Around this time in the afternoon, Phanny should already be preparing for tea. Sitting down at the kitchen table as she waited for the kettle to boil. Resting her chin in her hand. Looking out through the window at the blue sky and the glittering Wilder Lake. Dreaming about knights and princesses and the kind of love that breaks curses.
But today, she instead found herself riding on the back of a black horse, staring at a pair of tan, muscled forearms which were draped lazily across her thighs, and a set of strong hands loosely gripping the reins in front of her.
"Alright, there, Burns?" Called Wilder. They were so close, Phanny felt his voice reverberate in his chest.
"Yep!" Burns replied in his seat behind Wilder.
They've been travelling up a mountain path for something like thirty minutes. Going slow to give the horse some room to breathe. Phanny imagined it must be difficult to gallop up a mountain with three people on one's back, no matter that one of them is a dwarf and one of them is Phanny.
Burns had earlier explained to her that his wife, Amelia, and their children, were now hiding out in an old, abandoned watermill by the Whisperrun River. They were to meet back there before travelling northwest of Wilderland to the Draconian border.
A few more minutes and they reached the mill.
Phanny's belly dipped dangerously low as she stared at the old rickety, structure. She barely noticed that everyone else had gotten off the horse until a pair of strong hands encircled her waist and lifted her down. And even then, she could only say a weak thank you, too distracted by the horror of the watermill to fully appreciate Wilder carrying her off the horse like a maiden in a fairytale.
The cabin was simple enough. A small, rectangular building made of dark wood which seemed tall enough to be a two-storey, stood against the backdrop of tall Alder trees. She could see the top of a wooden waterwheel somewhere on the other side of the structure.
From where they stood, Phanny could see only one square window, high above the front door, like a barn. The building looked like it would collapse at any moment, but the icing on the cake was the fact that the entire thing was standing on four stone pillars, raised high above the mouth of Whisperrun River, just where it dropped down to pour into the basin-like White Lake, which, contrary to its name, was a dark, murky, bottomless green.
That wasn't even all of it. Standing up as it did on its stone legs, in the middle of the wide river, they could only get to the door through a sloppily made, zigzagging wooden bridge, which looked like it might be more than ten feet across. Now that the urgency of a drowning cat was gone, the rushing water under that bridge seemed once again terrifying.
Burns, as if he's done it a million times before, and there was absolutely nothing to be afraid of, started walking down the bridge, the wood creaking and groaning and making impossibly scary noises under his feet.
Phanny was waiting to see whether the bridge would melt down into the river, and Burns with it, when Wilder finished setting his horse up at the stables and walked up behind her.
"What is it?" He asked with that half-confused, half-annoyed expression, which Phanny was starting to think, was just what his face normally looked like.
"N-nothing. After you," Phanny said. She stopped herself from nearly asking if she could stay with the horse in what looked like a well-built structure that actually stood on land. It wouldn't do well for her to reveal just how big of a ninny she was, this early on in their acquaintanceship.
"Come on, then, what ye waiting for!" Burns yelled back at them from the middle of the bridge.
With one last, long suspicious look at her, Wilder sighed and started off. Phanny made sure to stay close behind him, gripping tight to the wooden handrails on either side of her.
Halfway through, her toe got caught in a gap between the floorboards throwing her off balance. She felt herself tip forward in slow motion and she screamed, wildly grabbing onto Wilder's black cloak to save herself.
The man yelped in surprise. Though, to his credit, he budged only a little, mostly standing his ground like a great wall.
"Oy! What in the bloody hell is going on over there?" Phanny heard Burns's voice call out.
"Nothing! I just tripped a little." Phanny called back, dusting herself off and standing back up, trying to look as casual as possible so no one would notice her trembling.
Wilder threw a mean look at her over his shoulder.
"Sorry about that." She smiled sheepishly.
"Are you, perhaps, afraid of heights?" he asked.
Did that sound less idiotic than the truth?
"Yes?" she said.
He raised one eyebrow, unconvinced, but thankfully decided to let it go for now and moved on.
"Amelia!" Burns banged on the door.
In a second, it opened to reveal a pretty dwarf maiden in a brown, linen dress and apron, auburn hair done up in a practical bun, and a charming arrangement of freckles across her nose and cheeks.
"I was wondering what the ruckus was about out here," she chuckled, crinkles forming in the corners of her eyes. "Thank the gods you're back safe." She sighed, holding Burns's bearded face in her fair hands.
"And Bastan!" She shot Wilder a warm smile from where he and Phanny stood, a few paces behind Burns. "Thank you for bringing him back to us."
"'Course, Amelia." Wilder grumbled.
"Oh!" Amelia's green eyes brightened. "And who is this pretty thing?" She turned her smile to Phanny, crinkles and all, making the young girl feel all of a sudden shy.
"Later, dear. Best get in first, all of us," said Burns, waving everyone in through the door.
"Right, of course. This way, everyone," said Amelia, moving back into the cabin.
It was not much better inside than outside. The dark floorboards were bare, not a warm rug in sight, and Phanny swore she could see the river rushing past in the narrow gaps between them, which of course, was the first thing she noticed.
They had entered a small square, room, with a threadbare cot pushed against the wall to the right. The furniture seemed a little larger than usual to Phanny, like it was built for an ogre, or a troll. From the left, bright, late afternoon light came in through another door. Phanny didn't see it from outside, but it opened to a small terrace facing the White Lake. There was a fireplace in a corner, and another room through a door to the back, which must be the kitchen. Phanny thought she could see a cooking fire glowing faintly from within.
"Papa!" a dwarf boy, of around eight, with bright orange hair, ran from the kitchen to launch himself at Burns. Followed by a girl who looked like his identical twin.
"Rufus, Rowan," said Burns, kissing the tops of their heads by turn.
"Oh, it's Bash!" squealed the girl, untangling herself from her father's arms to spring at the other man, who caught her effortlessly in midair and swung her up, settling her on his shoulders. Giggles showered the room.
"Look at me, I'm a giant!" She announced to the rest of them, swinging her legs wildly and grabbing onto unruly black curls.
"Easy, kid," he said. The gentle way his deep voice whispered the words seemed to send a ghostlike caress through Phanny's skin. Which was silly, she told herself.
"You're all just in time for supper," said Amelia, leading the group into the kitchen. "Aileen, how's the soup?"
"Ready," answered a young girl, around fifteen, who was standing on a stool, stirring something in a metal pot over the cooking fire.
Another boy, of thirteen perhaps, sat at the dinner table, holding a little baby in his arms. He had the same dark skin and dark hair as Burns.
"Welcome back, Pa," said the boy as Burns took the baby from his arms.
"Hullo there, little Ariana. How's me angel doing this fine evening?" He rocked and cooed at the baby as the table was laid with mismatched, plates, bowls, and other utensils.
Phanny helped bring over a bowl of hard bread, and Wilder heaved the pot of soup onto the middle of the wooden table.
"Sit over here, miss, there you go," Amelia said, as the children found their seats all around in a flurry of cheerful chatter.
Phanny sat on a wooden bench on one side of the table, next to Wilder, with little Rowan between them. She was sitting on a little step stool on top of the bench to reach the table. Phanny realized they must all have placed step stools on top of their seats.
Burns sat at the head of the table, with Wilder to his right. Amelia sat on the other end, next to Phanny. Across the table from her, sat the other three children. Only Wilder looked completely at ease among the large furniture. Even Phanny was feeling a little bit drowned in them.
"So, what's your name, miss? And how'd you end up with these two troublemakers?" Amelia smiled conspiratorially at Phanny, as she ladled some soup into Phanny's bowl and her own.
At the question, the chatter slowly died down around them, the full force of everyone's attention hitting Phanny. It was a strange, uncomfortable sensation.
At mealtimes, she had grown used to being treated like furniture, or in the case of Mr. Boone's frequent visits, like a pair of breasts. A memory, bright, and golden, bubbled up to the surface of her mind, of her and mama laughing, having dinner outside by the lake.
"I- My- um⦠My family calls me Phanny. With a P-H not an F. It's short for Nymphana. Nice. From Wilderwhile." She blushed, what was she blathering on about? "My stepmother and stepsisters were trying to sell me to the Imperial Guards, but I escaped. And met Wilder and Burns in the woods."
She looked around the table at blank, gaping faces. Did she forget something? Oh, right!
"We found out yesterday that I'm a mermaid- Oh, but I grow legs out of water." She was finding out that last bit's really important information.
"That's monstrous!" Amelia exclaimed, making Phanny jump in her seat.
"Oh, not the part about you being a mermaid, dear. That part's just fine. I meant, the part where your family tried to sell you to the guards!" Amelia looked genuinely put out, shaking her head in disbelief.
"It's only because they were getting desperate." Phanny was quick to say. Somehow, it didn't feel right that these strangers should think badly about Mother and the twins. "We had no more money, and the twins were running out of gowns and jewels to sell. And no one wanted to marry poor Mr. Boone. Which I understand. Prissy's right. He is revolting. But they're usually kind enough when they aren't worried over those things."
"For how much?" asked Burns, still carrying the baby in his arms.
"Burns!" scolded Amelia.
"What?" He shot an innocent look at his wife.
"It was, um, 500 gold."
"Devil's buttocks! 500!" Burns exclaimed, causing the children to snigger and Amelia to give him a dark look.
"Well, one thing's for sure," said he, chuckling, "They'll be 'ππππ ππππ’πβ' a good long while."
Don't be so sure, thought Phanny, guiltily turning her attention to her soup. She was relieved to hear the chatter around her slowly come back to life. The older girl, Aileen, was arguing with the older boy about whether she was able to pack his pick axe, or some such thing, and the ginger-haired twins, Rufus and Rowan, resumed questioning their papa about how the "great fey heist" went. Wilder sat grimly, with his head bowed over his meal, not seeming to mind anyone else.
Amelia, on her part, couldn't help feeling suddenly protective over the anxious young girl, and laid a gentle hand on her wrist, over the sleeve of her dress.
"Oh my, I hadn't noticed dear, but your dress is a little damp." Amelia's concern was starting to make Phanny more nervous, and she rushed to assure the kind woman.
"It's alright, it's dried most of the way now. I'm quite comfortable."
"I haven't anything that'd fit you, I'm afraid. But I'll help you dry it up over the fire later, don't you worry." Amelia winked at her, conspiratorially again, making her feel like they were friends.
Phanny smiled gratefully in response.
"So where in Wilder were you all from?" She asked, feeling brave enough to try making light conversation.
"Oh, just over at Wenwick," said Amelia.
"Near the Hallowstone estate? Did you ever get to see the duke? I heard his sons were handsome. My stepsisters went to a ball there once, wouldn't stop talking about it." She looked up to see no one was paying attention, everyone was staring intently at their plates. Did she say something to make them uncomfortable?
"Earlier I heard you were selling Mr. Wilder to the Duke's guards." She said, craning her neck towards Burns, who was just about to take a bite out of his bread.
"Burns! You didn't!" Amelia gave him another look, darker than before. Phanny guessed they'd probably be having a long private discussion later.
"Why are they after you? Did you steal from them or something?" This she addressed to Wilder, who, for the first time during supper, slowly raised his head to look at her.
"Yeah, something like that," he said, gray eyes steady and unreadable. It was her turn to be unconvinced. She was sure there was more to that story.