Tracey sprang to her feet. “Just who do you think you are, anyway?” she responded, enraged. “It's none of your business! I can do what I like with anybody I want! You don't own me, Arugohumna! Stay out of my life!” By this time, they were nose to nose and I could have cooked a meal using the steam radiating from their faces. I ducked and covered my head because they were directly above me and I didn't want to be caught in the crossfire.
“I knew I shouldn’t have left Stephen alone with you!” Thorn grated.
“And why not?” Tracey demanded, passionately.
“Because I knew you’d use your trampy wiles on him!”
“Trampy? Did you just say ‘trampy’?”
“What's the matter? Are you going deaf as well?”
“I've never been so insulted in my entire life!”
“Well, stick around, because there's a lot more of that to come!”
“Oh, is there?”
“Yes, there is!”
“Well, bring it on!”
“I will!”
“I'm waiting!”
There followed a resigned silence and, after a few seconds, I dared to look up to see what was happening.
“I can't think of anything else to say,” Thorn sheepishly confessed.
“Neither can I,” Tracey said, crestfallen. “I guess that finishes the argument, then.”
“I guess so,” Thorn replied in a normal voice. They both looked down at me, resentfully.
“It's all Stephen's fault anyway,” Thorn observed.
“It wouldn't have happened if he wasn’t here,” Tracey agreed.
“Hey, wait just a minute!” I protested, stridently. “I’m the innocent party here. You two are crazy! You invited me, remember? The next time I'll think twice about accepting your invitation.”
My outburst was immediately quelled by two pairs of apologetic lips intersecting with either side of my cheeks. That was nice. Then my ears were assailed with soft, remorseful murmurs. Also nice. Two pairs of gentle, shapely arms wound themselves around my body. Ah, that was the best of all.
Chapter 4
Thorn and Tracey's anger disappeared as if it had never existed. How they could switch it on and off so quickly still puzzled me. They could be furiously angry one minute and then totally loving the next, with no traces of residual resentment. It seemed so unnatural, although I'd seen it enough times to vouch for its actuality. But it sure took some getting used to.
Tracey served Thorn some breakfast and we all sat down to finish our meals. Thorn and Tracey chatted amicably with each other as if nothing had happened, while I shook my head in bewilderment.
“Well, what will we do today?” Tracey asked.
“Why don't we go for a picnic somewhere?” Thorn replied. “We'll invite Nix, too.”
Tracey gleefully clapped her hands. “Great idea!” she enthused. “I'll pack the food.”
“Do you want a hand?” Thorn asked.
“No thanks, Arugohumna,” Tracey dismissively replied. “You can't boil water without burning it.”
“And what's that supposed to mean?” Thorn stonily demanded.
“Exactly what I said, my dear,” Tracey told her, snidely. “If we had to rely on your cooking, we'd all starve to death.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, it is! Admit it. You can't even butter bread.”
“Take that back!”
“Make me!”
“You're really asking for it!”
“I'm asking! I'm asking! So, where is it?”
“Oh, you’re going to get it!”
“Well, I waiting, but I don't see it!”
I'd had enough. I stood up, breaking the wordy confrontation. “Stephen, where are you going?” Thorn asked, surprised.
“Out of the range of you two squabbling wombats,” I informed her. “I've had my fill of your fighting for one day. Let me know when you've finished. I'll be in the kitchen.”
“You can't just walk away like that,” Tracey complained.
“Just watch me,” I announced, taking my plate and heading for the kitchen. “You two carry on without me.”
“But all of this is about you!” Tracey remonstrated.
I stopped walking and turned around to face her. “What on earth do you mean?” I asked, puzzled in the extreme.
Tracey blushed and avoided my eyes. “Well, basically, Arugohumna and I are fighting over you.”
“No, we’re not!” Thorn disputed.
“We are too!” Tracey adamantly declared. “All these arguments are simply to decide the pecking order.”
“Pecking order?” I asked, now totally lost.
“You know, the dominant female in the pack,” Tracey explained. “The one who has the first choice of the males.”
“It's not like that at all!” Thorn dissented.
“Yes, it is!”
“No, it’s not!”
“I'm in a madhouse,” I declared, rolling my eyes. “I'm beginning to feel like a prize in a raffle.”
“What's a raffle?” Tracey wanted to know.
“It's where people buy tickets with numbers,” I explained. “Then the tickets are collected and jumbled together. One of the tickets is picked out and that wins the prize.”
“What a weird game!” Tracey proclaimed.
“Typical human nonsense!” Thorn contributed.
I bowed to them both. “Thank you for your endorsement,” I muttered, sarcastically. “Have you finished your argument?”
“We were arguing?” Tracey asked. “About what?”
“God only knows,” I said, in surrender, realising that as far as they were concerned, the fight might never have happened. “What about this picnic?”
“Oh yes, the picnic,” Thorn enthused. “I can't wait. Traculimna can make the food and you and I will go and collect Nix. Coming?”
“Right behind you,” I agreed, scratching my head. As long as I lived, I'd never understand this pair.
Chapter 5
Thorn and I flew to Nix's house and informed him of our picnic plans. He agreed wholeheartedly and we sauntered, side-by-side, back to the fairy settlement. It was a pleasant stroll and we arrived at our destination in good spirits. Tracey greeted Nix jovially and we set off. We ended up at a nice level spot some distance from the settlement, boasting a small waterfall and a quiet pond. It looked pleasant enough, although I missed the greenery of growing plants. Being underground might have been all very well, and some of the rocks displayed nice colors, but very little grew in the stony ground. No matter. I had the company of two beautiful females and a good friend, so I couldn’t grumble. We talked and laughed for awhile, then set out the food. It all looked delicious and I savored the prospect of eating it when I suddenly heard music. And not just any music. It was lilting, soporific and just on the edge of hearing. It intrigued me and I found myself straining to catch the sounds. It sounded something like panpipes, and I found myself becoming drowsy – so drowsy in fact, that I began to doze off.
I awoke with a start, wondering what had happened. My mind replayed the sequence of previous events and arrived at the unlikely conclusion that I'd fallen asleep. How odd! I looked around to the others and saw that they were also blinking their way back into consciousness. We all fell asleep? Very curious.
“What happened?” Nix asked, blearily.
“I must have nodded off,” Thorn announced in a puzzled voice.
“What's happened to the food?” Tracey demanded, looking down at the tablecloth. I looked at what remained of our untouched meal. About half of it seemed to be missing.
“Nix,” Tracey accused, narrowing her eyes, “have you been eating the food behind our backs?”
“Me?” Nix exclaimed, insulted. “Why me? What about Arugohumna? Or Stephen?”
“Hey, don't look at me!” I insisted, holding up my hands. “I didn't eat anything.”
“Are you accusing me?” Thorn questioned, belligerently.
“No, of course not
,” Nix backtracked, hastily. “But if you didn't, and Traculimna, Stephen and I didn’t, then who did?”
“An interesting question,” Thorn thoughtfully remarked. “We appear to have an invisible thief among us. Did anybody else hear that music before?” We all assented and Thorn gave a grim smile.
“Then I think I know the identity of our thief,” she murmured. “Do we know anyone who’s a petty thief and sends people to sleep with music?”
“Of course!” Nix and Tracey chorused. “Why didn't we think of that in the first place?”
“Well, I’m sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about,” I peevishly interjected. “Please let me in on your little secret.”
“It's a cogdommina,” Thorn whispered, leaving me none the wiser.
“A what?” I asked.
“Surely you know what a cogdommina is?” Nix asked, smiling roguishly.
“Of course I don't,” I informed him.
Nix looked at Thorn and Tracey. “Not very bright, is he?” he smirked.
“Leave Stephen alone, Nix,” chided Thorn. “He can't help it if he’s ignorant.”
“Isn’t anyone going to tell me, then?” I entreated.
“They’re mischievous pranksters,” Tracey explained, frowning at Thorn and Nix, “with nothing better to do than to harass everyone. They’re thieves, pure and simple.”
“I guess the closest to a human concept would be an elf,” Thorn elaborated.
“The cogdommina are related to fairies, you know,” Nix announced with an evil grin.
“They are not!” came Thorn and Tracey's immediate and rabid response.
“Yes, they are,” Nix continued, winking at me. “They don't have wings and are smaller in size, but anyone can see the resemblance.”
“You raving ratbag!” Thorn swore, shaking her fist at Nix. “There's not even the slightest resemblance!”
“The resemblance is uncanny,” Nix blithely confided to me, ignoring Thorn’s statement. “You'd swear they were close cousins or something.”
Thorn and Tracey were spluttering with indignation and appeared to be on the verge of leaping across the tablecloth at Nix, so I decided to intervene.
“What about the music, then?” I asked, curiously.
“It's a bit like your hypnosis technique,” Thorn explained, glaring at Nix, “except with musical notes. It tends to send you to sleep, leaving the door wide open to robbery. It's how they work. They’re sneaky and devious.”
“If that's the case,” I enquired, “what do we do about it? I don't want to lose the rest of the food.”
“We'll catch him,” Thorn decided, looking around. “They’re practically invisible, but there are ways. First of all, we have to counteract the music.”
“And how do we do that?” I asked.
“Simple,” Thorn lectured. “Put something in your ears to block the sound. That way it won't affect you as much. We'll pretend to be sleeping and grab him.”
“What makes you think he'll come back?” I enquired.
“The cogdommina are notoriously greedy,” Thorn told me. “He won't be able to resist. The only reason we have any food at all is that he couldn’t carry it all in one trip. Believe me, he'll be back.”
We surreptitiously blocked our ears with cheese, believe it or not. The cheese made quite an effective ear plug and we waited impatiently for our mysterious, invisible thief to appear. It didn’t take long. Once again, the music materialized, but this time it became muffled almost to silence and it had little effect. Through slitted eyes, I carefully watched the surroundings until finally our enigmatic elf showed himself. As he came closer, I could appreciate Nix's point of view. He did appear to be a smaller, wingless fashion of Thorn and Tracey. So much for their protestations. He crept closer, still playing music on what was, indeed, a set of panpipes. I then discovered that he was a she – physically underdeveloped, with a childlike, boyish figure, but definitely female. She was reaching for the remaining food when Thorn pounced on her with a cry of glee.
The elf emitted a surprised shriek and scrambled to escape, but she had no hope. Thorn, aided by Nix, soon had her securely bound with strips torn from the tablecloth.
“Now, Miss Thief,” Thorn interrogated, removing her dairy earplugs, “what's your name?”
“Why should I tell you?” the elf haughtily proclaimed. “Let me go! I haven't done anything!”
“You're a cogdommina,” Thorn replied. “Of course you’ve done something. What did you do with our food?”
“I don't know what you're talking about,” was the reply.
“Oh yes, you do,” Thorn told her confidently. “I know you took it. We all know you took it. Why don't you admit it and save me the trouble of beating it out of you.” The elf looked a little perturbed at Thorn's words, and stared apprehensively at her.
“You wouldn't dare!” she breathed, worriedly.
“Yes, I would,” Thorn growled, clenching her fists. She appealed to Nix. “I would, wouldn’t I?”
“Most assuredly,” Nix confirmed, poker-faced. “Do you remember that cogdommina we came across some time ago?” he asked. “Well, I saw her the other day and she’s still on crutches, would you believe? That was some thrashing you gave her,” he reminisced. “I was astonished she could get out of bed at all.” Nix’s expression didn’t change by so much as a twitch as he created his fanciful tale from the sketchbook of his imagination. I think that Tracey's horrified expression at what Nix and Thorn were saying turned the tables in the end. The little elf, shocked at Tracey's seeming revulsion at her companions’ cruelty, believed their falsified stories, capitulated unconditionally and stammered that she'd tell us her name, along with anything else we wanted to know.
“That's better,” Thorn said in a fierce voice. “Very well, first of all, what is your name?”
“It's Trixiluminay,” she answered in a small voice. “But I prefer Trix.”
“Trix, eh?” Thorn reflected. “Very appropriate, I’m thinking. Now, why did you steal our food?”
“I'm sorry,” Trix mumbled, crouching down submissively, “but I was hungry. I haven't eaten for three sleeps. And you seemed to have so much! I just couldn't help myself. I'm sorry.”
“You haven't eaten for three days?” I echoed. “Why ever not? Where do you live?”
“I don't have a home,” Trix replied, miserably. “And I don't have a family either. I’ve been by myself for ages.”
“She's spinning stories to gain our sympathy,” Nix proposed. “I don't believe a word she says.”
“I'm not lying!” Trix immediately flared, straightening. “Let me go and I'll fight you!”
“Whoa!” Nix exclaimed. “Feisty little thing, isn't she?”
“Nix is right,” Thorn announced. “She's a cogdommina and not to be trusted.”
“I seem to remember a time when you claimed that goblins weren't to be trusted either,” I said deliberately, looking Thorn in the eye. Then I glanced at Nix. “And didn't you once say that all fairies were parasites?”
Thorn blushed. “Well, yes,” she admitted, “but I know better now. I was wrong.”
“I was wrong, too,” Nix confessed. “I'm ashamed of my previous opinions.”
“And who’s to say you're not wrong now?” I softly asked. “Haven't you learnt how dangerous pre-formed opinions can be?”
Thorn stared at me. I couldn't decide if she was angry or not. Thorn Version One would have been, but this happened to be Version Two – a kinder, gentler Thorn; less insular and more accepting. At least I hoped so.
“You're right, Stephen,” she finally admitted. “Our little thief deserves the same chance that I was given.” She turned to the elf and asked, “If I release you, what would you do?” Trix glanced from face to face, seeking the sincerity of our expressions.
“I'd return your food,” she promised.
“I'll hold you to that,” Thorn told her. So saying, she untied the cloth strips and handed over the panpipes.
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“Thank you,” Trix said, humbly. “I'll be back soon.”
“Do you think she will?” Tracey asked, as we watched Trix walk off and disappear behind a rocky outcrop. “Come back with the food, I mean.”
“It's a half and half chance,” Nix answered. “I’m still sceptical, however. I've heard too much about the cogdommina to be otherwise.”
“We'll see,” Thorn reflected. “In the meantime, let's eat what's we have left. I'm famished.”
We began eating our depleted picnic supplies and became so involved in this procedure none of us noticed that Trix had returned, her arms full of our purloined food.
“Here it is,” she bashfully pronounced. “Once again, I apologise.”
Chapter 6
We all stared at her until she flushed self-consciously under our scrutiny.
“I believe there’s enough food here for everyone,” I declared. “Sit down, Trix, why don't you?”
“You want me to …….. to join you?” she stammered. “Even after I tried to steal from you?”
“Sweetie, you haven't eaten for three days,” I remarked. “You must be hungry.”
“I'm starving,” she admitted, eyeing the food and practically drooling.
I looked around to the others for confirmation and received it, although it was given a little reluctantly. I moved over and made room for Trix in our circle. She sat down awkwardly and I passed her a heaped plate heaped. She gave me a grateful glance, licked her lips and commenced to eat ravenously. After that, we all joined in and conversation was limited until everyone felt sated.
Afterwards, we indulged in idle talk, the majority of it directed towards the newcomer. I noticed that her clothes were shabby, badly patched and none too clean. That last description also applied to the elf in them as well. The others must have noticed it too because Nix rather rudely remarked that she could do with a bath.
“Why?” Trix asked.
“Because you're more than a little dirty,” Tracey answered, gently.
Trix looked down at yourself. “So?” she questioned.
“I think you've been by yourself for too long, little one,” Tracey commented, understandingly, “and you’ve forgotten the fundamentals of being social. It's not considered polite to be covered in dirt when you're with others.”
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