The Industrial Elf Ch. 04

"Can you wait but four nights more for me?" she asked, "No more surely, and I ask only to see if the saying holds truth for us. Then I would wed you, even all alone here, only us two, and be a happy elf-wife for it."

"I would wait longer if it must be, and four nights more is but a small thing. But I have no proper ring to offer you, Ilmare."

"I have none for you either, and it is perhaps a worse thing for an elf-woman to not have even one ring. But the first of us had none either, I am sure of it. All that we really need are our words to each other - and I think that we have just said them, though we did not think this was our betrothal. If you agree, then we can hold our words in our hearts as such, and though we usually set our date a year hence at the least, the time that I ask of you is all the betrothal time that I need, for we know of no one to invite to our wedding and do not know what a year would bring to us."

He reached for her and held her to him, "Then I would say that we are betrothed, and I am happy."

She kissed him then, and took his hand as she stood up on the bough to lead him to another one. He looked up curiously.

Ilmare laughed softly, "I asked only for the time for the one thing, Elohan, I did not say that we could not play at all. Among my clan, it is a hopeful custom for elf-girls to sleep with the ones they wish to have for them for four nights. If - during those nights, the couple find that they have joined - or very nearly joined as they slept, then the match is said to be a favored one.

I think that most hopeful couples cheat at least a little and only pretend to sleep as they try to join. And anyway," she giggled, "it is just an old tale to keep elf-maidens chaste in a last-ditch way, it cannot really happen like this, can it?

I said this first because I wanted more time to know you. I said it now because I wanted to see if you would agree just to make me happy. That is how I really know that you are for me. I could ask you anything and you would do it if you thought I would be happy for it. I will never ask you lightly.

Let us begin this then, and think that our words are also our vows. I know what I wanted to learn from you and so I am ready now, and I think this is a fine night for our wedding tryst and now I want my husband."

They awoke together from the thunder long after, and smiled at how they found themselves even more intimately wound than the previous morning. They watched the storm for some time like this and then began it again, two lost and now-wedded elves making love in the warm rain.

By the early evening, they had the GPS installed. Most of the work on the camper was completed the next day, and it was finished by the time that Elohan waited for her in the pines of the industrial park behind the plant where Ilmare worked. As they walked home together, she told him that she'd given her notice, and they could leave in a week if they wanted.

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Elohan stood in the pines waiting for Ilmare. He watched in mild curiosity as a huge dog paced the rear fence, looking for a way into the plant. The animal appeared a bit worried as he padded nervously. The elf had always had the same affinity to animals that his kind was known for, but he'd hardly considered himself to be as attuned to them as some of his clan had been.

Still, there was something that he felt here for this one. He didn't know what it was, necessarily, but he'd noticed the town animal control van patrolling here the last few days and thought that he might now see the reason. He knew that the shift at the plant was about to change, and soon there would be more people around, even here at the back of the place. On a whim mostly, he let out a series of soft sounds.

"Pssh, pssh, pssh,"

Until that instant, the dog had been looking intently at the building. Now however, his ears were up and the great head swung around, looking for the source of the strange sounds. Elohan smiled, but as the animal turned, he noticed the wounds there on the other side and the smile faded to a look of concern.

He looked off to the entrance of the industrial park and saw the same van turn in to begin its slow progress, looking for the stray that someone must have called them about, he thought. He looked to the dog again, and wondered about his chances at adoption, or even if he'd go with the men peacefully. Looking again at the marks on the animal, he doubted it somehow, and began again, "Psshh, pssh."

The animal wandered over with his head tilted and eased into the trees. When he saw the source of the noise, he stopped. Elohan smiled, and stepped back a pace, continuing the sounds to get the dog to follow deeper into the pines. After a few tries, they stood in the middle of the trees hidden from view, and Elohan chuckled softly as the dog cocked his head even further.

"I am sorry if you thought I was something to eat, my large friend," he smiled, reaching for the great head as he looked into the soft brown eyes. He saw curiosity there, but no hostility as the dog thought it over before allowing the long fingers to lightly scratch behind one ear. A large pink tongue came into view.

"Come and wait with me then," Elohan said quietly as he crouched next to the beast to look at the marks, guessing that the dog had been whipped maybe, he couldn't tell. But he decided that if they could escape the attention of the dogcatchers, he'd see what he could do to help the animal. He stood up cautiously just after the van had passed and watched until it had turned the corner heading away.

Ilmare found them there a few minutes later, after leaving by the employee's entrance on the other side of the building and walking around.

The big dog tensed for a second as he heard someone approach and stiffened, preparing to protect his new friend if necessary, but stopped when he saw her. Elohan could see that he was a happy beast now as he stepped to her with his head down, ears lowered and his big tail swinging widely.

She laughed, "You've met my admirer, I see. He's been hanging around the last few days. I couldn't resist him today, and he got most of my lunch."

She bent a little to fuss over the animal, and Elohan could see that he was clearly smitten with her. "Let's go," she said, "maybe I can help him in the wood. There wasn't much I could do for those marks of his in the middle of the day through the back fence."

They walked holding hands, their large canine friend falling into place on her other side. "Can you help him?" Elohan asked, "It looks to me as though he might have gotten caught in a fence somehow. I wondered if he had been whipped, but the marks are only on the one side."

"I can try," she said.

The dog surprised them both a little as they noticed that he didn't seem to want to range ahead of them as dogs often do, but stayed right with Ilmare, never more than a pace away, seeming to smile as they walked. In the woods, they ate the meal that Elohan prepared, and he made sure to provide some pieces of venison to the thankful animal.

He sat regarding the two of them in a thoughtful sort of way, and then seemed to arrive at a decision for himself, for after this he seemed to be at complete ease with them. Ilmare prepared a salve from some plants that she found in the wood mixed with a little of the dried herbs that she kept in the camper. The dog dutifully obeyed her as she told him to stand in the stream with her. He allowed himself to be washed and offered no complaint as Elohan dried him carefully so that the salve could be applied and the wounds covered.

They found that he would stay sitting next to Ilmare as Elohan walked away, though he watched intently. It was a little more difficult if they reversed the roles, but he could be convinced to sit with Elohan as Ilmare walked away. They discussed their follower as he slept later on, careful to keep at least some part of himself in contact with one or the other of them as though he feared that they'd leave him.

"Shall we keep him?" she asked with a grin.

"I think he wants to keep us, at least for now," he said, "I have some misgivings about it, but I can see that you have some feelings for him already."

Her gentle mocking laughter came to him as she looked with raised eyebrows, "Tell me that you don't like him, Elohan. I see that you seek to use calming words in our tongue with him and I also see how you are surprised that he doesn't need calming, but will do as you ask. He doesn't look like he belongs here with the people of the town. To me, he looks like one of their war dogs from long ago, but also he looks like he thinks about many things. He looks wise, somehow."

He nodded, "I like him, Ilmare, as strange as he seems. Maybe it's because he doesn't belong, as you say. But to take him with us means another mouth to feed, and his is a large mouth, though I wouldn't begrudge him the food. I'm only bringing it up because it needs to be considered in the long run."

He reached down to stroke the large face, and was rewarded with a loud groaning sigh. The elves looked at each other and laughed.

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Janet was a bit surprised at the location that Jack gave for the first meeting. It was only a set of latitudinal-longitudinal coordinates. She copied the numbers down carefully and read them back to him. "How will I get there?" she asked him, "Where is it?"

Jack suggested that she buy a GPS unit if she didn't already own one, and use it to find the place. He gave her 2 days time, and they met in the middle of a tall cornfield.

Janet felt more than a little odd as she walked between the rows of cornstalks, staring at the display screen of her GPS unit. She felt a little lost at one point, not trusting the thing implicitly just yet. It told her that it had a strong fix on its current location with an accuracy of 3 meters or less - ten feet or so - yet she couldn't see a thing. She stopped and listened often. At first, she heard only her own breathing, but then heard other sounds in front of her, someone else's breathing, and it sounded like a bellows in a blacksmith's forge.

She called his name once, and heard no reply so she called using her phone. Jack's voice sounded as though he had a sincere smile going as he told her that she needed a bit more faith in technology, since her unit couldn't possibly be showing her as having arrived yet. She looked at the thing, and saw that she was within 30 meters.

She ended the call, and looking up, she saw a large dog standing twenty feet in front of her. A bit frightened now, she took several steps backward, but the dog turned away and walked off slowly. She began to follow it since she was going that way, but was uneasy. Her sense of unease increased as soon as she'd lost sight of the dog. She thought it even more odd, so she increased her pace.

Looking ahead, Janet saw the dog again, but was determined to meet with Jack, and with no sign of a threat from the huge animal she approached it.

As she came near, the dog turned and it was then that she saw that the animal was trying to lead her. Another minute of this, and she saw Jack sitting on the ground sipping from a Thermos.

He held another out to her with a smile, "It's coffee. Elly made it for you with milk." He indicated a place where she might sit, and so she did, accepting the beverage. The dog took a spot off to the side to sit and watch them.

"Quite an impressive pet," Janet said, "What's his name?"

Jack shrugged, "He's not a pet, really. We just seem to meet his standards for company, so he stays. If he has a name, he hasn't told us, so we don't know. If we address him, we call him Fricai - it means simply, friend."

"But he led me here," she said.

He nodded, "Yes, because I asked him to help you. What did you want to know from me today, Janet?"

She pulled the dollar-store notepad from her pocket, and for the next hour she asked him about Madeleine Dejardin and his memories of their time together. Jack paused often as Janet wrote.

At last, she thanked him, "These notes will be a lot of the basis for the things that I'll set up in the house after it's restored. If we can do this again, I already have some preliminary plans for the park and greenspace. I'd be honored if you'd have a look at the prints I run off. We can mark up any changes that you think might be better so I can take them into account."

He nodded, and asked if she thought she might need the dog to lead her out. Janet didn't think so, but agreed anyway just to see if the dog would really walk with her. They said their goodbyes, Janet asking him to thank Elly for the coffee, and then Jack disappeared into the corn.

When she turned around, she found the animal waiting for her. She guessed that he must weigh over two hundred pounds, yet he carried himself with ease and a fair bit of grace. As she walked, she saw the huge dog pacing her from two rows away. He never got closer or farther away than that until she reached the edge of the cornfield. She stopped and turned to him, "Thanks, um, Rover, or whatever you're called."

The dog only looked at her for a brief moment and then was gone into the corn. Janet had almost reached her car when she realized that Jack had given no command to him to escort her, but that's what he had done, exactly.

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They met on a secluded face of Canadian Shield granite the second time. This time, Jack gave her coordinates near the side of the road and the dog waited for her to get out of her car before showing himself. Again, he led her to Jack and Elly, and they offered her another Thermos of coffee, along with some light, barely sweet small cakes that she'd made. To Janet, they tasted better than the finest pastry that she'd ever had, and she said so.

"They're simple to make, and you can substitute ingredients," Elly said, "Jack says you have a notebook. I'll tell you how to make them, and you can copy it down if you want."

Janet was delighted, and wrote everything down. When she was finished, she looked up, "So these are elven cakes, like from a traditional recipe?"

Elly laughed, "Well, kinda-sorta. Mostly, they're elven cakes 'cause an elf made them.

I was sitting around one day, wishing for the light cakes that my mother used to make. Next day, I was still in the mood for them and was doing my grocery shopping. For once, I looked at the cake mixes, and found one that sounded good, but I didn't want icing or some of the other stuff, and I didn't have a big old kitchen oven.

On the back of the box was a recipe that was something like what I really wanted, so that's what I made - but I switched up things to make it closer to my mom's style. Then I baked it in a pan over the grill on my campsite fire-pit, and you know? It's not quite the same, but for sure I swear it's the next best thing. Been makin' 'em like that ever since."

Janet was a little disappointed, "I was hoping to use the recipe to make samples for the museum or something."

Elly smiled, "Well who says you can't, Janet? It's not like the recipe is copyrighted, and really, if you make it like I told you, it's as close to elven baking as anyone is ever gonna get with the ingredients available. The smaller ingredients of the original, even I don't have anymore. I've been on the road for so long what I had just faded away, got used up or went bad, most of them, and I haven't had time to gather them here.

It tastes almost the same even without them. The real thing is baked on a metal plate over a fire. These are best if you pour into a metal pan and bake them - over a fire. You just go on ahead and call it an elven recipe. That's what it is now."

She winked with a laugh, "I'd bet my mom would like them and once she saw how easy they are to make, she'd probably never go back to her old way. I sure hope we can find her so I get the chance to show her, that's all."

They talked for a while and then Janet unrolled the tentative prints that she'd brought. Jack thought they were fine as Janet had laid it out, and only offered small suggestions now and then.

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When Jack called again, it was with specific instructions to meet with Janet at the offices of an old law firm to conclude the agreement. Though she made frantic calls to her own attorneys and broke a lot of laws in her hurry to get there, she found that he'd been there and gone hours before.

She was provided with digital photographs taken shortly before she'd arrived of the old tattoo on his arm. The member of the legal firm there who had taken the pictures was just finishing up her affidavit which attested to the validity – as far as she and the rest of the firm knew – of everything which had transpired.

Janet was handed the other half of Madeleine's very old sketchbook and several copies of the document which handed her the control of the lands which she had wanted so very badly.

His signature was there – in blood – and there was a separate affidavit, along with photographs which showed him obtaining his blood for the purpose of signing as well as the act of his signing it in great detail.

All that she had to do was to sign the document using her own blood and it was done. Janet wasn't happy about it, but she signed.

By the time that she left with her lawyers, Illmare and Elohan were long gone, her driving as Elohan tried to get used to the idea of finally leaving the place which had held him by his heartstrings for so long.

He sat looking out of the window as the landscape flashed past.

"Does this feel strange?" she asked.

"A little," he said, as he looked behind him, back into the main part of the camper for a moment.

Illmare did the same before turning her eyes back to the road with a soft laugh, "Our large friend there has the best solution for you, Elohan. Do as he does and try to sleep. I will drive and wake you when I stop for gas."

Elohan nodded with a smile and leaned back as he set his hat lower on his head over his eyes.

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**I want to point out a detail which might have been forgotten, since it's been a while since I posted the first two chapters.

Illmare is a type of Wood Elf, and Elohan is a Moon Elf. They are very different between them, though they do seem to get along, don't they? O_o