Chapter IV
Incident At Foxtrot Square

The results came in the next morning, Maude won, Phil lost. The results were a fifty fifty split, with one vote breaking the tie.
The mountains had served them well as monolithic guardians from the outside world, but it was just as easy getting into the town as it was travelling out, that being not easily at all. A person would have to scale the snowy cliffs through specialized gear which could support the weight of a body ascending the steep vertical edges, or one could travel to the east side of the valley where a large alcove had burst through the side of the mountains and created a winding cave path which emerged at the central axis of the valley. It was cold and damp either way, but traversing the land was no trouble for the glass fairy who could simply float above the clouds and gracefully descend into the valley without any extended effort. 

Deliberating the appointment was no easy task, but she had a few chosen candidates in mind who she wanted to pass by any member of the community willing to sit down with a cup of coffee for an hour to deliberate the town’s agenda. She had extended a written invitation to Phil and delivered it to his mailbox, believing that any continuance of their burgeoning political rivalry would be petty and counterintuitive to achieving their shared goals. Phil did not reply back. With no other option Maude wanted to turn to Enya for an ear but she had left town the day after the election, taking the Piccadilly Junction down to the coast where she could trade with some of the tribal boys for a couple nice furs. With no other option in mind, the glass fairy decided to visit the cabin of the old sheep in the hills with the hope of making amends.

The wooden steps were too rickety to trust them with her weight, and so she flew over the hill, floating just beyond the porch and planting herself on a nearby Sakura. The surrounding area was devoid of all signs of life, the curtains were drawn, the door was locked, the rocking chair swayed back and forth with the current of the wind. When she floated down to the front door, she couldn’t help but notice a dim light in a nearby window, and that drew her attention towards the dining room where she heard the faint clattering of silverware against ceramic. 

“Aphelios, you in there?” she knocked at the door, and the clattering paused for a brief moment. She raised her fist to knock again but her manners activated and forced her to hesitate. Looking into the window, she could see the movement of a dark silhouette and decided to disregard her overactive manners “I came for your help, but if you’re in the middle of lunch I can scram and come back another time!” She shouted. There was another pause, and then to the glass fairy’s surprise, a flannel patterned arm emerged from the curtains and opened the window a crack.

“What do you want?” he bleated from behind the curtain. She couldn’t distinguish any of his features beyond the icon silhouette, but she could feel his looming eyes examining her person.

“Well I just happened to be in the neighborhood and…” her excuses trailed off, “well I guess I just wanted to say… I’m sorry. I know our last interaction wasn’t exactly peachy, and you may now hold some… conceptions about me that you didn’t have before that debate.”

“I’ve made some calculated judgments based on what I saw with my own eyes, is that so wrong Ms. Orchid?”

“No, but I don’t necessarily think it’s fair to judge me based on the person I present on a public forum,” she stopped herself, searching for the right words which would put his conscience at ease under her spel.l “That is to say I’m a messy public speaker, and sometimes I say things that I don’t mean or can be taken in the wrong way. I never meant to demote you or Philly.” 

“Well you certainly did. You make it look easy.” He sighed in resignation, “That debate cost him the election you know.” Maude ingested these words and couldn’t help but feel a tinge of dissonance.

“That’s not true,” she calmly stated before her head caught up with her. “What I mean to say is- Well let’s be honest, Phil was already struggling to gain any momentum until I came in and gave people a reason to vote against me, and you know that I looked like a complete ass trying to double down on what I said. That’s why you spoke up in the first place, right?”

“I suppose I can’t deny that. You’ve certainly made a name for yourself as the lesser of two evils. But whose idea was it to have a debate anyways?”

“Mine! I know, I did it all for ego and I brought this upon myself. Everyone knows I’m a condescending know-it-all who can’t keep her mouth shut, story of my life! But I won the election anyway and I just can’t bring myself to care about the humiliation of all the stonewalling and sideways glances. Aphelios, I just want to talk.”

“Yea that was pretty humiliating for you wasn’t it,” he chortled. “I really didn’t think you had so much anger in you.”

“That’s just the amount of passion I have for this place. That’s just what I came to talk to you about today, improving this town,” Maude clutched her purse as Aphelios went quiet before he pulled open the curtains and let some light into his home.

“Then let’s talk.” Aphelios unlocked the door and let the glass fairy inside his home. The place had the slightly sweet smell of an old oxidized antique store, the empty parlor merged into the common area where he had placed some worn down sofas where it seemed he had nowhere else to put them. She sat on the couch and couldn’t help but notice the loaded crossbow sitting next to a hot cup of black coffee in a breakfast nook, illuminated by one long, burning candle. The walls were lined with taxidermy of some beastly pigs from a taxonomy which she couldn’t identify as belonging to any terrestrial pig she had seen before. She thought it best not to question them, but rather press on the issue of essential infrastructure which the carpenter was eager to discuss. Maude found it essential that they build a community schoolhouse despite any pushback she got about the necessity of such a project. The carpenter relayed the plans Phil had made prior to his defeat for a proper post office, and although she found it to be a redundant idea, the two of them came to compromise and decided to build both the schoolhouse and the post office, of course sparing no expense. By the end of the day Aphelios had pulled out large sheets of newsprint and began drafting concepts based on their ideas, and Maude simply sat and acted as an observant muse. She was delighted by people who knew how to draw, especially draftsmen like the carpenter who understood how to translate volumetric reality into simple lines and shapes.

“This is all terribly good work, you sure you don’t want to join my side as an advisor?” she mused in the moment.

“Pay me a salary?”

“Um. No.”

“Then I must politely decline. I’m happy to advise you on a personal basis but I’m not suited to government, I could never see myself becoming one of those bloodsucking bureaucrats.” He looked up from his drawing, “no offense,” he rolled his eyes disingenuously.

“None taken,” she said out of an impulse of politeness, “but if you ever change your mind the offer’s always there. We’ve gotten so much done today I don’t know how I could’ve done it without you.”

“Well I’m glad that I could be of some use, although I think we’ve rather bitten off more than we can chew here” he rolled up the papers and stored them in a long tube before handing the plans off to the glass fairy. “If it’s within the budget I can help with the construction at a negotiable rate, and I know some associates who would be willing to work on an IOU basis.”

“That would be perfect, when can you begin?”

“I can start the day after tomorrow, but I’ll have to negotiate schedules with the crew. Understand that it’s going to take a lot of time and money to develop this town.”

“I know that, you think I can’t handle a little hard work?” she teased, nudging him in a way which caused him to physically retreat. He stood up from his seat and walked towards the breakfast nook.

“You’re certainly ambitious.” He poured his stale coffee out the window, noticing the sun taking a header over the horizon. The glass fairy grabbed her heavy purse and wooden scepter, prompting Aphelios to dash to the other side of the cabin so that he could hold the door open for her. Outside the two said their goodbyes, Maude went for a hug which made Aphelios pause in hesitation. He gave in and leaned down to embrace her, giving the little lady a light pat on the back which reassured her. After she floated away, the old man put on his wool cap and headed out towards the northern mountains to visit the blacksmith’s towering den.

❖❖❖

 

It was a warm, sunny afternoon in the valley when the time had come for the carpenter to submit his plans to the town hall for their official consideration at the next meeting. The blacksmith mingled with members of the morning congregation outside the temple as the priest’s loyal deacon Arledge swept the floors of all the muddy footprints which the mob had dragged in. All became quiet as the mass dispersed and the village retired, flocking to their cabins for coffee, a midday nap, studying books borrowed from the catacombs. 

The blacksmith borrowed more than his share, and between him and the priest, they were a library of their own. Brutus had an assortment of scripture, novels, and ancient texts imported from his family’s castle in the old country which stretched back centuries into the middle ages. Artos never fancied himself a reader before, but what he personally lacked in literature he made up for in instruction manuals, phone books, and war history in five different languages, his true loves. But on Mondays, when he wasn’t permitted to indulge himself in work, his weekly pilgrimage brought him to the catacombs to read about worlds beyond his own realm, and he was glad for it, and Brutus was glad someone would read those crusty old texts. In their tradition, Monday had been set aside for something greater than work, aside from those who were more devoted to their work than anything.

Aphelios was preparing an assortment of old scrolls that he felt anxious to present to his neighbors and strangers. The attention was dreadful, especially on such a public stage, but he couldn’t help but revel when he received an opportunity to demonstrate his skilled draftsmanship. He felt a sense of decency in the work which he had done for this dreadful old backwater valley, he felt pleasure in knowing he was one of those lucky few who actually enjoy the work that they do, and that his abilities could be put to use for something that would bring value to the lives of all the people who live near his cabin. That morning in the mirror he had tucked away his assortment of documents into a cylindrical portfolio which he sealed with a wooden cap he carved himself, which didn’t match the color of the original, but it made no difference to him. Aphelios was preoccupied with his attire, which was typically defined by a stagnant flannel covered style, but that morning he couldn’t help but notice a sporting bow tie dangling from the hooks of his tie hanger. It was red with white polka dots, but he rarely wore ties unless he was invited to a party, so he couldn’t even recall where he had even gotten a tie hanger. Nonetheless he was filled with a renewed morning spirit and tied a bowtie around his neck, fastening the button atop his collar.  

He grabbed his cane and a hat made of wool from the wooden rack, and he stepped out onto his balcony where he could hear the birds sing as he watched a couple dip through the sky. With shaky legs, he made his way down the old rickety stairs as he held onto the rocks for support. At the bottom of the porch he hadn’t paid enough attention to where he was placing his cane and so his foot slipped, tripping the old man backwards onto the steps below with a loud crash. Inconvenienced and annoyed, he hadn’t registered the pain in his back, but he was furious at his own impairment.

“Damn it,” he muttered to himself, placing a hand on his knee in an attempt to rise back up, only for his knees to buckle and cement him onto the stairs. He sighed before he noticed the approaching shadow. The witch next door appeared above him as if summoned.

“Oh my word, are you okay?” She stretched out both arms, blocking out the rising sun with her gallant silhouette, it shone through her flowing yellow ochre dress which made the sunlight warmer on Aphelios’ face. 

“Yes I’m quite alright, thank you” he politely dismissed her with buckling knees as he once again tried to rise on his own, only to fall on his own ass in front of the neighbor. He sighed with exasperation, but withheld any further protest as to not make anymore of an ass of himself.

“Are you sure? That was quite the tumble,” she offered her hand before Aphelios begrudgingly took it. “1… 2… 3!” she yanked him off the ground and launched him onto his feet. She held him steady by the shoulders as he regained his composure.

“Thank you… Who are you?”

“Oh! I live just down the street, I’m Enya and I own the Foxtrot Bakery. I was just walking home from a friend’s house and saw you take that fall” she spoke quicker than Aphelios could catch up with the words, as he was more preoccupied studying her familiar face.

“I appreciate you coming to help me,” he couldn’t think of much else to say. “Do you come around here often?”

“What?” Enya was confused and so was Aphelios it seemed.

“Oh I mean do you live here or do you have staff that takes care of things? Labor comes cheap in these parts,” he rationalized.

“I live here. I don’t mean to be rude but did you bump your head on the way down?” 

“I may have hit my head on the way down, but I feel much better now”

“Well anyways, I’m headed that way,” she pointed behind herself at a stretch of colonized hills which looked to be stacked atop one another from a distance, “you sure you don’t want me to take you to the doctor or anything? Maude tells me we have a good doc just up the road,” she redirected her finger to the western fjords.

“I’m quite alright, but thank you,” the old man said as he stumbled forward, grunting with each step in increasing frustration, until the weight was suddenly lifted off his right hoof as Enya held his shoulder steady. 

“No, that’s not happening,” she smiled at him with assurance, “let’s get you where you need to go.” The man capitulated and no more words were exchanged, outside of the occasional pleasantries of “I’m sorry” and “you’re alright.” The two trudged toward the post office at a snail’s pace but the valley was small enough and steep enough that from the lowly center, all the buildings seemed to stack atop one another, so the distance didn’t seem so great. Nonetheless, Aphelios was anxious to get to the post office and wave away the opportunity found in his new friend, the silence between them weighed on his conscience. He opened his mouth to say something, but he decided that if she wanted to converse, it must be her responsibility to say something, and thus he rationalized that the onus was not on him. When the two stumbled across a tent just below Sebastian’s house, Aphelios realized his trek was only halfway through, and he would have to stew in his inability to produce language for much longer than anticipated. Unpliable in his rationale, the two listened to the sounds of nature before their morning constitutional came to an abrupt end. 

As they turned the corner into the post office, Enya witnessed a gentleman in overalls donning the skull of a deer, a stetson hat, and facial markings stained with offal blood. In that moment she glanced at her new friend whose eyes were unfathomably wide, he looked like the cranky old miser staring down his headstone. The first shot had just grazed Enya before she realized what happened, within an instant the man drew his crossbow and fired three shots, one into the ground, one in the carpenter’s ribcage and one in his only working leg. 

The carpenter instantly went limp and fell to Gaia.

Author’s Notes

N/A