I recently binged both seasons of Hilda on Netflix and am now eagerly awaiting the upcoming movie. In the meantime, I thought I'd write this story as a sign of my newfound love for the series. With that said, the original Hilda books were written by Luke Pearson and the animated series was produced by Silvergate Media and Mercury Filmworks and is released exclusively on Netflix. Yadda. Yadda. Enjoy.

Chapter 1

Don't get involved.

That was the Cardinal Rule of the Nisse.

Well… it was really more of a suggestion than an actual rule, but it was good advice nonetheless; especially when dealing with the people who live in your house.

Be polite to them, of course.

Help them out with little things, if you feel that you must.

But don't get involved in their personal lives. That's just asking for trouble. If a human asks a Nisse something deep, or personal, or emotionally complicated, the polite response is 'I don't know and I have no opinion'.

Tontu knew all of this and he did his best to live by the Cardinal Rule as much as possible, which is why, despite everything that had happened yesterday and what might happen today, he was just going to sit there and enjoy his breakfast.

That is, if the lady of the house ever bothered to serve him.

It was morning, or to be more specific it was breakfast time, and despite having finished her mouthwateringly scrumptious pancakes some time ago, Johanna, the lady I just mentioned, had yet to serve them. The reason for this being that her young daughter, Hilda, had not come down for breakfast yet. And the reason for that is… one of those things Nisse like to stay out of.

So instead of eating the delicious pancakes, like sane people, they all just sat around in an awkward silence. Johanna was particularly uneasy; she kept fidgeting in her chair, and her eyes carried the look of someone waiting to be led to the gallows.

"It'll be okay." Said Alfur, the elf, sitting at his own little table on top of the bigger one. "Hilda's a strong girl. She'll get over this… eventually. And really, yesterday could've gone far worse."

"How?" Johanna asked skeptically. "How could that have possibly gone worse?"

"Well, it… couldn't… I'm sorry. I don't know why I even said that."

"Sigh. It's okay, Alfur. You were only trying to…"

But the words died in her throat as the soft but familiar sound of a door opening and closing pierced the air; followed swiftly by the subtle sounds of a small child walking down a set of wooden stairs. Within moments, the subject of their awkward silence was standing near the opposite end of the table; a small, blue-haired girl, no older than 11, dressed in an elementary school uniform.

"H-Hilda." Johanna stuttered slightly before recomposing herself. "You're just in time for breakfast."

"Sorry, Mum, I can't stay or I'll be late for school." The little girl replied bluntly, trying desperately not to look her mother in the eyes.

"But what about breakfast?"

"There's no time."

"But you must eat something."

"I'll just grab an apple on my way out." Hilda said, grabbing one from the nearby fruit bowl before heading straight for the door.

"Hilda, wait." Her Mum called out as she rushed over to meet her by the front door; crouching down to her eyelevel upon arrival. "Maybe… Maybe you shouldn't go to school today."

"What?" Hilda replied, seemingly unable to fathom what her mother had just said.

"It's just… I know you're still upset about yesterday, and you have every right to be, but maybe… maybe you shouldn't be around other children. At least not until we've had a chance to talk about all this. You know, clear the air."

"I'll be fine, Mum." The little girl replied, still avoiding her mother's gaze. "Besides, I'm sleeping over at Frida's tonight. It'll be easier to get to her place from school than from here."

"Sweetheart, I really don't think you should go. I'll call the school and tell them you're not feeling well. Frida or David can bring you your assignments. And you can always have a sleepover some other night."

"Mum, I'm leaving." Hilda said bluntly, before turning away completely and reaching for the doorknob.

"Hilda, please!" Johanna shouted, her emotions finally getting the better of her. "I… I know I hurt you. And I know you probably don't think you can ever trust me again. But you have to understand, I would never do anything to hurt you on purpose. You know that, right? And no matter what happens, I will always love you."

"I love you too, Mum." The little girl replied, still unable or unwilling to turn around and look her mother in the eye. "But I'm sorry. I just… I just can't be around you right now."

"Hilda…"

But it was too late. She was already out the door and on her way to school. Leaving Johanna to weep in silence.

Fortunately however, Johanna was a big girl, and as such was able to regain her composure quickly. So after wiping away her tears, she got back up and headed back into the kitchen; not even acknowledging the elf or the house spirit, as she went straight for the phone.

Beep. Bop. Boop. Beep. Boop. Bop. Beep.

"Hey, it's… it's me." She said to the person on the other end. "No, it didn't go well. She's still upset. I thought she just needed some space to work things out, but it's worse now. She says… she says she doesn't want to be around me. Not that I can blame her after… Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I know, but… But listen, I know this might be asking a lot, but I need a favor."

From there, Tontu just tuned out the rest of the conversation. This was quickly turning into one of those things Nisse need not concern themselves with. This was a human problem.

"This will all work out in the end, right?" Alfur asked uneasily. "I mean, they'll work things out in the end, won't they?"

To which Tontu politely replied,

"I don't know and I have no opinion."

XXX

For the students of Edmund Ahlberg Elementary School, today was something of a mixed bag. Some had hoped the school would remained closed until Monday, thus giving everyone a much needed long weekend. While others were relieved by the return to normalcy after the chaos of the previous day.

For those of you confused as to what I'm talking about, please permit me to explain. Yesterday, Thursday to be precise, at approximately 12:35 pm Trolberg Standard Time, the school's automatic fire prevention system suddenly kicked in; triggering an impromptu and rather chaotic evacuation of the building. By the time the maintenance staff found the problem and disabled both the alarm and sprinkler systems it was about half past 1:00 and the interior of the school was thoroughly soaked. And since there was no chance of getting things back in order before 3:00, the Principal decided to simply send the children home a little early.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, the Edmund Ahlberg Elementary cleaning staff is among the best in the city, if not the world, and after pulling an all-nighter they'd managed to restore the school to near pristine condition; allowing the faculty to finish off the school week only slightly behind schedule.

Now, the official word given to the media by Principal Magnusson was that the incident was caused by a freak technical glitch, but this didn't stop the rumor mill from running rampant amongst the student body.

"I heard it was one of the older boys." Said Frida to her two friends as they continued on their way to school. "I heard he started a fire in the downstairs lavatory just to get out of a maths test."

"What? That can't be true." Said David skeptically. "How rubbish at maths do you have to be to want to start a fire?"

"I didn't say it was true. I'm just telling you what I heard." Frida clarified. "Although I suppose it could be true. I mean, people have been known to do crazy things when under duress. What do you think, Hilda?"

But their blue-haired companion just plainly replied,

"I don't care."

Kind of a humdrum response from their usually energetic friend, but nothing to be alarmed about, not yet anyway.

"Okay… so… did you do anything fun with your extra free time?" asked David, hoping to elicit a more in-character response.

"No." she replied dully, thwarting his attempt.

"Hilda, are you feeling alright?" Frida asked concernedly. "You don't seem like yourself."

"I'm fine." Hilda answered bluntly. "I just had a rough night, that's all. I'll be fine after a nice long day at…"

"Say, isn't that the Librarian? I mean Kaisa?" asked David, derailing the conversation and directing everyone's attention elsewhere.

Sure enough, over by the front entrance with all the other adults dropping off their children, stood a familiar looking woman with black and purple hair. It was Kaisa, the town librarian and professional witch, standing next to a small champagne colored car, presumably her own, seemingly waiting for someone.

"It's weird seeing her here, right?" David asked confusedly. "I mean, there's no reason why it's weird, but it is, right?"

"I don't know if it's weird, but it definitely feels… out of context." Replied Frida, sounding just as confused. "I wonder what she's doing here?"

"Maybe she's dropping off her children. Does Kaisa have any children?"

"I… don't know actually. But if she did, wouldn't we have seen her here before?"

"Maybe they just transferred here from another school."

"I guess that's possible. But why would they start their first day at a new school on a Friday? What do you think, Hilda?"

But Hilda did not answer. In fact, Hilda wasn't even there anymore. She had already gone ahead, forcing her way through the crowd of kids and parents, to meet up with their much older friend. Naturally, Frida and David followed suit.

"Hey!" Hilda called out as she approached the older woman in a brusque and decidedly unfriendly manner.

Contrarywise, upon seeing her, Kaisa seemed quite relieved.

"Hilda, there you are." She said in that melodious Scandinavian accent of hers. "Thank goodness. I was worried I'd missed you."

"What are you doing here?" Hilda asked in a blunt, almost abrasive tone.

"Well, I was worried about you. Your mother told me you were still upset about yesterday. So I thought I'd come see you so we could talk things out."

"I don't feel like talking things out." The little girl replied rudely, much to her friends' surprise.

"Hilda, please." The Librarian said as she crouched down to her eyelevel and gave her the warmest, least-threatening smile she could muster. "You have to believe me, we never meant for you to find out this way. We were going to tell you, but… it just never seemed like the right time."

"Eh… Hilda, what is she talking about?" asked David concernedly.

"Nothing." Hilda replied bluntly before turning back to face Kaisa. "And for the record, I don't have to do anything you say. You're not my mum, so stop acting like you know what's best for me."

The Librarian seemed quite hurt by that last part.

"Now if you'll excuse me," Hilda continued. "I'm going to school now, and then I'm spending the weekend at Frida's so I don't have to deal with either of you until Monday. Goodbye."

And with that, the little blue-haired girl turned around and started to walk away, only for Kaisa to stop her by putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Wait, Hilda, sweetie…"

"Don't touch me!" Hilda exploded, instantly gaining everyone's attention. "And don't call me sweetie! I am not your sweetie!"

"Okay… okay… I'm sorry." The Librarian said, retracting her hand, before calmly attempting to regain control of the situation. "It's just… your mother and I both feel that… maybe it'd be better if you didn't go to school today. So… how about you spend the day with me instead?"

"What?"

"Yes, you can come with me to the library and help me out with my rounds, and at the end of the day, if you still don't feel like going home, then you can come over to my house and we can have our own little sleepover. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Despite the warmth and sincerity in the Librarian's voice, Hilda was clearly not moved.

"No." she answered rudely, before the situation grew even worse.

"What's going on out here?" asked the familiar voice of Principal Magnussen as he came onto the scene. "What's with all the shouting this early in the morning?"

"Principal Magnussen, this strange woman's trying to make me get in her car! Call the Safety Patrol!" Hilda shouted at the older authority figure while attempting to use his legs as a shield.

"What?" went David in alarm.

"Hilda!" said Frida disapprovingly.

"No, no, no, no, no. That's not what's happening, at all." Kaisa explained, trying very hard to remain calm. "Listen, Principal… whatever she said, my name is Kaisa Olafsdotter and I'm afraid Hilda won't be coming to school today. There's been a sort of… family emergency and it's really better for her that she not be around other children for a few days."

"I see…" Principal Magnussen replied, sounding more than a little skeptical. "And you are Hilda's aunt?"

"No, not exactly, but…"

"Then how exactly are you related to Hilda?"

"Well… I'm not, technically, but I…"

"Then I'm afraid I can't technically let you take her."

"What?"

"Yes, I'm afraid the rules are quite strict, Ms. Olafsdotter, if that is your real name. No one is allowed to take students out of school unless they are blood related or have permission from a parent or guardian."

"But I have permission. Her mother said she was going to call your office and explain. She probably left a message with your secretary. Go and see for yourself. We'll both wait right here."

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Okay… then we'll both go with you to your office."

"I'm afraid I can't do that either."

"Then what exactly is the point of you?"

"Ms. Olafsdotter, you're not really giving me any reasons to trust you. You still haven't told me exactly who you are or why you want to take Hilda out of school."

It was clear to everyone that the Librarian was starting to get flustered, but ultimately she was able to calm herself back down with a quick, cleansing breath.

"Listen, Principal… Magnussen, I swear I can explain everything, but not right now."

"And why not?"

"Because this is all rather personal and I would prefer not to discuss it in front of all these people. So can we please go somewhere more private? I promise, I can explain everything."

"Don't listen to her!" yelled Hilda from behind the principal's legs. "She's trying to trick you! She's nothing but a big fat liar!"

"Hilda!" Frida jumped in, unable to stomach her friend's behavior any longer. "What's the matter with you?"

"Yeah, why are you being so mean to Kaisa?" asked David, sounding more concerned than angry.

"Why? I'll tell you why!" Hilda shouted before darting past the two adults and climbing onto the hood of the Librarian's car.

"Hilda!" the owner shouted with both concern and frustration. "Get down from there this instant!"

But Hilda did not listen, she was long past listening.

"Attention, children of Trolberg! Do not trust this woman!" she shouted at the top of her voice and pointed accusingly. "Sure, she looks like an ordinary super cool librarian, but she's really an evil witch who wants to seduce your mums while you're at school!"

Several gasps and murmurs arose from the crowd as Kaisa's face lit up like a furnace.

"That's right! I saw it with my own eyes! The Librarian is coming after your mums!"

"Hilda, please, stop this." Kaisa pleaded, just one wrong word away from totally losing it. "We're in public."

"Don't let it happen to you! Protect your mums! Protect your mums!"

Visibly nearing the end of her rope, Kaisa turned back around and begged Principal Magnussen.

"Can we please go now?"

End Notes:

If you're following my other story 'Claw, Horn and Fang' and wondering if I'm abandoning it for good, the answer is, I'm not sure. I have a lot of ideas for that story, but it's not getting the response I was expecting and to be honest, writing it isn't as much fun as I'd hoped. However, I'm going to reserve judgement on continuing that story until I finish this one, which should take four to six weeks, barring any complications. Really it all depends on what I feel like doing when this story is over. So just be patient, enjoy my Hilda story for now and we'll see what happens.

Peace.