“You, Vencia, are lucky I couldn’t manage the spell without one, or you and the rest of your line would be long forgotten. I don’t care how charming my heroine thinks you are or if she is sickeningly in love with you. You best mind your manners in my home, or I’ll send you to the bottom of my mountain with a mouthful of soap.”
Most would have been horrified to have a magic being threaten them, but not Ira Vencia. In fact, he was smiling ear to ear at Luci.
“So you think I’m charming?” he said.
Light above help her. Luci’s mouth fell open.
“That’s what you took away from that?” she asked.
“Well, no, there was the other part, but that felt like cheating,” he said.
“You should be thanking me; if you were waiting on stubborn Lucinda to confess, you would have gray hairs and be halfway into your grave.” The woman said.
For the first time since setting foot on the mountaintop, Lucinda felt something other than bewilderment. The audacity of this woman to speak as if she knew her. Even if everything she said was accurate, it was still incredibly rude.
“And who exactly are you?” Luci asked.
The woman snapped her fingers, and a tea set appeared in front of them. Whether out of habit or anxiety, Luci went to grab the kettle, but the woman smacked her hand.
“Not you, darling, I’ve seen what people look like once you’ve made the tea,” she said.
“Excuse me?” Luci barked.
Ira started to laugh, but one glare from Luci, and he was patting his chest and coughing.
“Anyways, my name is Elowen, and I am your fairy godmother. You haven’t made it easy on me, though Imelda always said we mustn't complain about our heroes and heroines as they are only human, and it is in fact quite difficult to be a human,” she asked as she poured the cups. “Do you find that to be true, Lucinda?”
Elowen’s blue eyes blinked rapidly at her as if she were trying to imbue a sense of thoughtfulness to the question.
“Is this all really happening, or is this a very lucid dream?” Luci asked.
Another snap of her fingers, and suddenly there was a plate of chocolate chip cookies on the table, looking as if they were fresh from the oven and certainly smelling like it. They also just happened to be Luci’s favorite cookie, which was also suspicious.
Ira didn’t have any qualms about it and grabbed one before taking a large bite. His eyes widened before he closed them and leaned back in his chair, savoring the cookie.
“This is the best cookie I’ve ever had,” he said.
“Don’t just eat things that appear in front of you.” Luci chastised.
Elowen frowned at her. “Why ever not?”
“Because you are a strange woman on a mountain!” Luci said.
Elowen waved a hand and pushed the tea towards her.
“It’s not a strange mountain, it’s the blue mountain where Imelda- the blue fairy- used to live, and I was her apprentice, of course. Drink, it’s bergamot and lemon, your favorite,” she said.
Deciding that nothing made sense, Luci lifted the cup and breathed in the smell of what was indeed her favorite tea.
“How do you know so much about me?” Luci asked, quite sure this was a dream.
Elowen sighed and stuffed an entire cookie in her mouth, all the while glaring at Luci. When she was through chewing, which admittedly, was quite a while, she gestured to herself.
“I’ve already told you, I am your fairy godmother; it isn’t a difficult concept, Lucinda,” she said.
“Luci’s very stubborn,” Ira said, sipping his tea.
Elowen’s sharp blue eyes cut to him.