"I fix."
My winner of a short 5000 word writing contest story.
I Fix.
A story about a rabbit and a bear that fixes.
The list was nearly finished.
Koli was holding up a scrap of paper tentatively, looking through the names again as she lay in her room at the Dire and Dour Inn. All of them had lines dragged through the messily written letters, all save for one.
This final name, ‘Gregory Smithen,’ waited patiently for its turn to be struck out, and despite it being at the very bottom of the list, there was another, more important reason for why it was last.
This list was more than a collection of names; they were living ghosts that haunted her father. The debt he racked up over the years had been left unsettled, and when he passed away, Koli was determined to clear his name for the sake of her mother. Knowing that the only riches her mother would inherit would be shame-ridden phantoms from the past, she despised that.
Determined, Koli came back to the bustling city of Mythmere nearly a week ago and diligently sought out her old neighbourhood.
It was striking, the thick fragrance of nostalgia, and it penetrated deep as she walked up and down familiar streets. Drumming up old memories and bringing them back to life as if they were never forgotten.
As much as she wanted this to be a valiant and selfless quest, one that she took on for her mother’s sake, it wasn’t. At the heart of it, Koli didn’t want her name to carry the stain of bad deals anymore and was fearful that debt was creeping around every corner, and she was tired of hiding from it.
The cost of family redemption was higher than she had first anticipated. For no matter how many coins were emptied out on her various visits, her thoughts, in turn, became heavier. Knowing that with each line drawn on that list, it would bring her ever closer to that last one.
It was the morning, and the sun blazed through the faded yellow curtains. The light eager to greet and blind her, causing her to groan at the irritation. There was no delaying it; even the sun demanded that she get up and finally face Gregory.
Finally forcing herself out of the bed, which ought to have been easy since the sheets were itchy and rough despite having paid for a more expensive room, she stood there staring at the meager accommodations.
The bed was large but wasn’t comfortable. Covered in roughly worn sheets, and the pillows were sunken. There was a single small round table near the window with two chairs that didn’t even match.
Slowly, she stretched as she walked towards it, reaching for a leather pack and began to root around. Pulling out a new set of clothes, she quickly shed the simple sallow-coloured robe she wore to bed and now started the meticulous work of endlessly pulling on laces that were critical to her outfits. Whether it was ribbons or woven cotton, everything that had to be pulled as taut as possible. Knotted off in pretty little bows.
There was a small mirror, fogged from age in the opposite corner of the room, and she stood in front of it, critically assessing. Ensuring that the thick black linen pants were laced up properly from her calves to her hips. That the thick leather belt was situated properly against her waist to ride right underneath her ribs to keep a loose light brown linen shirt in place while it billowed out above it.
The neckline was loose, the only part that wasn’t secured neatly, but what she was truly there looking in the mirror for was to make a decision on her hair.
It was a tawny dirty blonde mess, unkempt waves running past her shoulders, and she refused to leave them free. Hating the feeling of the wild strands constantly dusting up against her cheeks should the wind make a game of the mess.
Refusing to fuss with her hair all day, she began to pull up half of it, weaving it quickly into two plaits that ran on either side at the back of her head. Once finished, they lay on the rest of the loose locks that poured down her back.
Finally satisfied, she went to look over the list once more to check the amount that was owed. She knew the number, but for some reason, she wanted to be very sure.
Another dig into her leather pack drew out a coin purse, and she began to coin out the coins. With a new little pile made, she moved these into a smaller little purse and pulled the strings taut before she looped the long, thick coils of velveteen rope over her shoulder.
Koli then started to head out with light feet and a little spring in her step. She nearly bounced down the stairs speedily, anxious to finish this last delivery. She didn’t even notice the innkeeper offering her a little ‘good morning’ before she flew out the door.
The people of this district within Mythmere had been up for hours already. Working and pressing their shoulders against the grind wheel to make as much coin as the daylight hours could afford them.
Koli kept a hand at her side where the coin purse hung, idly keeping a palm on it as she started to move down the dusty streets. These roads were made of dirt, and only if you went deeper in and past this district were the roads lined with stone.
Two turns to the right, and then she began to hear it. The dull strike of a hammer against metal. The fervor in her steps now slowed, her tip of her tongue now pressing against the back of her front teeth. As if she wanted to bite away the nerves that fluttered through her the closer she got.
The sun glinted behind her, and she watched as her long shadow approached the smithy before she did, the darkened shade crawling over an anvil where a large man worked.
He was deep in focus, and he continued banging the iron mallet over the rod of metal that once glowed vibrantly and now was eagerly fading. Once the shadow reached the helm that the blacksmith wore, she stopped, waiting for a pause in his work.
The helm he wore to protect his face from any flying sparks was molded in the shape of a bear’s head. Two little iron ears pointed at her as his broad shoulders were hunched over his work, a shortened muzzle covering his face from the angle.
He was a hulking vision of a man with thick arms that stained against the earthy fabric of his shirt. A heavy leather apron hung down from his neck to give more protection and to save his clothes. With a practiced ease, he spun the iron rod to the other side and gave it a few more loud strikes before he finally lifted his head.
A thick leather covering hung down from the jowls of the bear helm, leaving only his eyes to peer out, and they squinted for a moment at the sight of this short woman waiting in front of his anvil.
“Tch,” he clicked, the only sound he offered before he returned to his work.
After a few more strikes, he stepped over and plunged the iron rod into a bucket of water. Steam and noise fizzled up immediately, and he spun the mallet in his grip before he laid it on its side on the anvil and began to rip off his thick leather gloves.
“You back now?” he said.
His voice was deep, gritty, like he didn’t use it often. His common English came out broken and rough, clearly not his native language, but he used it anyway. Not caring how many words might be missing when he spoke it.
“Well,” said Koli hesitantly, a little taken back that he already recognized her only to inquire. “Is Gregory in?”
“Gregory dead,” he said bluntly and began to unhook the chain mail from his helm.
“...oh,” she muttered. Her fingers over the coin purse lightly drumming against the velvet surface.
“I run, this mine. You impressed Rabbit?” he asked with a large smile.
Koli couldn’t help but flash a smile; it had been years since she heard someone call her ‘Rabbit,’ and was enough to soften her nerves. Melting the anxiety and pressure she felt, so she stepped a little closer.
“Oh, yes. Very impressed,” she said with a teasing smile. Then as she tilted her head she added with a little jab, “Bear… maybe you didn’t mind that name as much as I thought, since you’re wearing it now.”
“Heh, yes, maybe I did not mind,” he said with a nod before he started to unfasten the helm. He placed it down on the anvil next to the mallet.
“Rabbit came back to ask for Gregory, first thing? Not me?” he asked with a lifted brow, his eyes brimming with mirth.
The teasing accusation prompted her to roll her eyes and she took another step closer.
“It’s for business! Since this is yours, I guess I need to pay you,” she said as she reached for her coin purse.
“Hmpf. Pay? Pay what, little Rabbit,” he said with a disgruntled tone, as if the thought of her paying him was clearly insulting.
Koli’s voice softened slightly as she took in a slow breath, “My father’s debt. I want to clear my family’s name.”
“It clear,” said Bear simply, his words striking with conviction.
“Uh, no, no, it’s not. My father owed him at least twelve hundred and thirty-three gold pieces,” she said pointedly. Hoping that he would give her the absolution she craved by giving her her own absolute truth of the matter.
“I say, clear. No gold, no debt, family clear,” he said as he stepped away from the anvil and now began to untie the thick leather apron.
Then he added, “When I take Smithy, I see paperwork, and I clear Rabbit’s family debt. I fix it.”
His statement, even with as few words as possible, the English broken and spoken without a grandstanding, sank in. They plunged deep within her and without a good retort, stared at him in disbelief before he casually spoke again.
“You eat? Skinny, weak, we drink, we eat,” he said with a stone-like assurance before he hung up his apron.
“What about your work?” she asked, her eyes flitting over his work station, and he made that sharp sound once more.
“Tch,” and then he stepped up to her, “No, Rabbit, you,” he tapped his ear slowly and shook his head as he stalled to pull up words he knew, “-hear not good. This, all mine, I choose time, I choose work. I choose now to drink and eat with Bunny.”
There was a little mocking tone with the way he said ‘bunny’ and he towered over her, the sun gleaming on his stern features, adding a little reddish hue to his short beard. He was what you would expect of someone nick-named ‘Bear.’ Grizzly, large, and solid. Warm brown eyes and short-cut hair so that it would keep out of the way of his helm when forging.
“Alright,” she said slowly as if it were a surrender despite her uncertainty.
But even this unsure answer made his smile grow, and he nodded sagely. He motioned her to move forward, and with a little sigh, she turned around and stared straight into the gleaming golden light of the sun. Taking small steps, she began to walk down that dirt road once more.
“Where are we going then?” she asked with a little smile.
“Good place,” he answered.
“That could be anywhere,” she said with an indigent scoff.
“No,” he answered sharply. “No. No, no, no. One place, good place!” he said, almost shouting he was so passionate about it.
His smile had grown, and now his teeth were flashing at this point. He was enjoying teasing her, knowing how to use his broken English to taunt her.
She nearly groaned, “Okay, okay! What is the name of this good place?”
He barked a laugh in response, “You guess.”
Koli couldn’t stop smiling at this point, and she paused in her stride as she stood in front of the crossroads and looked over at him at her side, lifting a brow inquisitively.
“You’ll never change, will you?” she asked finally, and he crossed his arms over his broad chest and chuckled to himself.
“No,” he said as he waited for her to pick which way to go.
“Let’s think then,” she said as she stood there, looking at the different directions before her, “You wouldn’t call a place good if it was too far, or if it didn’t stay open late.”
“You change,” he said as he watched over her.
This made her pause, her thoughts now stalled. She looked back over at him and crossed her arms as well, mirroring his stance.
With a little smirk, she softly said, “Oh? Do tell what is so different about me. It’s been what, ten years? I would hope something has changed.”
“More pretty.”
He might as well have stuck out his foot and tripped her, on purpose. Koli’s smile faltered, lips flinching. She whipped her head forward, to look back to the road.
“Don’t do that,” she warned with a quiet mutter.
“It true.”
After a few minutes stuck stewing in the silence, she finally abruptly said, “The Dire and Dour.”
“Yes, that good place. See? Good at guessing,” then he leaned down towards her with a smile, and with his voice lowered, he added, “Pretty Rabbit.”
“I don’t know how we were ever together,” she said grumbling and began to swiftly move, turning left down the road and going back to where she had come from.
***
A little more full, the Dire and Dour was serving ample breakfasts to its visitors. He didn’t have to put in an order; they knew what he wanted while Koli stared at a small insert in the faded menu before she decided on a few fruits with cheese and bread.
She had to sit there and argue with Bear before she was allowed to put in her order because he didn’t think it was enough, but eventually, he gave up and let the server slink away.
“You still good at killing little bunnies, Rabbit?” he asked with a sneering grin.
She shook her head with an exasperated sigh, but still smiled. Her family sold rabbit pelts at the market, raising them on their own little scrap of land, and once she was old enough, she started to go to the market instead of her mother to haggle and sell them.
It was where she had met him, Artur, as a naive seventeen-year-old trying to sell enough pelts to meet with her father’s drinking habit. Hoping to overprice them so that she could fill her own pockets with the difference.
He was a little older than her and would linger by her stall for an hour every day, asking questions before he felt comfortable enough to start slowly and surely, teasing her.
He was the one who started calling her ‘Rabbit girl,’ and she always thought it was because he couldn’t say her name properly. In retaliation, she called him a Bear. He was big back then too, one of the tallest young men amongst his peers, grunting and growling, making sounds like a beast instead of actually talking.
She fell for him fast, he was overly protective and always brought a smile, ignoring when she had a bad morning or found something that would uproot her entire day.
It was easy to talk to him, he made it easy and sometimes an entire day and night would pass effortlessly. Before she worked up the courage to touch him, kiss him, tell him how she really liked him, her family left Mythmere. Driven out by the blacksmith who decided to get the law involved in reclaiming the gold owed to him. She barely had enough time to tell him that she was leaving, her father desperate to slink away unseen.
“You marry?” he asked suddenly as the servers finally brought out two plates of his food.
A basket of fresh bread was between them, and she looked over his two plates and wrinkled up her nose for a moment.
“No wonder you’re so big, is that a dozen cooked eggs?” she asked with bewilderment.
He grunted in response, “Six.”
“Uh huh,” said Koli as she smiled and then reached for a piece of bread to start to pick it apart and chew on it.
“You marry?” he asked again, starting to eat, not even bothering to look up at her.
There was a little pause as she held a piece of bread, staring for a moment before she finally answered, devoid of emotion, “Yea.”
Bear stilled and then looked up at her, “You happy?”
She let a little smile flicker as she sat there and then shook her head, “His horse rolled its shoe, he fell and died two years ago.”
Koli watched his face shift, and he grimaced with a slow nod before he reached for a glass of honey mead past his plates.
“It’s okay, I’m okay,” she said finally as a server now brought her own plate, and she began to eat the grapes laid out on it.
“You stay?” he asked as he went back to his meal.
She answered wordlessly with a little shake of her head and took another piece of bread, pairing it with cheese almost as a distraction.
“I’m just here to settle family debts. What about you, you get married?”
He huffed for a moment between bites, “No.”
Slowly, she looked back down at her plate as she felt a little tinge of his answer. Selfishly, as much as she would never admit it, she liked hearing it.
“Well,” she said finally, reaching for her own glass, “You look alright yourself,” she added.
He smiled again. A large, pleased smile, flicking a brow up as he muttered, “Maybe you stay.”
Koli’s lips twisted into a little shy smile before she buried it behind another drink of her mead and muttered dismissively, “Maybe.”
“Rabbit should see the house, I’ll fix it. Very nice, we go after,” he said proudly and then started to scrape the last bits of his food together. Pushing potatoes, peppers, and eggs all into a final pile before he began to scoop them up onto his fork.
“Mmm, I can’t, I have a little bit of business,” she said warmly.
This made his brow furrow, and he grunted as he rested his utensils on his plate.
“Then,” he said with a pause to chew more. “After business.”
“I forgot how stubborn you are,” she said, still smiling before she finally shook her head.
The server shuffled over to start to list the expenses, and naturally, Koli reached for her coin purse and set it on the table.
“Yeh, no. I fix it,” he said with a grumble and fished out his own coins for the server, leaving her with a hand still buried in her coin purse.
In the quiet between coin exchanges, her eyes fell a little, slowly tying up the coin purse and laying it back at her side before she pushed herself out of her chair.
“Well. Thank you for breakfast and for paying,” she said quickly.
“You come after?” he asked, leaning back in his chair. Enjoying these moments as he watched her happily.
“Yes, yes, alright, I’ll come after,” she said as she nearly threw up her hands, “Where is your house that you want to show off?”
His large smile returned, and he nodded happily, “Good. By the dumb fountain, yellow house.”
“Yellow?” she asked with her brow lifted; she hadn’t remembered a yellow house by the ‘dumb’ fountain.
The fountain itself was one that had sculptures of flowers and insects, with a large fairy woman with wings in the centre.
“Aye,” he said, unwilling to elaborate.
With another little nod, she stepped back and lifted her hand awkwardly to wave goodbye before she began to move up the stairs and back into her room at the end of the hall.
There was no business waiting for her.
No business other than the business that her heart demanded she attend to, desperate for a breath of air alone. Demanding that she put distance between her and that man that clearly still had power over her. Power she thought would have wilted by now.
She stood still, her back pressed to the door as if she had to brace it and maintain the barrier so that whatever potential storm that lay on the other side wouldn’t burst in. Gently, she eased a hand over her chest, wanting to still the thumping that beat so loudly.
“Shit,” she whispered to herself.
Unable to deny the obvious chokehold that she felt as she stood there struggling to wrangle her thoughts.
Peeling herself off of the door with a sudden burst of energy, she bee-lined to her pack and began to dig hastily through it. At the very bottom, she found what she was searching for. Slowly, she fished out a folded piece of parchment.
Koli laid it out on the table; worn creases where it was folded showed up stronger than the actual print.
It was a flyer for a bounty. The name stood out and captured her attention immediately, ‘Artur Ilthen’ charged with murder, wanted dead or alive. Despite the date being old, no one had managed to find him and claim the fifty-thousand gold reward.
“You just couldn’t make this easy, could you,” she muttered to herself as she ran a finger over the name softly, almost tenderly.
The poorly drawn portrait stared back at her, and she smiled; a few things were wrong, but the smile and the beard. Those were right. With another little tap on the name before she finally folded it up once more and tucked it back into her leather pack.
The nerves that radiated through her made her hands clammy at this point, and she smeared them on the sides of her pants, accepting defeat that her heart refused to become steady and calm.
Returning to the door, she ripped it open again, set to get more honey mead, hoping that might settle her better, only to stop in her tracks.
She had nearly walked and crashed right into the hulking wall of his chest. He was standing right there. Almost brooding with the way the shadows cascaded over him from the narrow hallway.
“Bear!” she said exasperatedly, her hand moving to rest over her chest, as if her heart were ready to leap out and run away on its own.
He smiled, the way he frightened her, and he leaned down a little, “You lie.”
Her heart stopped.
“Business? No business. Like a little bunny, get scared. Run, hide,” he said warmly, still teasing her.
Subtly, she stepped back as heat crawled up her cheeks.
“I, what, so? So what if I am? You are-” she paused abruptly, unwilling to finish her sentence.
Her refusal to continue caused him to inch his head and finish it for her, “Scary?”
He began to follow her into her room now, matching each retreating step she took, not letting her get the space she was trying to create.
“Why are you here? I said I would meet you at your house, didn’t I?” she asked swiftly, her mind scrambling as he didn’t let her have a single inch of space.
“Yes. Me, Rabbit? Not scary, you,” he said, pointing at her now, “You are scary.”
Koli’s steps paused, and she became still. Blinking with a little stunned confusion, her eyes endlessly searched his strong features, hoping to find a hint that he was teasing her once more. But there was none, no flicker of a smile, no glimmer in his eyes. Even his voice was lower, a little deadpan, stoic.
“Why am I scary?” she softly asked, a little more serious now.
He didn’t answer her right away. His eyes became glossy and shimmered as they caught the little shafts of light that streamed through the curtains. He stepped back so he could close the door, only to return to her once more. There was determination in his face as he took two steps back to her. Without hesitation, his hand moved to grip the back of her neck and held her in place as he swept in and kissed her.
Warm, hungry. Lips grazing against hers, and she didn’t pull back like he expected. Instead, she leaned forward. And in the moment that she kissed him back, he quickly slipped his other hand around her waist to pull her in against him.
Without warning, he broke the kiss and pressed his head against hers to let out a deep sigh of relief.
“Scary Rabbit,” he whispered, so terribly soft that she softened in return against him, “Scared that you go again.”
“You’ll want me to,” she whispered back, looking up at him.
His hand slipped away from her neck only to pull her tighter against him. Whether he was unwilling to argue with her or even hear why she said it.
“Say it, I fix it,” he said simply.
There was no need for her to say anything; he could nearly read the lines with each little furrow of her brow, with each uncertain twist in her voice.
“No, I don’t want you to—” she said, closing her eyes.
“Rabbit.”
“I have your bounty,” she said hastily.
Idly hoping that if she said it fast enough, maybe she could be freed from this terrible looming guilt that hovered over her now.
“Tch,” he said dismissively before asking, “That it? How, you bounty hunter?”
Slowly, he eased the pressure on her before he straightened his stance and smiled at her. With a little roll of his shoulder, he waited for her to speak.
“Yeah,” she said and then tapped the purse on her hip, “My father died a few months ago, and I didn’t want my mother to worry about the debt. So I borrowed money to pay them and thought while I did that, I could pay it back by collecting on you.”
She didn’t look at him as she said it. It sounded so foolish now that it was out of her head and spoken aloud, her eyes set on the bed unwilling to look at him.
He eased his hand out, moving to slide his fingers against the line of her jaw. Carefully he eased his thumb over her cheek, the rough and calloused skin a contrast to the soft smooth surface. His touch was warm and he looked her over, desperate to capture her attention again and when her eyes flicked up to his leaned a little closer.
“I, fix,” he said. Then with a beaming smile he added, “I fix, you stay?”
“It’s a lot of gold Bear, too much gold,” she answered, almost tripping over her words, unable to stop the sense of relief that started to well up inside of her.
“I fix, you stay?”
The touch of tears that welled up were impossible to stop at this point and she blinked furiously, shaking her head at him.
So terribly stubborn and she grumbled sharply, “Why are you so difficult?! Why can’t you just hear what I’m saying?”
Tempted to throw up her hands, his thumb softly began to ease back and forth against her cheek again, as if he were attempting to soothe a wild animal.
“I fix, you stay,” he said now, no longer asking.
No longer presenting it as an option, it was his only option. The only one he would accept and slowly a little wet tear found his thumb and lapped the curve.
The silence softened now as her shoulders softened and she very slowly nodded.
“...okay.”
Poem inspired by this little story:
Dire and Dour. A sin that’s sour. A forge and a dagger. I’ve held the brimstone Re-opened the wounds I didn’t want them to fade I wanted scars To remind me of the day That I lost you and I refuse To let the stain of you fall away.
I want to thank Mythmere run by: Author Millie Huron for hosting this contest.
Rules: I had to have the setting be based in their own created space of Mythmere, stay under 5000 words and to include the following words in the story which were randomly selected.
The deadline was Jan 31st
Words
dozen
scrap
potential
comfortable
insert
I love how you build so much intimacy in such a short story! Absolutely loved the interactions between the characters!