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Chapter Text

Hilda's newfound interest in the spellbooks in the library was rather... unsettling, to say the least. After the whole Tide Mouse fiasco and even learning the dangers of magic wasn't enough to stop the girl. She was curious and undaunted, fascinated by the things that seemed simple but really were complex.

She seemed surprisingly open with the idea of being a witch and using all sorts of magic, which would most likely be frowned upon in a city like Trolberg. But even after what she had done before, she would still not read the fine print; or become so disinterested in reading the footnotes that she either falls asleep or skims the pages, thus she fails to absorb the information.

The librarian, unbeknownst to the Trolbergers and regulars of the library, was actually quite avid in witchcraft herself. There was something about Hilda that made her feel like she was no ordinary child. Whether it was the white deerfox that constantly followed her about, or the bright blue hair, she stood out in a crowd. Her discovery of the secret section and interest in using magic had convinced the librarian that Hilda was definitely something else.

She seemed to be a helpful kind of person- trustworthy, taking responsibility when she is at fault. If she asked to go back into the secret section, the librarian allowed it. ...Of course, she'd end up regretting it later.

Today would certainly be a most eventful day.

"I wonder if there's a safe spell I could use... maybe there's an easy one that doesn't even have any side effects at all!" Hilda walks across the shelves of old and dusty spellbooks lining the walls, tilting her head to read the titles. Twig follows her, as usual, looking a bit concerned.

"I'm just a little curious. Not all magic can have a bad outcome. The elf contract didn't, right?"

The deerfox growls quietly.

"I just want proof... that human magic isn't all about awful things like soul stealing and curses. I'll be careful with it this time. I promise."

She ends up choosing a book at random, as most of the books used a very odd font for the titles that was straining to read. Blowing the dust off and touching the velvety dark blue cover, the golden words of the title seemed to jump out before Hilda: Virtuous Simplicity: Facile Spells For Beginners.

"That's a coincidence," Hilda muses, opening the book cautiously, only to find a mere collection of blank pages.

"Huh?" There was not even a single splatter of ink on the paper.

"Is this a misprinted copy, or-"

'What a fool she is, letting a child in here,' the words appeared on the pages, clear as day, in bold black ink. They fade and melt off the page as fast as they appeared.

Hilda blinks, and Twig growls in suspicion.

"You're... you're alive?" the girl asks, not too surprised, considering the things she's gone through.

'Oh? Words just appearing on my pages isn't enough to prove that?'

"I-I'm sorry," Hilda starts, "your, um... title, says you're a simple spellbook, so I-"

The book starts wildly shuffling about as if a windstorm is turning its fluttering pages, possibly mimicking a ripple of laughter.

'Simple! Oh, you foolish little girl. You can't just waltz in here expecting ME to show you, a mere child, the basics of witchcraft. This is Trolberg, kid. They'd lynch you, I bet! You probably don't even know the real meaning of the word 'facile'!'

Hilda winces, putting her hand to her neck at the mention of lynching.

"Well... Who are you, anyway? I've never heard of spellbooks that can... talk."

'The librarian lady you know? The weird goth chick? When she was little, she was a lot like you- attempted an animation spell on a toy of hers and it misfired! Hit me instead! That's why and how I know a child cannot use magic responsibly. To use spells in here, you have to know the basics already, anyway. Everything has a cost, and some spells are a risk, with some consequences unforeseen. I've been trapped on that shelf for years. She must've forgotten about me. Luckily, having all these other books here gives me plenty more to reference than the dumb old spells I had. The only thing I couldn't change was my title.'

Hilda looks surprised, mouth agape for a moment. The librarian was a witch? There was something strange about the way she knew what book Hilda would need or how she'd memorized every plot in the cemetery... It takes her a moment to speak again, mouth drying up.

"I-I'm sorry... But, I was wondering... do you know of any spells that are easy and don't have any 'unforeseen consequences'? I just want to see a simple example of magic, like growing a plant faster, or more helpful things... that don't involve stealing people's souls."

'Oh. Sure.'

When you talk in writing, no one can detect your sarcasm.

A spell appears on the book's pages: Reducing Vacuous Behavior.

"What does 'vacuous' mean?" Hilda asks, "that's a funny word. And kind of a strange thing to call a spell. And why this but nothing else-?"

'Try it out, maybe, you'll find it makes a huge difference!'

Twig seems unsettled, but Hilda decides to give it a shot. The deerfox was more aggravated though, considering that his friend and master was having this argument with a book, of all things.

"You have to have signed an elf contract- already done, and say these following words clearly twice... 'Incedere inter minores'... am I pronouncing it right?"

The book writes a pronunciation guide.

"You seem awfully... passive aggressive somehow..."

'I insist, little girl. This is absolutely simple, especially for you- you've already signed a contract with an elf, am I correct? No drawbacks.'

"What do elves have to do with a spell like this, though?"

The book freezes a moment.

'They wrote it, obviously. Can't have anyone not adhering to the rules in an elf colony. Try it.'

"Fine, fine, okay." Hilda takes a deep breath, "It's not going to change anything other than the... behavior, whatever it is? No soul stealing, no creepy eyes, no-"

'No nothing. Go ahead.'

"Incedere inter minores," she starts, noticing her clothes starting to glow with an unearthly, light green sort of light. Not thinking much of it, (she was aware this was magic, after all) she repeats it: "Incedere inter minores-"

She froze, felt as if something was about to hit her, and she ducks as a wave of light streaks across the room. Something felt off, and Twig started barking, she noticed, and as she began to adjust, it became painfully loud. She tries to cover her ears but had difficulty in doing so. Something was wrong.

The light slowly fades and when Hilda's eyes finally adjust, she jumps in terror.

Twig sat before her, whimpering. But to Hilda, he seemed to be nearly as tall as a tree in her eyes. The shelves and the books towered over her. If one would fall on her, it could be fatal, and the stairs and exit seemed so much steeper and far away than they were before. The one thing she was grateful for was the fact that her clothes had also shrunk down to scale.

'Reducing vacuous behavior. Stupid, mindless behavior. Specifically, yours. You just turned yourself into an elf, kid. Get it? Because it literally reduced- ah, never mind,' the book shuffles oddly back to its place on the shelves, 'You're no longer my problem.'

Hilda nearly faints, but manages to keep herself steady. It doesn't last long, though. She realizes quickly that, as an elf, she no longer had hands. Twig picks her up and rushes out to get back home. To anyone else, it looked as if he were escaping alone.

Chapter Text

Hilda had to have been unconscious for a few hours, for when she awoke, the room was dark. She was on a soft, squishy surface. A bed? Had it been a dream after all?

There was a soft ticking sound from above her and a thin sliver of light in the shape of a crescent on the wall. It felt somewhat unnatural and yet vaguely familiar all at once.

She got up to look for a light in the room- but once she got onto her feet, she felt nearly weightless, and the feeling forced her to sit down again.

The crescent on the wall suddenly opens, slowly, a burst of light revealing a little bit of the room. It wasn't her house, for sure, but she couldn't help but feel that she'd been here before. She shields her eyes from the brightness, but finds that her old way of doing so did not help very much.

A soft little gasp from behind her catches her attention.

"You're awake! Thank goodness!"

Hilda jolts up. She was not used to Alfur's tiny voice being so loud.

When the light is finally turned on, Hilda finds that Alfur is... not very small now. In fact, he's taller than her. About as tall as her Mum would be to her, in comparison.

She can't really react much, other than silent shock- perhaps thinking she was still dreaming.

Alfur takes note of this, trying to empathize.

"...I would advise you to try not to take it all in at once," he says gently.

It takes a moment for it to sink in. Hilda looks down at her hands, only to find thin, black, stick-like appendages in lieu of them. Alfur sits down next to her, open for a hug. She clings to him, whimpering and shaking, trying not to black out again in panic. A thousand questions swarmed her mind but nothing could escape her lips.

Alfur had obviously expected this reaction, cradling her slightly in an attempt to calm her down. He realizes something, however, which makes him smile. He looks down at Hilda.

"This is our first hug, isn't it?"

The girl stops shivering to observe the moment, a small smile spreading across her pale face.

"I...I guess it is," she whispers. She rests her head against his chest, relishing the warmth. She looks up at him. She could see his face more clearly now than she used to- in one look, she found that elves have fur- his face looked fluffy, but she could still see rosy cheeks through it. Being cute for Alfur was a constant variable, she supposed.

"So... I'm an elf now?"

"Yep," Alfur responds flatly.

"Are you mad at me for messing with magic again?"

"Absolutely livid."

Hilda freezes. Alfur's soft smile hardened into an annoyed glare. She shrinks back a bit, having seen that face before, but now that she was so little, it had become strikingly intimidating. Funny how that works...

"In my defense, it was an enchanted book that could talk and it tricked me into casting this spell on myself," Hilda starts, but it wasn't until it was already said for her to realize how ridiculous that sounded.

Alfur blinks.

"...Normally, I would never believe that, but then again, you're Hilda. Stranger things have probably happened."

Hilda had prepared a whole other speech in her defense.

"I- oh. Touchè."

"Listen, I have to tell your mum that you're up, so," Alfur hops to the clock door and opens it, "be right back. You're pretty high up off the ground from here, so I don't want you to follow me, okay? You might fall. But feel free to look around."

Hilda glances at the massive, neatly piled stacks of now normal-sized papers on a desk, recognizing it as dollhouse furniture, by the bed, which she had realized was made from a sponge.

"Just don't mess up the paperwork," Alfur tells her before he leaves again.

Hilda stands up again, wishing the room had a mirror at least. It was a simple little thing; still mostly dollhouse furniture, and a little shelf with tiny picture frames. She wasn't tall enough to see them clearly, but there were faded photos in them.

The "ceiling" was full of turning clock gears, which was a given. It was almost soothing to watch and listen to.

The house shakes slightly with the sound of her mum's footsteps getting closer and closer. Opening the door slightly, she is shaken by how big her room looked. The plush Woffs and blankets that she could once hold would be more likely to smother her now. The biggest difference, though, had to be her mother. Considering she appeared to be the size of a forest giant to Hilda, the girl didn't want to imagine how real ones (or even Jorgen, especially) looked to Alfur.

"...Mum?"

Johanna holds her hands out for Hilda, watching as she gingerly steps from the clock door onto them. She noticed Alfur sitting on Johanna's shoulder, eating a clementine slice.

"You used the spellbooks again, huh?"

Hilda can feel her ears heating up in embarrassment.

"Yeah."

"When Twig brought you home, we were so scared for you," Johanna muses softly, "I'm happy that we already have an elf here, or I wouldn't have known what to do. I'm just glad you're okay, and hopefully... hopefully there's a way to fix this. It must be so strange, isn't it? You must've been terrified."

"It is," Hilda replies, trying not to look down, "and I was. Everything looks different now."

"While you're stuck in this form, you should stay with Alfur, okay?" Johanna puts both of them down on the nightstand. Twig and Tontu both peer into the room out of curiosity.

"Maybe I'll head to the library and see if there's a way that you can reverse it," Johanna offers, picking Twig up and petting him. Despite how calm she seemed to be, she was still understandably stressed by what had happened.

"Thank you, Mum," Hilda answers, smiling and nodding as her mother exits, putting Twig back down.

"Should I even ask?" Tontu mutters. Twig shakes his head, ears drooping.

"Magic," Alfur states nonchalantly, "and evil talking books, I guess."

Hilda chuckles nervously.

"It's kind of a funny story. I don't think you'd believe what happened anyway."

Something suddenly rams its head against the window. Tontu opens it to investigate- only to be jumpscared by none other than the Raven. The nisse rolls off the bed and back into the Nowhere Space, huffing in mild disapproval.

Raven perches on the windowsill.

"Funny story, I saw Twig running here without Hilda, and I thought "that's not normal", so-"

"I'm here," Hilda calls, jumping on the nightstand.

"Hey Hilda. Anyway- wait, HILDA!?" The silly bird probably would've done a spit take if he had been drinking anything. He flies inside and lands on the bed to get a closer look.

"How'd you get so... Alfur-y, but even smaller, what the heck? Adorable, but VERY CONCERNING! You were too little for me to see!"

"She messed with enchantments. Again." Alfur still doesn't seem too pleased about that. Hilda can feel his eyes on her. Normally, he's so cute when he's angry... and tiny.

"I'm an elf now," Hilda tells Raven, bouncing onto her now-giant trampoline of a bed and nuzzling against his beak.

"I see," Raven states, "this is not how I expected to spend a Saturday, but a welcome surprise, I guess. Hey, Alfur, how does it feel to not be the smallest anymore?"

Alfur cheers up immediately at the question.

"Slightly awkward!"

Chapter Text

Alfur, Twig and Raven spent the day helping Hilda adapt to the change. It wasn't going to be easy, but they were willing to help make her hopefully limited time as an elf less confusing in the eyes of a former human.

Hilda got the hang of jumping and climbing around the furniture very quickly, but easily got tired out. Alfur was very used to it, though. It wasn't very exhausting for him.

"Nobody told me Alfur was so good at parkour," Raven blurts out. The two elves and deerfox glance at him in confusion.

"What's parkour?" Alfur asks.

"Never mind," Raven mutters.

Hilda now even had her own little setup in Alfur's house to sleep. They spent most of the evening talking after Raven left.

"...-and believe me, if I could change my name, I would," Alfur pouts, "I despise it, to be perfectly honest."

"Why?" Hilda inquires.

Alfur's face turns red in embarrassment, turning away.

"...My parents were not very creative. My mother was a wonderful lady, bless her heart, but when it came to naming children, she chose the worst options. Just imagine if your name was "Manna" or something."

"I think that's an okay name..."

"If you knew what it meant, in your case, I think you'd be cursing your name, too. But I still feel grateful that my name isn't something like... I don't know, Chauncey?" He chuckles.

"Eww! That would be the worst. Sounds like the name of a 19-year-old goat that lost all of his teeth and drinks... liquified grass."

Hilda's ears perk up in curiosity, giggling a little, but she leaves the subject alone. That's a... very strange thing to associate with a name.

The little girl's eyes wander back to the framed faded photos on the shelf, the piles of paper neatly stacked and most likely alphabetized. Alfur was certainly what Frida only wished she could be.

"Is it scary? ...Being so little? Do you ever feel vulnerable or... insignificant?" Hilda asks.

Alfur tilts his head, his eyes flickering slightly as if he's gotten these questions before and was experiencing some kind of deja vu. Raven probably asked him that.

"...You're going to be seeing everything in an entirely different way. The rest of the world is so much bigger for elves than it is for humans. And you're an elf living in human territory, where everything outside here is gargantuan and possibly dangerous, though we're mostly protected by contracts. It can be scary, but you're an adventurer, Hilda. From what I recall, you're the bravest person I know."

His expression is unreadable.

"No, no one, no matter how small or large, can be insignificant. Vulnerable, sure, sometimes..."

"Do I have to make a big fuss over paperwork now?"

The taller elf looks mildly offended.

"Paperwork isn't all we do, you know. It's kind of... well, mandatory for elves. It's how we organize and whatnot... maybe not for the Lost Clan, but the rest of us, yes.

"And hey," Alfur adds, "now that you're an elf, too, I don't have to shout so much for you to hear me! I missed you, indoor voice..."

Hilda's lips form a straight line. This was probably the longest conversation they've had, which made her feel guilty. It put in perspective how much she didn't really know about Alfur. She glances at the stacks of paperwork and wonders if he's overworking himself. Put with the fact that she technically used a powerful enchantment on herself, she figures that she's stressed him out enough. She runs over and hugs him as he sits down again. When he reciprocates the gesture, she can't help but smile.

It was then that she decided to make the most of her time.

Johanna never realized how big the Trolberg library was, not even when she was small. As she walked through the hall, it felt as if the shelves of books would never end. There must have been an inconceivable amount of stories in those shelves and so many that may have been left untouched, possibly for decades at a time. But even with how big the library was, it felt warm and welcoming.

The librarian, slightly worrying to herself, notices Johanna walk in while reshelving books, gasping in surprise. She looked vaguely familiar. Someone she knew in childhood.

"Johanna?"

Upon hearing her name, Johanna turns to face the librarian. If it weren't for the familiar hairstyle, she probably wouldn't have recognized her.

"I...Maven?"

The librarian nods. Johanna immediately pulls her in for a hug, almost crying.

"I thought we wouldn't be able to see each other again! I haven't seen you since we were little, the Sparrow Scouts... I thought you went missing when we camped out! I thought you might've... I'm so happy you're all right!"

Maven looks slightly nervous when that particular incident was brought up.

"I... don't really like talking about that night much, but... I heard you moved back here from the wilderness and I was wondering when you'd come by here."

She looks intrigued now.

"What was it like... outside the wall?"

"Quiet, actually, aside from the Wood Man... occasional trolls... elves... to make things simple, I missed Trolberg a lot, but my daughter was born there and she didn't want to go until... a giant accidentally destroyed our house." Johanna shrugs.

Maven just stares for a moment, then smiles.

"Pretty eventful. If I didn't know better, I wouldn't believe all that, but I've seen some... strange happenings over the years. Wait, you have a daughter?"

"Yes! In fact, Hilda frequents here a lot, I'm sure you've met her a few times by now."

"The blue haired girl? With the beret?"

"Mm-hm! That's Hilda! In fact, that's why I came by, there's something-"

"She came by earlier today, I remember, but... Sorry for interrupting you, but," Maven glances at the hidden passageway, a twinge of guilt in her voice "I think I might know why you're here."

She wonders to herself why she couldn't have been more careful and at least supervised while Hilda was there...

"She's not hurt," Johanna states, "I think I ought to explain what happened, first of all..."

Night fell and eventually Hilda and Alfur decided it wasn't a good idea to stay up waiting for Mum and started preparing for bed instead.

Twig fell asleep on top of the desk below the shelves. They could hear him breathing softly.

Hilda shuffles around wearing a tiny blue nightgown, still getting used to her new perspective. It had a velcro strip on the backside, a clear indication that it was doll clothes, but given that the transformation was so sudden, there wasn't much of a choice but to improvise.

Alfur sat down in the little felt chair in the corner of the 'house'. Hilda recalled making that for him in art class at her school, and she felt warm and fuzzy seeing him use it. He watches her warily.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know," Hilda responds, "I'm... just worried. What if it's impossible to turn back? Or I get crushed by something, or... how am I supposed to pick things up? We don't have any hands!"

Alfur sighs, opening his arms for another hug.

"Hilda."

The girl in question walks over. Alfur lifts her up and lets her sit on his lap, which kind of felt surreal to both of them.

"This is new for all of us," he tells her, his voice warm and soft, "but for as long as this lasts, I'll be here with you every step of the way. You don't have to worry. I'm here, and Raven, and Twig, and your mum, we're all going to help you, okay?"

Hilda shivers a little, leaning against Alfur out of fatigue.

"...O-okay..."

She feels him holding and cradling her again. It made her feel more secure somehow. Familiar, nostalgic. When it was just her and her mum in the wilderness, things were comfortable and serene, much like this.

"I know you're scared," Alfur says gently, "who wouldn't be? If I met a talking book, I'd be scared, too."

"Alfur."

"Just kidding. But, if you're ever confused and have questions, talk to me, okay?"

Hilda nods slowly.

The two of them sat quietly for a while until Hilda finally went to sleep. Alfur considered carrying her to her own little bed setup, but decided against it as it would probably wake her.

By the time Johanna got home, they were both fast asleep in the chair. She went to check on them and couldn't help but smile and take a picture.

She only had part of the answer, not a solution. The rest was up to Hilda alone.

Chapter Text

In the morning, Hilda had nearly forgotten what had happened the day before. She looks around, and leaves Alfur in the little felt chair to check the time on the outside of the "door". 8:46 AM. Twig was waiting and staring at the clock from the bed, tail wagging.

Normally, Hilda would follow her regular weekend morning routine of taking Twig for a walk, eating breakfast, brushing her teeth and going to see David and Frida, but considering her current condition, decides to just wake up Alfur instead.

She nervously goes back to the chair. He's usually up before her on normal days, writing reports or reading. At some point she recalled he once said that he always woke up at 6 AM on the dot.

"Alfur," she whispers softly, slightly nudging the chair, "Alfur, wake up..."

When he doesn't stir, Hilda starts poking his face.

"You gave me no choice, I gotta-" she trails off as a realization hits her.

Were elves always so soft and squishy? It was like a marshmallow. How had she not noticed this?

Hilda, enamored, starts squishing Alfur's face... and that finally gets him to wake up.

They stared at each other in complete silence for what felt like forever to Hilda. She was frozen in the position, her snow-white face now beet red, ears included.

"...Umm... Good morning...?" Alfur lifts Hilda's arms and moves them back, kindly disregarding what she had been doing.

"Sorry," the girl responds, barely audible.

Alfur just laughs, getting up.

"You're silly, Hilda." He sits back down at his little desk, immediately getting to work on another report, "It hasn't even been a full 24 hours yet and I know you're curious about this whole thing, but please respect the boundaries of personal space. You'll definitely get in trouble if you do that to other elves, okay?"

When Hilda finally recovers from her mortification, she finally stands up and goes back to the door.

"I'm going to ask Mum if she found anything."

"Do you need help getting down?"

"No thanks. I think I've got the hang of it."

Just mere moments later, Hilda is caught on the string of lights that lined her shelves. She dangles upside down, slowly spinning.

"Wow. You are indeed getting the hang of it," Alfur laughs, watching from the open door.

Hilda is unamused.

"Please just help me."

"So, the librarian showed me some books about elves after I told her about what happened," Johanna tells the two little figures sitting on the table as they eat bits of toast for breakfast, one piece at a time.

"I thought elf magic only had to do with their paperwork," Hilda muses.

"Elves are a lot like humans, just smaller," Alfur shakes his head, "if we really wanted to do so, we could also perform witchcraft."

Johanna nods.

"In fact, there is a way to reverse the spell, but..." she looks nervous, "but for the most part, it's up to you, Hilda."

"Really?" Hilda smiles, "That sounds exciting! What am I supposed to do?"

"The book said that turning from a human to an elf is disturbingly simple, but an elf to a human is a strenuous process that requires much of the affected individual's ability. Five ingredients are necessary for restoration of the human form: fur from a forest giant, a feather from a Thunderbird, a snowflake from a weather spirit, and... um..."

Hilda and Alfur glance at each other nervously.

"...Barghest and troll spit."

The elves cringe and gag.

"I'm assuming since all those creatures are so big that they're vital to complete the spell, but why do we need that, specifically?" Alfur asks.

"Called it," Tontu calls from the space behind the bookshelf, "you're going to have an unusual week and Raven owes me a muffin now."

"That's great, Tontu," Johanna says flatly. She looks down at her elf daughter again, worry coloring her features.

"It's dangerous to do this all alone, but I know that you have to turn yourself back. Alfur, Twig and your Raven friend should go with you."

Alfur and Twig both nod, the latter hopping on a stool close to the table and sniffing at Hilda.

"The Thunderbird feather is already covered, I'm sure," Hilda smiles, "But I should let everyone I know be aware of what happened, too." She glances at the telephone.

A few minutes later, Johanna is holding the phone close to Hilda so she can speak into it. She was calling David first. Unfortunately, he wasn't home yet, so she had to leave a message.

"David, it's Hilda. Can you come over as soon as possible? Something happened and-"

"Hilda, that is not how you leave a message," Alfur interrupts in a slightly scolding tone.

"What-?"

"Repeat after me: Hi, David! This is Hilda!"

"Hi, David, this is Hilda," the elf girl echoes, her voice flat and monotonous throughout the entire message.

"I called because there is something important I need you to know. Can you and Frida please come over to my house whenever it's possible?"

Hilda repeats this, looking up at her mum, who was just struggling not to laugh.

"That would be greatly appreciated! Thank you and goodbye!"

"..."

Alfur glares at Hilda again.

"That would be great, thanks, bye!"

When Johanna hangs up the line, she lets out a big laugh.

"That's probably going to be one of the funniest messages they are ever going to get..."

Alfur looks confused as he was trying to be helpful, and Hilda just curls into the fetal position on the table.

When David got back home from a Warblers rehearsal, it was an hour after the message was sent. As it replays on his house phone, he stops to listen and laughs almost through the whole thing.

"...Priceless."

As predicted, he has his parents listen to it as well, and they all agree to keep it to themselves but save it on the answering machine before he leaves again to get Frida. (Hopefully it would never be used as blackmail.) When he leaves, his parents look at each other.

"Hilda's dad?"

"No, the person talking to Hilda sounded like that ghost from the Parents' Night mess."

"I thought we said we would never speak of that again."

Frida and David both stand at Hilda's door and Johanna answers

"Is Hilda okay?" Frida asks, concerned. David is still recovering from the phone message.

"Yes, but..." Johanna moves out of the way for Twig to get through. The very tiny Hilda is riding on his head. She laughs nervously as looks of concern go to looks of shock in less than a second.

"...Hi?"

Hilda explained the situation as best as she could to David and Frida, who were still pretty surprised.

"Why would you not run away from a book that talked back?" David asked incredulously.

"Hilda logic," Alfur states.

Frida looks down at her friend.

"Would you mind if I...?"

Hilda shakes her head and Frida gently pets her little elf ears.

"Oh, it's so cu-ute! Elf ears feel like little pieces of velvet!"

"I know, right!?" Hilda exclaims, "I'm flipping adorable!"

"Language," Alfur warns.

"So you're sure we can't come with you? You've already met all of the creatures that you need, so I'm sure they won't be difficult to find," David says.

"Considering I'm not sure if the Barghest we met even got out of the Nowhere Space, it's probably going to a tough trip," Tontu pops out from under the sofa with three cups of hot cocoa in tow.

"Exactly," Hilda confirms, "it will be tough to find another one. They live in the mountains."

Tontu gives the cocoa to David and Frida with the remaining cup for himself. He gives Alfur and Hilda each a marshmallow. Alfur's eyes became as big as dinner plates and he started eating his like a squirrel. Hilda smiles as she watches this.

"Then we believe in you, Hilda," David smiles, "besides, you're bringing the Great Raven with you. I think you'll be fine."

"You both met the Great Raven? Why was I not aware of this?" Frida inquires in surprise.

Her question ends up not being answered, as the Raven lands and perches on a windowsill outside.

"I SMELLED COCOA."

Tontu sighs and crawls back under the couch.

"Tell him to get me a muffin first."

Chapter Text

Johanna, now well aware that the Raven wasn't any ordinary bird, didn't mind having him visiting. She opens the window and he -courteously- hops inside, hoping he wouldn't break anything while inside. He was still a bit wary around Johanna, but couldn't really blame her for their last encounter.

"That bird just talked," Frida says, stating the obvious. Hilda, David and Alfur just glance at each other.

"Don't you remember the Bird Parade? I told you a girl was riding the Great Raven," David comments, "that was Hilda."

"I'm only taking this smaller form because I'd probably tear off the roof otherwise," Raven claims nonchalantly, "you're Frida, right? I'm the Great Raven, just Raven, actually a Thunderbird, but Trolberg needs something to believe in."

"Wow..." Frida mutters in awe, "you guys did quite a lot while I was with the Marra, huh?"

"Just met some weather spirits and of course, the nisse. We stopped that nasty storm from a few months ago, pretty long story," Hilda shrugs.

It took some time for Hilda and Alfur to explain their plan to the Raven.

"Then, Hilda, have you even been outside yet?" Raven asks. Hilda shakes her head. She felt so much smaller looking out the window now...

"We could walk you around the city so you could get used to it," Alfur suggests.

Hilda stares at the towering buildings from the window, her ears starting to nervously twitch.

"O-okay..."

"I can't imagine how the buildings look from that height," David wrings his hands, "I'd get serious vertigo..."

Johanna looks down at Hilda.

"You're going to go? Right now?"

"No, I think we all still need time to prepare. Think of this as kind of a practice run, " Hilda states, "but I'm hoping that by the end of this month I'll have found the way to become human again."

Alfur and Hilda walked outside together, Twig leading them forward and Raven flying closely behind.

"No one can see us," Alfur tells Hilda, "unless we purposely initiate contact with any creature that hasn't done the paperwork, they can't touch us, either."

Alfur sees a man passing by. He does a calculation in his head and stops when they get close enough. Hilda gasps and clings to Alfur, pulling at his arm and whimpering. Twig notices a bit too late and lets out a yelp.

"NO! Alfur! Move, he's going to crush-"

They merely phase through the person in flashes of blue as he continues forward, unaware.

"Us...?"

Alfur laughs.

"Remember what I said about it not hurting whenever you stepped on us?"

"...Ohh. Well, that was still deeply traumatic," Hilda scolds. "Makes me wonder what would have happened if Jorgen stepped on our cabin in the wilderness with us inside..."

"Oh! I'm so sorry," Alfur leans down, smoothing out the frazzled strands of Hilda's blue hair, holding her shoulders, "I simply wanted to show you that it doesn't affect us, but I understand that might've been too far, so I apologize. If you ever feel overwhelmed, talk to me or Raven. Just don't let go of my..."

They look down at their linked appendages. Hilda looks deeply disturbed.

"...How are we doing this?"

"Best not to question it. For the sake of convenience, my hand; don't let go of it. Especially not when we're crossing the street."

Hilda nods, rolling her eyes at the last bit, and they move forward.

All folks could see were Twig and Raven- mostly Twig as Raven was airborne, but it thankfully didn't raise much suspicion. They spotted Trevor and his gang in the park at some point and at Raven's urging, went into stealth mode. Alfur, much to Raven's (and Twig's) surprise (and slight ire) made friends with a stray cat and named her Sanna. Unfortunately, separating them was difficult as Alfur makes emotional attachments very quickly and his already unwieldy love for nittens (the miniature variety of cat) did not help.

Eventually, they got tired and Raven flew them back home. Twig was still fine enough to run after them and stopped to sniff things as they went.

"You're both so small that I don't even have to transform to carry you," Raven exclaims.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Hilda inquires. Raven shrugs.

"I just gotta keep track of ya and be careful so I don't lose ya."

They agreed to meet up again the day after tomorrow to find the necessities for the spell. Raven is just about to take off when Hilda stops him.

"Oh, I almost forgot! The elf-to-human spell called for a Thunderbird feather as one of the five things we needed."

"That's coincidental," Raven starts, spreading out his wings and taking a feather that was already falling out to give to Hilda.

"I know," Hilda holds the giant feather in both arms, "but thank you!"

"I miss Sanna," Alfur says sadly, ears drooping. Twig just licks him, drenching him with drool, "Thanks, Twig," he replies, fixing his lopsided hat while Hilda and Raven can't contain their laughter.

Evening fell, and Hilda gazes at the moon shining through the large windowpane of her bedroom, Twig sitting beside her. She couldn't help but feel a little melancholy. On her human bed she had a little plate of sandwiches- teeny tiny cucumber sandwiches, courtesy of Johanna- and two little thimbles of peppermint tea. Alfur (all cleaned up, might I add) was sitting on the edge of the bed, sipping his tea and humming to himself. It was cute.

Hilda tries to pick up a sandwich but keeps dropping it.

"Alfur, how do you do this!?"

The older elf glances back at the girl, smiling sympathetically.

"Don't think about it."

Hilda silently curses her handless limbs as she joins Alfur at the edge, trying to keep a sandwich in her mouth and ultimately failing, as the cucumbers inside slide out onto the floor and are swiped by Twig, and all Hilda gets is the slightly stale rye bread.

Alfur doesn't laugh, thankfully. He just watches, probably feeling secondhand embarrassment.

He lets Hilda lean on him, doesn't question her when she starts to cry, and holds her and strokes her hair when she clings to him for comfort.

"You're not... going to tell me not to cry?" Hilda asks. Her face was red and damp with tears.

Alfur disregards the dark red smudge on his outfit, half-smiling.

"No." There was a little laugh in his voice.

"I thought that was kind of a customary thing."

"I don't dismiss folks' emotions. When you're sad or scared to a point, sometimes you need to cry. I have no reason to make you feel small over tears..." he scoffs, "ugh, I realized what I just said. Unintentional pun, sorry," Alfur's voice was soft and kind while talking to Hilda. She couldn't help but feel warm and fuzzy in return. Most adults belittled the feelings of children, but Hilda felt fortunate to have adults in her life that made her feel validated.

"Anyway, crying is necessary. I understand that you're scared, there are lots of things you don't know and neither of us can tell what the future holds, but I want you to remember that it's all right to feel bad. You're still just a little girl and now the world is ten times bigger than it was, but you know... that means ten times the adventure, doesn't it?"

Hilda just hugs Alfur again.

Chapter Text

The following morning, Hilda wakes up with bedhead, though there was no mirror to be found in the little clock to see her reflection. Alfur was sitting at his desk and writing, as usual. Hilda smiled, as it reminded her of Mum and her drawing table.

"Good morning, Alfur!"

"Hi, Hilda! You know, the other elves won't believe it at first, but we're headed back to the wilderness tomorrow, so they'll probably see-" when Alfur finally turns around and sees Hilda's hair, he stifles a laugh.

Hilda blinks.

"What?"

"How do I put this politely?" Alfur puts his 'hands' together, raising them to his lips, and taking a breath, "your hair... looks like Twig tried to style it."

"Politely!" Hilda exclaims, pouting. Alfur stands up, laughing again.

"I'm sorry," he wipes a little tear from his eyes and picks up a tiny hairbrush, "how'd you sleep?"

"I had anxiety related dreams," Hilda mutters, "one of those ones where all your teeth fall out?"

Alfur sits on the little felt armchair, scoffing.

"Oh! I get those all the time. I don't think the Marra do it, it's more from our own minds being stressed. Are you still scared about the whole spell situation?" He motions for Hilda to sit with him. She climbs onto his lap.

"Mmhm," Hilda admits, "you were right about the city looking more frightening when you're tiny."

Alfur doesn't say anything but gives her a look of understanding, then starts brushing her hair. It was quiet for a few minutes until Alfur started singing softly as he brushed.

"Are you going to Scarborough Fair?

Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Remember me to one who lives there,
For she was once a true love of mine..."

"Your voice is really nice," Hilda comments.

"Ah, you think so? Thank you! Bless your little heart, such a sweetie-" The girl could tell Alfur was beaming even though she couldn't see his face. She could hear him talking under his breath about such a sweet girl she was and it made her blush. It made her feel both warm and fuzzy... and a little embarrassed.

"What's the song about?" she asks.

"A man telling his former girlfriend to do a series of impossible things before he takes her back, I believe."

"What a jerk!"

"I know, right?" Alfur surveys his work, "I think there was a part where she gives him some impossible tasks to do in return."

"That isn't how love works," Hilda murmurs.

"It's not," Alfur agrees, "okay, I'm done! Do you want to see it?"

The elf leaves for a moment and returns with a little shard of glass. Hilda looks into it and gasps, smiling at the elf girl with the long blue French braids in her reflection.

"I love it."

By the next day, the four- Hilda, Twig, Alfur, and Raven- were all prepared and ready to go back into the wilderness.

"Thank you for doing this for me," Hilda says. She kept her hair in the braids.

"You helped me out enough times that I think I ought to do you a favor, too," Raven lets the elves onto his back.

Johanna gives a bag full of tiny cucumber sandwiches to Twig, who patiently holds it.

"Please, please be careful out there. I have faith in you, I know you've gotten lost before and came back home, but..."

Hilda kisses her mum's hand, it being the closest to her and being much too small to reach her face.

"We'll be okay, Mum."

"Remember, most elves live out there," Alfur states in a reassuring tone, "and we can't be seen or touched by anything that hasn't contracted with us."

Johanna smiles, sighing.

"Good luck."

The door opens and Hilda braces herself- Alfur hugs her protectively as Raven takes off and flies up a few feet, Twig trailing closely behind.

Hilda smiles at how calm Alfur seemed while riding Raven compared to his reaction to Woffs, and chuckles to herself.

Raven glides over the Trolberg wall and the wilderness looks so small beneath them, considering how hopelessly big it would look if they traveled by foot.

When Twig gets tired, Raven turns to his larger size to be able to carry all three of them- now Alfur is concerned. They had to coax him back on.

Raven flew up to a higher altitude, though low enough for them to breathe. Hilda and Alfur curled up with Twig to keep warm. The trees below still blew backwards with every flap of his wings.

On the ground, Hilda saw many familiar things: the magical house that trapped them still sat in the same place on the hill near the iron pine trees; tiny, tiny elf houses were scattered everywhere she looked, and she could see the footprints of trolls and troll rocks, and the larger footprints of forest giants...

And Woodman's house.

"Do you think the Woodman might be able to help us?" Hilda asks, "I think we just ought to ask. Maybe he can help us locate one of the creatures we need."

Raven lands in front of the house, returning to his smaller form. Alfur and Hilda slide onto the ground. Alfur squints as they make their way to the door.

"Wait... if the Woodman is made of wood... and his house is made of wood..."

Alfur covers his little mouth, ears flattening against his head and violently shivering as he realizes the implications. He trails after Hilda, wobbling slightly.

"I... I think I'm gonna faint..."

Hilda takes Alfur's arms, holding him in place.

"Don't think about it. Pretend like he's a human. Happy thoughts. It's okay, Alfur."

Alfur sighs, his voice quivering.

"Paperwork, quills, stamps, freshly inked perfect calligraphy..."

Hilda doesn't even care to knock, as Woodman says; she just walks in. Alfur and Raven, being unaware of the rules Woodman had set for visits, start scolding Hilda from behind.

Woodman was chilling in a chair, not minding any of this. He doesn't even react to the fact that Hilda was now an elf rather than human.

"Hey."

"Hi, Woodman, " Hilda says casually.

"That you, Hilda?"

"Yup."

"Whoa. Neat."

Raven and Alfur are rightly confused by the nonchalance, though the latter was still thinking happy thoughts.

"Come on in," Woodman tells them. The Thunderbird and the elf follow after Hilda with a still tired Twig in tow.

Alfur looks around, still shivering.

"Nittens, daffodils, fuzzy little bunnies..." he looks at Woodman, "house made of flesh! Housemadeoffleshhousemadeoffleshhousemadeofflesh-" Raven stifles Alfur with one wing, giving him a mild electric shock to stun him a little and keep him quiet.

"What's up with him?" Woodman asks.

"He's fine," Raven answers quickly.

Alfur looks around again, a little loopy now.

"My face tastes like triangle... this world never ceases to amaze and inspire me!"

"Might have went a little overboard," Hilda tells Raven.

The matter was thankfully dropped as Hilda started to explain her dilemma.

When Hilda finishes her story, Woodman casually sips his tea.

"...Cool. You know, the nisse with the barghest is probably still around these parts."

"They're alive!?" Hilda asks, wide eyed.

"Yeah. They're most likely up in the mountains by now, though. That's a long way to travel for elves."

Ouch.

"At least we know they're still out there," Raven assures.

"I'm lactose intolerant but I like ice cream anyway, even though it gives me the to-" Alfur leans against Raven, who pats his head, while Twig stifles him with his tail.

"Right," Hilda smiles, "then we should probably get the other requirements first."

"Can I watch your battle with a troll?"

"I remembered my old notebook is covered in troll spit," Hilda answers flatly, unamused, "not necessary."

"It dries fast- besides, that was a while ago. If you wanted to use what you had from that, you'd have to sacrifice it for the spell. You wouldn't want to give up your whole notebook full of childhood memories for a spell, would you?"

Hilda blinks.

"Oh..."

"You know that forest giant I bet you to in that poker game?"

"Yeah," Hilda crosses her arms.

"You what?" Raven asks incredulously.

Loopy Alfur gasps.

"You can't treat the princess like that! Scoundrel! We must take her to another castle-"

"Long story," Hilda sighs, "what about him?"

"He's the only one I know around these parts, so if you want to get forest giant fur without traveling far, you'd have to get it from him," Woodman is clearly smirking even if it couldn't be seen.

"Ugh," Hilda groans, "really!?"

"Really."

Alfur giggles, wearing his slightly oversized reading glasses upside down.

"I can see forever!"

Raven stifles a laugh.

"Might need to wait for the electric shock to wear off before we go."

Chapter Text

By the time the quartet started traveling again, the afternoon had begun. Back in the wilderness, everything looked so... clean, unpolluted. It gave Hilda a nostalgic feeling.

"You're not going to tell me what happened back there?" Alfur inquires, having recovered without any memory of the visit.

"Nope," Raven replies, smirking at Hilda, "ought to save you the embarrassment."

"What-?"

"I don't want to face that forest giant again," Hilda murmurs, changing the subject, "he probably remembers us... should we look for him at night and take a little bit of fur while he's sleeping?"

"Remember the last time you snuck up on a big powerful creature while it was sleeping?" Alfur glares at Hilda.

"I scared him away last time," Raven assures, "if I did it once, I could do it again. That is, if he still doesn't choose to be cooperative."

"We can't just steal from and threaten people like that, even if they are rude," Alfur protests, "and even if Woodman did before, it doesn't mean we should, too."

Hilda looks down at the earth below, watching the trees go by.

"You're right."

A familiar sight causes her to nearly fall off of Raven as she jolts up in shock.

"My old house!"

The rubble was not untouched, but it still looked mostly the same as when Hilda and Johanna had left it. Tears filled Hilda's eyes the closer they got to the ground. Curious elves peeked out of their houses to see Raven.

"Geez, kid, what happened to it?" Raven asks, poking about at the broken wooden beams littering the ground.

Hilda hops down, Twig following, "An old giant accidentally stepped on it. But that's how I started to feel empathy for the elves. When I was human, and me and Mum lived here, we would-"

"Step on us all the time," Alfur finishes and smiles, though a hint of sadness was present in the way he looked at Hilda.

"I'll... just stay up here. You can look around."

Hilda and Twig start looking around the rubble of the old house, the former chatting away to the latter. Alfur makes his best attempt at hiding from the elf houses. Thankfully, they seemed too intimidated to come outside.

"What's wrong?" Raven whispers to Alfur.

"I don't want to go back." Alfur's ears droop.

"Back where?"

"...Home."

The other elves had little to no idea what was happening and seemed awfully confused. Raven felt a little uncomfortable feeling their fearful gazes from their windows. Alfur noticed there were now a few houses in what was formerly No Elves' Land, probably members of his family. He climbs onto Raven's head, hiding his face with his hat.

A small brown nitten with lighter brown patches crawls out of a space in a nearby fence, approaching the giant bird. Raven notices, but seeing as the cat was so tiny, couldn't possibly view it as more than a little annoyance.

"Alfur."

Alfur lifts up his hat, looking over to see the nitten.

When they make eye contact, their faces light up almost immediately.

Raven blinks.

"Uh... you know this-"

Alfur jumps down with his arms wide open, the nitten hopping into them and nuzzling Alfur, purring. Raven shuffles in front of them so Alfur wouldn't be noticed. Everything here was so tiny, seemed so delicate...

"Know her?! This is Runa, my kitty!" The elf holds the nitten up, "I've missed you so much, yes I have-"

Hilda and Twig return from trekking around the rubble, the latter with a dirty but intact toy ball in his mouth.

"Oh, right, right, right! Hilda, this is Runa, she can do something really neat! Watch!"

Hilda and Raven are just stunned to see Alfur so excited about something other than paperwork for a change.

"Shake, Runa!" Runa puts her right paw on Alfur's arm.

"Other paw!" Runa switches to her left.

Alfur steps away a little, "Okay, ready?" He lifts one arm, pointing at the nitten.

"Pew, pew!"

Runa pretends to get hit and plays dead before getting back up, meowing.

Hilda claps, but Twig and Raven just stare for a moment. Twig drops his toy, and it doesn't even bounce.

"Dang," Raven murmurs quietly, "wasn't expecting that last one."

"My brother taught her that. I don't know what it means, but Runa is so smart!" Alfur pets the miniature cat lovingly.

"Should we tell him?" Raven asks.

Twig gives Raven a "don't you dare" sort of look.

"Tell him what?" Hilda inquires innocently.

"I can't stay, you have to go home," Alfur tells the little creature as Raven lets him back onto his back, "thank you for covering me, Raven. Hopefully no one saw me, at least. Runa would be the only reason why I'd come back right now... They probably wouldn't be able to recognize you as an elf, Hilda."

Runa just watches in mild confusion as they start their ascent. Raven's big wings send her tumbling backwards a little, but she manages to head back through her little space in the fence. Alfur smiles down at her.

"Why didn't you want to see your family, Alfur?" Hilda asks.

"Um," the older elf looks away, "it's not something I like to talk about..."

The girl pouts.

"Okay. I can respect that..."

It didn't make her any less curious; to be denied the reason why.

The evening sun cast a deep orange glow upon everything. Raven disliked this time of day, describing it as "too melancholic".

As they flew, they watched woffs migrate around them and even a few weather spirits recognized Raven, stopping to wonder why a deerfox was hitching a ride on him.

When the sun finally set, they spotted a familiar hole near the top of a certain iron pine- where the forest giant they were looking for kept all of his winnings from gambling. Hilda, Alfur and Twig were all understandably ireful upon seeing it again. Raven was awed by all of the shiny coins- and the crown studded with sapphires and rubies shimmered in the moonlight- it was almost beckoning to him. He perches on the edge of the opening of the tree and turns into his smaller form. Twig tumbles into a pile of coins, grunting with annoyance.

"What's going on?" Alfur tries to hold Raven back.

"Even if he's a magical spirit, he's still a bird," Hilda comments, "Raven, you have to use self control. Look away."

"But it's all so... shiny..." Raven puts on the crown, eyes wide with wonder. It's too big and slides down around his neck instead, but he is still entranced by its allure. Hilda waddles through the sea of coins, still not used to being so small. She could barely move. It felt like a ball pit.

Large, thudding footsteps shook the ground, causing everyone to rise several feet in the air with every step. Coins and small furniture went flying with them.

"Ah. We're doomed," Alfur murmurs.

"No, we're not. Hide!" Hilda grabs Alfur and Twig takes Raven and they all hide near the opening of the tree, near the bark walls where there was a blind spot.

The forest giant looks around at his winnings, narrowing his eyes before walking away. He murmured to himself about seeing a flash of light near the tree- Raven's transformation. There was also a complaint about it bringing back bad memories. If elves' hearing wasn't so acute, the statement likely wouldn't have been picked up.

"That's him," Hilda says monotonously, having had their confirmation.

The four adventurers peek out of the tree to see the forest giant walking towards a flat boulder in a clearing several feet away. Yawning, he lays down on it, curling up like a cat.

"...That looks really uncomfortable," Raven comments.

"Aww, if I had to sleep on a rock, I'd be grumpy all the time, too," Alfur rests his head on his arms, ears drooping, "can't we just talk to him and be nice?"

"How are we supposed to approach this guy that already thinks I'm a thief, at night, no less, and say, 'pardon me, sir, a talking book turned me into an elf and I'm gonna need some of your fur?'" Hilda questions irritably.

There was a long silence between the four of them.

Alfur sighs.

"All right, just this once, I am granting you full permission... to steal," he whispers 'steal' as if it were a cuss.

Hilda nods her head.

"Just know that it is completely against my morals and I will not condone it again," he adds.

"Aye, aye, captain," Hilda replies.

"Little louder for the people in the back? I couldn't hear ya," Raven jokes.

"No," was the unenthusiastic answer.

Chapter Text

"There are absolutely no metaphors I can think of that match the situation we're in," Raven watches the sleeping giant warily, "should we just... go for it? Or-"

"We need to plan at least a little," Alfur starts, "if you just wing it, it's not going to end well-"

"Wing it," Hilda echoes, before her eyes light up with inspiration, "oh, that's it! Raven, you can transform and try cutting off some fur with your talons- without hurting him, of course. Alfur, Twig and I can collect what you got."

The other three gaze back at her blankly.

"The poor guy's probably going to think this was an assassination attempt," Raven hides his face with his wings, "but I guess for the sake of getting this over with, it's worth a shot."

Raven flies into the air and transforms after taking his passengers safely behind the giant's literal boulder of a pillow. Lightning strikes through the air, causing the giant to stir awake in surprise.

"He signed the contracts, so he can see us," Alfur warns Hilda, "we have to be quick."

Raven starts to glide downwards, his massive wings creating ripples of wind, blowing leaves and clouds alike backwards, and drifting in circles- as if the earth and sky were dancing, in his wake. He stares down at his target, quickening and mentally preparing himself for the consequences.

The giant began to stand up until he saw the thunderbird had his talons out, sharp and menacing. He gasps and ducks, giving Raven the perfect opportunity to strike.

Twig clung to Alfur and Hilda tightly before the windy aftermath of thunderbird wings could blow them away.

It was quick; only a mere moment, but in the seconds afterwards, it was as if it were raining blue strands of fur around the stone bed. Alfur looked moderately disgusted at the sight, but gathers up what he could. Hilda jumps into action as well. Twig tries to pick some up, but chokes and spits it out, whimpering.

"It's okay, boy! We have enough," Hilda assures him as Alfur leaps onto his head and pulls Hilda up with him, both elves with big clumps of fur in tow.

The Raven becomes small again, and hides behind the rock with them, looking terrified.

"We may have a problem..."

"What... what happened?" The giant gets to his feet and looks around. When he turns his body so the backside is facing the travelers, the four of them gasp in shock.

Raven's talons practically shaved the giant's rear end.

Hilda stifles a laugh, and Alfur's cheeks turn bright red as he drops his fur pile and wipes his stubs on his tunic before covering Hilda's eyes. Twig makes a little groaning noise, as if he had expected this- and promptly just throws up.

"Missed my mark a little," Raven explains.

"A little," Alfur echoes, his voice dripping with indignation.

"I don't have good aim," Raven sighs.

"You can basically see your reflection in his-"

"We need to go," Hilda remarks.

The giant turns back around to see them, having realized his situation while they bickered. He glares daggers at them, his face turning a darker red by the second.

"You."

He reaches down to grab the four of them in his fist. Raven transforms again, but the angry giant punches him backwards, sending him through the trunk of an iron pine.

"RAVEN!" Hilda and Alfur scream as the giant picks them up, along with a squirming Twig.

"How dare you," the giant booms, "deface me like this while I'm trying to sleep!? I could have had a heart attack when I saw that bird coming! And- and-"

He looks closer at the three tiny terrified beings in the palm of his hand.

"Wait a minute... I know you..."

Cold sweats break out all around as the giant puts two-and-two together.

"The blue haired girl! And her... cohorts!" He sneers, "I've been waiting for this moment... I've got a bone to pick with you all here...!

"And this mistake you've made! Trying to return to human form at the expense of my... my privacy! You could have just asked," the giant whines, though Hilda knew he wouldn't have given anything either way.

Alfur gives Hilda a look, to which Hilda just stares back.

The older elf clears his throat, "We heartily apologize for what we ha-"

"No!" The giant almost hisses at them, causing Alfur to reel backwards, clutching Hilda protectively, "feeble apologies will not fix what you did! Or what you did last time! Thieves! I think it's due time that you got what you deserved!"

With his other hand, the giant tries to pluck Hilda from Alfur's grasp.

"No! Please-" Hilda cries, clinging to Alfur. The giant's grip on her forms a bruise, that quickly opens into a wound. Blood leaks from her forehead, staining the white elven fur on her face a deep scarlet.

"Do it to me!" Alfur shouts.

Everything falls silent, aside from the sounds of breathing. The giant stares at Alfur.

"What?"

"I'll take her punishment for her!" Alfur's eyes fill with tears. "Whatever you're going to do, do it to me instead! She's only a little girl. Please! Leave her alone!"

The giant drops Hilda back down, and Alfur nudges her towards Twig before the giant starts to lift him up.

"Alfur-" Hilda's voice breaks as she screams for him, "ALFUR!"

Twig bites down onto the giant's hand, extremely hard.

"YOW!" The giant inadvertently throws the three captives up into the air as the pain caused him to jolt up. Twig had drawn blood.

They all thought they were done for until a wave of black swooped down to their rescue.

Raven, still a bit wobbly, caught them on his back, and struck the giant with a bolt of lightning to stop him. He falls forward, revealing his bare posterior to all unfortunate enough to pass by.

"That was close," Raven muttered, looking back at the tree that fell from his impact against it.

...The giant's tree. Faint cheering was heard as the treasure poured out.

That giant would wake up to a very rude awakening indeed.

Hilda still had the fur she needed, thankfully- though she was exhausted. As Raven searched for a place to rest, Alfur pulls a soft piece of towel out of his knapsack and starts gently wiping the blood off of Hilda's face, leaving a pink streak between her eyes.

"Stay awake," he pleads with her, "you're hurt..."

"Alfur... you risked your life for my sake..." Hilda murmurs, slowly blinking.

"Of course," the older elf whispers. He props Hilda to sit up, but allows her to lean on him.

"You didn't have to," Hilda replies.

"But I did. And I would do it again. I care about you a lot, you know."

Hilda gazes up at him. He looks serious at first, but his expression melts into a soft smile when he looks at her. Warm and paternal.

"I love you," Hilda blurts.

"Hm?" Alfur blinks.

Hilda nuzzles against him, pressing her cheek against one of his. She'd lost quite a bit of blood, so perhaps she was delirious, but Alfur was still happy in the moment.

"I love you, I love you, I love you, and Raven, and Twig, too..." Hilda was smiling, "you and Raven are like my dads!

"I'm grateful for all of you. But please," her mood drops, "don't scare me like that again."

"I won't."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

When they found an old abandoned Woff's nest to sleep in, Raven held Twig in his wing, who wrapped Hilda and Alfur in his fluffy tail, who were holding onto each other. The night was chilly. They had to keep warm.

Hilda fell asleep rather quickly, squirming in mild discomfort until Alfur hugged her close. Her little lips curled into a tranquil smile.

The older elf smiles back, looking up at the moon and back down at the girl, sighing. A part of him wished the moment would last forever.

"I love you, too."

Chapter Text

Hilda awoke to find Alfur missing. Squirming out of Twig's tail and peeking up from Raven's wing, she gazes down at the vast world below them. It was still nighttime, but the yellow moon was low on the horizon. She saw a few trolls scamper in the distance near the mountains. She shuddered to think that she would need a troll's saliva to break her spell.

She slides down the thunderbird's gargantuan wing, getting a slight jolt of electricity from his feathers. Her braided hair -and her fur- frizz with static once she reaches the ground. She attempts to straighten herself out, having to remove her braid in the process. She was feeling the cold of the darkness, and waddles about nervously until she freezes at the sound of soft humming.

Alfur was sitting against Raven's chest, wearing his slightly oversized winter coat and writing a report, though upon noticing Hilda he smiled brightly. It gave Hilda a familiar feeling. It was like waking up back home and seeing her mum at her drawing table. Without question, Hilda sits down beside him.

"Good morning, sunshine," Alfur says warmly. He's too focused on his writing to look at her, however. "What are you doing up so early?"

Words could not express the strange emotion that culminated in Hilda's heart at being referred to as 'sunshine'. Warm and fuzzy. She was starting to like that sort of attention. In the back of her mind she recalled the events with the forest giant, putting an arm to the scab on her forehead. She felt so comfortable here. She felt loved, even around these creatures. More than friends, but a bizarre family of sorts.

"I just woke up and saw you weren't there," the girl replies.

The older elf finally looks at her, chuckling softly. He studies the mark left behind.

"Oh! I'm sorry about that. I tend to wake up early, if you recall... Ah- the wound... it doesn't look as bad now." He looks concerned. "Does it still hurt?"

"Only when I press on it."

"That's a good sign. I was worried it was a concussion of sorts."

"I'm okay."

They sat together in silence for a few blissful minutes.

"Alfur?" Hilda looks up at him with curious eyes.

"Yes?"

"Can you tell me about your family?"

A soft sigh erupts from the elf.

"This again?"

"Please?" Hilda begs, "I want to know more about you. I feel like I don't know enough, that I've been taking your presence for granted. I want you to be aware of how important you are to me, too. You tried to sacrifice yourself for me and I know I-"

"Hilda, Hilda," Alfur squeezes her hand, wiping away the tears that formed in her eyes, "I'll tell you why I didn't want to see them. Okay?"

Hilda nods, shivering from the cold. Without thinking, she crawls into Alfur's coat from the bottom and pops her head out of the neckhole, giving Alfur a mischievous grin. Alfur doesn't think much of it, tilting his head to the side so she can rest hers comfortably. The coat would get stretched out, but that was the least of their problems

The elf continues to write his report, one arm cradling the little lump in his coat that was Hilda. The girl struggles to read the parchment paper- Alfur was writing in cursive.

"So, I'll make this quick: you remember saving the king and signing that document that officially declared you an ally of elves?" Alfur asks.

"Mmhm," Hilda mutters.

"Some elves didn't agree with that- most of my family didn't, in fact. They thought that my involvement in your case was treason."

"Wh-" Hilda starts, but Alfur keeps going.

"My father was especially livid with my decision to associate with you and later go to Trolberg with you and your mum- he told me to never return and until I 'learned that humans were irredeemable, I would not be an Aldric'," he quotes.

"He disowned you."

The older elf nods.

Hilda looks down, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry."

Alfur blinks in confusion, head tilting again.

"What for?"

"If Mum and I had just left for Trolberg sooner, if I hadn't written you that note..."

Alfur suddenly starts laughing hard. Hilda looked bewildered.

"It was my own choice, my own volition-" he wipes a tear from his eye, "to help you, Hilda. I wouldn't stand by and follow what everyone else was doing like a sheep, dear, I'm not that kind of a person. I wanted to do the right thing."

"But I made you- you lost your home," Hilda protests.

"Not true," he says calmly, "I found my real home when I went with you. As they say, home is where the heart is, right? The wilderness is a part of you, and Trolberg is a part of me. I bet you'd think that's silly."

The adventurer gives him a little smile, "not really."

"You wouldn't believe how much I was itching to get out of there, anyway," Alfur adds, "my mother loved interacting with humans. She made friends with every one she'd met when they passed by- not many humans out in the wilderness, though, just campers or travelers. Maybe even your great-grandfather, perhaps. My father made her stop when they married, but I thought it would be nice to carry on her legacy."

The way Alfur addressed his mother gave Hilda the feeling that something had happened to her- she chose not to ask in fear of unlocking more bitter memories.

"Oh, look!"

The sun was rising over the land. Trolls got into position as the light touched them. Baby trolls hugged their mothers and they became locked into the position as a single stone.

The hues of dawn shimmered in the sky, periwinkle fading into pale yellow. Hilda recalled watching the sunrise with her mother on warm summer mornings in the wilderness. They'd have a picnic, just the two of them.

Woffs called and took off into the clear skies as the last sliver of moon sunk behind the mountains.

"Lovely, isn't it?" Alfur asks, a soft, dreamy look in his eyes, as if he were drifting somewhere far away.

"That we get to see a new day together and the view is still just as magnificent as it was back then, if not more."

Hilda nods.

"What do you think we should look for next, Hilda?"

"Weather spirits," Hilda directs Alfur's attention to the clouds.

"Think they may have a favor to pay you after you saved one of their babies," Alfur comments.

"Mmm... they saved me, too, though. I thought I was done for when the weather station collapsed."

"True, true," the older elf holds Hilda close, "maybe they remember you. This time, simply ask."

"I know," Hilda mutters, "Raven can fly us up there, and I will ask. Politely."

"Good."

The view was picturesque. It radiated the hope that the day would be a good one.

Chapter Text

Hilda ended up falling asleep in Alfur's coat for a few hours. When she awoke, the sun was a little higher on the horizon and Twig's big wet nose was right up against her face. She squeezes her eyes shut as he starts licking her- her hair was stuck in a bizarre-looking cowlick afterwards. She could hear Alfur and Raven laughing from behind her, so she starts pouting. It took her a few moments to wake herself up completely.

"Are you going to come out of there, or...?" Alfur's voice being so loud to Hilda caused her to jump as she realized she was still in his jacket, right beside him. She allows herself to slide out halfway until the nippy cold of the morning reached her, chilling her to her most likely nonexistent elven bones. She crawled back up without a second thought, clinging to Alfur.

"No," she answers quickly, making herself comfortable again, "warm..."

"Not quite the answer I wanted, but your reasoning is hard to refuse." Alfur sighs, walking with the little girl onto Raven's back.

"I wouldn't have expected her to be that heavy in that form," Raven comments.

"Ah, no, she's not heavy at all," the elf replies, "I just can't really... move my head."

Raven just laughs.

"I get it! She did that to me, too- as a human, though. But, she's got the right idea, considering where we're headed today..."

As Raven soared high into the clouds, the three little passengers looked down over the world below. Like being a human overlooking a whole city of elves. Alfur would wonder if somewhere out there an entire city like Trolberg existed, but populated by elves. Hilda stated that it would take a lot of work, especially regarding the fact that elves had no hands.

"Weather spirits and elves don't really have anything to do with each other," Raven tells them, "but since we need the snowflake from them, I'll explain to them the situation, and then you can talk, Hilda. Okay?"

"Mmhm!" Hilda almost squirms out of the coat again, thinking about how she dealt with the weather spirits last time, but her tiny feet sting upon making contact with chilly air, causing her to squeal as she hangs onto Alfur again, shivering. The elf rolls his eyes as he starts stroking her hair.

"Brings back some rough memories," Raven murmurs, "I really thought you had died back at the weather station. Wonder where that crazy lady went- I made her tell me everything, then I dropped her in the woods somewhere."

"Raven!" Alfur scolds, "why would you do that!?"

"She kidnapped the baby weather spirit Hilda let out."

"Oh, that's- I'd put her in jail, though, not in the woods!"

"With a hairdo like that, she blended in very well!" Raven joked.

Hilda laughs. The sleek black wings of the thunderbird crackled with electricity as they started heading for a nearby raining cloud bank. There was another argument going on, as expected, but a small, round and puffy little cloud spirit caught Hilda's eye. The baby weather spirit!

He looked nervous amidst the shouting, holding onto his father as if trying to drag him out of it, but was getting ignored.

Raven creates lightning to get the spirits' attention. Recognizing him, they slowly turn from grey to white, and start quietly talking amongst themselves. The father and baby duo were understandably the most interested, the latter starting to approach Raven. His father follows him, likely for security reasons. He wouldn't want to lose his child again.

"What brings you back here?" the father asks, his tone much calmer than it was before. This was, after all, one of the creatures that ended up helping to lead him back to his son, though it was the young human girl he had with him that set him free.

Raven takes the time to explain the circumstances of Hilda (describing her as "the blue haired girl" was all the spirits needed to know to remember her) and the spell that turned her into an invisible elf. The baby weather spirit waves playfully to the deerfox on Raven's back, giggling. He looks around for his rescuer, confused.

"She's invisible," Raven reiterates. The baby's face darkens and a few raindrops fall.

"But I'm here!" Hilda calls. The baby's mood takes another full 360 as he approaches the sound of Hilda's voice, curiously and happily cooing. This is enough for Hilda to finally shuffle her way out of Alfur's coat (giving him some well deserved relief) and hug the baby. She's small enough to float on the little cloud rather than fall through, which gives the baby the opportunity to hug her back even though he could not see her outright, laughing as her miniscule movements tickled him. He was soft and fluffy and absolutely adorable.

"I know you can't see me, but I'm here. And all I need is one snowflake. I understand if you can't, but if you can, please help me," Hilda looks towards the father weather spirit, though knowing he cannot look back at her, tried to convey her worry in her voice as much as possible, "by the way, I need you to know that I love this child and if anything happened to him-"

"I think," the father spirit says, "Styrmir should do the honors."

The other spirits smile.

"Styrmir?" Hilda asks.

The baby laughs as his father pats his head.

"After all, you're the very best at making snow, aren't you?"

The imaginary puzzle pieces in Hilda's head click together as she realizes. Her eyes brighten.

"Oh!"

"He's been looking for a way to repay his gratitude to you for saving him," the father spirit says, "I'd say he's been wanting to meet you again for a long time."

Alfur pulls a pair of microscope slides out of his satchel to keep and preserve the snowflake in.

"Always come prepared!"

Though the snowflake was much bigger than they had expected. Hilda could hold it with both arms, she was freezing, but it was such a lovely pattern: little heart shapes on the tips leading to a big heart shape in the center. It looked both cute and elegant.

"Awww!" Hilda smiles, her face flushing pink, "It's beautiful! Thank you, Styrmir!" She pats the baby spirit on the head, "but... it's too big to keep it with us without it melting. I don't want to ruin something so pretty, especially considering it's meant for me!"

"We'll hold onto it for you, then," the father spirit reassures her, "once you've gathered everything else you need, we'll give it back."

"Really?" Hilda blinks, "Thank you..."

Styrmir takes the snowflake back and it vanishes upon contact with the cloud. Hilda looks concerned for a moment. Styrmir, sensing the unease, recreates the snowflake in his little stubby cloud hands, taking it away and returning it again as it was, as a demonstration of power.

"Whoa, this kid is cool," Raven exclaims.

"It's the least we can do for what you did for us," the father spirit smiles, "when you're ready, come back!"

The four adventurers thank the weather spirits as they start to leave.

"Hilda?" a small voice calls.

The raven turns back around to see Styrmir. The baby spirit lifts one little stub and waves, beaming.

"Tank you! Bye-bye!"

Hilda's face was burning red as it took all of her restraint to not jump off of Raven to hug the child one more time.

"Bye-bye..."

"They're really nice when they're not arguing with each other," Alfur comments as they began their search for either a troll rock or Hilda's barghest friend- she got a few laughs out of the name "Jellybean"- only two more ingredients to go. Twig wanted to walk, so they travel by foot. It was still daylight, so they were at their leisure.

"Out of curiosity, do you think we need a lindworm for this, too?" Hilda asks.

"Why? Honestly, lindworms are usually mentioned as the way out of elven contracts because we want people who sign them to think there isn't a way out, considering how scarce and paperwork averse lindworms are," Alfur replies, "elf contracts are magically binding, they want them to think. No escape."

The girl looks up in shock, "why would they want that!? That's not very fair."

"Legal business is scary business, my dear. It boggles my mind, too. That's another reason why I'm so happy to be in Trolberg."

"Elves are weird," Raven says nonchalantly.

"You could have phrased that better, but I agree," the older elf nods.

Twig wanders ahead and stumbles on a few pebbles. He sniffs around, looks up and starts barking. The others follow and see a large troll rock.

"Good boy, Twig!" Hilda hugs his leg, "You found a troll rock! We should stay nearby so we don't lose track of it when the sun sets."

"I'm not sure how this is gonna turn out," Raven mutters to himself. Alfur's ears prick up at this.

"Hilda understands all kinds of creatures! If anyone can do it, she can," he assures him.

"You know what? You're right, little buddy." Raven watches the little human-turned-elf prancing around with the deerfox.

"It's only been a few months since we met and she saved me; but I can't help but feel like I've always known her and I feel so proud about everything she's done, y'know?"

"I do," Alfur answers, resting his head on the tip of his arm, "I've watched her since she was born, but never got to formally meet her until a few months ago, too. She was so cute when she was little."

"Her mom better have baby pictures."

"Oh! I hope she does! I'll ask when we go back to Trolberg!"

Hilda looks back at the two, unaware of what they were talking about. They seemed happy, though, so she was happy, too. She looks up at the towering troll rock.

"I have the feeling that this will be a chaotic experience."

Chapter Text

The four travelers had guarded the dormant troll for most of the day.

As evening came and a few bright stars peeked out of the dark orange haze of the darkening sky, Hilda and Alfur sat beside each other on a smooth stone, warily watching the troll rock before them for any signs of movement. Twig was napping close by and Raven was flying above them. Alfur was passing the time by knitting something- such tiny needles! Hilda, however, kept her eyes on the troll. Something small moved out of the corner of her eye- she looked around, her elf ears twitching. She was bored, desperate for some kind of action or attention. She doesn't even notice when Alfur pokes a little hole through her dress with one knitting needle and attaches some red thread to it. Hilda stands up to investigate, but the thread doesn't let her go too far. She looks very irate as she is pulled back.

"Nice try," Alfur says casually, still knitting. Hilda pouts at him.

"Didn't you see that, too? It could be some kind of dangerous beast! I could protect us! Look at all these sticks, I could poke it-"

"Aren't Sparrow Scouts supposed to be friends to animals?" the older elf asks, rather bluntly. Hilda stops, puffing out her cheeks in frustration. Alfur knew the creature was just a little fox- the same creature roamed the woods often when Hilda still lived there.

"You... have invoked my wrath, Alfur! You shall pay for doubting me!"

"Oh, no," Alfur replies calmly, a slight laugh in his voice, "how terrifying." It was the sarcastic, rather mocking tone of a parent being "threatened" by their child, "I am absolutely quivering in my boots thinking of what you could do."

"You don't even wear shoes!" Hilda exclaims.

"It's an expression. But, I don't think you have a wrath. You're too cute to be scary."

Hilda's fuzzy face flushes red.

"When I'm a human again, I can be scary!"

Alfur just smiles, moving a lock of hair out of Hilda's face.

"I can't be afraid of you, Hilda. No matter what form you're in, I can't help but be in awe because you're still such a lovely girl either way."

Hilda tries to hide her bright red face with her ears, though they were also growing red. She could not handle the compliments, but she could not hide the creeping smile on her face.

"Sto-op," she laughs, her change of mood now apparent.

Raven flew back down from the sky, the look in his eyes softening when he looks at Hilda, gently nuzzling her slightly with his beak.

"Hey, you," he says softly.

Hilda is obviously enjoying the attention, her little legs rising into the air as she tries to climb onto Raven's beak, though, like Alfur, he doesn't let her go very far. He holds her in one wing, looking down at Alfur and Twig with a more serious expression.

"I saw the rock crumbling. We gotta skedaddle pretty soon."

"Trolls aren't evil," Hilda states as Raven lets her onto his back, "just misunderstood."

"I think they have more grudges against humans than they do anything else," Alfur comments, "considering that Edmund Ahlberg story..."

Hilda looks down, her face darkening.

"...It kind of makes me not want to be human anymore."

Raven and Alfur simultanously look at her in concern.

"We've done... pretty bad things... to the creatures around us. We drove the old giants away from the whole Earth, we hurt the trolls and took their land from them, we were very inconsiderate towards the elves-" she glances at the troll rock, "and the people in Trolberg... don't understand creatures like I can. I grew up here, among them, but Trolberg... Trevor hurt you, Raven, Victoria Van Gale hurt the weather spirits, everyone was scared of Jellybean, and the book that led me to cursing myself said that Trolberg would probably lynch me for using magic if they discovered I was interested in it."

She stares at her thin little arms.

"Am I better off being an elf? Knowing how you felt being too small to fend against humans?

Alfur simply tilts his head at the question, ears drooping. He lets out a heavy sigh, closing his eyes.

"Elves and humans, apart from size and... um, availability of metacarpal appendages, are not so different from one another. There are elves that were -and are- not so kind people," he says this with rolling eyes, obviously with someone in mind, "and there are elves that are good, just as there are humans that are good and humans that are... questionable."

"You could just say "bad", you know," Raven interjects.

"I refuse to believe a person's heart can truly be 'bad'. No one started out bad, anyway," the older elf turns his gaze back to Hilda, "but anyway, Hilda, you still have a human heart. If you think they're so bad, now, I can tell you that you have already been the change you'd like to see in this world of ours. You helped Raven, you set Styrmir free, you saved the barghest and let him live with his owner in the mountains where he belongs... besides, we elves are invisible, you didn't even know we were there."

"I mean, you could stay an elf if you really wanted to," Raven quips, "but living in Trolberg and hanging with your friends would be really awkward. Everyone would have to sign the forms if they wanted to see you, at school and on the streets- Alfur might not need that, but you live a human's life, and being tiny and invisible in a human city, living the life of a human- that would be pretty dang inconvenient for all of you, wouldn't it?"

Hilda thinks for a moment and nods.

"You're meant to get through this and become human again. You just have to remember you're one of the greatest ones we've ever known," Raven winks at her. The girl feels her face turning red again (more compliments!) and she faceplants into his feathers in an attempt to hide it.

"She's so cute," Raven comments.

"I know!" Alfur squeals.

"Guys," Hilda huffs, still very red and now mildly annoyed, "please stop."

The troll had shedded the thick layer of stone covering its body as it broke free, its former prison scattering across the earth in little chunks as the last of the sunlight vanished.

"I brought a few jars for this one," Alfur says.

"Gross," Raven sighs.

"I really hope that in the end, I don't have to drink the cure," Hilda shudders. Twig retches a bit in response to her statement. The troll stretches its arms, relishing in its freedom, and starts stomping forward. Raven follows it from a bird's eye view.

"So how are we gonna do this?"

"Um..." Hilda watches the troll closely, "I think... trolls can understand human language, I'm assuming, but they can't speak it. We should talk to it. They're not monsters. They are capable of compassion, I've seen it. So has Alfur. Trolberg might not think so, but I know so. It's worth a try, right?"

"But this is a lot like the forest giant. You walk up to this troll and ask for its spit, you're probably going to get kicked through the mountain," Raven retorts.

"That's the problem with most of the necessities for the cure, they're just... weird, specific things you'd never ask for in any other circumstance," Alfur adds.

"They're supposed to be challenging," the girl suggests, shrugging, "maybe it's to prove I deserve to be human again."

Raven and Twig observe as Alfur and Hilda approach the troll, armed with tiny glass jars. If things went sour, they were prepared to make an emergency rescue.

"Woodman wanted to see this, but he's not-" Hilda is cut off by the sight of Woodman lounging in a lawn chair several feet away.

"Here to see it?" Alfur finishes for her.

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised," she murmurs.

Chapter Text

."This is gonna be good," Woodman comments to himself as Hilda and Alfur glare at him. The troll they were targeting seemed to be searching for something- the two elves followed in pursuit.

"I'll try talking to the troll," Hilda suggests, leaping onto the troll's foot and climbing upwards. It felt strange- like molten rock, soft and a little squishy, but very cold. She'd never noticed that before. She was on the creature's back when it seemed to sense her presence- well, in a way. Hilda was so small and light that her touch caused an itching reaction. The troll reached around to scratch and Hilda fell off. Alfur catches her. The look on his face conveys that he probably knew that would happen.

The troll suddenly starts running away, mini earthquakes scrambling the elves around. The farther away the troll got, the less the ground shook. Alfur and Hilda were dazed. At least it wasn't the forest giant.

"Oh no! Do you think he knew I was there?" Hilda asked.

"He couldn't see you, but he felt you," Alfur replies. "Most likely conclusion, he thought you were a bug or something, but-" he suddenly jumps forward. "Hilda! We're losing him!"

Raven and Twig arrive to help them give chase. With Alfur on Raven and Hilda mounting Twig, they catch up to the troll.

"He's going into that... dark, suspicious cave..." Raven trails off. The four stop at the base of the mountain, standing before a gaping black hole in which the troll had vanished into.

"Then let's go-" Hilda starts, hopping off of Twig and running headfirst, but Raven holds a wing before her, blocking her entry.

"Hilda, this is the Stone Forest. It's crawling with trolls. It's so dark in there that trolls can stay active, even during the daytime."

Hilda is more enthralled and excited rather than scared, while Alfur looks ready to faint again.

"We can't go in there," Raven sighs. Hilda pouts.

"But we have to," she protests, "besides, Alfur and I are invisible. They won't see us! And I think the other elves would be too scared to offer any troll a contract to sign, anyway."

"That's true," Raven smiles, "Maybe-"

Alfur blinks, keeping a straight face as he kicks a tiny pebble and suddenly falls over dramatically.

"Oh no!" He grabs the leg he kicked the pebble with, wincing, "silly me, I think I just sprained my ankle! Ow!" He's shouting these words and hamming it up. It's obvious he is faking it.

"Looks like we can't go in, Hilda. My bad!"

The elf looks up to see if his little stunt worked. Hilda, Raven and Twig are giving him dirty looks. Alfur sighs, getting up and looking down in defeat and shame.

"Fine. Let's go," he says dejectedly, holding out his arm. Hilda cheerfully takes it and hugs him at the same time.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" She's beaming from ear to ear. Alfur manages to smile back, just a little.

They start to slowly walk in, to Raven and Twig, it looked as if the pitch darkness of the cavern swallowed them whole. Twig whimpers while Raven gives them a thumbs-up... well, more like a wings-up.

"Good luck!" He calls to them.

"Hey, it's your funeral!" Woodman's voice echoes as Hilda and Alfur go further away from the entry.

Alfur weeps softly as Hilda practically drags him. Their tiny footsteps make echoes, too, as they go deeper into the cavern. The light of the moon outside shone no longer; no saving grace, no visible way out.

"Wow, Alfur! It's even darker in here than in the sewers where David, Frida and I met the fearsome Rat King," Hilda comments.

"If I don't m-make it out of here, H-Hilda, p-please know m-m-my final will and t-testament-" While crying, Alfur pulls a little bee hummingbird's feather quill and a piece of paper out of his satchel with his free arm. Hilda suddenly lets go of him as she runs forward in awe. Alfur tries to call out to her, but his voice breaks. He shoves the quill and paper back into his satchel and chases the girl instead. A paternal instinct rose in his heart.

"But if anything happened to her, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself..."

"Whooooaaaa," Hilda breathes, eyes wide and almost twinkling, "it's like a whole city of trolls down here. Like a literal Trolberg! Get it?"

When Alfur catches up to her, he puts his satchel up to his face to stifle a long, anguished sob. There must have been thousands of trolls.

"We're invisible to them! We're fine! I think you ought to remember that, you've always been an elf!" Hilda waltzes about, elven magic letting her phase through the crushing feet of trolls walking about. Alfur still looks horrified.

Maybe this is how Hilda felt when I first demonstrated the contract's magic...

Nervously following the girl through the maze of moving trolls, the older elf spots two trolls starting to fight. It started with growling and roaring and soon became violent. Hilda stops to watch as well, then gasps.

"Hold on. This is a perfect opportunity to get the troll spit! They don't even have to know we're here!" She sprints towards the two trolls, taking the tiny glass jar Alfur had earlier.

"Hilda, I don't think you should-"

Hilda leapt up between the two trolls as they were attempting to shove each other. She does not get anything from it.

"Hey-!"

Just as she reached the ground, the troll directly above her got punched in the gut by its opponent. A massive blob of stray saliva leaves the unlucky little elf soaked. At the very least, it filled her jar.

"Ew..." Hilda grimaces in disgust, maneuvering through the troll fight again. Alfur winces, slowly approaching and taking the filled jar, his face crinkling at the excess spit smearing the glass.

"Ugh... I know it's unsanitary, but- wha- what are you doing? No! Don't! Stop-!"

Desperate to get the mess off, Hilda impulsively jumped into a river flowing through the cave.

"HILDA!" Alfur screams.

Hilda pops her head out of the water. She winces, ears drooping. Alfur almost never raised his voice like that.

"I-It's alright! I can swim and-" she freezes. Everything was getting further away. The current was too strong, and she was too small. It kept pulling her back. The river waves that looked so small before completely covered her now She could hear a terrified Alfur calling her name becoming more and more distorted as she sunk deeper and deeper into the murky gloom. No one would ever find her...

Alfur... I'm sorry.

She thought all hope was lost until a large hand reached in and closed around her, slowly lifting her out of the water. When she opened her eyes, she saw the silhouette of a man with a troll's nose.

"Huh...?"

When her eyes readjusted to the dark, she realized it was only a troll... a very suspiciously human-like troll. The only one she'd ever seen with big, melancholic eyes and wavy brown hair. She coughs out water in the palm of his stone cold hand as he trudges back to a sobbing Alfur, lowering down and offering her to him.

"HILDA!" Alfur takes the child, holding her close. Looking up at the strange troll, he thanks him a dozen times. The elves watch him shrink back into the blackness of his lonely cave.

"What do you know?" Hilda laughs nervously. "Some trolls have signed the contracts. That was-" she coughs up a little more water, "-a weird looking one, but he saved me."

"Thank goodness, thank goodness," Alfur peppers Hilda's face with little kisses, "don't do that ever again... you're not human anymore, you're not strong enough for that... you're okay?"

"I'm okay," Hilda replies. She looks up at his face. His fur was looking more matted than usual and there were grayish tearstains under his eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Alfur," she murmurs weakly.

Alfur takes the jar of troll spit along, and hurriedly rushes past the sea of trolls out of the cavern.

As he walks cautiously out of the cave, his stress melting into calm as he sees starlight from a distance, Hilda clears her throat.

"I'm sorry," she repeats.

The older elf looks down at her. He always looked so kind and soft when he looked at her...

"What for?"

"For not listening to you... I made you cry, I keep rushing into things and it scares you, I drag you into places you don't want to go, and it hurts you, like Frida and David..." she digresses, "...do I ask for too much attention from you? I just like being a part of your life, I guess. You and Raven make me feel safe."

"I've been watching you for a long time before you could see the elves. We didn't have much of a choice, but I thought it was incredible to watch you grow. I love who you are and I wouldn't change a thing. You and your adventurous spirit teach me new things every day, and I'm grateful for that.

"Regarding the attention thing-" his voice lowers to a whisper, colored with a little laugh, "I like that you're an elf now. It's been so nice to finally be able to connect with you like this. I'll be honest, I'm going to be a little sad when you're human again."

Hilda blushes.

"...Me, too," she whispers back, smiling.

"You've probably noticed I like hugs," Alfur laughs, "if you ever need one, I'm always open."

When they finally leave the cave, Raven and Twig both sigh in relief.

"Alfur... have you been crying? Hilda, why are you all wet?"

...It took a while to explain everything to them. Then Alfur and Raven had a private talk and came back looking both serious and incredibly awkward at the same time.

"Hilda," Raven starts, "we've been reviewing your recent behavior and we believe that our only option now is to ground you."

"Um... what?"

"Apparently it's a thing that dads do when kids have done something bad. We're grounding you for twenty seconds, so sit on the ground."

Hilda sits down, smirking. "Okay!"

Alfur looks confused.

"Raven, that's not how grounding works-"

"Now remember, if you can't do the time, don't do the crime! ...Time's up!" Raven helps Hilda get back on her feet.

"You're ungrounded now."

"...Yay!"

Alfur facepalms.

"Now, let's get some sleep and tomorrow, we'll plan how we're going to find that Barghest," Raven smiles.

"Yeah!" Hilda agrees.

"When you're human again, I'm telling your mum about the Rat King," Alfur says.

Now Hilda is the one begging Alfur not to say anything as they all fly back to the Woff's nest

Woodman, who was watching the whole time, casually sips his cup of muddy "tea".

"This is like watching a sitcom."

Chapter Text

Hilda awoke in a cold sweat. After the near death experience she had earlier, she kept dreaming about water. Submerged in water. It filled up her lungs and her vision blurred and darkened as the light from the surface grew farther away until it was a speck, or nothing at all.

Peeking out of the fluff of Twig's tail, Hilda takes a long and deep breath to ensure she was alive. When she was certain there wasn't any shed fur on her clothes, she turned to the sleeping Thunderbird beside her. From his other side, she could hear Alfur's faint humming- a tune she found nostalgic and familiar, but she could not remember where she had heard it before.

A playful instinct rises within her. She tries to sneak up on him.

"You're up early again," he says. She pouts, sitting down in defeat, but crawling closer in curiosity when she sees he's drawing something in his little notebook.

"You draw?"

"On the occasion! Elves do more than just write, you know! I'd say you and your mother have astounding drawing skills," he comments, "when I was little, I loved drawing, but my father... said it wasn't good enough."

"But you draw very well! Especially for someone without any hands," Hilda replies, smiling at the deerfox in the drawing.

Alfur gives Hilda a soft smile. He still looked very tired and on edge.

"Nothing I did was ever good enough for him," he mutters. Hilda can sense the growing tension.

"Hilda, yesterday, when you-"

"I'm sorry!" Hilda blurted out. Alfur holds her arm rather tightly.

"No, no, I'm sorry," he whispers, trying to keep his voice down as to not wake Raven, "you were drowning and I did nothing- nothing but cry-" his dark eyes light up with tears again, his soft voice breaking, "just like last time..."

The sound of Alfur sobbing was enough to shatter Hilda's heart. She would have told him not to cry, but she remembered how he allowed her to cry. That emotions were meant to be released, not bottled up. So she hugged him, being the one to comfort him this time rather than him comforting her. He might've needed it.

"Last time...?" Hilda inquires quietly.

Alfur sighs. He wipes his eyes before closing them, now more deep in thought. His voice still quivered when he spoke.

"My mother... was a lot like you. Well, maybe not quite so reckless. She taught me how to summon water spirits and taught me about enchantments and their effects, all kinds of things. She was eccentric and bizarre, but that's what made her so wonderful, you know?"

Hilda nods.

"I was about seven, maybe eight, when she died, so this was long before you were born and a few years before your mother moved in. We had gotten news from the prime minister's home in the fjord that she had gone to the waterfall and a nokken had pulled her underwater before they could do anything."

"Oh..." Hilda breathes in quietly, "I'm sorry..."

"No, no... I was the youngest, so I suppose my father grieved by being hard on me the most. So I would stay with my cousins most of the time. My mother loved meeting humans, but other elves dared not make contact, so we simply watched your mother in silence when she came because I was too frightened back then to cross them. Sometimes we would take little things from the cabin, like tissues or sugarcubes. Nothing she couldn't get more of. I had just turned eighteen by the time you were born, and we were all intrigued by you. It... might have been the blue hair, but... when the new prime minister turned everyone else against you, I knew I couldn't stand by and watch it happen. I did what my mother would have done, because it was the right thing."

"I...think you made her very proud, Da- I mean, Alfur," Hilda states, her tone sincere, "I wonder if you can raise the spirits of elves. If you could, she'd definitely give you a gazillion hugs and kisses! You gotta remember that you're more like her than your dad and it wasn't your fault and he was wrong to treat you bad..."

Alfur laughs. He wipes the last of his tears away.

"Thank you, Hilda. I think I realized on that day the reason why she loved humans so much. My father said they weren't to be trusted, but I packed my bags and told him I knew where I really wanted to be."

The girl blushes.

"Out of curiosity, what was that song you were humming before? I swear I've heard it before."

Alfur stops cold. It felt like a real life record scratch. Hilda looks nervous.

"Was I not supposed to-?"

"You... remember that song?"

"R-remember?"

Alfur tosses his notebook carelessly to the side and lifts Hilda up.

"I used to sing it to you! You were just a baby! You remember that?"

"I- you- what!?" Hilda was startled when Alfur started hugging her close. When he sat down again, they both started to calm down. Alfur manages to catch his breath and curb his excitement.

"When we would sneak into the house to get little things after you were born, whenever it was my turn, I'd go into the ceiling boards and sing that song to you. My mum sang it to me and it always helped me sleep, and being the naive recently-turned-adult that I was, I thought it would help you, too."

"Did it?"

"...Sometimes? Other times you'd crawl out of your crib looking for me. Didn't know a three-month old could do that. Looking back on it now, it sounds a little creepy. I stopped doing it when you turned two.I'm surprised you never cried about the disembodied voice in your ceiling."

"An adventurer starts at an early age. Maybe I knew it was you up there," Hilda suggests. Alfur laughs again.

"You're cute. I still can't believe you remember. That's a good memory, you have-"

Hilda rests her head on his lap, starting to doze off again. Alfur just chuckles softly, getting out his coat and draping it over her like a blanket to keep her warm.

""Here's to a sweeter dream this time."

He hears soft weeping from above him and looks up to see Raven looking absolutely touched by this display.

"How... how long were you awake for?"

"Since you started crying."

"Huh. Go figure."

Dawn creeps over the valley, the beauty of nature awash with warm yellow hues. Woffs call and birds sing, and wandering trolls let the sun petrify them.

"Hey, caterpillar," Raven smiles mischievously as he nudges Hilda awake. The little elf wonders about the bizarre nickname until she realizes she had rolled herself a little cocoon out of Alfur's coat.

"Wha-at?" Her reply sounded grumpier than she had intended.

"Geez, sorry. But we're going to need an early start if we want to make it up the mountain before nightfall," the bird replies.

"Okay," Hilda squirms out of the coat, nuzzling Twig, "but for your information, I am not a caterpillar," she starts using a silly voice, "I am a princess."

"Yes, but we have to go now," Alfur pipes up. Hilda turns away, prompting a sigh from him.

"...My liege?"

She shakes her head.

"Your Majesty?"

Another head shake.

"Your Highness?"

Yet another head shake.

Alfur thinks for a moment.

"Hmm... Your Excellency?"

Hilda turns back around, nodding in approval. Alfur giggles and curtsies to her.

"Your Excellency," he smiles, before suddenly becoming more serious, "on Raven now, please, or that's two weeks dungeon for you."

He whispers "that's grounding you for real" before hopping onto Raven. Hilda hurriedly follows, as does Twig.

"So, Her Royal Excellency, Princess Hilda the First, Last, and Only," Raven begins, "I saw you being very good emotional support last night..."

"What!? You were awake?" Hilda exclaims.

"Since I started crying," Alfur answers.

"Ah. Go figure."

Chapter Text

Hilda, Twig, Raven and Alfur began their search for the nisse and the barghest- a giant dog would not be that difficult to find in the city, but here, he lived in his element. There were dozens of mountains in the wilderness. So began the big question: which mountain did they live on?

There was only one person they knew with the answer...

"HEY, WOODMA-!"

Hilda was cut short by her own poor decision to try and kick open the familiar wooden door, and holds her foot in pain, eyes watering. Twig starts to whimper and bark.

"Are you okay?" Raven asks, catching her fall in one wing.

The little elf struggles not to show any weakness, but it is obvious that she is in pain.

"I-I'm fine... b-bashed my foot, but..."

Alfur fusses over her, picking her up as Raven opened the door and walked in. The elf soon followed with Hilda in tow.

The Woodman can kind of guess what happened.

"That door is solid oak. You really didn't think that one through."

"I know," Hilda answers calmly.

"So you're looking for the nisse with the barghest, but you don't know which mountain they live on?"

The four travelers can feel the Woodman's empty stare boring onto them- Alfur is already freezing up with fear again, Hilda notices.

"It never really came up until now," Raven states, unfazed.

"...None of you really thought this one through, did you?" Woodman asks, his tone flat and unenthusiastic.

"Well, I think it's best that Hilda enjoys her time in that form rather than rush to find the cure. After all, think of all the ground you haven't covered when the world is fifty times larger than it was." The Woodman stands up and walks over to one of his bookshelves, pulling out an old, dusty box.

"...We're about to gamble for the information, aren't we?" Hilda asks monotonously.

"No," Woodman answers, "not quite. I had something else in mind."

He drops the box on the wooden table stationed between himself and his guests, causing dust to fly everywhere and inevitably making everyone that wasn't himself to start coughing.

"What is that?" Raven asks.

Woodman rubs the excess dust off of the box's cover.

"You had a Dragon Panic game this entire time and didn't tell me!?" Hilda's little eyes sparkled with interest until she saw that the word 'Dragon' on the cover had been crossed out with a black marker and the text below that had formerly read 'A Fun Board Game For Ages 5 and Up!' had the word 'Fun' crossed out as well, and 'Dangerous' written above it in its place.

"...S-so you vandalized it?" Alfur inquires shakily.

"I just went and changed the rules of the game," Woodman answers simply.

"But you can't just-"

"If one of you three win, I'll tell you the name of the barghest's mountain and its coordinates. If I win, you... eh, it doesn't really change anything, I'm just bored."

Hilda groans, faceplanting on the bright red cushion of the velvety red chair she was sharing with Alfur and Raven. Twig sat on the floor, looking unimpressed.

"So what are your rules for this game of... Panic?" Raven looks over the game pieces, his face lightening up when he spots the shiniest piece.

"Can I be the trophy guy!?"

"No, I'm the trophy guy. You can be the gumball," Woodman replies.

"But that's an actual gumball! I don't know how old that thing is! It might be older than me! I don't wanna touch that! It even has bite marks. Alfur, you be the gumball!"

"What!?"

"Choose your pieces or I will do it for you," Hilda hops onto the game board and tosses the gumball off the table, where it rolls under the floorboards. She then steals Alfur's hat to use as a replacement piece.

"Woodman, trophy guy. Alfur, your hat. Raven, you get to be the shoe."

"Aw, come on-"

"Would you rather be the rock?" Hilda asks, a dark look in her eye. Recalling a familiar and traumatizing sequence of events that all began with being hit by a rock, Raven settles for the shoe.

Hilda looks up at Woodman.

"Rules?" she reiterates.

"Finish the game and survive," Woodman answers casually, "also, I think you owe me something for that gumball. Thing's probably going to stink up the house for ages."

This was not Dragon Panic, Hilda realized as soon as Woodman lifted the first card from the deck during his turn and read it out loud.

"Giant boulder."

Something rumbles outside the house, catching the group's attention. It gradually gets louder and closer.

"We... may want to move aside."

The five nervously scoot and scurry towards either end of the Woodman's house as a massive spherical stone smashes through the center of the house, destroying everything in its wake... except for the game, which looks entirely untouched.

"I forgot I made that one," Woodman tsks to himself.

"WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?" Alfur shouts, terrified.

"Everything that happens in the game also affects reality until the game is finished. Then everything goes back to normal," Woodman takes a mug out of a broken cupboard and fills it with his favorite "tea", casually sipping it.

"How did you manage to do that to a Dragon Panic board game?" Hilda asks.

"I dunno. Wasn't my game originally. Some funny little Nisse guy with wings gave it to me and we thought the initial game was boring, so-"

"IT'S NOT BORING!" Hilda angrily interjects. Her rage would have been much more terrifying if she weren't so tiny.

" ...So, we decided to change it up a little. Wonder how he's doing now..." Another quiet sip of "tea".

"Anyway, it's your turn," Woodman hands Raven the dice.

The bird trembles slightly as he rolls the dice, inadvertently causing one of them to fly into the rubble that once was the center of the house. Hilda seeks it out for him, fishing the die out from between two shattered shelves.

"You got a six on this one!"

"And this one is five," Raven looks over the game board, 'that makes..." he starts thinking hard.

"Eleven-" Alfur answers, but Raven shushes him.

"Please, li'l buddy, I'm doing math!"

Alfur sighs as Raven does several unnecessary mental calculations.

"I'm going onety-one spaces!"

"Onety-on-" Alfur almost tells Raven off, but decides against it.

"Good enough."

Raven lands on a space telling him to pick a card. As he does so, he shudders in terror and anticipation. He reads it: "You are going to be constantly plagued by the terror of losing your keys."

"Ha! I don't even need- wait, where are my keys?" Raven starts looking around for the nonexistent object in question.

Alfur and Hilda glare at Woodman with several questions in mind. He merely shrugs in response.

Alfur's turn was next. As he lacked hands, he simply tossed the dice from one side of the board to the other, only moving forward two spaces. Once more, the space indicates for him to pick a card. Nervously, he lifts up a card, reading it aloud.

"...Princess Syndrome? What's tha- oh..."

"Alfur, what's wrong!?" Hilda exclaims.

Alfur looks at Hilda with a soft and dreamy expression, nothing like the horrified one he wore just moments ago. He looked almost hypnotized by something.

"...Nothing at all... everything looks so much brighter now. In fact, I have the urge to start singing a song about how wonderful everything is..."

Hilda immediately understands the implications of this effect when butterflies and birds start to surround Alfur and the birds echo his tune every time he sings.

"Oh boy," she sighs. This was going to be a long day. Thanks, Woodman...

The game was nearly finished by early evening, though given they had begun playing in the morning it was no surprise to Hilda that it had taken long.

Among the things that the game's effects had created, there was a fallen meteorite in place of the roof, Twig had grown a mustache and fairy wings, glitter covered every inch of the house, Woodman became taller and locked in a disturbing position, and Raven had acquired laser vision.

Alfur seemed to have the best luck with the game, thoroughly enjoying whatever the magic afflicted him with, even wearing a princesslike dress, which he found lovely, though he stated it would look lovelier on Hilda. Hilda was happy to see Alfur enjoying himself. It gave her a glimpse of what elves are really like outside of their obsession with paperwork. They really aren't as different from humans as she thought. Just smaller.

The final turn was Hilda's. She threw the dice, rolled a twelve, and reached the end of the game on the exact twelfth space. The entire house filled with a bright light, and as soon as it faded, the five awoke to see the house completely intact, clean and repaired as if nothing had happened at all. As Woodman had stated, the game's effects had reversed themselves. Alfur seemed sad that his clothes were back to normal and his animal friends had gone away. Twig presses his nose against him to make him smile again.

"What just happened?" Raven asks, finally snapping out of his hunt for a key that didn't exist.

Hilda glances out the tall window. It was... morning again? Had they been knocked out throughout the night? The elven child turns to Woodman, demanding an explanation.

"I suppose when you play an enchanted board game, time just never really moves at all," Woodman shrugs again.

"It was just evening minutes ago," Hilda mutters.

Woodman replies with another shrug.

"Who am I to question the effects of magic?" He lifts Hilda up by the back of her sweater, "and, then again, who are you to... little sorceress?"

Putting her back down, Woodman lifts up his cup of tea off of the same perfectly fine wooden table that got smashed during the game.

"You won fair and square, so I will tell you the information you need. The mountain you're looking for is Muninn's Peak."

"Muninn's Peak?" Hilda echoes.

"It's right beside the train tracks leading into Trolberg, at the very edge of the Huldrawood, south of the larger, neighbouring mountain, Mt. Har. The Nisse owning the barghest wanted to stay closer to home, so she chose that small mountain, overlooking the fjord."

"Oh! I know that mountain!" Raven exclaims happily, getting up, stretching his wings and making his way to the door, "c'mon, guys!"

Hilda smiles at the Woodman.

"Thank you." She looks at the early morning sun as she steps outside. Everything seemed to maintain the status quo. She wondered if she would ever find herself using magic in that incredible way. Maybe... she could even repair her old house. Of course, if she wanted to.

"It was fun... hey, Woodman," she stops, ""I thought you didn't like company."

"I don't," Woodman states bluntly, "but you... are an exception. Maybe those other guys. They're okay. As long as they're treating you well, too."

Hilda's smile widens at that remark, hopping onto Raven's back with Twig's help.

"I'm glad we came."

The Thunderbird takes off, gliding through the skies.

Hilda waves at the Woodman as they drift further apart and away from the earth. She wondered if she could still be seen, and grinned when she saw him waving back.

"Good luck, Hilda."

Muninn's Peak was a rather puny mountain, but nevertheless, it was quite the spectacle.

Raven flew in circles around the middle, stopping when he spots a patch of land to drop off his three passengers. Alfur immediately puts on his coat, nuzzling up against Twig for warmth.

"I think I oughta look for them up there. It's hard to breathe at high altitude, especially given how little you guys are."

"But I want to come," Hilda pleads, "it's a little mountain, Raven, I think you've flown us higher..."

She presses herself against his beak, hugging him. Raven looks at Alfur, who smiles back.

"I think she'd let you know if she couldn't handle something. Just..." the older elf puts his winter hat on Hilda's head, "...stay warm, hold on tight. If anything happens, Twig and I will scale up the mountain and come get you, don't badmouth or misbehave, or-"

Hilda laughs, climbing onto Raven's head.

"You worry too much. Actually, there might be an easier way to do this." She clears her throat.

"JELLYBE-" she starts to scream, but Raven swiftly stifles her with one wing.

"This is avalanche zone, remember?"

"Ahh... I haven't done this in a while," Hilda glances down at Alfur.

"Are you ready?" Raven asks Hilda calmly.

The girl rests her tiny head on Raven.

"I'm ready."

Alfur and Twig watch them take off again without them. Twig whimpers softly, but Alfur starts to pet his head, chuckling warmly to himself.

"She's going to be fine."

Chapter Text

The thunderbird scanned around the mountaintop for a few minutes in search of the barghest. Hilda kept her eyes closed- the cold wind blew so harshly that it was near impossible to keep her little eyes open.

"You doin' alright up there?" Raven asks.

"Yes-" was all Hilda managed to say before the gales finally caused her to lose her footing and nearly fall. Luckily, Raven was fast enough to catch her. She may have been tiny, but from a bird's eye view, she was very easy to see.

"Think we ought to take a break, anyway," Raven smiles, carrying the little elf to a path on the edge of the peak, a little ways from the top. "You look cold."

Hilda's face, though coated with white fur, was still flushing red from the cold air, the tips of her ears turning pink with chill. Raven shivers slightly as he takes her, holding her in his wings.

"But you're cold, too," Hilda protests. Raven laughs.

"I've got a lot of feathers to keep me warm. But I can't imagine what elves do during those huge blizzards when their little houses practically get buried in snow. Or when it floods. Heck, I think they probably have it rough all the time. I can't help but worry and try to help whenever I see 'em around having problems, but usually, they're too scared of me and run back inside when they realize I can see them."

"Even in your little raven form?" Hilda inquires.

"My ability to talk is offputting to them, I guess," Raven answers, his tone more nonchalant and mellow. He turns Hilda around in his wings so she faces forward.

"Look at how beautiful that view is!"

Hilda gasps. She could see both the wilderness and Trolberg from where she stood. It made her feel almost big again. The sun shone bright on the tall city buildings, reflecting across the multitudes of windows. The Huldrawood looked more peaceful and serene in the morning- a stark contrast to the sinister mood it gave at night from the eerie Marra meetings that occurred there. She could even see the Northern Counties- Alfur was right, they truly did stretch across the vast valley as far as the eye could see- millions of little elven houses dotting the landscape like stars in the night sky.

An intrusive thought struck her, however- if she had been born in this form, if she could stay in this form... would it allow her to go back to the wilderness and live there forever? As Woodman had told her, she'd probably only have this opportunity once... why be in such a hurry to get the cure when she could finally look at Alfur eye to eye for once, hug him, let him hold her... she did like having his attention. It was the longest she'd been able to have him and Raven both without them being distracted by other things. It felt like home, even here, even now.

No, no, she couldn't just make this trip all for naught. She would have to take the cure. But while it lasts, she presses her head against Raven's feathers, marveling at how soft they felt all together when the single thunderbird feather she acquired by itself felt so rough.

"My home is kinda lonely, so it's nice coming back here all the time," Raven comments quietly, "there's always something new to see and someone to meet, and it's always warm and welcoming."

Hilda looks up at Raven.

"Living alone is rough, kid... immortality is rough, too. Coming back here every year as the Great Raven to have so many people celebrating my very existence... feels kinda like a birthday party. Makes me happy. To have a reason to stick around here. To have friends with me, even if they don't last very long."

The elf breathes softly. She couldn't think of anything to say, hugging Raven tighter.

"The Great Raven Parade has been a yearly tradition for 256 years, kiddo, but I'm way older than that," the bird chuckles to himself, "Thunderbirds are spirits, too, like weather spirits and house spirits... but unlike them, we are few and far between. Where I live feels very desolate compared to Trolberg, in fact."

"How long were you alone before you came to Trolberg?" The question just popped out with no other thought. Raven looks down at Hilda, nudging her little face slightly with his beak before continuing.

"Let's see... it was centuries ago, maybe a few millennia. I can't remember my exact age, so I can't recall the exact amount of years, but it was... a long time," he replies.

"But I like staying in my smaller form and watching the humans. Even if I did got socked with a rock once. But even before that, I think I've seen you. When you still lived in the wilderness."

"You did?" Hilda blinks, "really?"

"I perched on the nose of a troll rock when I saw you coming with Twig. When I met you that time in Trolberg, I got this deja vu sort of feeling, but, of course, I couldn't remember why that was."

"I put a bell on its nose. The troll rock."

"That was a terrible decision."

"I am aware of that. It chased me down until I took it off. My sketchbook still smells like troll slobber."

"Eh? I'm hearing some voices," a shrill, feminine voice speaks from around the corner. Heavy footsteps crunch the snow as it walks forward.

"Go this way, I think it's this coming from this way," the voice spoke again, as if directing someone else. A large, rather menacing shadow emerges from the side of the mountain.

Raven holds Hilda protectively and is about to fly away when the creatures turn the corner, revealing themselves.

"Jellybean!" Hilda squeaks cheerfully, "Tontu!"

"...Hilda? Where are you...? What are you doing up here?" The Nisse asks. She looks at Raven with a blank expression. Jellybean, happy but confused, starts sniffing around.

"I think we ought to explain first," Raven starts. Twig and Alfur finally reach them moments later.

"Ahh, you found them!" Alfur beams. His face and ears were as red as Hilda's. The little elf quickly returns his winter hat.

"Actually," Raven corrects him, "they found us."

"What's going on?" the Nisse questioned. The four travelers glance at each other.

"...Ohh, I think you might have to sign some papers," Hilda mutters.

Chapter Text

It took a lot of paperwork, but the nisse and Jellybean were eventually able to see Alfur and Hilda- and get caught up on the wild story so far. They lived in a spacious cavern and despite the very limited amount of furnishing items one could find on a mountain, the nisse managed to make it look like a decent and comfy looking home. It bore a similar layout to Hilda's own house, considering that was where the nisse had lived previously.

If Twig was approximately about Jellybean's regular size to Hilda in her elf form, Jellybean looked far more threatening than he did before. Whomever created that elf-to-human spell had really known what they were talking about...

The four travelers and their hosts made themselves comfortable as the freezing winds harshly blew outside the cave.

"So... the one thing I need to clarify," Tontu starts, "is that you came... because you need barghest spit."

Hilda sucked in her breath, cheeks flushing red in mild embarrassment

"...Yes."

"There is legitimately no other circumstances in which we would ask for it otherwise," Raven adds.

"You really paid the price for playing with magic this time, didn't you?" Tontu asks, a mischievous smile on her face. Hilda turns away, pouting.

"I like being an elf .. while it lasts," she answers quickly, making eye contact with Alfur before whirling herself back around. She rests a nonexistent hand on one of his and squeezes it, finding a sense of relief in the way that he squeezed back.

"I think it's nice seeing the world from a different point of view," she states. Tontu nods, climbing onto Jellybean's head as he lifts her towards a small circular opening in the ceiling, in which the nisse crawls in and back out with a very faded Rubik's cube. She starts fiddling with it until she remembers her guests.

"Ah, sorry, sometimes I need a knickknack to fidget with. It helps me concentrate," she explains, putting the cube on the wooden slab of a "table" before her. Alfur tilts his head at it in curiosity.

"We have one more empty jar for the last ingredient," Hilda starts, bringing out the little jar and putting it on the table.

"Ingredient..." Tontu's eyes widened with interest, "Oh ho! Don't tell me you have to drink it!?"

Hilda looks incredibly nervous.

"If I do, I'm going to raise the dead again and the person who wrote this spell, whoever they are-"

"Whomever, sweetie," Alfur interjects flatly, focused on something else, yet still on the alert for silly grammatical mistakes, Hilda notices.

"Whomever they are," Hilda and Raven look at each other briefly and silently badmouth Alfur's rather condescending grammatical correction habits, "they are going to get throttled."

Alfur pushes a now-solved Rubik's cube towards Tontu.

"Eureka," he whispers as her mouth drops open. Jellybean stops panting to look at his owner, then at the cube and mimics her expression.

Raven coughs, "Nerd-"

"This was taking me weeks to solve, and you solved it in five minutes!" She sighs softly, "Impressive. I was bested by a creature the size of my thumb. Figures."

Taking the tiny jar from the table, she leans down and fills it with mere droplets of the slobber puddle Jellybean had formed on the ground. However, it being a normal sized jar in Hilda's elven perspective, the elf girl visibly writhes in disgust at the sight of the frothy liquid, along with the rest of her companions.

"I really hope you don't have to end up drinking it," Tontu murmurs in a pitiful tone.

"This is like one of those nasty television shows that show you how fast food is made," Raven remarks.

"Please don't remind me of those," Tontu replies.

"We have all the ingredients," Hilda cheers, carrying what she could, "should we head back to Trolberg?"

"I suppose," Raven answers, yawning, "it's getting late, though, and we got caught up in that weird reality-affecting time altering game with the crazy tree guy-"

"Woodman," Hilda corrects him.

"-That's what I said, and we probably won't be able to turn ya back until tomorrow."

"That's okay. I can wait," Hilda says as she squirms back into Alfur's coat for warmth. The older elf sighs softly, but smiles at her as he and Twig step onto the Raven's back.

"Thanks for coming! Company is nice... every once in a while," Tontu smiles as Jellybean began curiously sniffing at the thunderbird's wings.

"No problem! Thanks for our last ingredient, even though it's really disgusting!" Hilda calls back.

"Hilda, that's rude," Alfur scolds.

"She's not wrong, though. It's literally dog drool. What else is there to expect?" Tontu shrugs.

The nisse waves goodbye as the four travelers take off from the peak of the mountain and disappear around the bend, gliding into the town far below as the moon began to rise. Jellybean barks after them in confusion, softly howling.

"Oh, they better come visit again," Tontu mutters as she heads back inside.

Raven lands in front of Hilda's house, returning to his smaller form. Twig, Hilda and Alfur dismount and the elves climb onto the deerfox for easier transportation into the house with the ingredients in tow. They decided to retrieve the weather spirits' snowflake in the morning.

"See you tomorrow?" he asks hopefully.

"See you tomorrow," the elves answer in unison, nuzzling against his beak.

"It's been fun, Alfur, Hilda," Raven rests a wing on the elf girl's head, "g'night." He takes off looking as majestic as can be, but immediately takes an abrupt turn to rest in a tree by the playground.

"At least we know he isn't far," Hilda laughs to herself as Twig takes her and Alfur through the door and up the familiar- yet so steep- stairs. A lonely woman sat nervously fidgeting at the table, but as the door creaked open, she lifts her head and her eyes brighten immediately upon seeing who was there.

"Mum, we're home."

After spending hours telling Johanna about the adventure they had, Hilda, Alfur and Twig retreat to Hilda's bedroom, where the girl quietly thanks whatever higher power out there that allowed them to come home safely.

Before going back into the little clock house to sleep, Hilda and Alfur chose to sit together on the windowsill, their nearly identical faces lit up by the full moon.

"I guess this is the last night I'll be able to hug you properly," Hilda mutters, ears drooping, "I honestly thought it would take much longer to find the cure. There were a lot of things I wanted to do. I could've hang glided on a leaf or rode a rabbit or went to see the Bragga elves! That would've been fun, but no, I have to go back to being a human..."

Alfur tilts his head, ears twitching slightly.

"You did a lot of things this week that a lot of elves back home would never dare to do. We rode a thunderbird a majority of the time, even. When we went back to the Northern Counties, I'd say the entire population saw Raven coming and -pardon my language- promptly soiled themselves. They don't appreciate what they don't know at all- that's what made living there before you and your mum came along so tedious."

Hilda giggles to herself.

"I suppose it was a little worthwhile. Raven did tell me the other elves were terrified of him, whether he was in his true form or not."

Alfur smiles but seems to recall something, letting out a little gasp as he starts digging in his satchel.

"That's right! Hilda-" he fishes out an official looking scroll from the bag, sealed with a red sticker, "I asked for this and received it about a week before you got turned into an elf, but I completely forgot about it until now, due to the... circumstances."

The girl looks at the parchment with curiosity.

"What is it?"

"It's a little complicated. In fact, it's probably the first of it's kind," Alfur explains, neatly unrolling the paper, "the other elves probably thought I went crazy when I sent the letter appealing for it. But now that I think about it, right now is probably the most appropriate time to ask you. Unlike most other elf contracts, you have full liberty to say no."

Hilda gazes at his soft expression, hesitantly nodding her head.

"This is a form that, if signed by all members of the party involved and all terms are accepted by the aforementioned party, will allow me to legally assist in raising you as platonic support towards the existing parent."

Hilda looks confused.

"Basically, it's just a formality that puts me in the position of treating you as my own child without having to be in any form of relationship with your mum -aside from friendship, obviously," Alfur states, "for the record, elves and humans can't date, and I'm also gay, so there's no way that's going to happen anyway. I told her about it before the incident, and she has already signed it. She said watching over you is a job no one hopes to do alone. But now the decision rests with you."

The girl stares at the paper, reading and rereading the words written in ink.

"...Can I call you Dad?" she blurts.

"If you want to," was the gentle reply.

Hilda kept rereading, praying to the same unknown higher power that she wasn't dreaming. Tears broke through and started flowing down her cheeks. She was smiling, though, beyond all things.

"Do you have a pen?"

Chapter Text

After Hilda had signed the paper, she was still crying- perhaps they were happy tears from the situation or sadness from a lingering and rather intrusive desire for things to stay like this.

No matter what the reason was, Alfur sat back down in the little felt chair Hilda made for him and gestured for her to sit, too. When Hilda climbs up onto his lap, he starts cradling her again- just like the first few nights Hilda had spent as an elf. He starts humming that same familiar tune from years ago as he starts stroking Hilda's hair. She clung to Alfur in turn, feeling comfortable and safe as he held her, lulled to sleep by the gentle sound of his voice as he started to sing the song rather than simply hum it for the first time in a while.

"Hold me close and hold me fast,

The magic spell you cast,
This is la vie en rose...

When you kiss me heaven sighs,
And though I close my eyes,
I see la vie en rose...

When you press me to your heart,
I'm in a world apart,
A world where roses bloom...

And when you speak, angels sing from above,
Everyday words seem, to turn into love songs...

Give your heart and soul to me,
And life will always be
La vie en rose..."

By dawn, Johanna had awoken both of the elves for one final trip to the library and back. She explains quickly that, with all the ingredients, Maven will be able to make a potion that Hilda will indeed have to drink to regain her human form. Hilda struggles not to throw up upon receiving such news.

With Alfur riding on Johanna's shoulder and Hilda riding on Twig, they step outside into the light of morning.

Raven flies down from the skies in thunderbird form, a small, familiar weather spirit trailing above him, getting as close to the ground as he could get.

"Hi, Styrmir!" Hilda calls to the baby spirit, who smiles and coos upon hearing her voice. He shows her the special heart-patterned snowflake he made for her, to which Johanna starts gushing over. Even Mum can't handle how adorable Styrmir is, Hilda thinks to herself.

Raven returns to his smaller form, looking down at the soon-to-be-human-again elf girl.

"Are you ready?"

Hilda glances up at Alfur, who was quietly talking with her mum.

"I guess. I was just getting used to this form, too."

Raven blinks, noting her pallid expression.

"You have to drink the cure, don't you?" The question came out blunt and flat.

"Yes," Hilda replies, equally monotone. Even Styrmir looked grossed out by the notion of drinking such an unappealing mixture of normally inedible things.

"I am so sorry," Raven murmurs, as if consoling Hilda over someone's death; in this case, it was bound to be hers.

"Don't be. The one thing I don't want," Hilda admits, "is for my growing interest in paperwork to be permanent."

Maven was waiting for the group at the library's doors, a small, black pot in her hands.

"Hello! Please, hurry inside, we must-"

Styrmir casually drops his contribution into the pot. It glows a pale blue and crackles with magical energy, causing Maven's hair to inexplicably rise as if wind were blowing from beneath her.

"...Thank you," Maven sputtered, in mild shock to see a baby weather spirit floating right before her.

"C-come on, we need to get to the secret section in case anyone else comes in this early." The librarian turned on her heel and led the others inside. Styrmir follows as well.

"Oh! You're coming, too?" Hilda asks cheerfully. The little spirit nods.

As they walked, it felt so strange- Hilda had never seen the library so empty before. If it felt so hollow and eerie in the morning, she couldn't imagine how haunting it looked during the night. Perhaps it was because she was small, but she felt that once she became human again, she would find the idea of the dark library less frightening.

Maven rounds everyone up into the secret section, closing the bookcase entrance.

Johanna, Raven, Alfur, Twig, Styrmir, and of course, Hilda, were present as the candle lamps in the room went alight and flickered by themselves.

"Oh my goodness," Johanna murmurs to herself in amazement, "so this is where that soul-stealing tide mouse enchantment came from, Hilda?"

"Yeah," Hilda answers softly.

"I said, 'reference only,'" Maven mutters as she searches for a book from the shelves. Hilda hoped that she wouldn't pull out Facile Spells For Beginners. Thankfully, she didn't- Hilda then noticed the very book sitting under a panel of glass on a podium, labeled in bold red text: DO NOT TOUCH. Maven did not forget that book after all, Hilda supposed.

Maven finds the book she was looking for, her eyes lighting up.

"Put the rest of the ingredients in the pot and then I will recite a spell so it will be safe to drink," she instructs in a serious tone, though she glances at Hilda and mouths an apology.

"Wait, you can see me and Alfur?" Hilda asks in shock. Maven laughs.

"What good is a witch that can't see what's in plain sight?" she answers.

Johanna, having known Maven's secret use of witchcraft from what she had told her about the elf-to-human restoration spell, and after some prying, about the day she disappeared when they were children, looks up at Maven rather solemnly.

Alfur and Raven gather the other ingredients and pour them into the little cauldron.

The liquid bubbles, now glowing an eerie magenta and steam rises in bizarre shapes and forms. Hilda watches in mild discomfort, as this is what she'd be stuck drinking.

Maven reads off of the page in her spellbook. As she does, her eyes glow as white as Hilda's, David's and Johanna's eyes had been when the tide mouse spell was taking effect. It brought back bad memories to Hilda.

"This shall pierce the veil between truth and falsehood,

Which is well hidden beyond what the eye can see-

A short drink from a certain fountain should;

Return a human's form to thee."

The potion stops steaming and bubbling as the rhyme was spoken. Maven's eyes returned to normal- and she leaves momentarily to fetch Hilda a cup to drink from.

Alfur gives Hilda a warm smile, now standing on the carpet before her.

"This is it, dear. ...May I trouble you for one last elf hug?"

It takes a moment for it to hit Hilda that this was the very last opportunity she had to hug Alfur. Without hesitation, she leapt into his arms and let him catch her, letting her tears flow freely as he strokes her hair again.

"It's not like we have to say goodbye, you know," Alfur states, "but I understand. I'm going to miss these, too. It was nice to see eye-to-eye with you, Hilda, even if it wasn't for very long."

"Al-" Hilda stops, correcting herself, "Dad?"

Alfur clearly liked the new name.

"Yes?"

"Can I still call you that, even when I'm a human again?"

Alfur just laughs, putting Hilda down as Maven returns with a thimble.

"What a silly question- of course you can."

Raven pats Hilda with one wing.

"This is the last time I can be bigger than you no matter which form I'm taking. So I need to make a joke about it while I'm here."

"Okay," Hilda replies.

Raven thinks hard.

"I... got...

Absolutely nothing. You're tiny. Ha ha."

"Thank you, Raven. But... not for long."

Maven fills the thimble with the potion and gives it to Hilda.

The elf girl gazes at the purplish liquid in the cup. It smelled horrible and definitely tasted worse. But she was finally going to be human again, so she closed her eyes -after one last glance towards Alfur- and drank. As she expected, it tasted like molten manure sliding down her throat, but she still drank it. She could hear Raven chanting "chug, chug, chug" at her but it suddenly stopped. Hilda kept her eyes closed, but could see a bright light, shining even through her eyelids. Sounds became quieter within her hearing range and as she put her hands -indeed, her hands- to her ears, she felt no point. She had all of her fingers, and all of her toes, and as the glowing wore off, she saw her mum and Maven above her, Twig sniffing her face.

They were no longer giants.

The used thimble lay beside her, now minuscule to her eyes, a tiny puddle of purple oozing out from the remnants of the potion.

A few seconds ago, that thimble was the single thing that she could carry.

As she slowly sat up, Twig started licking her face and Styrmir pressed up against her in a hug, making happy little sounds. Johanna and Raven both took a moment before hugging her, too.

Maven smiled as she watched the scene, though her eyes were full of melancholy.

Hilda gagged a bit from the nasty stuff she'd been drinking. As she was released from the hug, she saw Alfur standing in the same place where he was before, now small again, now back to looking up at her instead of down.

"Ah, just as lovely as I remember, I see..."

Hilda blushes, rolling her eyes. She cups the little elf in her hands, lifts him up, and kisses him on the forehead.

Alfur still smiles, but coughs. He presses a nonexistent hand against Hilda's cheek.

"I appreciate the gesture, but to be blunt, that potion made your breath reek like nitten litter," he whispers, voice cracking a bit.

"Ah! I'm sorry," Hilda gently puts Alfur back down.

"But I really wanted to say thank you to all of you, for helping me become human again... I couldn't have done it all alone." She looks down at her hands, feeling her fingers move around. She picks up the thimble with her pointer and her thumb, relishing in how easy it was to hold it now. She'd missed that.

"We all love you, Hilda," Alfur states, his voice just as warm towards her as it was before, "we're here to help you when you need it because we want to be there for you. Besides, I'd rather see your smile and write a seven-page report about it than report about most other things that happened this past week." With that, his face becomes noticeably red again.

Hilda can't help but beam brightly, even with the disgusting taste of the potion still lingering.

David and Frida would be so ecstatic to see her. Woodman wouldn't admit it, but he would be proud. And her current Tontu... probably may have forgotten this ever happened at all. But she still couldn't help but be happy.

Maven somberly gazes at a faded picture in a silver locket as the rest celebrate Hilda's restored humanity as they start to exit the secret section in the still-empty library. That is, until Johanna takes notice of her.

"Is that... him? Your brother?"

"It is," Maven answered, "he'd be much older by now, though."

"What was it like, being in the body of a troll?"

"It was... startling, to say the least. I wanted to feel the sun again. I didn't know why that troll wanted us. I should've saved him, too, before it was too late."

A curious Hilda, Alfur on her shoulder, peers at the little picture of a vaguely familiar dark haired little boy. Her eyes widen.

"We met him."

"What!?" Maven exclaims incredulously.

"Remember, Alfur? The strange looking troll that saved me from drowning? It looked just like him, but older, and a troll..." Hilda tilts her head.

"How's that?"

"Changelings, Hilda," Maven states, "they swap human children with their own. The humans become trolls and the troll children become humans in their place. The troll that me and my brother encountered had taken both of us somehow. It might have been some sort of twin thing. I learned what the troll did to make us change places and I tried to change it back. The problem was... that it only worked on me. I barely escaped the Stone Forest alive, but... my brother's been there all these years. I learned magic to try to find a way to save him. But as of now, I never could. He... saved you from drowning?"

Hilda nods. Alfur is noticeably wincing, understandably not wanting to talk about that day.

"He reached in and picked me up!"

"That... that does sound like Mathias," Maven smiles, "there's a little bit of humanity left in him, then..."

"Are you okay?" Johanna asks in concern.

"I am," Maven says, "I'm... actually very happy to know he's still alive. It gives me the motivation to keep trying. Thank you, Hilda. If I can change an elf to a human, I can change a troll to a human. Someday."

"Maybe you could teach me some spells in the meantime!" Hilda suggests.

"No!" Alfur glares at the girl. Despite him being so small to her, Hilda remembered seeing that cute glare up close, which gave her second thoughts.

Maven laughs.

"Maybe when you're a bit older. Or, when I manage to find a way to destroy the living spellbook that caused your incident in the first place."

"Oh, so she wasn't kidding!?" Raven squawks in disbelief.

Hilda rode Raven to take Styrmir back home. The weather spirits congratulated her on regaining her humanity.

As they made their descent back to the library where Johanna, Twig and Alfur were waiting, Raven speaks.

"I'm proud of ya, kiddo. It was a little perilous, but it turned out to be a lot of fun bein' able to get to know you and Alfur more, too."

Hilda leans down to hug the bird.

"Take care of Alfur, okay? Little guy would do anything for ya, y'know. He's like your own pocket size dad."

The girl just smiles, deciding not to say anything about the contract she signed the night before.

"I will. Thank you, Raven. But don't forget, you're like a father to me, too."

She looks down, a human again but an elf in her memories, to where Twig, her mum, and her dad were waiting. Despite having seen them all before, this time felt new and extraordinary.

"Dad?" The blue haired girl stood on tiptoes to reach the little clock where her adoptive father had made up like a little house, doing his reports and sleeping- it made the girl feel a strange sense of hiraeth, to not be able to go through the tiny door like she could mere days before.

The clock's face opens to reveal Alfur, removing his reading glasses and putting them aside.

"Hello, Hilda," the elf greets her, stepping forward as she lays the palms of her hands flat and facing upward for him to walk onto them, trying to stifle her laughs from how it tickled. Alfur tilts his head, looking mildly concerned until she stops. She then shuffles onto her bed, placing the tiny creature on her pillow.

"What's wrong, dear?"

"I need to ask you something," she starts.

"Yes?"

"Can you..." Hilda takes a deep breath, "...come to school with me on Monday?"

The elf stares at her quizzically.

"Pleeeeease?" Hilda begs, "you're invisible, you can stay in my uniform pocket or roam around if you want to, no one but Frida and David would know. You can write a report and I bet the elves back home would love it!"

"A... tempting request, but you still haven't told me why..."

Hilda's face flushes in embarrassment.

"I missed a week of school after getting turned into an elf. I'm kind of scared about going back and facing everyone there after disappearing for that long. I'll probably get lots of homework and the thought of it stresses me out, but you... you're very good at making me feel calm. Besides... it could be the first time I'd be apart from you for a while. I'd miss you. Wouldn't you miss me too?"

Alfur sighs softly, resting his head on one arm.

"You're awfully good at convincing..."

Hilda giggles, a huge grin on her face.

"But if you misbehave at all at school, I'll have to tell your mum all about it."

Hilda's face immediately drops and forms a pout. She glares at Alfur, who is completely unfazed. (She opens her mouth to speak, but decides against making a Christmas joke for her own sake.)

"I'll be good," she mutters. Her mood lifts up again when Alfur nuzzles against her face.

"You're always good, though, so I doubt I'll have much to tell her... ah, besides things she already knows, of course. Like how cute you a-"

Hilda hums to herself, face flushing red again. She nudges Alfur away with one finger irritably.

"I'm not cute."

The elf just knowingly smiles at her before hopping onto the desk and climbing up the string of lights back towards the clock.

"Back to work already?" Hilda asks, slightly disappointed as he puts his reading glasses back on.

"I just have to finish this one report. If I'm not done in ten minutes, you'll have my permission to barge in and say my least favorite word in the dictionary."

Tontu chuckles mischievously as he scrambles through different entrances to Nowhere Space.

"Moist."

Alfur visibly shudders, glaring at the space where the nisse vanished disapprovingly.

"Tontu! I did NOT give you permission to say that word within earshot!" He pouts.

Hilda stifles her laughter again, climbing up onto her desk chair to reach Alfur again.

"I'm gonna go back to the kitchen. I love you."

Alfur plants a kiss on her forehead.

"I love you too."

He watches the child leave, pursued by an excited Twig as she turns the corner down the hall into the light of the kitchen. He can't help but smile.

She never really changed at all.

END