Chapter 113: Chapter 113: A small day of chit-chat around the big hill in the big world of the small elves

It’s starting to take shape.

 

Hineni stands atop the hill, looking down at the marked out walls that line the area all around the growth. In the center of the hill, a small sprout peaks out of the grasses, reaching and stretching up towards the cool moonlight.

 

He wanders down the hill, running a hand along a partially finished wall of the complex, feeling it, touching it — Just to make sure that it’s real. After all, this might well be some odd frog illusion that he’s undergoing. This whole move has felt very dreamlike to begin with. But he supposes that he’s just undergoing such a radical life change, that it could simply not feel like anything else.

 

The design of the new house is simple enough. It’s all centered around the hill, in the outer midst of the city. The tree will grow atop its highest point, right in the middle and all around the base of the hill, a rectangular, boxy house of sorts will encircle in. In a way, it could be viewed as a wall for this internal complex.

 

— Which is actually what it’s supposed to be.

 

Of course, living in a tree is sort of a kooky idea to begin with, though not unheard of. But living in a tree with a full family’s worth of people? That makes it a little weirder and more difficult to pull off. But this is where the magic of the owl-god comes into play. Most of the problems encountered by such a unique living situation can be avoided by simply making the tree a tiny, itsy, little bit bigger.

 

As for the exterior complex, this is to allow a clear separation of work and home.

 

It sounds sort of odd in a way, considering that the old house was an adventurer’s guild, a forge, a library, a bar and a restaurant, while also being his home. But this time, he’d like it if the home and all of these other elements were simply disconnected a little. The home, their home, will be in the tree and whatever they manage to construct in it.

 

As for everything else, the forge and the guild and all of that stuff, it will be here, in the exterior complex that they can, at the end of the day, leave with good conscience to return to their beds that are in locations, distant and quiet.

 

He turns his head, looking at a small owl that sits on the bricks and stares his way.

 

Hineni lifts his hands, realizing that he has been caught again. “- I’m going to bed. Don’t worry.”

 

The owl hoots, snipping with its beak. “It seems that I will never be spared the hunt,” says Obscura. “Hineni wanders the nights like a lost doe.”

 

He shrugs. “I just like to look at things.”

 

“— He’s brooding!” calls in a voice from the side, Sockel. Hineni looks towards the elf, who is leaning around a stack of construction materials.

 

“I’m not ‘brooding’, Sockel,” says Hineni. “Go to bed.”

 

“’Bed’ is a generous term,” replies Sockel. “Pretty sure this is a sleeping bag on a piece of wood,” she says, pointing over her shoulder.

 

He lifts an eyebrow. “And here I thought you were tough.”

 

Sockel shrugs. “What can I say, I’ve gotten used to the good life,” she replies. Rhine walks by, yawning and rubbing his face, having apparently just finished washing up for bed. “Hey, runt,” says Sockel. “I’ll fight you for your blanket.”

 

“…Huh?” Rhine rubs his face, looking at her. “Get your own blanket, Sockel.”

 

She shrugs. “Okay. But you should choose your words better next time,” says the elf, snatching the blanket from his arms.

 

“Hey!” yells Rhine. Sockel runs off into the night and Rhine runs after her, trying to get his bedding back.

 

Hineni and Obscura stand there, watching them vanish into the darkness.

 

“…You think they’ll be fine?” asks Hineni. They are running out into a warzone, after all.

 

The owl-god clicks with her beak, shifting into her half-human form. “They will survive,” says Obscura.

 

“Good enough for me,” replies Hineni. He grabs her, picking her up. She hoots. “Come on. Let’s go to bed before they start fighting here too.”

 

“— Keep it down!” cries a sharp, loud voice from the near distance.

 

Hineni cups his hand next to his mouth. “Good night, Eilig.”

 

A loud ‘clack’ can be heard, which he can only assume was a very strong slamming of a tiny window of her doll-house.

 

This is fun.

 

Moving is fun.

 

---

 

“So, I’d like for the shelves to be as tall as they were in the old house,” explains Seltsam. “But no balcony this time.”

 

Hineni thinks for a moment, looking at the plans and then towards the crates, that she’s hiding behind. The librarian is wearing her extremely concealing outfit. But even this is far too much for her and she prefers to be unseen, which, fair enough. “Isn’t it going to be hard to reach the books at the top?”

 

“We’ll just use a ladder with wheels,” she says. “I always wanted one of those,” explains Seltsam. “Besides, I uh… I’d prefer it if the library didn’t have so many doors.”

 

“Three?” asks Hineni. “The old library had three doors. It’s a good amount of doors to have.”

 

“Three is a good amount of doors to have,” agrees Seltsam. “But not for a library. It was too much for me to always pay attention to. It was very stressful sometimes.”

 

“So… what, one?” he asks. “I feel like that’s a fire hazard.”

 

“It’s fine,” says Seltsam. “There are windows, right?”

 

Hineni looks down at the plan. “I suppose…”

 

“— Oh. Can we bar off the windows?”

 

“Seltsam.”

 

Something shuffles around behind the crates. “I just don’t want to feel watched all the time, okay?”

 

Hineni purses his lips and looks back down at the blueprint. “Okay. What if we keep the windows unbarred, but we move them up to above the shelves, below the ceiling?” he asks. “That way they’re high enough for daylight to get in and worst-case, you can climb out. But they’re too high for anyone to look in through from outside.”

 

“…Okay. That sounds nice. Thank you.”

 

Hineni nods, making some notes on the sketch. He taps against a small room, to the side. “You’re sure that you want your room to be out here?” he asks. “The rest of us are sleeping in the middle. So you’ll be by yourself.”

 

Seltsam is quiet for a moment. “I talked to Sockel and she said I’ll get assassinated if I sleep out here by myself.”

 

Hineni lifts an eyebrow. “Unlikely, but not impossible.” He sighs, rubbing the back of his head. “We’re living a dangerous lifestyle. I can’t disagree that it would be safer with the rest of us at night. Even in a new house with guards.”

 

“Where’s Eilig staying?”

 

“Eilig?” asks Hineni. He looks back down at the plan. “Well, in her doll-house. But that’s over in our area too.”

 

“Can you put us together?” asks Seltsam. “…I’ll need a few thicker blankets though.”

 

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He nods, making the note. “I can arrange that. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled.”

 

---

 

“A throne.”

 

Hineni lifts an eyebrow, looking at his list of notes. He's walking around, trying to see what everyone wants for their new spaces. “Eilig. Be serious.”

 

The fairy, sitting there with crossed legs, opens an eye to glare his way. “I am serious,” she says. She sits upright, leaning in towards him. “Are you saying that your older sister isn’t a serious person?” she asks. “You brat.”

 

“Glad to see you’re back in spirits,” says Hineni, scratching out the word ‘throne’ on the list. “But seriously, what do you want?”

 

“Throne.”

 

Hineni sighs. “Eilig. Why the hell do you want a throne?” He points at a room drawn on the notepad, turning it around to show her. “You’re staying in the cellar, aren’t you?”

 

“Yeah, so?” asks Eilig.

 

“So… why a throne?”

 

“Because I want a throne in the cellar, dummy,” she replies, sighing. “Just let me have this, okay?”

 

“Fairy-sized or human-sized?” asks Hineni.

 

“What do you think?” she asks.

 

Hineni shrugs, rewriting the word ‘throne’ just beneath the one he had just scratched out a moment ago. “Seltsam wants to move in with you into the cellar. Is that fine?”

 

“Considering that she’s the only good company around here, it works for me,” says Eilig. “So, speaking of the cellar, when is it going to be done?”

 

Hineni looks at her and then around the construction site. He shrugs. “I’ve never built a house before, so… when it’s ready?”

 

“And when is that, smart-ass?”

 

Hineni flips the notepad closed. “When it’s done,” he says. “Good things take time.”

 

“That’s what you think,” she says. “I was there when they dug out the old cellar, you should have seen it.” She points to the side, to the trail of engineers and construction workers diligently measuring and cutting everything to detailed perfection. “Your old man paid two drunks from the street with drinks for a week, gave them some shovels. The cellar didn’t take a few days.”

 

“It was hardly quality craftsmanship,” notes Hineni. “I’m surprised the house didn’t cave in.”

 

“Please!” she snaps, her wings buzzing. “It had soul. Not whatever this faceless, modern, concrete hole is going to be.”

 

He rolls his eyes. “You’ll love it. I’m sure. Anything else?”

 

“Yeah,” replies Eilig, pointing at her doll-house. “I want a castle.”

 

Hineni looks at her and then at the doll-house. “Moving up in the world, I see,” he replies. “I assume a fairy-sized one.”

 

“I’ll accept human-sized, this time.”

 

“Fairy-sized it is,” he says, jotting it down into the notepad. He leans to the side, peering at her doll-house. “I’ll just sort of remodel your house then, I guess.”

 

“Uh, no?” she says, flying in between him and the doll-house. “This here is going to be my vacation home.”

 

“Ah, I see,” says Hineni. “I never knew you were doing so well for yourself,” he jokes, making some scribbles.

 

“Oh, yeah,” replies Eilig. “I sold some of your secrets to Sockel for a pay-raise,” says the fairy, looking down at her nails.

 

“You what?”

 

She nods. “Don’t worry. Nothing too bad. I didn’t tell her about some of the juicier ones.”

 

Hineni sighs. “Great. Thanks,” he says. “I appreciate it.”

 

“You better,” she replies. “Big sister Eilig has to look out for you, after all.”

 

“I’d be lost without you,” says Hineni, looking at her for a moment. “But really, what secrets?” he asks, his mind’s eye going through every awkward and embarrassing childhood memory that he has and even some of the ones from his adult life, in the moment he had thought he was alone. But Eilig could have been anywhere in the house at any time. She could have seen anything, everything.

 

She looks his way. “I’ll tell you what I told her,” says Eilig, smiling a smug smile. “- For a pay raise.”

 

Hineni looks at her. “…Really?” He turns the notepad around, showing her his notes. “You realize you’re saying this after I just agreed to make you a new house, right?”

 

“A castle,” corrects Eilig.

 

“- A new castle,” repeats Hineni, shaking his head. “Besides, what do you even spend your money on?” he asks. “You couldn’t ever leave the house.”

 

“A girl has her secrets,” replies Eilig. “So?”

 

“You’re really playing both sides of the game here?” he asks. “Cut me a break.”

 

“You turned out soft,” replies Eilig. “I have to toughen you up a little, or you aren’t going to make it out there in the big, wide world,” she says, gesturing around them.

 

Hineni groans. He could just ignore her and let her play her games. But now he has to know what Sockel knows. Is it just something dumb? Or is it really something awkward and embarrassing? He doesn’t care much about what Sockel thinks of his awkward moments. But he doesn’t want her to tell Obscura or Rhine.

 

“I’ll give you three percent, if you promise to keep it to yourself from now on.”

 

“Five and I’ll consider it,” she replies.

 

“Fine. Five,” says Hineni. “You’re harsh, Eilig. But this is rough even for you.”

 

The fairy flies up towards him, pressing a finger against his forehead. “You might think so now. But your big sister has lots of things planned for our future. You’ll see.”

 

Hineni watches her, not sure what she means, as she flies off. He looks down at his notes and flips a page, looking at the next wishlist, this one being Obscura's.

 

— Someone has drawn a very terrible picture of an owl , sitting in a big nest here. Although, it certainly looks like they tried. He can't help but notice the many eggs around her.

 

Hineni clears his throat, flipping the page back.

 

That one's for later.

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