Idle Gossip: Secret Pleasures
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*Author’s Notes*
This is written from the 3rd person perspective.
This story is a one-shot which acts as flavor text and does not flow into the main story’s timeline.
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There were fairies in the village. Elsie was vaguely convinced of this.
Fairies are pieces of the moon and exist in fairy tales. In the epic tales of heroes, it was a little girl with wings, and near Mehrman, Elsie's hometown, it was a little man wearing rags in his long, unkempt hair.
Only young children believe in them though, and by the time they are seven years old, everyone denies their fragile existence.
However, she is a rare woman who continues to believe in fairies even as an adult and is constantly scolded by her husband for always having her head in the clouds.
And just like the saying, “birds of the same feather flock together,” her circle of friends are also women who believe in the fairy’s existence even though they are skeptical about it.
The usual well meeting started again this morning.
It was called a well meeting because everyone gathers around the well and is quite noticeable in such a small village like theirs.
Fetching water in the morning is basically a woman's job. The husbands and small children go out to work in the fields or take care of the livestock, while the women bring water from the common well back to the house and wait for them at home. It was the same day in and day out, and nobody said a word about it
And since everyone drew water from the same place, they meet the same people every time. Thus, the well meetings were born.
However, these meetings were not limited to the well. Sometimes, they would be held in front of houses, or it was held at someone's house with snacks and refreshments. After all, gossip and talk about current events are only one of the few sources of entertainment one can find in sucha a small village.
Usually, the buckets of water are placed on the ground and everyone starts talking.
Today, another meeting of five people, including Elsie, had begun.
“Oh, so it happened in your house yesterday too?”
“Yes, it did. There might be a big hunt today, so if we have any left over, I'll share some.”
Today’s topic was the third neighbor running out of food seasoning.
Elsie had also experienced it before. The first time she noticed it, she only thought it was her mind playing tricks on her. But after a couple of times, about a month apart, she finally felt something was wrong. And by the time a year had passed, she was sure of it.
The salt was getting less and less.
The decrease wasn’t much, but it was around a child’s handful. If one paid attention to it, then they would immediately notice that something was amiss. But either way, it was definitely decreasing.
Naturally, people would make a fuss if someone committed thievery within such a small community. It would be an act of betrayal to the entire village, not to mention that stealing itself is a terrible crime. The concerned person would share the information amongst the other villagers and the whole community would take action.
But Elsie didn’t do such a thing. It wasn’t because she had bad intentions. It was just that she saw something before that convinced her not to do anything about it.
She had seen her child wobble and almost fall, then get up from an unnatural position and start walking without incident.
She had only seen it once. It didn’t have to do anything with the disappearance of the salt, but it was just that one day, while she was doing her chores, that she suddenly saw her child move in an unnatural way.
It was such a bizarre occurrence. She could have made a fuss out of it, but due to the fact that her son didn't look uncomfortable and was just smiling happily after being saved, somehow made Elsie feel less inclined to appeal to the people around her.
Leaving aside the merits and demerits of not thinking deeply about such an event, her child-centered way of thinking is probably a virtue for a mother. It was unrelated to the fact that the existence that saved her son wasn’t the one who hurt him in the first place.
Elsie believed that someone or something saved her son.
It’s not that she had an idea about what it was, but it was more like an intuition.
When Frau was a baby, she would notice that he sometimes laughs even though there was nothing in front of him, or she would hear him laughing even though she was sure he was alone in the room.
She hadn't thought much about it until then. After all, children are like that. Laughing at the chirping of birds flying outside, crying in fear of the shadows of clouds. She thought that such feelings of pleasure and discomfort, which adults cannot understand, must have made children behave the way they do.
And she was correct. Frau wasn't laughing because he saw fairies. Nor was he happily talking to the fairies. He was just laughing because of the wind tickling his cheeks or because he found the ceiling interesting.
However, some part of Elsie didn’t agree with that.
She thought about the local superstitions, and believed that it was a fairy that was making her child laugh. No, she knew that wasn't true. But the girl who lived in her heart wished it was so. And that wish clouded her judgment as an adult.
Eventually, others noticed the disappearance of salt and other seasonings. It didn't take long for the rumor to spread among the women.
However, no one wanted to make a fuss about it. Everyone thought it was just their imagination until someone mentioned it, and even after it was mentioned, it became something to look forward to among the women.
Why? Because it was believed that something good would happen on the days that things like salt disappeared from their houses.
However, those fortunate events were entirely random. An example of these included a fire quickly appearing while lighting the firewood, a pleasant breeze blowing while working in the fields under the summer heat, or a good hunting trip for their husbands
Eventually, someone started to say that it was the “work of fairies”.
It was believed in the Mehrman region that "brownies" would search unoccupied houses for food and clothes, steal some of the food they found, and in return, they would take care of the livestock and help with the housework.
Someone said, “Oh, by the way, my child’s clothes disappeared while he was swimming the other day.”
According to the woman, the clothes were making her child uncomfortable so he took it off and almost immediately lost it after.
Of course, no one would think that the fairy had stolen it. It must have simply drifted away somehow. At least, that was what everyone thought.
And so, the disappearance of clothes and food were the two events that gave rise to the rumor about the “fairy”.
The rumor was very important to the women who craved entertainment. If they shared it with their husbands, then the men would find out what it was and it wouldn't be a rumor anymore.
And so, the secret was strictly kept amongst the women who were starving for some form of entertainment.
Coincidentally, the “fairy” in question was bathing and training daily as the rumors spread out, so he did not have a chance to hear about it. If the “fairy” knew about this, then he would have probably left the village a long time ago.
But of course, there was a price to pay for keeping the secret. The cost of the secret, of course, was having less food than those working in the cities. After all, there would still be a huge effect on them even if the amount of food that disappeared was small.
Another consequence was they also harbored feelings of guilt for keeping this from their husbands. But surprisingly, that was exactly what these women wanted. It was a lot easier than cheating, and even if they were caught, it wouldn’t have much of an impact on them. Besides, the good luck they received was the perfect reason to hide it.
Because somewhere in their hearts, these women were intoxicated with the slight elation it brought into their mundane lives.
There is a saying that goes, “The husband is always the last to know,” which is true for any world, and is not only applicable to acts of infidelity.
One day, there was a commotion in the village.
Dead boars were found near the fields, and it seemed that it was done by something in cold blood.
The villagers were in a panic, but it was not about the boar's death. It was about the fact that someone who could kill a boar was in the village. The men immediately formed search parties and went hunting in the mountains, but they didn't have much success.
Even the women thought it was horrible. They wondered if the culprit was the "fairy" they had been talking about.
It is true that there are dark fairies in some regions. In some places, there is a legend of a fairy in the form of a bird, called a Newni, who haunts women carrying young children and steals their souls.
Elsie had heard this story from a drunken traveler when she was a child, so she wasn't sure where it came from.
However, a shared secret has the power to strengthen and maintain a group’s unity. It may seem silly from an outsider's point of view, but it was very important to them.
There’s no way it was the work of fairies. Everyone cheerfully denies it, trying to somehow maintain the status quo.
As a result, the incident was not decisive in exposing the rumor, and only added to the sense of guilt and fear in keeping the "fairy” rumor from their husbands.
The limit of their secrecy was yet to be approached.
And then winter came, and talks about the fairy had become routine among the women.
Meanwhile, the New Year was fast approaching, and they were beginning to get busy preparing for it. Elsie was also involved in the preparations for the festivities.
This year, her role was to make the sugar pastries. The clay-like dough, made by kneading crushed almonds and sugar powder, is formed into the shape of a cow. It was a local New Year's Eve task that she had been involved in since childhood, but Elsie was not very good at it.
To make the pastries, the dough is kneaded into a rough shape, cut with scissors in designated areas, twisted and stretched, and shaped with a spatula.
Elsie had to make it over and over again, crushing the failed ones and re-kneading them into the dough. After a while, she released a sigh when she finally got them into the shape she wanted. It was a repetitive process. Normally, the dough would be moist and delicious, but she thought it was a shame that the process of reworking it would alter the texture and make it unpleasant to eat.
But it was a celebration, and no one would care about the taste. With that in mind, she proceeded to make it, although it took her a long time to complete since she also had to take care of her child while reworking the dough. She hadn’t kept track of how many she already made, but she didn’t worry about it.
However, the candies noticeably increased while she was making them, and she wondered if it was just a prank by her child or if it was the fairy’s work. Elsie couldn't tell, but either way, she felt a little happy and completed the rest in a good mood.
I’m going to eat these, Elsie thought as she diligently marked several candies.
After the New Year, it was time to sow the seeds and start tending to the fields.
Elsie was having a simple dinner of bread and salted meat soup when her son said something that she, and the women, of the village dreaded to hear.
“I made a new friend today!”
Frau casually told them about his day. It was a good sign that they had a happy and healthy family.
However, even though it should have made Elsie glad, a shiver ran down her spine when she heard her son happily utter those words.
No way. The reason why she had such an unpleasant thought was because she knew that it was just a matter of time before the secret got out. Of course, it was bound to happen at some time in the future, but it just hadn't happened yet. It was too soon.
Elsie never thought that the cause of the secret getting out would be her son. But somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew.
She had a feeling that the good fortune brought by the “fairy” was mostly related to Frau. After all, the “fairy” seemed to have been playing with Frau since he was an infant. And the stories of good fortune happening directly to her were not heard in other houses, so she could only conclude that Frau was the one closest to the fairy.
She had no resentment towards her son, but she felt a bit of emptiness and a sense of regret for ruining the secret that she and the women shared.
In fact, they would all be sorry about it ending, but they would soon forget about it and start a new rumor. But that could only be said after it was over. At that moment, Elsie's mind was occupied with thinking about how she could apologize to everyone.
When she looked at her husband, she saw that he was frowning in disbelief.
Elsie thought that it was a natural reaction. She, nor anyone hadn't heard anything about someone moving into the village recently. Then suddenly, an unidentified child appears. They don’t even know if it was really a child or not, so it was only natural to be wary of such an unidentified presence.
A detailed interview with Frau followed. Shortly after, her husband reported it to Shium, the Village Administrator.
The fact that he went out in the middle of the night in an unlit village showed the seriousness of the matter, and it also tormented Elsie.
The secret Elise and the other women shared was going to be revealed one way or another. And it was coming sooner than she liked.
Elise looked up at the moon peeking from the clouds in the sky, feeling the loneliness and the loss of the sense of fun she had from keeping the secret.
When she thought about it, she realized that the fairy had been in the village since Frau was an infant and it was always watching over and protecting him.
She couldn’t even do anything for the fairy as thanks.
She had heard that Shium and his friend Kasok, and Denner were very good Explorers, so it was certain that the little boy who showed up at the village would be found soon and Elsie couldn’t protect him. She was unable to help the one who had been a source of entertainment for them these past few years.
Rather than helping him, she was supposed to come up with a plan to lure the boy out. But he was a member of the village too and she couldn’t find it in her to do that either.
She couldn’t return the debt of gratitude to the fairy who bestowed good fortune on her son.
Her struggle continued as she battled between the responsibilities of being a member of the village and the hopes of a dreaming girl.
But time waited for no one.
She couldn’t do anything. Resenting her powerlessness, she prayed for the fairy's safety instead.
Please let him escape without being found.
And please, please let him bring a smile to my son’s face again.
She wondered if her wish had been heard.
The full moon disappeared into the clouds as if to hide the fairy.