Work Text:
Lumber For The Hearth
Chise’s bright, green eyes opened lazily in the dark. Despite no light streaming into her room, Chise couldn’t help help but feel awake. Her body was tired. Her eyes were tired. Everything was just aching right now, but yet, her mind was ready to start the day and rise out of bed.
“ Huh, why am I… ? ”
Despite the bodily protest, Chise rose off her pillow. As she looked around the shadowy bedroom, Chise pondered, “ What time is it? ”
She turned her gaze to the clock on her desk and found that it was 5 am.
“ It’s 5?! ” Chise mentally exclaimed, “ Why did I wake up at 5? ”
“Mhmm, I was wondering the same thing,” Ruth groggily grumbled, taking so much effort to place his sleepy head at the end of Chise’s bed and struggle to open his eyes towards her.
“Oh, s-sorry Ruth,” She apologized, reaching her hands out to him and silently beckoning him over to her side. Ruth, without hesitation, staggeringly walked over and collapsed his head into her palms. He leaned into her touch as she instinctively began to softly scratch his face.
“I didn’t mean to awake you.”
“You didn’t have any nightmares last night, they seemed like rather peaceful dreams. I quite enjoyed them.”
Ruth yawned before continuing with, “So, why didn’t we stay in such dreams for just a couple of hours more again?”
Chise couldn’t help but chuckle lightly in her throat at the sight of Ruth’s adorably grumpy expression and smiled, “That’s a good question. To be honest, I’m not sure.”
“My face is not adorably grumpy by the way,” Ruth pouted, responding to her inner most musings.
“Sorry Ruth, but I can’t wait but feel that way.”
Despite the annoyed look on his face, Chise was able to catch a glimpse of Ruth’s tail wagging from the corner of her eye. And this made her smile even more. However, she had to hide this smile from her familiar to the best of her ability.
Chise released her faint grip on Ruth, allowing him to stretch out and move around on the floor. Chise followed in his lead and stretched out of her arms. Despite the cold awaiting her, she pulled the covers away and headed towards the door.
The apprentice mage and her familiar crept carefully down the main staircase, fearing the wooden squeaks would wake up Elias and Silky.
“ Although, ” Chise pondered, “ they’re probably awake by now. They’re usually up before I am. ”
“So,” Ruth uttered tentatively, answering Chise’s thoughts once again, “should we stop tip toeing around then?”
“Yeah, we probably should.”
As Ruth ran down the stairs, eager to swallow another delicious breakfast made by their beloved Brownie, Chise couldn’t help but take in the silence of the cottage. It wasn’t an eerie kind of silence, but rather the tranquil silence that only occurs before the sunrises. The beautiful kind of morning silence where the birds are just waking up and their calls are soft and delicate, before they become loud, chatty, and proud by the time of mid morning. The kind of morning silence where you can still hear the faintest hint of the breeze coming through, as if the wind itself was still trying to wake up.
For Chise, she had never truly experienced such a morning before. Ever since she had arrived in Elias’s care, she had received so many wonderful, beautiful mornings. But, she had never experienced a beautiful but almost silent morning here in this cottage. The last time she had gotten up so early like this was back in Japan. In fact, she used to wake up at the crack of dawn every day. She would either wake up because of a nightmare or whatever nightmarish fae that would await her that morning. Chise used to be a night owl by choice. Her fear of a possible attack from any magical neighbor would keep her awake and on guard for the rest of the night.
But now, Chise gets to sleep in. She gets to actually dream and enjoy the morning. Now,... she has a creature of the day without even realizing it. A sleepy little robin you could say. Chise smirked softly at such a thought.
When Chise entered the kitchen, she was surprised to discover that Silky was not by the stove. She was nowhere to be found in the kitchen, along with Elias as well.
“S-Silver? Silky? Elias?”
Ruth was sniffing around the kitchen floor carefully, following the small traces left behind Silky and Elias. But, especially Silky since she occupied the kitchen space more than Elias did.
Chise followed after Ruth as his nose led him into the living room. He continued to inspect every corner of this space carefully, until eventually, he lifted his nose high into the air and closed his eyes.
He turned to Chise and concluded, “It looks like they’re still sleeping in their rooms.”
“That’s strange, shouldn’t they be up by now?”
“I wouldn’t know. Usually, I’m waking up with you.”
Chise then flashed a quick, embarrassed blush and chuckled nervously, “Oh, he he, r-right.”
CHOP!
“What was that?” Chise questioned, turning her head towards the direction of the sound. It seemed like the sound was coming from the back door.
Ruth lifted his nose into the air again and closed his eyes. After taking two, deep breaths, he explained, “Hmm, just another neighbor. Nothing to be concerned about. They mean us no harm.”
“How can you tell?”
“Their scent is familiar to me. I’ve smelt it before. Mhmm,” Ruth took another sniff of this neighboring scent before continuing with, “They smell just like the hearth.”
“The hearth?”
Ruth gestured towards the fireplace in the living room and answered, “The fireplace. Specifically, the firewood. They also have small, lingering traces of our living room on them as well.”
“They’ve been in the house before?”
“ Why didn’t Elias tell me? ” Chise pondered, “ If they’ve been in the house before, then they should be… but then again, what if even Elias doesn’t know anything about them? It’s hard to believe that Elias wouldn’t know about this. ”
“It looks like it,” responded Ruth.
The faithful Church Grim waited patiently by Chise’s side, as she stood slightly apprehensively still in the area between the living room and the kitchen. Staring at the back door just beyond the main staircase. Despite Ruth’s reassurance of the neighbor’s true nature, Chise couldn’t help but be a little frightened of these strangers. Usually, she had Elias by her side whenever she met someone new from the magical world. Not having him here felt so wrong to her.
“Does it help to know that there are other fae with them?” Ruth interrupted, “These fae are usually the ones we see around here.”
“So, they know this person? This fae, I mean.”
“You’ll never know who they are until you give them a chance, Chise.”
Chise returned her gaze back towards the direction of the back door. She contemplated silently for a moment before walking towards the rapid, sharp, but hard sounds. Ruth, of course, walked by her side.
She gradually reached for the back door’s handle, carefully turned it, and let the morning air in at last. In the backyard, Chise and Ruth saw a stout fae chopping wood upon an old, very rooted, tree stump.
“ Has that stump always been there? ” She wondered.
As she narrowed her gaze, Chise could see that the stout fae, body wise, held similarities with Spriggan. Short arms, short legs, no wings. Chise would dare say that this fae was a bit more muscular looking than Spriggan. But, unlike Spriggan, this fae was rather small. He was the same size as the aerials. The fae’s skin looked like it was made of wood itself; complete with wooden groves, wooden rings, and rough patches of bark growth and moss. Moss even grew on top of its head like hair.
The fae was cutting down wood with an ax twice his size, and the ax looked sharp enough to be used as a weapon.
Despite it’s masculine look, it had a soft, feminine, cherub-like face. With big, wide, seemingly innocent looking, black eyes. Chise was drawn in by such eyes when it looked up from its work on stump and gaze into hers.
“Um, h-hello?” Chise stuttered, feeling unsure as to what she should really say to this creature, “Good morning.”
The wooden fae gave Chise a warm smile, and said nothing as it began all the chopped wood on the stump and off to the side of the stump onto its back. All the logs were three times the size of this fae, yet it carried such a towering load with the greatest of ease. As it was doing so, Chise and Ruth saw more fae appearing in the backyard. They were all the small fae that they would usually see in their house on a daily basis like the green axolotl fae and the red lizard like fae group. They all trailed the wooden fae as it lumbered towards the back door.
The wooden fae, and the parade shadowing behind it, stopped when they reached Chise and Ruth.
Sensing that they were waiting for her and Ruth to move, Chise stepped to the side and said, “Oh, right. Sorry. Go on ahead.”
The wooden fae gave Chise a polite bow of his head and another warm smile before proceeding inside. Chise and Ruth waited until all the fae went in before following after them.
After they closed the door behind, Chise immediately went after the wooden fae and they were heading towards the living room. When they arrived, they saw the wooden fae stacking three logs neatly into the fireplace. The green axolotl fae and the group of red lizard fae gathered closely and intently around the fireplace, staring into it for something to happen.
“ What are they waiting for? ” she pondered.
Once the logs were properly set, and the wooden fae moved onto stacking some legs to the side of the fireplace, the green axolotl fae and the group of magical reptiles scurried into the fireplace. With the green axolotl moving slightly slower than the herd of his fellow, scaly fae. As soon as they were all in the fireplace, the red lizard-like fae scrambled to different spots on top and around the logs. While the green axolotl plop him in the center of the logs, and curled himself into a napping position. The rest of the fae followed in his example and closed their eyes.
Chise’s eyes widened when she saw sparks of flame coming off the red lizard-like fae’s bodies. The flames completely consumed the little guys, their forms barely seen within the embers. Before Chise knew it, the logs were lit and the fireplace was glowing. The green axolotl was enjoying the warmth by rolling around in the crumbling dust and sparks of the logs.
The wooden fae was finished with stacking some of the firewood on the side of the fireplace, and began heading out of the living room. Carrying ten or so logs on its side.
“T-Thank you!” Chise hastily exclaimed to the fae, fearing that it might leave before she could say another word to it. Her voice, still suffering from morning grogginess.
The wooden fae suddenly halted and turned around to face Chise and Ruth. It staggered softly towards them, giving Chise that same warm smile from earlier. The fae stopped in front of Chise. Up close, she could see the bangs and dark rings under the fae’s eyes. Reminding her of her own bangs and dark rings under her eyes. The fae reached behind its back and dug through the logs. It pulled out a perfectly circular log, with amazing circular cuts at each end of it. It was no longer than two feet long and no thicker than a human grip.
The wooden fae held up the log above its head and presented it to Chise.
“For me?” She asked.
The fae nodded and presented the log again, holding it up closer to Chise’s face.
“But,... don’t you need it?”
Chise pointed to the rest of the logs on its back.
The wooden fae shook his head, and then took Chise’s hands into its own. As the fae took her hands, she was able to feel how hard and rough their hands were. She could feel how worn they were, the wooden blisters and scars on it, and the elegant length of its fingers.
The wooden fae, with its gentle eyes never leaving hers, placed the log into the center of her palms. With a smile and a polite bow, the wooden fae had given Chise and the log and left the room. Leaving Chise to wonder why the fae had given her such a gift.
Chise examined the log closely, trying to see if there was anything special about it. So far, it seemed like a regular, picturesque, little log. The only odd thing about it was the number of rings she could see inside it. Based on a quick estimation, Chise could guess that there were probably a thousand rings inside this log.
“Ah, I see that the Hearth Bringer blessed you with Thousand Year Wood.”
Chise jumped a little at the sudden but booming sound of Elias’s voice. She rapidly turned to face him.
“Oh Elias,” She responded with a relieved sigh, “Good morning.”
“Good morning. How did you sleep?”
“Oh fine, but I woke up early for some reason. So, um, that fae just now… it’s the Hearth Bringer, you said?”
“According to Silver and the rest of the neighborhood, yes. Though to be honest, I do not know their true name.”
“You don’t?”
“As you can probably already tell, The Hearth Bringer doesn’t talk much.”
Chise couldn’t help but chuckle, “That’s okay, I don’t talk much either.”
“Indeed, you don’t.”
“Oh, uh, sorry about that… Elias… “
“No need to apologize, it’s quite alright. Anyway, according to Silver, The Hearth Bringer has been bringing firewood to this cottage long before she came. It seems like they have been doing this ever since this cottage was built. And they keep themselves busy bringing firewood to all the households in the village before sunrise.”
“Are they a brownie like Silver?”
“Not quite, they seemed to be more related to the aerials than a usual brownie. Though, I do not know for certain. I have never bothered to converse with them before. Tell me, did they talk to you?”
“No, they didn’t,” Chise gazed down at the log and stroked it lightly with the tips of her fingers, “They just smiled at me and gave it to me. All I said was ‘Hello. Good morning, and thank you.’ And that was it.”
“It seems like The Hearth Bringer appreciated your gratitude for its service, and in return, gave you this Thousand Year wood.”
“What’s a Thousand Year Wood?”
Elias pointed to the rings inside the log and explained, “Logs cut from ancient trees that have lived on this earth for thousands of years. Such trees are rare nowadays, and cutting one down takes the strength of a giant. But, it is said that to burn a log cut from a long living tree would mean to never go cold. This log can burn for over a thousand years.”
Chise turned her attention back to the log and stared at it in wonder.
“But, make sure not to use it right now,” Elias reminded her.
“D-Don’t worry, I won’t,” she answered earnestly and sincerely, worried that Elias might think that she would be irresponsible with such a blessing, “I promise that I’ll take care of it.”
“I know that you will,... Chise.” answered Elias, staring back into Chise’s bright green eyes. “Come, Silky is making us breakfast.”