Leena accepted a hot cup of tea from the young man in a familiar green teacup and sipped it slowly while sitting on the bed, wrapped up in the lavender smelling blanket. Warmth bled through the cup, heating her fingers which were comfortably warm from the blanket. The steam from the water wafted heat onto her cool face.

Even though the air was still cold and the sun was harsh, the windows mellowed the sunlight a bit, casting a nice contrast of light spots and shadow upon the floor of the bedroom in the lighthouse. The building creaked a bit against the wind, but otherwise the lighthouse was quiet.

Esire had left her alone after greeting her, puttering around in the kitchen for a good while. She peeked with her eye at the door for the longest time, waiting for him to reemerge, wondering if this was the friend Bo had mentioned.

She sat up when he offered her tea.

He pulled up a chair himself and sat, splayed, leaning over, with his hands clasped together gently. His hair was black, cropped short, with dark eyes and a mouth that twitched into smiles seemingly without prompting. His clothes were similar to Bo’s, but they were cleaner, as if he hadn’t been out in the wild for days on end.

She sipped the hot tea, watching him. He watched her.

“You’re the one who made the fire, aren’t you?” she asked. His twitching mouth broke into a full grin, teeth and all.

“Yes! Yes. I regret I couldn’t help more, but what with everything and the darkness and the distance, it was more troublesome than I anticipated,” he said.

“Oh…thank you,” she replied, “I don’t think we would have made it otherwise.” His face fell into a serious one.

“No. I don’t think so, either, no matter what Bo says,” he grumbled a bit, murmuring the last part. Leena declined to answer that.

“So…who are you? Where are you from? Are you from across the ocean?”

“Yes! My family is over that way,” he said, pointing towards the sea, “I came at the behest of Keith and Bo. Believe it or not, he’s my best friend, Bo is…”

“You hexed him?” Esire burst into laughter.

“Hahahaha…yeah. He’s a good sport, that one, it’s too bad the darkness around here is pretty thick. I’ve managed to keep it out of this town for now, but I can feel it, closing in pretty quick. There’s little to eat here. The fish are all gone, and no one comes here. Only ol’ Ingrid is open for business. And there’s no business. Only us.

“What happened to everyone?”

Esire paused.

“Well. You saw how Icherrun was, yeah?” She nodded.

He continued, “People can’t live like that forever. Eventually, they have to die.” Her insides went cold at the way he spoke, so evenly and matter of fact.

“So…will…Will Grandfather be okay?” she asked, “I left him there, but I…He was….” Esire’s face fell again.

“I’m sorry, Leena. I don’t know. We can’t go back.”

Leena used to silence to process it.

“But if we find something to help, then can we go get Grandfather? I’m sure, if he had a talisman like Bo’s, that maybe we could get him? Could we help everyone?”

Esire smiled at her, “You’ve forgotten a lot. Bo told me, but I…” He frowned, glancing over at the door for a moment. A small silence embedded a fear into her heart.

“I see,” he murmured, turning his head to her again, “We can try, Leena. We can try. That’s all I can promise.” She nodded at him.

“Who’s Keith?”

“Oh! Keith! He’s Bo’s uncle. Well. Sort of uncle. He’s actually a friend of the family.”

“Are you an elf, too?” she asked.

“No, no, nothing so romantic,” he replied, “Merely a human, much like…you, I suppose.”

“How do you do the fire?” she asked, leaning forward. Bo was never this talkative.

Esire grinned, leaning back in the chair, “It’s not difficult. Not difficult. Just a bit of magic.”

“Did Bo’s uncle teach you?”

“No, no. Well. Yes and no. Bo told you it was a magic school?”

“Yes.”

“There are two kinds of magic in this world. Well. Maybe three. But Keith teaches the kind I can do such as hexes, curses, blessings, and so forth. The elemental magic is a different beast.”

“Elemental magic? Water and fire?”

“Yes, yes, water and fire. And earth, air, and a last one that is a bit difficult to describe. It’s kind of like life and love and energy, really. We call it the element of movement, but it’s a poor name, really.”

“Oh. So…you can do two magics?”

“Yes. One you can learn, but the other….has to be acquired.”

“Can I learn magic?”

“Yes, you can, but…it’s…” he hesitated, his face falling again. His emotions passed by like waves; his eyes darted as if looking for a response. Leena smiled at him. It was refreshing in some ways.

“It won’t help with anything important,” he said finally, “By the way, we can leave whenever you are ready. We’ll probably leave tomorrow morning. There isn’t much we are waiting on, but you might want to clean yourself up a bit.”

She nodded.

“By the way, Leena, how in the world did you escape the Red Lady? I’ve been avoiding this place for a couple weeks now, knowing she’s just inside. And you ran inside?” he exclaimed, leaning forward again, “Tell me! Tell me what happened.”

Leena told him about how she had lost Bo, found the lighthouse, and hid from the pixies. She told him about the Lady and the smells and the bodies upstairs.

“Yeah. Bo felt bad about that. You were tricked,” Esire said, “The pixies do random tricks, and one of them is to lead you in the wrong direction. When Bo got to Ingrid’s and discovered he was left holding a stick, he near went ballistic, running back into the dark. I had to hold him back because the dark isn’t a great place to be in.”

“Oh.”

“We looked for you, but we were unsure where you might have gone, but then, I felt it, you know, the Red Lady disappeared, and I knew it. I knew you must be there! And here you were, asleep in bed.”

His energy made her smile.

“Okay. Well. I’m feeling okay. Is there anything to eat at Ingrid’s?”

“Yes! We still have a good supply.”

“Then, let’s go now. Thank you for the tea, but I’m getting hungry.

“Then, allow me to escort you,” proposed Esire, rising and politely extending his hand. Leena set down the cup, unravelling herself from the blanket.

“Okay. Let’s go,” she smiled, happy that she had made a new friend.