The Red Elf
Chapter 11: Awaken unto Mystery

. . .

"Azure? Azure…" The girl lifted her head, and her eyes slowly batted open.

"Azure, are you all right?" Zoë asked, thoroughly concerned. "You took quite a hit."

"A hit?" Azure asked groggily, her voice slightly lower than usual, from her mouth being dry. She looked around confounded, and noticed she was lying on the kitchen floor of her Victorian home, back in London.

"Yeah," she heard William say, offering her his hand to help her stand up. "I was so excited about the sword in the package I accidentally hit you in head with the hilt." He smiled nervously. "I'm real sorry."

"Then it was all a dream?" She sat asked sitting up. Halfway she grabbed her head as it throbbed painfully.

"Was what a dream?" Zoë questioned looking at her confused.

"Well, I was… and you and…never mind." William nodded warily wondering if he had caused his sister some kind of brain damage. Just then the phone rang. Azure ineptly reached for her ear as the piercing sound set off a particularly painful throb. William looked up from his sister at the sound, and sighing walked over and picked it up.

"Hello. Yes it is. I'm afraid not. Yes…. But it was…. Okay. Yeah, you too." When he hung up the phone, the two girls looked at him expectantly, the one-sided conversation having intrigued them.

"Well?" Zoë asked when he didn't reply to their looks.

"Azure… you've just been fired." William replied in a slightly angered tone. "I tried to tell them you had an emergency, but they wouldn't listen…. Then they told me to have a nice day! The nerve."

"It's all right, I probably would've quit anyway." Azure responded offhandedly.

"What?!" was Zoë and William's instant simultaneous response.

"Yeah…." As the room quieted Azure noticed her bow and quiver lying near her. "I should probably take those back. I don't think they were for us." Zoë agreed immediately; what was she going to do with a pair of daggers. William on the other hand, rejected her proposal. However after some convincing he admitted they were probably meant for another museum, or collector. So the three packed up the weaponry – William rather reluctantly – put them into a bag, and gave them to Azure, who had volunteered to drop them off.

She drove her brother's car swiftly down the near deserted streets and parked just outside the store. William had given her detailed directions, so she found the place relatively quickly. She grabbed the bag and headed into the shop. There was a youngish looking man with short blonde hair standing behind the counter with his back turned to her.

"Excuse me?" Azure said politely. The man acknowledged her by turning around.

"Yes, can I help you?" Azure's face want momentarily blank as her mind screamed "Legolas?!" most unsubtly. Azure did her best to proceed without looking too affected.

"My brother picked these up earlier, but we think you may have given them to the wrong person." Azure explained placing the bag on top of the counter. The man looked at them for a moment or two.

"Yes. Someone called about these… not thirty minutes ago. I told them I was in a bit of a tough spot; that they hadn't arrived yet, but I knew they would be here soon enough." He finished with a wink.

"Right…." Azure replied slowly, giving herself some time to recover. "Well I'll be going now." She headed over to the door and was about to open it when the man called to her one last time.

"Are you sure you are quite all right?" Azure smiled at the familiarity of the question.

"I'm fine, now…." With that she left the store. On her way back, she drove the long way home.

Azure decided change wasn't such a bad thing after all, not that she wanted to become the ruler of some mystical world anytime soon. She would save that for her dreams.

Fin.