he kept coming back to our relationship with our neighbours."

     "He never was very subtle," agreed Lirenna. "It must have been a real effort for him not to just ask straight out. And yet, I swear that when he left he had no idea we knew what it was he really wanted to know."

     "So he knows how well we get on with the neighbours, and that means he's sure to have invited them. He's probably invited half the valley! He's probably hired Daisywell Meadow to hold it on! It'll probably be big enough that the other half of the valley will come as well to find out what all the noise is about." Thomas took another huge bite out of the lump of cheese that took up half his plate.

     "There's just one thing," said Lirenna with an uncomfortable frown. "It occurred to me a little while ago. Are we absolutely sure that there really is going to be a party?"

     That made Thomas pause in the act of chewing as he tried to think back to how and when he'd first learned of it. They'd suspected for months that Lirenna's grandfather was arranging something for them, but what was it that had first made them suspect? Had someone actually told them, or had they overheard someone talking or something? Suddenly his heart froze as Lirenna's words sank in. What if they'd somehow gotten the wrong idea? What if there was no party? What if they were the ones who were thought to be arranging it? But they hadn't invited anybody! Maybe all their friends thought they were the only ones not invited!

     They looked at each other, and their faces paled with fear as a moment of silent communication passed between them. "No, I'm sure that's not right," Lirenna said at last. "Relda was far too happy and relaxed to be thinking that. She was happy as a trog in a goldmine even though I never mentioned any party. She knows something's been arranged, I'm sure of it."

     Thomas relaxed, nodding in agreement. "By the Gods, I was scared for a minute there. The idea that we might have committed some terrible social blunder and have half the valley upset with us. How upset would they have been, do you think?"

     "Not terribly upset. We're a pretty easy going bunch on the whole. I don't think anyone would actually have crossed the street to avoid us, or whispered about us behind our backs, or stopped inviting us to parties or demanded we leave the valley or..." She stopped when she saw the horrified look Thomas was giving her and laughed in delight. "Don't worry! It hasn't happened! We're still best friends with everyone!"

     Thomas forced a smile and returned to his lunch. The idea of accidentally doing something to upset the community was one that came back to haunt him at regular intervals. He could still hardly believe how well he, an outsider, had been accepted by the Havenites. Even now, after more than twenty years, it was a joy and a delight for him to walk down the street and have people waving to him and calling out his name, and he was determined that he would do nothing to endanger that. Nothing at all. "So, what do we do now? Just sit here and wait for someone to come for us?"

     "I suppose so. Or at least make sure we're somewhere we can be found. And make sure we're doing something that we can drop at a moment's notice."

     Thomas swallowed and pushed his plate away, empty except for a few crumbs, and it was immediately picked up and carried off to the sink by a housekeeping spell. They heard the splashing of water and the swishing of a dishmop. "So, what shall we do in the meantime? Got any ideas?"

     “Enough of that,” she said with a giggle, pushing him away. “I’ve got work to do. Until we figure out how to cast a spell that can tell the difference between herbs and weeds, we have to do the gardening by hand, and it’s getting a bit unkempt out there.”

     She pecked him on the cheek, then went into the next room to fetch her gloves and a gardening fork while Thomas returned to his study.