See Me

CHAPTER SEVEN

IN THE HOT KITCHEN, women bustled around with aprons, cooking in pans over open coals in giant fireplaces along the wall.

A pretty, younger girl with long golden hair and a round face approached Cassidy and me, smiling.

“Mornin’ Robyn and Cassidy! I’m Leilah. Let me fix yer plates.”

Half a minute later she handed us both tin plates and we thanked her, stomachs growling at the sight of fried eggs, a slice of what she called bacon, though it looked like ham to me, and a thick piece of flatbread spread with purple jam.

“My pleasure. Come back and see us. There’s always talk to be heard in the kitchens for anyone with an ear.” She winked at us, wiping her hands on her apron and moving on to serve the group of men who’d come in behind us.

“Everyone here sure winks a lot,” Cassidy whispered as we walked with our plates back out to the clearing.

I thought about Leilah’s offer to come back and talk. A lot could probably be learned from the females. Visiting the kitchen topped my agenda list for today.

I was surprised to find McKale sitting at the end of a long table across from my parents, seeming to exchange pleasantries. My parents had plates of food, but McKale didn’t. I boldly sat down next to him and smiled when he looked at me. The goal was to get to know him. No time to waste.

“Aren’t you eating?” I asked him.

“Aye, but I’m in the habit of taking mine an’ eating on the way to the Shoe House.”

“The Shoe House?” Mom asked.

“Aye. Our largest structure. Most of the men folk spend their days working on the shoes. My job is tanning hides for the leather. In fact, I’d better be off. My partner is cranky when I’m late.”

He stood and inclined his head to the four of us, lingering longest on me, before walking in the direction of the big building. I watched him go, noting his long limbs and thin frame. It was hard to believe he was fifty-years-old and his body still had some filling-out to do. I turned my attention back to my breakfast, which was as delicious as it looked.

“Well, he can certainly be polite when he wants to,” Mom noted, sipping her hot tea.

“What kind of trouble will you girls get into today?” Dad asked. Cassidy and I thought about it.

“I’d like to meet some of the women,” I said. “Maybe take a walk around the area or something.”

“Yeah, your mother and I will probably explore the land, too. I might have a look in the shoe factory later. See if I can make myself useful while I’m here.”

“It’s the Shoe House, Dad,” Cass corrected him. “You have to use their lingo.”

“Ah, yes. Shoe House.”

“And Robyn says they’re anti-women over there,” Cass warned him.

Our parents looked at me, interested.

“Yeah, I went by yesterday and they seemed a little spooked to see a girl inside.”

Dad laughed. “Feminine wiles would distract the boys from work.”

“Nah,” Mom said. “Harmless superstitions, is all. Don’t get your feelings hurt.”

After breakfast, Cassidy and I set off for the kitchens. I felt shy when we got there. I’d always been somewhat intimidated by other females, feeling like I wasn’t girly enough and I couldn’t catch on to the passive-aggressive subtleties many girls lived by. I’d always gotten along better with boys. In general they were simpler to understand, although McKale was giving me a run for my money.

Six women hunched over shallow barrels scrubbing dishes and pans. They had an assembly line going. The oldest woman with a head full of short, curly gray hair held out a soapy hand for our dishes without looking at us.

“We can wash them,” I told her, feeling bad.

“Och, just give ‘em to me.” She snatched them from my hand and began scrubbing with zeal.

Leilah and the other young girl were at the rinsing station, dunking sudsy dishes into the clean water.

“Here.” Leilah tipped her chin toward a stack of towels. “You can dry.”

Cassidy and I went over and grabbed towels, drying and stacking. Those ladies moved fast and we worked quickly to keep up, fumbling a little and making Leilah and her friend giggle. I decided I might write an ode to the awesomeness of electric dishwashers and indoor plumbing.

“This is my friend, Rachelle.” Leilah’s friend had curly dark hair that she pulled back in a bonnet.

“Do you two room together?” I asked them, wiping my damp forehead with my arm.

“Aye. Most of us wee women live together except the ones currently bound.”

“How old are you, Leilah? Sorry, not trying to be nosy. I’m just curious.”

“Not at all. I’m one-o-nine. Rachelle here’s the babe of the women. She’s only ninety-eight.”

We finished up the dishes and the four of us girls left the hot kitchen. It was warm outside, but at least there was a breeze and occasional clouds.

Leilah and Rachelle took us through the village, into a part we hadn’t been yet. We ended up in a fenced farm area with partitioned spaces for goats, pigs, and chickens. The girls scooped feed from a barrel to feed the animals. I watched them work, noting every detail in hopes of eventually “making myself useful” like Dad had mentioned. They walked us through their morning chores, mostly caring for the animals. I could deal with farm animals way easier than something like, oh, let’s say, dumping the chamber pots. Blech.

When they were finally done they led us to a nearby patch of soft clover where we all sat.

“What do ye think of our McKale?” Leilah asked.

I was so glad she made the first move.

“I like him,” I told her. “He’s shy, but we just met, so hopefully that’ll pass.”

“Ye don’t think he’s too…” Rachelle’s little voice was a cute, squeaky sound. She motioned upward from the top of her head. Leilah poked her in the side and frowned. Rachelle slumped, shamefaced.

“Too tall?” I asked. “Not for me. I prefer men who are taller than me.”

“Oh?” Rachelle’s eyes rounded, disbelieving. “Ye don’t say.”

“What can you tell us about him?” Cassidy asked. “Just between us girls.” She sounded easy-going, but I knew she was itching for info.

“Well, I’m not one to talk down about the clan,” Leilah began. “But McKale’s not exactly had it easy. He surely feels a bit o’ pressure being the clan’s ‘last hope.’ Ye can be certain the elder men don’t let him forget it, either. But at the same time, they’re careful not to let it go to his head. He might have the blessing of the Fair Folk, but among the Chaun he’s the odd man out.”

“Because he’s tall?” I asked.

She nodded, looking ashamed to admit there was such a prejudice among them. The height issue seemed stupid to me, but I supposed every culture had their ridiculous prejudices. Not that that made it okay.

“If he doesn’t want to be tall, can’t he just shrink himself down to everyone else’s size?” Cassidy asked.

“Och, no. They can only be normal sized or tiny.” Leilah held her hands about twelve inches apart. “Nothing in between. And the Leprechaun don’t take well to unnecessary shifting, such as the Clourichaun do fer fun.”

“I don’t get it,” I said. “What’s the point of being able to shift? Can they glamour to disappear, too?”

“Aye.” Leilah settled back onto her hands, crossing her short legs in front of herself. “The Leprechaun were the first humans ever to be gifted with magic by the Fae. It was a test of sorts. The Fae didn’t want to give men too much power at first, but they wanted them to be able to easily hide in the grasses and forests if necessary. Besides making shoes, they had the job of tracking Fae who came out of the portal to mingle among humans. The Fae could not be stopped, but the humans who had interaction with the Faeries had to be wiped clean.”

“Wiped clean?” Cassidy and I asked at the same time, making the girls laugh.

“Surely ye’ve heard of Trackers?” Rachelle asked. I shook my head. “Well, they’re able to use magic to make humans forget moments. They follow the Fae and wipe the memories from humans who come into contact with them. Eventually the Fae bores and returns to their own realm. Only two Chaun Trackers remain, and there’s nary a bit o’ use for ‘em anymore.”

I absently plucked bits of clover and grass as we digested the information, which was all fascinating to me. For years Mom and Dad said, “We’ll tell you everything someday when it’s time.” They loathed speaking of the Fae and their realm.

“Do you guys know anything about McKale and that Freaky Fae Girl?” Cassidy asked. “The Shoe Mistress?”

My stomach clenched at the mention. Leilah and Rachelle shared a grimace.

“You can tell us,” I said.

“It’s all rumor, of course.” Leilah lowered her voice. “Some say the Shoe Mistress has sneaked into the earthly realm alone… to see him.”

Again my stomach spasmed, and I curled an arm around my waist. “Wouldn’t everyone know if she opened the portal?”

“No’ necessarily,” Rachelle squeaked. “She could bribe their doorman and open the tiniest crack, which could only be felt by people standing nearby at the moment of the opening. If she snuck in during the night there would be no one around…”

I gritted my teeth together at the thought of her gliding unsuspectingly into McKale’s room whenever she got the urge.

“Well, they obviously haven’t done the diddy or he’d be brainwashed,” Cassidy blurted. “Right?”

“Really, Cass?” I shot her a look and Rachelle covered her face to hide a scandalized expression.

Leilah continued unfazed. “If you mean what I think, he’s definitely not given his full self or she’d have taken him over to Faerie for keeps. That’s the only way humans are accepted over there: as property.”

“I don’t understand why she has to sneak,” Cassidy said. “Can’t Faeries do whatever they want, anytime they want? Why does she care what the Leprechauns think?”

“Oh, no,” Rachelle piped in. “It’s no’ because of the Chaun that she sneaks. It’s the Fae who would no’ accept her extended interest in a human. They think of us as working dogs. She’d be shunned by her own kind, she would.” The little woman nodded her head vigorously, curls bouncing on her round shoulders. “And besides, Lady Martineth and the Summer King would be naught too happy to find she’s taken to the Chaun’s ‘last hope.’”

Cassidy’s sickened expression mirrored mine. This did not bode well. I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Thank goodness for my sister who knew me so well. She cleared her throat.

“Well, we’re not going to worry about her right now. What do you know about the Clourichaun?”

“Crazy Clours,” Leilah said with amusement, picking a clover bloom and fiddling with it. I ran my hands over the clovers as Leilah told us the story.

“They’ve always been a rowdy bunch who drink far too much. Some say it’s ‘cause they’re mostly average-sized blokes with no control. No offense.” She stopped to look at Cassidy and me, but we just shrugged it off. She smiled, relieved. “The Clour share this land. They’re on the other side of the forest, and they used to share shoe-making responsibilities. Too often they were behind on orders, and the Leprechaun had to step in and do their work for ‘em in a rush like. Besides that, the Clour were leaving the lands and being careless around humans. Especially females. They’d been warned by the Fae, which was lucky because they’re no’ usually the type to waste time on warnings.

“About two hundred years ago one of the Clour impregnated a nearby farmer’s daughter. It certainly wasn’t the first time, but the Chaun had become good at hiding incidents of their kin’s indiscretions. Ye can only imagine the surprise humans experience when they discover their child can do magic! It was terrible business, switching babies and the like. This one particular time was being dealt with when the portal opened a day early and the Faeries discovered what had happened. It was the last straw. The Fae cursed their bloodlines into extinction.”

“Why didn’t they just take away their magic?” Cassidy asked.

“The magic is so deep in them. To pull it out would require a lot of Fae energy, and t’would make the Clour lose their minds, but the Fae wanted them to live and suffer.”

They didn’t seem to be suffering much to me. But maybe it was all for show. It was kind of sad to think of them watching their family die one by one with nothing but shame to show for it.

We all plucked at the clover for a minute until Leilah spoke.

“Have ye seen the waterfall yet?”

“No, we haven’t seen much of anything,” I answered.

The girls had to get back to work, but they explained how to get to the waterfall. We thanked them and shared a round of hugs with our new friends before going our separate ways.

It was a serene fifteen-minute walk uphill through the edge of the forest, but Leilah had been right. A light path made from frequent footsteps made it easy to find. We heard the rush of water minutes before we saw it.

By the time we came to the gorgeous sight, we were both sweating lightly from the hike and the warm summer air. Down a little farther was a small rocky cliff with the waterfall.

“Wow,” I said. We jogged up to the marshy edge of the fattened stream. Clear water ran crisply over smooth rocks. Some parts looked as shallow as one foot, while other darkened pools closer to the waterfall looked deep. I kicked off my flip-flops and walked into the shallow water. It was warmer than I expected. I sighed and let my head fall back, looking up at the canopy of shading trees overhead and taking in a deep breath of air.

“This is awesome!” Cassidy said. “Let’s walk down to the waterfall and go swimming!”

“Um, hello, no bathing suits,” I pointed out.

“Um, hello,” she said, pulling her shirt over her head and wiggling out of the pajama pants, then standing there smiling in her white bra and pink polka-dotted panties. “It’s just us! Everyone’s working, come on!”

I peered around at the trees for a moment, and then, like usual, I did what Cassidy wanted. I stripped down and piled my clothes neatly next to hers, and then chased her as she ran up the bank. We were lighthearted and breathless by the time we got to the waterfall. Holding hands, we stepped into the shallow edge and walked further in until we were treading water at least seven or eight feet deep.

As always, Cassidy’s idea was exhilarating. We splashed each other, swimming and flipping under the water. We swam to the falls and let the water rush over our heads, joking about how this is where we should come for our morning showers. Then we floated on our backs until the sun was high in the mid-day sky.

“We should probably get back so Mom and Dad don’t worry,” I said after a long while.

Cassidy sighed and agreed. We climbed onto the stream bank and squeezed water from our hair. Cass’s bra was lightly padded, so she bent over and squeezed it by hugging herself. Water gushed out of her cleavage and she chortled like a goof.

A rustling in the trees made us go still. I stared around us for a whole minute with my arms over my chest before shaking my head.

“The wind,” I said, but now I was anxious to get dressed.

We walked back down the length of the stream toward our clothes, shaking our limbs and feeling much more positive about our stay here now that we’d found this spot.

We’d been walking for a while before we both stopped, exchanging confused looks. I scanned up and down the marshy, bright green grass.

“Where are our clothes?” I asked.

“I don’t think we were this far down the stream,” Cassidy answered. “Look, the path is back there.” We started walking back up. Our clothes were nowhere in sight. Foreboding filled me.

“Did we put them closer to the trees, up there maybe?” she asked.

I shook my head. “No, they were definitely here in the grass.”

“Do you think an animal took them?”

“What kind of wild animal would take all of our clothes?”

“A smart and talented one?”

“Haha,” I said.

“Well, it can’t be a person because we would have noticed anyone walking around out here,” Cass responded. “Or anything big, at least.”

We both stopped and stared at one another, wide-eyed.

Anything big. Oh, crap.

“The Clourichaun!” we both said at the same time, and Cassidy threw her head back with hilarity at the possible practical joke.

“It’s not funny,” I said, which made her laugh even harder. I looked down at my satiny black bra and matching panties, which thankfully covered my whole bottom. But they clung to my every contour, and I really did not want to be seen like this. Cassidy darted around peeking behind tree trunks.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are!” she sang.

“Let’s break up,” I suggested. “You look upstream by the falls. I’ll look around down here.” She agreed and bounded away as if we were playing hide-and-seek.

I crossed my arms over my chest and walked into the trees, standing very still and listening for movement. After a full minute I heard the faintest sound of a high-pitched chuckle. I swung my head to the right where the sound came from. I saw nothing.

“I know you’re there,” I said, feeling foolish. “You may as well come out.”

Another minute passed and then, like a blur, a foot-high man darted out of the trees toward the grass. I took off after him, sprinting. I don’t think he expected the speed of my long strides because he grunted in surprise when I dove on my stomach and snatched him around his middle. I held him tight, careful not to squash him into my chest. I lifted him close to my face as I lay on my stomach, propping up on my elbows. He wiggled furiously like a worm and I recognized the brown curls.

“Rock, you little jerk! Where are our clothes?”

“Aargh! You’re squeezing the life outta me bits and pieces!” he cried.

I did not loosen my hold.

“If you don’t tell me where my clothes are I’m going to crush your tiny bits and pieces.”

A sudden burst of magic caught me in the chest and violently forced my hands apart. I blinked, and found myself unsteady, sprawled on top of full-grown Rock, who lay back on the grass with his hands behind his head, giving me a lazy grin.

“What’s that ye were saying about tiny?” he asked.

“Oh! You perv!” I struggled to roll off of him, but he grabbed me around the waist, chuckling. When I pushed him he grabbed my wrists instead.

So, funny guy wanted to wrestle, huh? No problem. All of my athletic skills surfaced and I twisted my arms hard toward his thumbs, breaking his hold on my wrists. We were sitting up now and I swiftly brought my legs up between us, giving him a kangaroo-kick to the chest that sent him backward before I swung my legs under myself and crouched, ready. Rock was still laughing in between spurts of coughing as he rolled around, clutching his chest.

“Blimey, what the blazes?” The voice came from the trees.

I glanced up and saw a flash of red hair. McKale stood there staring back and forth between the two of us. Oh, no. This probably looked bad.

Cassidy’s soft footfalls came running up the bank. “You found him! And I found these.” She held up our clothes, out of breath but happy, and then looked over where I kept glancing. “Oh, hey, McKale!”

He sputtered something incoherent and covered his eyes to shield against her near-nakedness.

“Rock stole our clothes when we were swimming!” I pointed to the rascal Clourichaun, who was still on the ground, enjoying the view. McKale lowered the hand from his eyes and glared hard at his friend.

“And aren’t ye glad I did, Kale, m’boy?” Rock nodded his head toward me.

McKale’s eyes traveled over to mine, and then slid slowly downward, landing with an abrupt halt on my boobs. He looked like a child who’d just accidentally discovered his Christmas gift. I allowed him two more seconds of gawking before crossing my arms and breaking the spell. I wanted to be flattered, but I was too busy being angry.

I stomped to Cassidy and began pulling my clothes on. She and Rock were making silly eyes at one another.

“Get your clothes on,” I told her.

“Would you relax? It’s the same as a bathing suit.” She cocked her hip in defiance and Rock cocked an eyebrow.

“Now,” I said to her. She sighed and begrudgingly began pulling on her clothes.

Without looking back at Cassidy and Rock, I headed toward the path where McKale stood. He took up silent residence beside me as I speed-walked. It took five minutes for me to slow down and relax.

“Sorry about Rock,” McKale said. “Bit of a gobshite, that one.”

“You don’t have to apologize for him. He’s annoying, but I know he’s harmless.”

“Eh, mostly. Yer sister should still take heed. Rock is like a brother to me, but he’s unpredictable an’ self-serving.”

“Cass doesn’t heed warnings very well. Not when she’s got her mind made up about something.”

“Perhaps they’ll enjoy one another, then.”

He glanced over at me as we walked, and I felt the warmth of him. I looked away, feeling self-conscious as I remembered his heated look at my chest earlier. We walked in silence for a few minutes.

“Do you have any brothers?” I asked. He didn’t answer right away.

“Nay. I’m the only child from my father’s binding to survive.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. How about your mother? Is she here?” I knew the answer the moment the question left my mouth. If she were here, I obviously would have met her.

“They believe something tore internally during my birth and she bled for days before passing. I was too large for her.”

“Oh, McKale,” I said softly. Again with his size.

On impulse, I reached over and took his hand, twining our fingers together. The feel of it must have taken him by surprise because his steps faltered a second. From the corner of my eye I caught him peering down at our hands. My heart was beating way too fast. I’d never held hands with a boy.

I cleared my throat. “Are you on a break from work right now?”

“Aye. Mid-day meal. Leilah saw me and told me she’d sent ye to the falls.”

We walked in silence, holding hands the rest of the way until the thick forest opened up into the bright clearing and we stopped.

“I must return to work,” he said. I heard reluctance there, and it made me smile shyly. I watched his eyes explore my face. In the sunlight the hazel colors were a mix of sea green and light caramel.

Just then an obnoxious kissy noise sounded from behind us, followed by excessive girly cackling. McKale and I broke apart, turning to see Cassidy and Rock coming up the path.

“That was mean!” Cassidy gave Rock a shove. His dark curls bounced around his face and he started tickling her ribs. As they carried on, McKale and I caught each other’s eyes again.

“I guess I’ll see you tonight,” I told him.

He tilted his head down toward me and I melted a little when he replied, “’Til then.”