IX

In the morning, Elanor woke up not from the knock on her door, but from Lumi licking her face and nudging her on the shoulder with his nose. She opened her eyes and looked around the room, noticing now that it was quite luxurious. There was a bathroom with a tub, magically or just very sneakily filled with hot water, towels, brushes, and herbal-smelling soaps. 

In the bedroom, a simple breakfast was set up on a coffee table next to the window, and Elanor, of course, offered it to her dog, who was very happy about it. It consisted of some grains, probably porridge, cheese, and what could have been milk in a wooden bowl. 

She took a bath, combed her hair, braided it out of the way, and ate one of her energy bars. She was about to pour some of the remaining water into the travel mug Talvi handed her last night, which she grabbed from the table when they were leaving to go upstairs. To her surprise, the mug filled with tea as soon as she looked inside it. 

Gods! It's enchanted as well! Should I return it to Talvi? He's been nice to me, but who knows what his true motive is. I need to find a way back for me and Lumi, and the mug would ensure that I don't die of thirst when I finish my water. Who knows how long this "favour" will take to fulfill? 

She felt guilty, but enjoyed the hot tea and decided to keep the mug secret for now. She put her hand in the magick pocket, and this time she found there a wet cell phone, useless, of course, in this foreign world. It did not turn on, and she decided to present it to Talvi later, as anything else that would be found there and otherwise thrown away. 

Finally, she heard a knock and hurried to open the doors, greeted by her elven acquaintance already leaning against the frame. His arm was propped in the doorway just above his head. Elanor tried not to roll her eyes at the fact that it looked like he was rehearsing to find the most dashing pose. She tried as well to ignore how fun it felt to be the target of his charms.

"Ah, the little Lark is awake," said Talvi. "Good morning, Lumi!"

Lumi wagged his tail and woofed. Elanor picked up her backpack and scanned the room for any forgotten items. Assured that she is ready to go, she joined her companion at the doors, and they walked downstairs to the tavern hall. The music was not as loud, and a couple of dancers still remained, but it was less crowded than in the evening. Talvi led them further away, to sit in a more private area, and a fae with cat features brought him a plate with a single blackberry the size of a quail. He poured some honey on it and started eating. 

"So, how can I help you with your business?" asked Elanor. She politely declined his offer to be treated to some breakfast as well.

"There is a powerful healer in the Seelie Court. He deals with both injury and magick. I have a nasty sickness, don't worry, nothing contagious that I want to be healed from."

"You don't want him to know about the origin of your illness?"

"I don't," he nodded. "I would like this visit to be as incognito as possible. I travel a lot as a merchant, and plenty of folks know me. I have a reputation, if I can say so. Showing up as myself will cause him to host us with unnecessary ceremony. Fae are very attached to their noble protocols."

"I see. Well, Anyone should be given an opportunity to have a discreet and private doctor's appointment. So what should I do?"

"We shall go as a married couple, and I will keep complete silence. You tell the healer I was cursed and lost my voice. Ask him to remove my curse, and if everything goes well, this shall greatly improve my position," said Talvi, as if this were something completely mundane. 

"Are you cursed?" asked Elanor, suspiciously. At that, Talvi opened his mouth to reply, but no sounds came out. He attempted a couple more times and leaned back into his seat with frustration. "Wait, let me guess... You are cursed, but unable to speak of it, which is a very common thing in folklore."

Talvi's eyes widened in shock. He charged forward and grabbed Elanor's palm with his ice-cold hands, squeezing it gently and visibly trying, but failing to communicate, to even move his head. Then she must have guessed correctly, it looked like he was attempting to nod, but the curse would not let him do even that.

"I see now how I can be of help. I need to ask you some things to make sure you are not using me for anything evil, though," said Elanor, looking at his tan hands, adorned with many rings with all sorts of gemstones that rang melodically when he would move his fingers in a way that made them clack onto each other. 

"Ask away. That is a fair request," agreed Talvi and softened his hold of her hand, but did not let it go. After a few long seconds, Elanor slowly slipped her hand from his, trying to make it look like she needed to scratch her brow and fix her hair. She could not deny that there was some chemistry between them, but it was not her first experience with a flirt to assume there was anything special in it. Most likely, he treats everyone like that, and it is indeed fun to have a banter buddy. Playing along was one thing, feeding delusions that a guy as handsome as Apollo, whom she met yesterday in a different world has experienced love at first sight with her, quite the other. 

Be honest with yourself, Elanor. This could only be the case if his curse is exclusively falling for unattainable people, in which case, he will be cured of it soon anyway.

"You're not planning to hurt me?" she started awkwardly, because she needed to check, but could not come up with a less juvenile way to word it.

"No," he said simply.

She took a long time to come up with the next question, trying to outplay the faery in the game they all must be experts at, which is answering technical truth if the question allowed room for interpretation.

Asking whether my help will cause anyone harm is pointless because there is no way of knowing the future like that. Asking if he plans to harm anyone is not really my business; I am not here to parent or police adult elven men. I only wish to know that my help will not bring anyone suffering. If I ask whether his intentions are evil, he might answer "no" simply because his definition of evil is different.

"If I manage to help you, do you mean to bring harm to any innocent people?"