Wood Sprites

They went back downstairs, through a room so crowded with leather sofas that the air was thick with the scent of cured hides. Jillian gasped when they came around the corner to the first bedroom set. It looked like a room lifted out of an Elvish home. All the pieces were intricately carved from ironwood and stained the color of dark honey, bringing out the luminescent gold grain. The canopied bed was draped in white fairy silk that looked magical even under the showroom spotlights. The lamps on the marble-topped nightstands looked like gnarled branches holding small round LED bulbs like elf shines. The price tag discreetly displayed on the end table gave a staggering amount for the set and noted “special order” with no estimate of delivery time. It was totally and utterly perfect.

“All the pieces are solid ironwood and are nearly unbreakable despite their delicate appearance. It’s handcrafted on Elfhome using spells and magically sharp tools. It’s one of a kind and unique on this world.”

“Oh, Grandma,” Jillian breathed, only partially faking her enchantment. “Can we have this one?”

Anna obviously melted, just as Jillian had intended. “Of course you can.”

Louise bumped Jillian slightly. The logical tactic would have been to only vaguely like the furniture and extend out the shopping for as many days as possible.

“Our floor will need to be redone,” Jillian pointed out. “This hardwood has been stained black. The white flokati rug is just stunning against it.”

Anna frowned slightly. “Louise, what do you think?”

“I love the bed,” Louise said with all honesty. The more changes they could demand to Lain’s room, the longer they could delay moving into it. “And I love this rug!” She bent down to run her hand over the thick shag. It was like petting a sheep. “It’s so soft and warm. And I really like how everything looks on the dark wood.”

“The black seems too depressive to me,” Anna said.

“Please!” Jillian cried.

Anna didn’t seem swayed by Jillian’s cuteness on the color. She was probably thinking of Esme and all the black-painted furniture.

Louise sought to appeal to Anna’s intelligence. “The floor needs to be assertive to counterbalance the size of the bed. If the two are too close in tone, they’ll clash, and if they match, they’ll wash each other out.”

Anna’s eyebrows went up in surprise, and then she smiled. “All right. At least the rug will cover most of the black. I’ll want the largest one you stock.”

Louise waited uneasily as the salesman wrote up the order.

“This is a custom piece,” the salesman explained. “We got the display in a few hours ago, straight from Elfhome. You’re the first ones to see it. We expect it to be popular with the upcoming royal wedding.” He paused in the middle of filling out the order form. “You did hear the news this morning? About the wedding?”

“No,” Anne said in a tone that stated firmly that she didn’t care.

Jillian, however, fed him a line to keep him going. “What royal wedding?”

“Prince Windwolf is alive, and he’s getting married. Total The Queen’s Salvage

.”

“Pardon?” Anna said coldly.

“L-lemon-Lime?” he stuttered. “Videos? Pop culture? A human girl saved the viceroy and they’ve fallen in love. Her name is Tinker, and she’s a hoverbike racer! There haven’t been any pictures of her yet; everyone expects her to look like the video, but what are the odds?”

Zero. Louise had stolen the heroine in the videos from her dream of Nigel; she was Valkyrie-tall, blond and seemingly able to produce guns from thin air. At least Louise had the comfort of knowing that Nigel would find a heavily armed ally on Elfhome.

Louise tried to push the conversation past the videos. “How long will it take to get our order in? Today? Next Shutdown?”

“We phoned the manufacturer as soon as we heard about the news this morning. People always go gaga over royal weddings; every woman in the city has fantasized about Prince Windwolf at least once. It’s a small furniture company, but they assured us that they could have another set ready in two months.”

Jillian ducked her head to hide her grin. Louise felt her stomach drop. Two months for anyone else, but Anna had the family trait of plowing through everything in her way to get what she wanted. She wanted to get them out of Esme’s bedroom as quickly as possible. She wasn’t going to let anything slow her down.

“I’ll take the display model then,” Anna stated firmly.

The salesman visibly jerked to a full halt. “What?”

“I came to this store to buy quality furniture, not wait for two months for a knockoff copy.”

“This furniture is handmade on Elfhome.”

“It’s made in Pittsburgh by a human, whom you called on the phone. You implied that it’s made by elves. ‘Spells and magically sharp tools.’ I have no way of knowing if the set that the human is capable of creating in two months is anywhere near this level of quality.”

“I–I-I never said that elves. .” The salesman flailed as Anna plowed through him.