Page 54 of The Noldrin Witch

Right in the middle of this delicious reprieve, and just before she could begin carrying the baskets to the fairies’ workshop, a glint from her pocket caught her eye.

It was the mirror Morgaine had given her for communication. Elise carefully pulled it from her pocket. Suddenly, a shrieking sound burst from it. She threw the wicked thing aside in alarm.

“How’s everything going, dear?” Morgaine’s voice called from the mirror.

Elise retrieved it from the ground and leaned closer. With narrowed eyes, she could make out Morgaine’s immaculate face in a miniature image within the glass.

“Everything is going well. I just finished collecting hundreds of leaves and sprigs,” Elise whispered.

“You look like you just planted an entire cotton field by yourself, darling,” the witch rasped. “What kind of maniac put a girl of your delicate frame to hard labor?”

“It was a fairy named Fabian,” Elise said tiredly.

“Ah, those dry loin twits. Always chasing the latest nonsense and now hiring men to do a woman’s job.”

Elise sighed, relieved once again by how protective Morgaine seemed. “They are not all bad. Fabian is really the only difficult one so far.”

Just then, Morgaine’s image blurred, and another far less gracious countenance came into view.

“How dare they have you working at this hour of the day? Tell them they can stick their herbs in their—”

“Beth, Beth,” Elise heard Morgaine call, and the image in the mirror blurred again.

“Go along with what they tell you for now,” Morgaine’s faint voice said. “But don’t let them make you their little witch. Now that you’re outside, go and try to find the Stone of Raj.”

After that, the mirror returned to its natural state, and Elise slipped it back into her pocket.

She was hesitant to follow Morgaine’s directions, so she took a moment to consider what to do next. Suddenly, one of Bruno’s loud croaks interrupted her thoughts.

The crow settled his small, black-feathered body among the baskets, and Elise felt it was best to head to the workshop and show the results of her hard labor before wandering through the gardens. This was her first day, after all, and she wanted to make the best impression possible.

To her good fortune, and thanks to her timely decision, Susanne was waiting for her by the time she brought the first three baskets to the fairies. She was relieved she had not followed the witches’ advice, for as soon as she approached, the good fairy exclaimed with excitement, “I was on my way to see your progress, Elise!”

She smiled at Susanne and, with renewed confidence, showed her the contents of the baskets herself.

“You collected all this already?” the fairy gasped. “Darling, you didn’t need to do so much in a single day.”

Elise was about to mention that seven more baskets were waiting in the herbarium, but seeing how impressed the fairy was, she decided to reserve that information for later.

“What an extraordinary worker you’ve turned out to be,” Susanne continued.

As if summoned by the compliments, Fabian appeared at Susanne’s side in no time. The male fairy’s eyes widened at the sight of all the plants and, seemingly unable to find any fault or sign of a rush job, merely said, “Either you were being lazy before, or this is the result of sorcery.”

“Fabian!” Susanne corrected.

The fairy grumbled. “Fine…this looks…appropriate. Thank you, Elise.”

Elise couldn’t help but smile. She drew a deep breath and figured she could finally relax and perhaps do as Morgaine had recommended.

“I’ll continue my work, then,” she said, preparing to leave.

But before she could turn away, Fabian added, “Make sure to come earlier tomorrow. There are other chores to do. You can help with some new potions I want to try.”

“How much earlier?”

“Before dawn.”

Elise gasped. Susanne looked equally outraged and did not hesitate to voice her concern.