Local-news.ca is thrilled to present part four of Mia Greene’s serial novel, titled Party of Misfits. In a nod to the literary traditions of the Victorian era, where renowned authors like Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins captivated readers with serialized narratives, we bring you a modern twist on this classic form. Our talented writer Mia is a Burlington high school student and one of last year’s Burlington Public Library short story contest winners. Set in the contemporary world, Mia’s monthly installments of Party of Misfits will whisk you away into an enchanted fantasy realm. Join us on this literary adventure as we unfold the pages of Party of Misfits exclusively on Local-news.ca, where tradition meets the digital age, and storytelling takes on a whole new dimension.
To start from the beginning, read Part 1 of Party of Misfits: click here. For the previous installment, Part 5, click here.
Party of Misfits: Part 6
Letters from Peri
“Off to see the twins!”
Thalia had been up for the past thirty minutes, prancing gleefully around the kitchen as she brewed a pot of tea and sliced two pieces of cherry pie for breakfast.
“Off to see the twins!” Her voice rang out once more.
I think she’s excited to see the twins. Aarwyn thought to herself, smiling as she finally rose from the couch. Who the twins were, she had no idea, but Thalia’s excitement for the day ahead was infectious, and it pulled her out of her slumber — or maybe it was the scent of fresh tart cherries in the burrow that woke her up.
“Who are the twins?” Aarwyn inquired, taking a seat at the oak wood table with little carvings of flowers in the chair backs.
“Why, only some of my best friends in the Hollow,” Thalia grinned, placing two plates of oozing cherry pie and steaming tea in front of them. “The tinker twins, they’re called.”
Aarwyn raised her eyebrows in question at the funny nickname as Thalia sat across from her, digging into the slice of pie. “They’re tinker pixies — always tinkering with their hammers and crafting something new out of wood or stone or gems.”
“The ones with the goggles and pebble crowns?” Aarwyn asked, recalling the walk to Mother Mab’s house and the variety of pixies she had seen, while she marveled at the pie’s flavour.
“Precisely,” Thalia’s smile sparkled. “And they have some new information regarding Elme Alora.”
She said that last part a bit hesitantly, her typically bubbly persona faltering just the slightest bit. Aarwyn frowned, despite her eagerness at the opportunity for new information, opening her mouth to say something, but Thalia urged her to finish her pie before she could, chirping about the lovely weather as a not-so-subtle topic switch.
After their breakfast, Thalia led them out the door and into the morning bustle of the Hollow. Pixies of all kinds were merrily engaged in conversation, giggling as they completed their respective tasks. They walked past a vibrant garden bursting with the full rainbow of flowers, reaching a stone hut with wood letters spelling out “Workshop” nailed above the open archway. The sounds of hammers hitting nails grew louder as they approached. Aarwyn’s eyes soon landed upon two tinker pixies with the same silver hair and brown leather boots, their goggles fixed over their eyes.
“Hi, boys!” The male pixies looked up at Thalia at the same time, both breaking into soft smiles. When they removed their steampunk-esque goggles and came over to greet her, Aarwyn noticed their identical features.
“Brought something for us to fix up now, Thalia?” The one on the left said, dusting his hands on his pants.
“Not exactly…” Thalia replied, turning to gesture to Aarwyn’s presence. “I want you boys to meet my friend, Aarwyn.”
Aarwyn gave a little wave, feeling awkward at first, but the tension in her shoulders loosened as they both waved back kindly.
“Aarwyn, this is Huck,” Thalia’s arm pointed in the direction of the twin on the left, “And this is Hatcher,” before gesturing to the twin on the right.
The left twin — Huck — nodded. “Pleasure to meet you.”
Aarwyn noticed that despite their copy-and-paste facial features, Huck had a scar above his bushy eyebrows, while Hatcher didn’t. She held onto that difference, hoping not to mix them up in any coming conversations.
“Aarwyn has come from the mortal world,” Thalia explained to them. “Meenah and I took her to visit Mother Mab yesterday evening, and we told her of the long-lost elf princess.”
Huck and Hatcher’s eyes widened simultaneously, at the mention of her being a human, or the fact that she knew about the princess, Aarwyn couldn’t tell.
“I was wondering if you two would be willing to share with her the recent updates from Peri.”
Huck visibly stiffened at Thalia’s request, and his brother stepped closer.
“Thalia, the information Peri wrote to us about…” Hatcher hesitated, “It’s highly classified. She could get in trouble if any elves were to become aware of the fact that us pixies have received first-hand details regarding their…plans.” His hands made an aimless gesture in the air at that last word.
Aarwyn sensed his concern, but also that it was not wholly concern for Peri, whoever that was. She sensed that what he was really trying to communicate to Thalia was “How are you sure we can trust a mortal?” She didn’t blame him for that worry, but she did want to earn the trust of the tinker twins. She stepped forward.
“Listen,” Aarwyn requested. “I know you guys don’t know me, but I promise that whatever it is you decide to share with me, if anything at all, I won’t tell anybody else. I only wish to learn more about Elme Alora and the princess because I’ve been filled in on the possibility of Prince Zaos being unfit to rule, and I’d like to help in any way that I can.” All the fae she’d encountered so far had been beyond kind in inviting her here into their world, providing her a place to stay, making her feel comfortable and wanted. Not only did she want to repay them for such kindness, but this mystery was like an itch in an area she could not reach to scratch. She wanted to figure out what happened, and what could be done to ensure that whenever she did end up leaving Eyuviell, she would leave knowing the pixies were safe.
“We can trust her.” Thalia added, “If Eyuviell had deemed her presence unworthy, she wouldn’t be here now, would she?”
She spoke of Eyuviell as if it were a being of sorts, a deity that had permitted Aarwyn’s entry into the sacred space of the fae — and perhaps that’s exactly what it was to them, Aarwyn realized.
The twins shared a glance before Hatcher spoke. “Very well. Come, sit, the both of you.”
He led Aarwyn and Thalia to the worktable, gathering strewn pieces of leather and metals into his muscled arms and shoving them aside, putting his and Huck’s tinkering to a halt for the time being.
“What were you working on just now?” Aarwyn politely asked.
Huck grinned, evidently the more laid-back of the twins. “Would you like to see?”
He proceeded to grab a thin-walled wooden bucket from the table’s corner at Aarwyn’s nod, a hole in its body like someone had chewed right through it. Aarwyn, intrigued, watched as Huck held up a scrap piece of wood and covered up the hole, holding the wood in place. Aarwyn’s mouth opened in shock as the wood began to bend under Huck’s touch, molding perfectly to replace the missing piece of bucket wall where there had previously been a gaping hole. Another wave of his hand, and the wood’s finish matched the one of the bucket, little sparkling dust particles emerging from the centre of his palm.
Both Huck and Hatcher smirked at Aarwyn’s obvious astonishment. She was aware the pixies had powers — Thalia had mentioned it before, after all — but seeing the powers of the tinker pixies in action was incredible.
“Now our neighbour Mr. Reed will have his rainwater collection bucket returned to him as good as new,” Huck said, pride glowing on his face.
Once Aarwyn’s surprise had faded, the four of them sat on the stools around the table as Hatcher gathered a manilla envelope sitting atop a stack of other similar envelopes, both of the twin’s names scrawled across its backside in a rushed manner.
“This letter is from our friend Peri,” Hatcher started. “She lives in the palace in Elme Alora, a servant to the high fae and royal elf family. She was forcibly taken there a little over three months ago, and she’s been sending us letters in secret.”
Aarwyn’s eyebrows furrowed in concern. “The elves came here and just…took her?”
“Yes, unfortunately, though nobody in the Hollow saw it happen. We believe a group of elves
came and gathered her in the night.”
“Why? Do the elves not have enough servants?”
“They wanted Peri for her abilities,” Thalia cut in. “She is a woodland pixie, gifted in the power of wood manipulation and highly knowledgeable in a variety of medical herbs within Eyuviell’s forests — not solely those that grow in Pasella.”
Hatcher nodded. “It’s likely that the elves desired someone who could find medicinal herbs for them, perhaps specific ones that didn’t interfere with their immortality. Whatever the reason, they took her, and she’s been serving them ever since, mailing us letters of her experience. The latest one,” he frowned, “warns of incoming danger.”
Aarwyn took in a sharp breath, meeting the twins’ serious eyes separately as Huck — all silliness and smiles missing — opened the envelope and slid the paper within it across to her.
Not knowing quite what to expect, Aarwyn unfolded the paper with creases that showed it had been folded over and over as if the twins had read it multiple times and began to read the rushed handwriting belonging to Peri.
“Dear Huck and Hatcher,
As I say in all these letters, I miss you two tinker twins. I miss waking up at home to the sounds of the birds and the rest of the Hollow preparing for the day ahead. I miss Mother Mab’s gingersnap cookie deliveries and sweet Nilla. I miss going into the forest with my fellow woodlands and gathering wood for our Kingdom. I miss everything, but that is not why I am writing to you, and I don’t have much time.
Serving the high fae is nothing short of walking on eggshells. One simple mistake and the displeasure is written all over their beautiful, flawless faces. They’ve been using me for my powers, making me reconstruct the molding of certain woods and checking the daily health of Elme Alora. I am to gather food for them from the forests every day, vegetables and fruits and herbs, and prepare meals for them.
There was one night in particular, no more than a day or two ago, where I was bringing out platters to the royal family for dinner, and when I returned to the kitchen for cleanup once the meal was over and they had retired for the night, I saw two men in hushed discussion in the hall outside the kitchen. It was Prince Zaos, and his father, Orym Beimaris. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but how was I to be at fault for their poor decision to discuss right outside the walls of the kitchen?
I overheard them converse about their plans for when Zaos becomes King, one of which involves the removal of about two hundred acres of Pasella’s land for the expansion of Elme Alora’s army training lands. My heart stopped at that moment, at the mention of our land we work so hard to take care of being taken away from us. It is clear to me Prince Zaos must not sit atop that throne, for our sake, and for the sake of all other kingdoms in Eyuviell. I wish they had said more, revealed something that could be solid proof of reason to protest, but their voices lowered and I was instructed to gather firewood for the evening round of drinks in the seating room.
I feel stuck, unable to do anything here, and with all the pixies in danger, something I should not even know. I am sharing it with you boys because I trust you to find help.
I believe this may have to be my last letter, for last month, when I had mailed my previous letter, I was almost caught in the act. But this one had to be sent. If there is any other valuable information, I put Pasella at risk by sharing it—technically speaking, I already have. I trust that you boys, my friends, will do what you can with the little information I’ve given you to help save our Kingdom.
Once more, I miss you both. Please give everyone a kiss for me.
Yours,
Peri“
Aarwyn’s first observation after finishing the letter was that not once did Peri ask for Huck and Hatcher to save her, but rather she urged them to save Pasella.
“War isn’t a threat in Eyuviell,” Hatcher stated suddenly, catching Aarwyn’s attention. “Peri mentioned that Prince Zaos wishes to take Pasella’s land and put it in Elme Alora, to expand Elme Alora’s landmass for their army training forces, but why would Elme Alora need to do such a thing, if war has never been a threat?”
Aarwyn chewed on her lower lip, pondering. “It could be a cover-up for a different plan. He says he wants to use it for the expansion of their forces, but maybe he desires the land for something else entirely. Something he plans to initiate once he legally has the power, once he is physically on that throne.”
“Whatever the reason, we mustn’t let him take away our land,” Thalia expressed heatedly.
The four of them nodded and hummed in agreement, then falling into silence as the pixies — and Aarwyn — took in the gravity of the situation.
“They can’t take away our land,” Huck whispered, visibly distraught, as he must have been upon each reading of that much-creased letter. “And they can’t keep Peri as their servant in the palace.”
A flame of anger burned Aarwyn’s skin, taunting her as she met Huck’s helpless eyes.
“Then we won’t let them.”
