GIDEON built the animal pen. Not with the help of Fairy Godmother’s magic, but with assistance from Mister Dragon. He rambled on and on about reasons that were hard to understand like, “a horse is the same as gold to a knight.” Now a goat lives there. Inside the pen is a big yellow horsey and a little light-brown goat. It’s warm being inside with them. I sit on a small wooden stool and milk our goat. We don’t need too much. A cup’s worth is good.
“Thanks, Daisy.”
“Meeheh!” I’m lightly scratching the base of her horns when she rubs against me—
Someone’s watching me. I feel eyes on me. It feels like somebody is waiting in anticipation.
“Kyawawawa. Kyawa. Kyawawa.” Sounds like soft fur balls rolling across the floor.
“Wait a moment, okay? I’ll give you some soon.”
I can’t look at them. I can’t chase them. I won’t be able to see them if I try to look. I first noticed them the very first morning I woke up in this house. Something had moved in the corner of the room when I groggily took a look around my bed.
“Kyawawawa. Kyawa. Kyawawa.”
“What’s that?” I glanced around, but no one was there. Nothing was there. I thought I spotted a tiny shadow run across the floor with light steps.
That something has always been inside the house. I wasn’t scared. The opposite actually—I was relieved to hear their voices. But Gideon is UTTERLY indifferent to them.
“Something’s here, isn’t it?”
“Nah, nothing’s here?”
Is he dense, oblivious, or a mixture of both?
“It is too here…”
“Look, Princess, there are two types of sounds a living creature makes.” He fixed me with a glare and suddenly thrust his hand out, holding up two fingers in front of my face. “Dangerous sounds and not dangerous sounds. If you’re sensitive to every single little sound that’s not dangerous, you won’t last mentally or physically.”
And that was the end of it.
But Mister Dragon was a different story. He immediately knew what I was talking about.
“That’s a Brownie.”
“A Brownie?”
“Brownies is more like it. They are also known as Brùnaidh. Is it easier for you to understand if I call them ‘The Tiny People’?”
“Oh! You mean the tiny people you can’t see even if you try to look at them?”
“Indeed. They are a household fairy that lives with humans. As a species, they generally inhabit human villages and homes, but…it appears they followed you here from the castle.”
“They followed me? Why?”
“Because you are the master of the castle, Princess.”
I was thrilled to hear that.
“Reverfeat isn’t ruined as long as I live.”
The little Brownies presence means that the words I said on top of the Daemon King’s tower that day weren’t wrong. They affirm my conviction. They whisper it to me. That’s why I can say this: I am the princess. I live in the forest. Reverfeat isn’t ruined as long as I’m alive.
I go inside the house with a bowl full of goat milk. I add a spoonful of honey in the kitchen and thoroughly stir it in.
“A spoonful of sweet, sweet milk every day for the tiny people to feast~ ♪ Round, round, fluffy-uffy roly-poly Brownies~ ♪ Tiny people, protective spirits of your sweet, dear home…”
You don’t forget the songs you learned when you were little.
“You look like you’re having fun, Princess.” Gideon calls out as he comes up the stairs.
“Yup, I’m having fun.”
“Gonna drink some milk?”
“Nuh-uh. This isn’t for me.”
His eyes widen. I’m having a real blast with this.
“A spoonful of sweet, sweet milk every day for the tiny people to feast~ ♪,” I sing on the way to my room. I shut the door behind me and leave the cup in the usual spot. Excited, anticipating eyes are watching me. But I can’t look at them.
“Sorry for the wait. Go ahead and eat now.”
“Kyawawawa. Kyawa. Kyawawa.”
I hear them. I hear them. But I can’t see them. I quietly leave my room without looking back.