Chapter Ten: Cleaned and Dressed

Master Oilreid already moved to open a different door. He held it politely and motioned the girls to follow. Evie examined it, intrigued. She hadn’t seen another door lead anywhere but back outside to the forest. But through this one, she could make out another room beyond the doorway. It looked like a mirror reflection of the one she was in, almost circular with books all around.

The old man seemed to notice her surprise because he said, “The sprites pride themselves on having the finest library in the world. You surely did not think it was only one room?” He chucked. “Wait until you see the rest of it!”

After the first room they went into one with glass cases all around and some even protruding from the floor. Each case held something different. Some of it looked like garbage, like a clay pot that had been smashed into pieces and then pasted back together so the cracks were still very clear spider-webbing across it, or an old gray dress with the hem half torn out. Some of it looked priceless, like a set of armor that appeared to be made of gold and had jewels set into the medal to make it sparkle. Its accompanying shield had tiny diamonds set into it to make the shape of an eagle in flight.

The third room held the skeletons of animals in cases bordering the room like the bookcases in previous rooms. Some of the skeletons Evie recognized, including one that looked very much like a rapton! Others had to be beasts of fantasy. Her mouth dropped at each display, truly this was an amazing place. How could so much knowledge be altogether? She wondered if a scholar anywhere in the world could pose a question that could not be answered within the walls of this library.

In the third room, Master Oilreid led them to a case which turned into a door at his bidding, and they stepped though it back into the forest. Evie looked back for a moment as the door closed and disappeared below the ground. Bridget had taken several steps before she noticed her friend had stopped. She turned and prodded her forward. Evie wondered how her cousin could be so eager to leave the library. She realized with a start that Bridget hadn’t been gaping at the displays the way she did. Her friend had hurried through the rooms, eager to get to where they headed. Sighing, Evie scurried to catch up. People were just different.

The old man led them through some more trees to an open field that looked like a road in a village. At least there were a dozen houses built close together. The houses, however, seemed like temporary huts, rather than somewhere people intended to remain for years. They were built with wood and straw, rather than the brick she was used to. A few children played tag in the open spaces between homes. And a couple of women standing outside looked in their direction.

One of the children came running toward the old man and shouted, “Master Oilreid! Did you come to play?” The child, who was a couple of years younger that Evie, threw a ball at the old man. He caught it nimbly and twisted in a circle before throwing it back to the boy. Evie almost gasped in surprised at that. The more time she spent with him, the younger he seemed to get. The rest of the children noticed, now too. Before she could blink, Evie saw half a dozen of them running toward her.

Master Oilreid answered the questions being thrown at him jovially. No, he did not have time for a game of sticks right now, maybe later. Yes, the girls he brought were going to be staying here for a while. Yes, he might be able to come to the festival tonight, if he got his work done. He navigated his way through the excited children to one of the women. Short and plump with round pink cheeks and a bit of flour on her apron, she made Evie smile. She missed her aunt terribly. She hadn’t had much time to think about that. But this woman looked so motherly Evie felt warm inside.

Master Oilreid began talking to the woman. Evie couldn’t hear what they said because of the excitement that had followed the old man. After a few minutes of nodding her head calmly, though, the motherly woman glanced down at Evie and Bridget with a beautiful smile. Without a pause, she bent her knees to look them in the eye and gathered the two of them into a warm embrace. “I am glad you’ve come, girls.” Releasing them, she touched Evie’s chin and looked her in the eye. “I knew your mother, Evie. You look so much like her!” With a smile for Bridget she said, “And you’re beautiful as well. It will be wonderful to have you join us for a few days. Please,” she motioned to the open door to her house, “Come in and sit down. You too, Oilreid,” she said to the old scholar. “Let’s talk for a few minutes.”

Once inside, the old man introduced the children. “Evie, Bridget, I would like you to meet Mistress…”

She interrupted him in a rush, “Don’t be silly.” She directed herself to Evie and Bridget, “When you address Master Oilreid, you show him proper respect. He’s a scholar and a teacher. But I’m a simple woman and you’ll call me Mabel. That’s what all the kids call me, thank you very much, and I don’t mind it one bit.” She flashed that welcoming smile again. “What I want to know is why these children haven’t been allowed to clean up. Such lovely faces shouldn’t be covered in dirt.”

While Master Oilreid explained about Elder Banied and Anna, Mabel ushered the girls into chairs and served them fresh bread and milk. Evie hadn’t even felt the hollow growling in her stomach, but it turned out she felt near to starving. When Mabel noticed that she and Bridget finished every crumb, she started exclaiming about hungry children and put out more bread along with a berry jelly and some sliced ham. The girls smiled their thanks and then continued in on the food.

Whispering and giggling, Evie and Bridget ignored the boring conversation between the old man and Mabel. They ignored it until Evie heard Master Oilreid say, “No, Mabel, we can not allow anyone to go on until we discover where the problem is. We can not risk it. If there is a spy I will not send him on.” Evie tried to look uninterested. She knew how adults tended to stop saying anything interesting if they thought a child was paying any attention.

Mabel answered, “But, Oilreid, you can’t expect us to stay here forever. Humans can’t be cooped up in a spritested for very long. Well, any of us but you. And Trevor won’t be okay until he is back with his mother. Such a sweet woman she is, it’s no wonder he’s struggling, poor thing.”

Where did the woman want to go? A spy for who? Evie had too many questions. But the adults seemed to have noticed the abrupt pause in the conversation between Evie and Bridget. The both looked over at the girls and Mabel said, “I’ll bet these children can have their turns in the pools now, and we’ll have a place for them to stay set up before they are finished. That is,” she turned to talk to the girls and said in a questioning voice, “if you’ve had enough to eat?”
Evie and Bridget talked on top of each other, reassuring the kind woman that they were quite full and that everything had been delicious. Evie glanced toward the door, though. She wanted to hear more, but bath sounded so good right then! The questions would still be there when she was clean.

Master Oilreid smiled. “Well, you seem to have everything in hand, then. Thanks, Mabel.” With a goodbye wave of his hand, he left. Seconds later Evie heard the clamor of children’s voices again, begging the old man to play for a little while.

In no time Mabel had Bridget and Evie moving toward the forest again. The pools, as the adults had called them, truly amazed both girls. Once they had reached the stopping point in the forest, Mabel made the same motion the others had to enter and exit the library. The ground split, but it was like walking out of the forest outside into the outside.

The stairs downward were formed out of flat rocks that might have been in the shape of stairs naturally. Thick green moss grew everywhere and as they walked downward, huge stone walls seemed to appear out of nowhere. It was circular, like the library, but the walls pillared up toward the sky, with no ceiling above. They were covered with climbing plants that had colorful blossoms at intervals between the leaves. At the bottom of the stairs a clear, blue pool flickered with moving water. Evie didn’t have to wonder where the movement came from. One of the walls hosted a bubbling waterfall spilling down the side of it. She did have to wonder where the water was coming from, though. It fell from nowhere. That was impossible!

The girls played in the water for a long time, appreciating the feeling of being clean and the pleasure of play, when they’d been running for so long. Mabel left, but came back with their clothes, clean and mended. Evie had no idea how she managed that so quickly! Too soon the fun ended. As Evie dressed herself she suddenly realized how tiring this adventure had been for her poor body. Her muscles felt like water. She needed to sleep.

Mabel led them back to the houses and settled them into a room with two small beds, even though the noonday sun still burned brightly. It felt so good. The soft bed molded to Evie’s weary body. She felt clean, warm and full. She couldn’t remember feeling this perfect for days. As she drifted off to sleep she heard Mabel say, “This nap will be just the thing for you girls. This way you can be awake and ready for the festival tonight.”


Evie had no idea how long she’d napped, but the sun still peeked in through a window when she woke up. Bridget had already gone from the bed next to her and she heard voices coming from the parlor. She found her cousin sitting on the floor of the parlor, working on embroidery, of all things. She hated embroidery! In a circle around her sat five women in chairs, chatting about clothes as they sewed. One of them was Mabel. Another was Anna.

Mabel and Anna both handled their sewing needles as if they were used to this type of work. They sewed quickly and hardly had to pay attention to their hands. The other three women, though, didn’t hold their needles at all. They had pieces of material floating in the air in front of them. The needles moved on their own, as if invisible hands were moving them up and down through the cloth. Evie stared so hard, she almost didn’t notice that there were tiny sprite women at other places throughout the room, also working on sewing.

After a minute the conversation stopped, and all eyes turned toward Evie. Sewing stopped in mid-motion. The pieces suspended in the air remained there, with the needles simply frozen. Offering a smile, Mabel exclaimed, “You’re awake! Please come in and meet these ladies.”

The three women she didn’t know were, as she had guessed, souray. They came to the spritested as refugees from what they called “troubles in the kingdom.” Evie knew she looked confused because Brea, a thin woman with a young, pretty face said, “The King has gone mad with power. He is determined to root out every person who supported his first wife and imprison them. Most of us here wanted to go back to the days when ray and souray lived together in peace, but we had the choice of either leaving or being put into jail by the King.” She looked so sad. Evie wondered what, or who, she had left behind to come here.

Bridget must have felt the somber mood because she suddenly changed the subject, “There is going to be a festival tonight, Evie. They have invited us to come. That’s why we’re all here working. They’re making clothes for us to wear.” Bridget’s smile lit up, so pleased that Evie grinned back. Her cousin never liked dealing with serious things. She preferred to laugh and always seemed to be able to lighten any mood. Just then, what she’d said hit home in Evie’s mind. There would be a party!

“Why?” Evie asked, “I don’t know what day it is, but I’m sure it can’t be a holiday yet.”
Brea smiled, “The sprites have different holidays than we do. I think you girls will enjoy yourselves. It is a celebration of life. Would you like to help embroider your skirt?” Evie nodded excitedly. She loved to dress up. It was certainly kind of these women to work so hard for her when they didn’t even know her. She had a feeling she might like it very much in this spritested.

They spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready. Her dress came from a soft, shiny cloth she’d never seen before. The glossy material shined silver with green vines embroidered all over the front. Somehow, the embroidery looked like actual leaves climbing up the dress. She felt beautiful in it, a rare treat for Evie. One of the other ladies, Chana, an older woman who looked stern and commanding, laced matching flowers through her hair.

Bridget looked absolutely gorgeous in a green dress with yellow flowers blooming all over the sleeves. She even let the ladies tie feathers and flowers into her long braid, though she had a sour expression on her face as they did it. Evie never thought she would see her tomboy cousin so dolled up. It seemed natural on her, she looked so pretty. Evie often forgot how lovely Bridget truly was.

Sometimes adults and even local boys had noticed her and commented. She quickly silenced them. She made a snotty remark to the adults. She always had to apologize afterward, but they quickly forgot what a lovely little girl she was. Evie supposed her personality made it hard to think of her as a doll. The boys got the really rotten end of the deal. She would concoct some marvellous prank, and they’d end up sorry they’d ever seen her beautiful face, let alone commented on it.

Evie couldn’t help but notice that one of the women didn’t seem as pleased to have them as guests. Janette, she had been told when they were introduced, spent the time sewing what looked like a boy’s vest. That made sense since Evie was also told the woman had a son about her age. But when the rest of the women and even the sprites had begun dressing the girls and doing their hair, Janette had hung back for a few moments, watching.

Her stare made Evie want to run and hide. She tried to ignore the woman and made a point of not looking at her. So, she didn’t see when the woman slipped out without so much as a good bye. When she did notice, though, she breathed a sigh of relief. That lady didn’t like her for some reason. And she wasn’t sure why, but she thought the dislike might cause her problems in the future.

Knowing the whole thing must be her imagination, Evie turned back to the women doing her hair. Trina flittered around chattering, non-stop, about how pleased she felt that they arrived in time for the festival. Evie’s reservations slipped away and she thought about how much fun this night would surely be.

It wasn’t long before Bridget and Evie were ushered into the forest. The women and sprites all giggled excitedly as they walked (or flew). Evie noticed with surprise the the sun hung low in the sky. It couldn’t be long before sunset.

Bridget stared seriously forward as she discreetly pulled the decorations out of her hair, one at a time. Evie smiled. Despite everything they’d been though, her cousin’s strange pride remained the same as before they left home.

When she noticed Evie looking at her, Bridget pulled her hand away from her braid with an embarrassed smile. Evie laughed out loud. A second later, Bridget grabbed her cousin’s arm and whispered in an excited voice, “I thought this adventure wouldn’t have any play time!” She hesitated, “Not that I’m complaining, understand, I’ve had a great time, but it’s nice to play isn’t it? I never imagined I’d be at a sprite festival!” She grinned again, even more broadly.

Evie’s anxiety level lowered just getting to talk to Bridget. The number of things they really needed to talk about when they could be alone just kept going up. Things happened so fast. She wanted to ask her about talking to animals. But, she realized that she would have to tell her the truth about herself if that subject came up. She wanted to be sure they were completely alone before getting into that.

Instead, she said, “Me neither! Can you imagine what the kids back home will say? They’ll be terribly jealous. I didn’t think I’d ever leave the village in my whole life.”

Bridget looked down for a minute. It only lasted an instant, but Evie knew she must have been wondering about her mother. Then the smile jumped back onto her lovely face and they guessed about what would happen when they got to the festival while walking arm in arm the rest of the way.