As the Hulder Herbology stood slightly apart from Mr. Derby’s neighborhood, Gale and Michaela bade farewell to the kindly Saucers. Pipa wanted to cling more closely to Michaela’s arms that were holding the plushy doll-like bunny rabbit with beautiful beige facial markings. Theodore’s pink nose sniffled a little as Pipa gently laid her pinky finger on the tip of his nose.
“It seems that our Pipa really adores your pet. Please don’t hesitate to visit us anytime.”
Abram made a good natured smile to Michaela and pressed his hand over Pipa’s shoulder.
“I don’t know for how long my army will stay here, but I would love to get to know you. After all, I owe you my honor and success.”
Michaela merely nodded, thinking to herself what should she bring that is her own when she visits the Saucers. They’ve always been giving her niceties like the produce from their own meagre plot, so she dearly wanted to impress them and show her appreciation.
Standing a little behind Michaela, Gale noticed how the man and woman stood underneath the summer moonlight. His gaze descended and settled on a dark curl of her hair that escaped the confines of her bonnet, and her shawl, slightly ruffled by the untimely breeze, almost touched Abram’s bare arm. Looking at her took up so much of Abram’s attention that he had no idea that Gale was observing their interaction and waiting for them to drop their courtesies.
Whatever business finally being over between them, Michaela turned to walk along with Gale back home. Unlike the usual bubbly character of Gale, his manner seemed a little distant all the way to the Hulders Herbology. It was actually Michaela saying things, in her voice that seemed to be just one of the natural sounds of the silent village.
“The man said that he saw others like me.”
“Like you?”
Michaela’s eyes widened at his tone, so she turned and looked at him, but out of prudence, she doubted her own perception that his manners were somewhat aloof.
‘Maybe he is tired by the night.’ she thought.
“He didn’t mean beasts who live as people. He meant human girls who have my eyes and skin and hair.”
She was actually trying to share his interests by talking about his friend, but his disinterest in the subject matter caused her to feel a bit miffed. She made a brief huff sound and turned her lowered head slightly away, pouting like how her son pouts. He would usually give affirmative remarks with a wide smile to further encourage her sociability, which he harped on being a deficit asset compared to her usual alacrity when it comes to fists. “You have a poetic voice. It’s like a chime of birds. Effortless.” He would go on. She couldn’t understand half of the meaning of his florid compliments, but his amazement at her progress would be clearly evident in the pleasure in his honey amber eyes and smile. Michaela began thinking hard and then as if she had some epiphany, she turned to him, trying to look as reassuring as possible.
Still she couldn’t elicit a favorable response.
“He…really seemed happy that I helped him.”
When Gale made a weak smile, her feeling of being miffed turned into disappointment and a little hurt. She could never admit that she secretly hoped that Gale would praise her act of bravado against the man Westley like Abram did, but she guessed that to someone who lived as an outsider to the world in which he resides, her action just seemed a trivial accident used for political interests rather than a heroic feat. But still, she would like him to say that what she has done was brave.
After a moment of pause, Gale scratched his abundant hair rendered breathtaking by the languid sway of his head, the moon,and the caressing breeze. He must have realized that he was being rude to his apprentice as he said more amiably.
“Next time, please do be more careful. You don’t want to risk anyone knowing our little secret.”
He finally faced her when he said that, his face making a strange, sly smile that puts her at an edge. Feeling a bit defensive, Michaela said softly as in a whisper.
“I thought you were friends.”
At this Gale merely stared straight ahead of him as if he is looking at a faraway place that she couldn’t see. His wispy locks danced at the breeze as they crossed a tiny bridge over a drying brook.
“In the woodlands, it is taken for granted to know the strong and the weak. And whose side one is in. Here, I am not so sure. Things are not as transparent as you would like them to be.”
He paused a bit and then carefully opened his lips and continued.
“Abram was the first one I knew since I moved to Fullgreens at the age of seventeen. We’ve been good friends, since. But I can’t really see what’s in his heart anymore.”
At this confession, she just bowed her head. Whether it was to show respect to his feelings or to tuck his neck in the shawl because of the chilly breeze, he couldn’t know.
“I don’t know if he is still the man I thought him to be.”
She let his final words sink in.
On drawing near the door to the Hulders apothecary, Gale drew out a brass key, opening the oak door and before letting them get in the house, he lighted several candles on the doorway. Soon the pharmacy component of the first story blinked into illumination, and he gracefully raised his right hand to uphold the taper, the silhouette of his face against the light bursting from the flames dancing on the pine wick as it kindled. He held up his candle stand and walked into the dark looming room, and underneath his long eyelashes, his eyes thoughtfully looked at his looming shadow.
“Another candle stand should be lying here somewhere…Someday I swear I will be more organized.”
“I can light the kitchen fire.”
“That might be too much…ah!”
“Are you alright?”
However, Gale quickly changed his mind about Michaela lighting the fireplace as he almost got a heart attack as soon he turned to see two iridescent globs flying suspended in the air. He struggled to calm his beating heart as they were actually Theodore’s eyes reflecting light in the pitch black dark. Embarrassed, Gale internally thanked the darkness for concealing his burning face, which would only show his deep mortification.
Quickly, he hunched over the fireplace with his candle to allow her to build the fire with more ease. Soon the fireplace was alight under her skillful hands despite the air not being accommodating enough to build a flame and the entire first floor was brought to life by this unusual brilliancy that expelled the suffocating darkness and Theodore’s fire goblin eyes were no more.
With Michaela still crouching over the fireplace, Gale walked up the stairs.
“Gale.”
At the sound of his name in her lips, he halted in the middle of the stairs, turning, his hand on the wooden stair rail. She was still staring at the unusual brilliancy of the fire alight, her back turned to Gale.
“Abram…He seems to be a good man. So I think you shouldn’t worry too…much.”
Despite her clumsiness with words, she was hoping to show her interest in his complicated worries about life and human relationships in Fullgreens. She wasn’t sure whether he would be more cooperative in her effort to have this conversation but Abram and the idea of power and trust seemed to be the only new topics of their mutual interest. This was her feeble attempt to show that she did care about him.
“Do you like him?”
Michaela frowned and finally turned her head to look at Gale with questioning eyes. Of course, she liked him. He was her benefactor’s friend whom they just had family dinner with.
Waiting for her to respond, Gale stared back at her with an unreadable expression that she couldn’t put her finger on. If it wasn’t for the question he blurted out, she wouldn’t have been able to detect his subtle annoyance by just looking at his face. Gale would squeal and wring his hands at trifles like Theodore eating a grasshopper but when it comes to real dangers like being arrested by men who don’t hesitate to kill, he could be surprisingly calm. Right now he was making himself look the epitome of self control and composure he seemed to be before he knew of Abram’s involvement. His brassy hair, saturated in light, reminded her of the red sunset across the Potomac river, but his face was like thawing ice. The slight wrinkle on his chin informed her that there was clear tension. After studying his face, she decided to tread the ground a little carefully.
“I only talked to him because he called himself your friend.”
She employed this coaxing tone once when she was still a rabbit and Theodore begged her to let him follow her out to the depths of the deep forest. Hopefully it would work.
That took Gale a little aback but not as much as her following words, which carried in it some soft, slightly amused chuckle. However, he couldn’t be sure if she was making an attempt to be lighthearted or if she just caught a lump in her throat. If she was indeed trying to add a touch of mirth to this serious conversation, she was far from being graceful like how some ladies are trained, but still she was at least not being as oblique as she’s used to. For a second, he wondered if Theodore would chuckle like that if he turned into a boy.
“Besides…you were talking with Ivory. I only had him as my company that time.”
“So…you noticed?”
“Hmm?”
“Nothing.”
So she didn’t notice him when he eyed her talking with Abram back in Mr. Derby’s backyard. In response, Gale tried to suppress a grin broadening in his mouth, and not really knowing what is the right thing to say at the moment, he continued ascending the stairs. As he reached the top, he stammered.
“We…we should see Abram soon sometime.”
“Before he leaves.”
“Yes.”
“With Allyah and others.”
Gale laughed as he closed his master bedroom door behind him.
“Yes.”
Hulder Tales 