Liora
The next morning, a lad of about sixteen had dropped off keys and instructions for me regarding my new home, and I decided to not burden Zara any further with my move. After a morning cup of tea, a quick tidy up around the flat to make sure I hadn’t left anything out that could be in Zara’s way, I loaded a few of the keepsake boxes from the cupboard into my car. It would be easier to take my time going through family heirlooms where I could lay them out and have a proper look at them, and knowing me, I’d get distracted and leave them out for a while, which just wouldn’t do in Zara’s place. Instead, I found myself following the lad’s directions to a stone cottage on the outskirts of Loren Brae.
Turning up a gravel drive, I inched down a lane shrouded by trees, the wind shifting the branches, and sunlight dappled the forest around me. The nights were drawing closer now, the daylight hours shortening, and I was just happy to have some sunlight as the icy wind brought the promise of winter withit. I let out a small sigh of happiness when the cottage came into view. It was exactly as Zara had described. With one main building, and two small wings flanking either side of the cottage, it looked cozy, well maintained, and the perfect spot for me to take stock of the mess of my life. A place for healing, I supposed, if that was what I really needed. Except I still wasn’t entirely convinced that I was the one who needed healing.
Maybe to hide from the spotlight for a bit.
But to heal? I wasn’t sure that I was broken. Even though everyone else seemed to think that I was. Shaking my head, I laughed at myself. Those were thoughts for another day. What I needed to do was check out my new living situation and make sure that I didn’t disrupt the other tenant too much. I’d try to keep my chaos carefully contained in my own wing, while hopefully not disrupting the flow of the other person’s life too much.
Resolved, I took the keys the lad had given me, the paper with a neat list of instructions, and exited the car, tugging the strap of my pocketbook over my shoulder. I just wanted to get the lay of the land before I fully unpacked. Following the instructions to go to the side door on the right wing of the house, I bypassed the front door and made my way to a small door painted a deep evergreen color.
An acorn bounced off the roof with a sharp thud, before knocking me on top of the head.
“Ow!” I said, looking up to where a red squirrel sat on a branch above me, chattering at me. Or laughing, if a squirrel could laugh. “Sir! That wasveryrude.”
The squirrel chattered some nonsense at me again and then darted away, clearly pleased with himself.
Unlocking the door, I pushed inside the house, automatically reaching for a switch to flip the lights on.
“Och, well, this is nice, isn’t it then?” I breathed a sigh of relief. The door had opened directly into a lounge room, which had two doors on either side, one open and one closed. The closed door presumably led to the rest of the house, and I was pleased to see a bolt on my side, ensuring my privacy as needed. The lounge itself was serviceable, if not a bit spartan. Not that it mattered much, as I could make any space homey and welcoming in a short matter of time.
A draft of wind, sharp with scents of the loch and the damp forest, pushed me further inside, and I closed the door behind me against the cold. Crossing the room, I flipped on the switch in the next room to reveal a bedroom that just fit a standing cupboard, a dresser, and a double bed. Attached was a tiny en suite bathroom, which was more than serviceable for my needs. Nodding, pleased with the space, I returned to the lounge and eyed the door to the main room.
I hadn’t spied a car outside, so I assumed my landlord was still at work, as the lad who had dropped the keys off had indicated. Now would be a good time to just take a quick peek at the rest of the house.
Dropping my pocketbook on the couch, I crossed the room and unbolted the door, swinging it open to see the main room of the cottage. Clearly, this part of the house had been the main building back in the day, and the wings had been added on to it through the years. I smiled, charmed at the idea of a hodgepodge cottage gradually evolving the years, and nodded my approval at the landlord’s decor. It was a touch sparse but not unwelcoming. A leather sofa dominated one side of the room, facing a wide-screen television, with deep set cushions and a faded blanket folded over the back. A grey stone fireplace laid with wood, ready to be lit, and a neat pile of perfectly chopped logs sat next to it. A large rug, in muted blues and greens, was tossed across the woodfloor, and windows on both sides of the house looked out into the surrounding forest.
“A perfect wee retreat in the woods,” I said, out loud. “Yoo-hoo? Anyone home?”
I figured it was best I call out in case someone was here but didn’t own a car. When nobody answered, I ventured farther into the room to explore the side with the open kitchen. A long wood table separated the kitchen space from the lounge, and I admired the roughhewn edges, the carefully sanded wood, and the matching chairs that looked like they were lovingly carved by hand.
“Och, this is stunning,” I said, running my hand across the tabletop. It was a work of art, and I could see why someone would want to have such a magnificent piece in their home. I could imagine sitting here, working on my charts, drinking tea while staring into the fire. Shaking my head, I turned to the kitchen, which had all the basic accoutrements a kitchen needed. After a quick perusal, I noted the Post-it Note attached to one cupboard.
“‘Welcome. Sorry I couldn’t be here but will be back late tonight. Please feel free to use this cupboard for any food items. I’ve also cleared two drawers in the fridge for you,’” I read out loud. “Och, well that’s just fine then, isn’t it?” I hadn’t even thought to stop at the market and get food, but when my stomach growled loudly at me, I realized I would need to eat at some point today.
“There’s time enough for that,” I murmured to my stomach, and turned once more, taking a deep breath and letting it slowly out. The house felt good to me, lived in, but not cluttered. Somebody obviously cared enough to keep it clean, and aside from making food, I could have my privacy as needed. I was used to living with roommates, so this wasn’t an unusual situation for me, though I typically liked to meet the landlord or roomiesbefore I signed a lease. But I trusted my sister, and surely she wouldn’t put me in a position that was unsafe for me.
“This is Loren Brae,” I reminded myself as I dug my car keys from where I’d tossed them in my purse. “Small towns are different from big cities. You’ll be just fine with whomever this roommate is.”
Pleased to have my own space again, particularly one that gave me a separate bedroom and a lounge, I hurried outside to narrowly miss getting hit with another acorn.
“Hey!” I said, putting my hand to my head and peering up at where the squirrel chattered at me again. “Watch out!”
The squirrel bounced around on the branch and then jumped to the roof, where he ran across quickly, and then he jumped down to the ground. There he scampered across the grass and astounded me by leaping on top of my car.
I froze.
We were in a standoff, it seemed.
The squirrel tilted its fuzzy head at me, his dark eyes gleaming, and I tilted mine in response.
“Sir. Why are you chucking acorns at my head?”
“To get your attention, duh.”
I almost leapt out of my skin when I heard a voice, a touch rough around the edges in my head. My mouth dropped open. Had I just really heard a squirrel? Or was my imagination running away from me as it often did?
“Was that you who just spoke?” I planted my hands on my hips. I’d never heard animals speak before, but it wasn’t an entirely unheard-of concept for the people of my family to have latent powers of sorts. Our whole bloodline had been touched by the fae, or so my mum had always said, and I’d been told we all had some sort of powers or another. Talking to animals might just be mine.