Chapter Summary: Alfur wins at Elf Poker. Hilda plans to reunite old friends. The Safety Patrol investigates a new rash of 'Black Hound' sightings.
Hilda opened the door to the apartment. "Mum, I'm-" she cut off as she looked around the corner and saw that the kitchen and living room were both still. Golden afternoon light streamed in through the windows.
"Mum?" Hilda called again. It wasn't like her mother to just be… Gone at the end of a long day like this. She was almost always home at this hour, waiting for Hilda to return.
Hilda heard voices from her room and headed towards them.
"You should forfeit now and save yourself the time it would take to lose, my friend!" Alfur boasted as he threw three tiny cards onto the carpet before him.
"There's no-" Tontu got down and peered at the cards, naming them off softly. He sat back and crossed his arms. "You're cheating, aren't you?"
"Not only would cheating go against my morals, it would completely devalue how good I am at Elf Poker. Now hand over the biscuits!"
"This is what we need the bell for…" Tontu grumbled and pushed the pot of 'poker chip' shortbread cookies towards Alfur.
Twig's ears perked up as he noticed Hilda standing in the doorway. He jumped down from the bed and ran over to greet her. Alfur and Tontu looked up from their game.
"Hello, Hilda!" Alfur chirped.
Tontu flicked his tail and lowered the hand of elf-sized cards he was holding close to his nose. "Hi, Hilda. Your invisible friend taught me how to play cards." He looked back down at the large pile of cookies in Alfur's general vicinity, "I'm starting to regret it."
"Well, it seems like you're feeling better, if losing at Elf Poker is your only complaint," Hilda said, taking her satchel off. She sat down on the floor next to Tontu. Twig settled in beside her. "Do either of you know where Mum went?"
"It helped to have some downtime… You were right about that," Tontu admitted. He put his cards down and pushed them back towards the deck near Alfur with one finger. "And your mom left a few hours ago to run some errands. She said she's bringing dinner home, too."
"Woah, we usually only get takeout dinner as a treat," Hilda remarked, marveling at their good fortune. After a few rough days, things were finally starting to turn around! "Did she say when she'd be back?"
Tontu just shrugged.
Alfur cleared his throat and began dealing cards again. "So, another round? Or are we ending the game with me ahead?" he asked, raising one eyebrow and grinning.
Hilda couldn't help but giggle. "It's okay. Alfur wins a lot, but he always shares at the end," she assured Tontu. She reached over to Alfur's pile and grabbed a cookie for herself, then passed another to Twig.
"We aren't playing for cookies anymore," Tontu complained, picking up his new hand of tiny cards and studying them with some difficulty. "If I lose, I have to fill out the paperwork to see him. I saw the stack- It's going to take forever!" He looked back at Hilda, "I just suggested he wear a little bell or something-"
Alfur scoffed, "As I said before- We elves did not spend thousands of years perfecting our contractual magic just so that we could 'wear little bells' when someone wants to know where we are."
Hilda rolled her eyes, though she was still smiling. This was the least harrowing conflict she'd had to mediate all day. She leaned down and put a gentle hand between Alfur and the tiny deck of cards he was playing from. "Oh, come on, Alfur. Just forge the hard parts like you did for me! I know you actually like filling them out," she reasoned quietly.
Tontu threw down his meager cards and pointed where he thought Alfur was standing, "Hey! You didn't tell me you were allowed to do that!"
"Well, strictly, I'm not," the elf chuckled, peering around Hilda's hand. "But I suppose I can have everything ready in about half an hour." He thought for a moment, "In return… You have to let me write a report on that teleportation thing you do."
"I guess I can explain Nowhere Space to you," Tontu sighed, "but you'll have to write it on that tiny paper yourself."
"I wouldn't have it any other way," Alfur replied. He looked up at Hilda cheerfully, "So, Hilda, how was your day?"
Hilda rolled her hand down for Alfur to jump onto. Then she got up and gave him a lift to her desk.
"Long, but good," she started coyly, leaning on the edge of the desk once Alfur had cleared her hand. "David, Frida, and I might have come up with a way to help every banished nisse in town. And we could use your help with some forms…."
"Oh? What kind-" was all Alfur had time to say before Tontu cut in.
The house spirit had jumped up. "You what? Hilda, please don't tell me you've been running around talking to more nisse."
"They're not as bad as you think, Tontu," Hilda defended. "They were framed, just like you- They need some help finding new homes, too."
"Other nisse aren't- " Tontu started. "They're like I was before you started helping me! They'll make you go to all that trouble for them, and… And they won't even be grateful! They'll turn around and mess it all up again before you're even through!"
Hilda turned around and put her hands on her hips. "That's not true and you know it deep down. You've met two other nisse now that turned out not to be so bad in the end! And today I met a few more."
"Oh… I knew I should have gone with you today," Tontu grumbled, lashing his tail. "If banished nisse are so great, why did that one trick your mom into helping her, then steal her favorite locket? You never told me that was the reason she doesn't want me here! A-and here I was, convinced it was something I did…."
Hilda blinked, "Wait, go back- What about a nisse and my mum?"
"Oh- uh…" Tontu backpedaled, realizing he might have just said something that Hilda didn't already know. "It's nothing," he lied.
"It doesn't sound like nothing," Alfur pried from somewhere on the shelves above Hilda's desk.
"I thought you were doing that paperwork you want my name on so badly," Tontu huffed back. But he was stalling as he tried to decide if Johanna's secret was really something he should tell, and they all knew it. A silence descended over the room.
Tontu began fidgeting with the holes in his sleeve left by Frida's nisse, "Your mom and I just… Uh, talked to kill some time today, and she said some things-"
"Things about a nisse she didn't get along with?" Hilda finished for him. She bounded over and grabbed Tontu by the shoulders. Twig scrambled out of the way and jumped up onto the safety of the bed. "Tontu! Do you know what this means?"
"That your mom and I are right about not trusting any old nisse you find around town?"
"No- It means there's a reason Mum doesn't like nisse! If we can make her realize the misunderstanding… She'd have to let you stay!" Everything really was turning out!
"Hilda, it didn't sound like a misunderstanding," Tontu pointed out, "it sounded like your mom's old nisse just wanted something shiny."
Hilda shook her head, "No, that's the thing- Frida's nisse didn't just want her book. They wanted to feel close to Frida. And when you stole things at your old house- "
"Borrowed-" Tontu interjected.
Hilda kept going, "I'm guessing it wasn't out of greed either. Either it was food, or something you needed, or you were tidying up and didn't think anyone would miss it or…" Hilda paused for effect, "The thing you took was something that you feel close to your human family."
Tontu ran his hand through the fur on the back of his head. "I mean- I guess there were a few times I went out of my way for a knickknack I really shouldn't have taken. They did make me feel… Less alone."
Hilda smiled softly, "Exactly. So maybe Mum's old nisse only took that locket to feel close to Mum. We just have to find her and bring her back here so that she can explain! Then mum will realize she's been wrong about nisse this whole time."
"I don't know," Tontu sighed. "Even if you're right… How are we going to find her? We don't even know what she looks like."
He stiffened and pushed Hilda's hands away, "And no- before you ask- I am not dredging through all the Nowhere Space in the city to find out!" He turned, crossing his arms and pointing his nose up, "I might owe you, Hilda, but I-I'm putting my foot down right here! This is one thing I will not be doing for you."
"Well… That's alright, Tontu. I'm not asking you to do all of that," Hilda agreed cheerfully.
Tontu was thrown off his rhythm. "O-oh. Really?" From the short time he had known Hilda, he was sure she would be begging to search every corner of Trolberg if it meant the small chance to mend a friendship.
Alfur laughed from his place above their conversation. "It's not over yet, I'm afraid," he warned. "Trust me- I've lived with Hilda long enough to recognize that tone of voice."
Twig whined softly in agreement.
Tontu looked back over his shoulder at Hilda and saw the wide grin on her face. She was putting her satchel back on and stuffing a flashlight into it.
"Because I already saw a nisse wearing a shiny locket today."
Tontu and Hilda jumped out from under a gazebo near the end of the street- It was as far as they could confidently navigate the twisted, interlinked passages of Nowhere Space. Once they were back in normal space, Hilda traced her way back through the route she, David, and Frida had taken that morning, going as quickly as Tontu could keep up with. It was sundown, and the sky had turned a brilliant but quickly dimming orange. If they didn't find the nisse with the locket soon, they might not be able to find her at all in the darkness. Plus, Twig and Alfur could only stall for so long if Johanna came home before they did.
Hilda took a corner and skidded to a stop, "There! The house with the big tree!" she exclaimed.
She caught herself and dropped to a whisper, "Olaf Tontu said this is where the nisse I saw was banished from. She's probably sticking close to home, just like you did."
Hilda flicked her flashlight on and shined it into the bushes. The branches were empty. "Drat…" she hissed.
"Hilda… Don't say… Bad words…" Tontu huffed, his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. "We're probably… Not going to find her anyways. That's the only reason I'm letting you do this."
Suddenly, there was a clamor, as if just to prove Tontu wrong. Hilda swung the flashlight towards the garden shed. The tall nisse with the short, grey hair from that afternoon squinted back at Hilda and Tontu from the doorway. Her fur had leaves in it. She must have been sleeping in the shed, which she hadn't technically been banished from. Sure enough, a golden, heart-shaped locket still gleamed on her chest. It was the only thing that looked clean or polished about her.
"Hello, it's me again! From the sandwiches! I just want to talk," Hilda began. She lowered the flashlight beam. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Tontu bristling protectively.
The nisse was frozen like a deer in headlights, her bushy tail puffed out behind her. But as soon as Hilda took a step forward, she turned and bolted back into the shed. A purple light flashed through the worn, wooden planks.
"She's getting away!" Hilda cried. She tried to charge after the house spirit.
"Hilda- We're not following her," Tontu cautioned, grabbing her arm and holding her back.
Hilda turned, "Please! We're already here- If we can just get her to talk, we can help her and my mum, and you might just be allowed to stay with us!" A touch of suspicion worked its way into her voice, "Why aren't you letting me do anything all of the sudden?"
"I... I promised your mom we wouldn't get in trouble again," Tontu admitted. They stared at each other for a long, painful moment. It felt like he had betrayed Hilda somehow, even though he knew it was all to keep her safe. It was like he just couldn't win between Hilda and her mother!
"Besides," he added, trying to lighten the subject, "takeout dinner, remember? Maybe if we just go back to your house and lie low for a few days-"
"Tontu, we don't have a few days to waste!" Hilda protested. She dragged him a few steps towards the shed. She was stronger, but there was no getting into Nowhere Space without a nisse's cooperation. She turned back around to plead with him, "Extra promises or not… If Mum doesn't absolutely love you by the end of the week, you have to leave- That's still the deal. And I know I can find you somewhere else to stay but I don't want that!"
She paused, realizing that she had never actually asked Tontu his opinion on where he wanted to live. At least, not recently. "Do… You want that?" she asked more quietly.
Tontu let go of her arm and looked up at her. A day ago, he wouldn't have been sure of the answer himself. And before then? He wanted to forget that. But now he could say for certain: "Hilda, of course I want to stay with you! And your mom, and the deerfox, and maybe even that invisible guy… But-"
"'But?'" Hilda asked.
Tontu sighed and grabbed his tail, pulling on the tuft of fur on its end. "I don't want you to get yourself in any more trouble to make it happen. Your mom didn't force me to make that promise- I wanted to make it. I couldn't bear to see you get hurt on my behalf… Or for any other reason. You're my friend, Hilda. I care about you."
Hilda smiled. There was an odd tinge of regret in her expression. "Tontu, that's exactly why we need to make sure you can stay." And then she turned and began marching back towards the street.
"Where are you-" Tontu asked.
"Oh, I'm just going to see if the other nisse I talked to today are still awake. I'm sure they didn't make any inconvenient promises with Mum while I was gone," she threatened cheekily.
Tontu felt his stomach flop. And then he felt a little angry. If he didn't let her into Nowhere Space, someone with much less concern for her wellbeing might. He couldn't let her wander through that maze of twisted space and exits that lead who-knows-where alone! And… Hilda knew that he felt that way. He had just finished admitting as much! A complete loss of his bargaining power… Yet another reason he didn't want Hilda in with all these other house spirits.
He lashed his tail in frustration for a moment, then ran after her, grabbing her arm again. "Okay, okay, fine! You win! But this is the last crazy thing we're doing this week," he hissed. He begrudgingly lead her into a cobwebbed corner behind a wheelbarrow. "I'm not going back on my word to your mom any more than I have to."
The grey-haired nisse yelped as Hilda and Tontu landed on top of her. The tiny amount of unused space in the well-organized shed was just barely big enough for someone Hilda's size to sit comfortably in.
"We just want mmmfff-" Hilda tried, but she found her face pressed into the spongy wall as she and the two house spirits struggled. The nisse with the locket managed to wiggle her way out of the heap and through a small exit near the bottom of the room. Tontu untangled himself from Hilda and pulled her through the same hole. They fell out into a much larger space, likely one that belonged to a proper house.
"Oh, great. Here we go again," Tontu muttered as they ran after the grey-haired nisse. "See, this is exactly what I didn't want," he yelled back at Hilda, voice distorting a little as they jumped through another portal.
Hilda just grinned at him and shouted back, "At least this time, we're the ones doing the chasing!"
They wove in and out of Nohwere Space, the nisse ahead of them clearly trying to shake them. Into a basement, under the water heater. Onto a balcony, into the planters. Up and out a kitchen cupboard, pivot through to the adjacent cupboard. Out of a clothes dryer and into a pile of dirty laundry.
Hilda and the two house spirits made noise and knocked things off shelves and brought junk in and out of nisse nests with them, of course. It was hard not to! But they were far less destructive than Jellybean had been. Mostly. That had to count for something, right? And Hilda had a reeeally good reason for it all! Of course, there was no time to stop and tell that to the people in any of the houses they passed through.
Hilda and Tontu bounced back down into another large section of Nowhere Space, the kind a nisse usually took for a nest. But rather than being filled with a cozy arrangement of forgotten keepsakes, the belongings in this nest had been scattered and reduced rubble. No doubt Jellybean had passed through here sometime before they had gotten him out of town. Or perhaps, a particularly destructive fight over territory had occurred here and gotten both participants banished.
"Do you see her?" Hilda asked, looking around. There weren't many places to hide. The nisse with the locket must have already found an exit.
Tontu let go of Hilda's hand and stepped forward, scanning the room. He let out a sigh of relief. "No… And I think it's the perfect time to call it-"
Suddenly, a body flew out of one of the entrances above them and landed on top of Tontu. The grey-haired nisse was larger than Tontu, and easily flattened him. He let out a cry as he was pushed into the spongy floor.
"Tontu!" Hilda cried, rushing forwards to help him.
As she did, the tall nisse scrambled up and pushed Hilda hard, sending her flying back towards the wall of exits. Hilda teetered and tried to catch her balance, but her boot didn't find any purchase behind her. She yelped and fell backwards out of Nowhere Space.
Without Tontu guiding her, or picking a safe exit for that matter, the fall back into normal space was rough. Hilda tumbled from an empty spot near the ceiling of a strange, dark living room, kicking some pictures off the wall and landing on a wooden coffee table with a loud crack.
She got up slowly. She was alright, just a little bruised. Though… She couldn't say the same for the coffee table. She pulled out her flashlight out and examined the damage. The table now had a fracture down the middle, ringed by a Hilda-shaped dent. It didn't look easy to fix.
There was more hope for the portraits of a family of strangers that had fallen from the wall, but they'd definitely be needing new frames. Hilda picked her way out of the pile of splinters and broken glass. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye and swung the flashlight beam towards it.
"Aha!" she cried, catching a flash of grey fur and panicked eyes.
The house spirit ran out from behind the couch and dove for the space behind a bookshelf. Tontu jumped out of it, holding his arms out to block her. She scrambled backwards, finding herself cornered.
"Just leave me alone! I don't know what you want from me!" the nisse with the locket wailed, falling to her knees.
"Shhh! Shhh! I keep trying to tell you! We just want to talk!" Hilda hissed. There were some thumps from upstairs. Likely, someone had heard the commotion.
Tontu looked up, tracing the footsteps as they moved across the ceiling, "Hilda, we really shouldn't be here," he warned.
Hilda nodded. She'd make this quick. She looked back down at the house spirit cowering between them. "Look, just come with us. We're not going to hurt you, I promise." She turned off the flashlight and extended a hand.
The nisse looked up at it but didn't seem inclined to take it. In fact, she was already looking around for another escape route.
Hilda inhaled sharply. She needed another strategy. She knelt down to eye-level "Do you remember a little girl named Johanna?" she asked quietly.
The nisse focused back on Hilda. "How… Do you know about Johanna?"
"I'm her daughter. And we really need you to come back and talk to her right now," Hilda urged, offering her hand again.
The house spirit studied Hilda's face in the darkness. Her hackles lowered. "You're… Johanna's kid?" she breathed, "Johanna has a daughter now?"
"I think someone called the Safety Patrol," Tontu warned more urgently. He moved over to the window and was peeked just above the sill. Flashing red and blue lights bled in through the window, coloring the dark room.
"Why didn't I see it before? It's been years but- You look so much like her!" Johanna's old nisse gushed, forgetting the disaster unfolding around them. She reached out and clasped Hilda's hands in her own and they got to their feet together. At her full height, she was even a little taller than Hilda. Her fluffy tail swished gently along the ground.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry for running you through Nowhere Space like that. I-If I would have known I never would have-" she hung her head, "I've gone and made a mess of it all by running away again, haven't I?"
"It's alright," Hilda soothed, though she was trying to hurry the conversation along, "but you do want to see Johanna again, don't you?"
Johanna's old nisse hesitated. "I do, but… I know she won't want to see me." She pulled back and clutched the locket to her chest.
"Hey! You three!" a voice interrupted. A man in pajamas was standing up at the top of the stairs. He had a baseball bat in his hands.
"Okay, we're leaving now! She's with us or she isn't," Tontu cried. He rushed in and grabbed Hilda. Hilda reached for the grey-haired nisse's hand, but she was already backing away from the man with the bat.
"Meet us at the Sparrow Scout Headquarters! First thing tomorrow!" Hilda said as Tontu dragged her away. She remembered the crumpled flier in her pocket. There was just enough time to reach in and throw it.
Johanna's old nisse was glancing between Hilda and the baseball bat man, who was now headed in her direction. She took one last, long look at Hilda, snatched up the wad of paper, then turned and dove behind a potted plant. It teetered and rolled back into place.
"Nisse?" the man gasped as the first creature disappeared. He pivoted towards Hilda and Tontu, and pointed his bat at them crying, "Banished! You're all banished! Get out of my house!"
Tontu was mid-leap. The purple sparks around him suddenly vanished and he slammed face-first into the floor through the bottom of a rocking chair.
"Oww…" he moaned, pulling his head out and grabbing his nose. Blood dripped down onto the edge of the carpet.
"W-What happened?" Hilda asked, backing closer to him. The man had lowered his bat, but he was coming closer. Any minute, he'd notice that Hilda was, in fact, human.
"I-Is everything alright? Is the beast still down there?" a woman called from somewhere upstairs.
"It wasn't the Black Hound after all. Just some darn nisse again. Come down here and get the door for the Safety Patrol," the man yelled back.
Hilda felt her heart skip a beat. "Okay, you were right. We need to get out of here, now!" she whispered.
"W-well now I can't!" Tontu whimpered as he pinched his nose. His voice came out even more nasally than normal. "Once a nisse is banished, we can't use our powers in a house unless we're invited back in!"
Hilda grabbed Tontu's shoulder and shook him, "You're invited back in! I'm inviting you back in so we can leave!"
Tontu shook his head, "Someone that lives here has to do it."
The lights flicked on. Thinking quickly, Hilda pulled her hair over her face to mimic the appearance of a house spirit. She grabbed Tontu, then jumped up and bolted for the window.
"Hey- No- Out the front door!" the man shouted, but Hilda wasn't actually a house spirit, and therefore didn't have to do anything he said. She fumbled at the latch and threw the window open so that she and Tontu could jump through.
A familiar, eye-patch wearing face was on the porch. She leaned over to see what the commotion was, and caught a glimpse of Hilda, whose hair had flown out of her own face in the fall.
"Hey, you two! Get back here!" the Safety Patrol officer cried, reaching for her rifle. The porch railing creaked as the large man beside her leaned over it to get a look.
Hilda reached back and grabbed ahold of Tontu's hand, dragging him as she ran. They just had to make it to the house across the way. Then Tontu would be able to pull them into an entrance to Nowhere Space he wasn't banished from, and they would be safe.
The Safety Patrol shouted behind them. Tontu yelled a warning but was immediately drowned out by a loud noise. It was like a firework, but without the echo. Hilda saw a weighted net fly by and tear violently into the bushes ahead of them.
They bolted around the side of the house. Tontu scrambled to his feet and cried, "In here!" He leapt ahead of her and pulled her in between two pieces of siding.
An entrance like this felt like an uncomfortably tight squeeze, but only momentarily. They tumbled safely back into Nowhere Space.
"That could… Have gone better," Hilda panted, as they sat up "I just hope they didn't recognize us." She looked back up through the tiny hole they had fallen in through. Overly-shiny boots ran by, then hesitated, then doubled back again.
They sat quietly for several minutes, trying to recover. Tontu pressed his bandaged arm to his nose to staunch the bleeding. The nisse room they had found themselves in was quiet. It also looked to be torn up and deserted in a barghest-or-barghest-aftermath-related incident.
"We lost that nisse… And now I've let you get into the worst trouble yet. Oh- I promised your mom I wouldn't let this happen again! And I couldn't even protect you after I broke that," Tontu mumbled from underneath his arm. "Some friend or temporary house spirit I am."
Hilda placed a hand on his shoulder, "You did protect me! We're safe now, aren't we? This is why you're good to have around!" She smiled mischievously, "And you know I would have done this with or without you."
Tontu grumbled indistinctly in reply. Finally, he lifted his arm from his nose, "You didn't get hurt when that other nisse pushed you out of Nowhere Space, did you?"
Hilda shook her head, "Just a little bruised from the fall. But it wasn't really that high up. It was nothing compared to the time a weather spirit dropped me."
Tontu groaned and collapse onto his back to stare up at the irregular ceiling.
"Let's not tell Mum about this adventure. Or that thing about the weather spirit, okay?" Hilda asked, lying down next to him. The spongy floor did feel good on her back. "If Alfur and Twig stalled for us, and we use Nowhere Space to get back into my room, she won't even have to know we left! We'll just bring her nisse home from the Scout Hall tomorrow."
Tontu rolled his head over to look at her. "Hilda… Your mom's old nisse got away. I-I don't think she's going to come back. The plan didn't work," he said flatly.
Hilda stared resolutely into the wall of exits. "It hasn't worked yet," she corrected. "That nisse will meet us tomorrow, we'll bring her home to talk with Mum, and everything will work out. You'll see."
Author's Note: Sorry for another long wait! We got close to season 2, and I decided to hold off on finishing this chapter until then. I'm very happy that nothing got too badly jossed though (except for chapter 3, but personally I like Frida making friends with her nisse a little better. Shhh, don't tell canon).
Anyways, parts of this chapter have been in my notes for a looong time, and I'm excited to finally share them!