Chapter Nine

The front of the building had reminded Edna of a saloon because of its swinging wooden doors and rectangular frame, but the inside is not like a saloon. The walls are made of reddish brown clay and the back walls curve into many different rooms that bubble off the building. And the roofs of the various rooms are thatched with a variety of materials, such as large leaves and straw; they remind Edna of houses she has seen in her magazines.

There are paper lanterns with intricately carved designs that hang from the ceiling; and pixies are dancing inside of them. The light that the pixies generate shines delicately out of the carvings, creating whimsical images on the walls. In a various places throughout the building, round clay structures jut up from the floor. And on the structures, detailed images have been painted. In the middle of the rotund structures, beverages are being served to lined-up customers.

“What are they serving?” Edna asks Pixie.

“You can tell by looking at the images on the booths.”

On one of the booths, birds fly above a menagerie of wildflowers. They are like hummingbirds the way they hover over the flowers, drinking in the nectar.

“Is that some kind of a nectar drink?” Edna asks.

“Yes, and it’s my favorite. Each sip is the flavor of a different flower.”

Edna does not think she would like a drink like that. She thinks of all the pungent flowery perfumes at Sunflower Assisted Living. She can almost taste them.

“Hmm, let’s see what else there is,” she says. She sees another booth with bees that swarm around hives. The hives are dripping with honey. The image is incredibly life-like; some of the honeybees are so large that Edna wants to rub her hand across them to see if they feel as furry as they look. “That must be mead,” she says. Edna does not wait for Pixie to confirm her guess. Her curiosity is piqued with another booth that has palm trees and fallen coconuts. “Is that a coconut drink?” Edna asks.

“It’s palm wine, and it’s served in coconuts,” Pixie says. “It’s not my favorite. The taste is a bit too strong for my liking, but Twynne loves it.” Edna notices that Twynne is already in line. He looks back at Edna and the others.

“Anyone want me to get them one?” He asks.

“No, I don’t want that,” Edna says. “Is there a booth with red wine? I like a good Merlot.”

“There’s elderberry wine. You can get it at that booth,” Pixie says, pointing to a counter that is painted full of juicy blue-red berries.

“Isn’t there any wine, wine? Like, made from grapes?” Edna asks.

“That doesn’t sound familiar.”

“I’ll take some of that elderberry wine, then.”

“Do you have any money left?”

“All of it.”

“Okay, great, go ahead and stand in line for your drink. I’m going to get me some nectar.” Pixie says. Edna is irritated again.

Why should I stand in line, she thinks, I only have one good arm, and I’m using it to hold my cane! She reminds herself that Pixie is only used to children, but she is too stubborn to ask someone to get her a drink.

“I guess they haven’t learned their lesson, have they?” Edna hears Cellu’s voice behind her.

“Lesson?” she asks.

“Let me get you a drink, Edna, you just sit down and relax.”

“Oh, ok if you don’t mind,” Edna says, touching a few fingers to her hair. “I’d like some of that elderberry wine.”

“You got it,” Cellu says.

Everyone is in line for a drink except for Twynne. He has just purchased his and is looking for a place to sit. He sees Edna looking around the crowded room and calls out to her. “Follow me, Edna, I’ve a spot over this way.” Edna is thankful she does not have to maneuver her way through the crowd with a full drink in her hand. It would have been all over the floor by the time she got to a seat.

Gargana gets in line with Pixie when she sees that Cellu is helping Edna, but she is beginning to feel dizzy. She likes the newness of being surrounded by various creatures close to her own height at first. But within a few moments she is overwhelmed. There is so much eye contact, and so many smells and sounds that have no respect for boundaries.

“You should probably sit down,” Gargan whispers in her ear, before she knows that he is next to her. “I’ll get you a drink.”

Gargana is more than relieved to comply. When she gets to the booth with Edna and Twynne she slides into the back, as far away from everyone as possible, then closes her eyes and waits for her world to stop spinning.

Edna knows to let Gargana sit in silence—as much silence as is possible in a crowded pub. She relaxes and creature-watches. She sees the leaf-shaped hands of fairies wrapped around mugs of cool beverages, waifish little creatures quickly maneuvering through and around the legs of taller creatures, and giants who resemble other earthly ethnicities. Whereas Gargan and Gargana appear to Edna as having a German likeness, she now observes a variety of giants whose likenesses differ. That makes sense, Edna thinks. If there are going to be creatures here who look human, they aren’t all going to look European. Edna’s only heard of the giant in the Jack and the Beanstalk nursery tale, and Gargana’s brother is clearly the inspiration for that story. She wonders if it’s rare for children to meet the giants in the giant’s land, and if giants have inspired different kinds of fantasy creatures in other cultures.

Edna also notices smallish human looking creatures who really are not as small as they seem, and who appear to be as ethnically diverse as the giants. Yet, like the giants, they only look human because they do not look like anything else. Those must be villagers, Edna thinks. Do they call themselves villagers, like the giants call themselves giants?

While Edna ponders the villagers, she realizes that the pub is filled with various creatures she does not recognize at all—in fact, the majority of creatures in the pub are not familiar to her. Her attention is just drawn to what she can make sense of. Like the large kind eye of a cyclops that has now caught her attention. The friendly looking creature has never seemed to be friendly in stories she has heard, and she wonders if it is humans who are responsible for fairytales always having villains.

As Edna’s eyes scan the room, they meet with wide, brown, smiling eyes that are looking up at her. A little girl has noticed the elderly woman and has been standing right beside her, waiting to be noticed back.

“Oh, well hello little one. What a lovely surprise. Are you on your adventure?”

The girl giggles and nods her head. She looks to be about five or six. She has a head full of small intricate braids that are held together at the end by green, white, and blue beads. Her skin is a rich deep brown, and she is wearing a vibrantly colored dress that is covered in unique patterns.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” Edna asks.

“Yes, grandma, it’s nice here,” the girl says. She reaches out her hand and runs it slowly up the soft flesh of Edna’s arm.

“Where are you from, dear?”

“Mapenda, near Makeni.”

“Where’s that?”

“Sierra Leone,” the girl says. When Edna still looks confused the girl giggles and says “Africa.”

“Africa!” Edna says. “Wow, and how do you know English so well?”

“English? I don’t know English.”

“We’re speaking English right now.”

“English is Loko?”

“No, English is English, we’re speaking English.”

The girl looks confused, then she shrugs her shoulders and puts a couple fingers in her mouth, moving her shoulders back and force to a rhythm only she seems to hear. Pixie is now behind the girl with a nectar drink in hand.

“Edna, you’re speaking English. The girl is speaking Loko. In Storia, one hears all languages in one’s own tongue. It must be that way. It would be too difficult to become fluent in every human language.

Edna thinks for a moment, with a look of annoyance. “That doesn’t make sense” she says. “If you hear everything in your own language, how do you know if there are other languages? How do you know that this child and I are speaking different languages?”

“We hear them,” Pixie answers. If Pixie were one of Edna’s daughters, and a teenager, she would have ended her answer with, “duh.”

“What, like an accent?” Edna asks. “That still doesn’t make sense. For all you know everyone could be speaking the same language, but just have different accents.”

Pixie looks dumbfounded at Edna’s questioning. “I don’t know what an accent is,” Pixie says. “We hear the different languages.”

Edna is irritated and feels like she has a choice right now; either continue this ridiculous argument, or just accept that Pixie knows what Pixie knows. Edna doesn’t hear any different languages, herself, whatever that means, but she doesn’t even hear different accents. She stares at Pixie for a moment while weighing her options, then roles here eyes and says, “okay, that’s convenient, I guess.” She then turns to the girl. “What’s your name?”

“Kadiatu,” the girl says, momentarily pulling her fingers out of her mouth. “What’s your name, grandma?”

“Edna.”

“Edna, your body is not well.” Kadiatu says, looking at Edna’s arm with concern.

“Oh, it’ll heal. Why don’t you come with us?”

“She’s on her own adventure, she’s in good hands,” Pixie says and smiles at a small blue creature that Edna had not noticed.

“Be well, grandma,” Kadiatu says to Edna before sliding her hand into a blue one.

“You too, sweety,” Edna responds.

“Have you ever been to her country?” Pixie asks Edna

“No, I haven’t done much traveling.”

“Okay, we need to have a plan of action,” Twynne says, slamming his empty mug on the table. “So, it is told in our prophecy that you’ll fight a dragon, and win.”

“Are there any dangerous dragons that need slaying?” Edna asks. She cannot help but imagine her children there, listening to her making dragon slaying plans.

“Not that I know of,” Pixie says. “There are quite a few grumpy ones—they get indigestion, which is, for a dragon, to have fire burning inside one’s belly. I hear it’s pretty uncomfortable for them.”

“Maybe we should go to dragon country and have a look around,” Cellu says. “See what we see.”

“That’s what Twynne and I had in mind,” Pixie says. “Good thinking, Cellu.”

Cellu gives a tightened smile. “An idea is good whether or not you thought of it first.”

“Cellu,” Edna says, as though reprimanding one of her own children. “You mustn’t get offended so easily. Pixie wasn’t implying anything.”

“If there is nothing to learn in dragon country,” Gargan says, “or dragons to slay, we should leave quickly. I’ve a feeling that a town of grumpy dragons isn’t going to take too kindly to the maiden of the dragon-slaying prophecy.”

“But,” Edna says, “what if there is nothing to learn? Are we running out of time? Even if we aren’t, I may be. I don’t know how long my body will take this adventure. I’ve pushed it far beyond its limits.”

Gargana nods in agreement.

“Don’t be anxious,” Pixie says. “You’ll be okay.”

“Well, it sure doesn’t feel like it. None of you understand how tired I am, or how weak my body is. I wish you’d stop telling me it’s going to be ok, as though you know how I feel.”

The table is silent. Pixie looks at Edna as though she has so many things she wants to say, that no single thought can justify itself above the others.

“I don’t want to hear a lecture, let’s just go.” Edna says.

“Where’s dragon country?” Gargana asks. “Can we get another ride?”

“We’ll have to walk a little ways to the next buggy service,” Pixie says, “but from there we should be able to get rides most of the way, and then there’ll be a bit more walking through the mountains before we reach our destination.”

Edna tries to stand but her body feels full of lead. Gargana notices Edna’s effort and quickly gets up to help. When Edna is finally on her legs again, she smoothes out the wrinkles in her slacks with her good hand, then lifts her hand towards her hair, but stops midway, leaving her hand in the air with eyes that begin to glaze over.

“Edna,” Pixie says, startled, “we don’t have to leave right now. You can get some sleep first if you need it.”

“Where?” Edna asks, hand dropping and eyes snapping back into focus. “Where am I supposed to sleep? I just want a bed, a normal bed.” Gargana touches a few of her own fingers to Edna’s hair, as though the unfinished motion is to blame for Edna’s sudden exhaustion.

“We’ll figure it out, Edna,” Gargana says, “just sit down and relax until we do.”

Tears begin to roll down Edna’s cheeks as she obediently sits down. Twynne has quietly slipped away to see if the unicorns are somewhere about. He is surprised to find them right outside the saloon with expectant looks on their faces, as though they were waiting for him. Twynne walks up to the buggy with a smile so big and hopeful that it speaks for him.

“That old human’s too sickly to walk to the next station. We’ll bring her all the way,” says one of the unicorns.

“Besides,” the other one says, with the slightest smile, “if she is the maiden of the prophecy, we might as well do what we can to help.”

“Oh, thank you! Thank you!” Twynne shouts while he runs inside to tell the others. “The unicorns have been waiting for us. They’re going to give Edna a ride!” Edna thinks of the comfortable seats of the carriage and tears swell in her eyes.

“Come on,” Gargana says. “Let’s get you out of here.” She helps Edna up and leads her gently through the crowd. Gargana and Gargan help Edna into the buggy, while Pixie and Twynne discuss the ride with the unicorns. Cellu stands close to Pixie and Twynne, listening to the plans. He’s relieved to hear the plan. He won’t be the only one following behind the carriage. The unicorns decide that only Gargana will ride with Edna, to take care of her. The rest will walk since not all can fit comfortably, and Edna needs to be able to spread out

Pixie heads to the carriage and shares the plan with Edna and Gargana. “You two’ll go on ahead, the rest of us can walk. There should be plenty of time for Edna to rest before we meet up.” Edna’s eyelids are heavy, and they feel rough as they droop over her eyes, as if coated in sand.

“Wait for me! Wait for me, Grandma!” Kadiatu yells, running towards the carriage. “I need to come with you to take care of you!” When Kadiatu reaches the carriage, she climbs right in before waiting for permission. Gargana quickly grabs the little body and switches seats, placing Kadiatu on the side with Edna’s good arm.

“I think Edna’ll be happy for the company.” Gargana says, cautiously taking a seat. Kadiatu’s friends come out of the pub behind her. Their hands are up as if to say, hey, she was insistent.

“This is highly unusual,” Pixie says. “Humans never do their adventure together. Kadiatu needs to have her own story.”

“Relax,” Kadiatu’s blue friend says. “Her adventure is over. We were about to send her home but she’s insistent she stay with Edna. And you all are already a highly unusual bunch. An extra human isn’t going to make things all that much more unusual for you.”

The blue creature has a good point, Pixie thinks. Nothing about their group is usual. But there has not been much choice in the age of their human, or the unusual characters of their group—Cellu is very odd for a Storia creature, and Gargana seems more like a visitor to Storia than a Storian—but they do have a choice about Kadiatu. And Pixie stands deep in thought with a goofy look on her face, not quite sure what to say, and forgetting that all responsibility does not fall on her. The goofy look perks Edna up a bit and she begins to laugh. Pixie turns her gaze to Edna and begins to laugh as well when she realizes she is making a face. “I guess it couldn’t hurt,” she says, “Though it is…”

“Highly unusual,” everybody says unison. After hugs and farewells between Kadiatu and her companions, she snuggles in next to Edna and rubs one hand along the soft sagging skin of Edna’s underarm. Edna’s eyelids are heavy again, but this time they do not rub roughly over her eyes. She falls into a deep sleep.