Different Kinds of Borrowers, Chapter 5
~Which is far too full of cousins~
Arrietty was in no hurry to get back home as she walked with Spiller through the empty manor house, swinging his hand clasped in hers and smiling wistfully.
He loved her. He wanted to marry her.
It was her girlhood dream, come true; though she never could have imagined how it would actually come about.
She glanced over at Spiller, who was stoic and alert as always, and she marveled how she could have been so lucky as to find the perfect borrower to marry. When she was younger, she hadn't even thought there were other borrowers anymore, and then the first one she had met turned out to be the one with whom she fell in love.
Life was a very funny thing sometimes.
With a contented sigh, Arrietty leaned her head against Spiller as they walked, holding onto his arm with her free hand.
She looked up at him again, and although he still wasn't looking at her, his mouth had quirked into a small smile.
Suddenly she felt Spillers arm tense, and he stopped walking. She looked up at him questioningly, but her ears picked up on a faint pattering sound that was steadily getting louder, and she realized why he had stopped.
They stood for a moment listening, and then Spiller relaxed and said simply "Timmus".
Arrietty didn't have long to be stunned over his 'hunter skills' before little Timmus ran through the doorway of the main hall where they were walking.
Seeing Arrietty and Spiller, he let out a little shout and raced towards them even faster, before finally stopping in front of them, leaning over and trying desperately to catch his breath.
Arrietty exchanged a very confused look with Spiller, and then took a step forward to place a calming hand on little Timmus' shoulder, saying "Is something wrong?"
Timmus looked up at her, still breathing hard, but he managed to gasp out something that made her stomach drop.
"Ditchley…. Ilrich… they – they've come back!"
"Oh no…" Arrietty groaned. Everytime Ditchley and Ilrich were around, trouble followed. They were pranksters of the worst kind – they had an ego, which meant if you didn't back down the first time, you were going to get it worse later.
"What do those two want now?" she said frustratedly, feeling her earlier elation vanish, plummeting her back down to reality. "I thought they were trying to stay away from home!"
"I dunno, but they're pretty upset about Eggie leaving 'em. And they're pretty mad at you, Spiller. They're looking for you!"
Spiller scowled, but said nothing.
Arrietty on the other hand couldn't keep silent.
"Well of all the… It's their own fault for stealing Spiller's borrowings in the first place and exploiting their own sister! Of course she wanted to leave! Where are they now? I'm going to give those two a piece of my mind!"
"Arrietty, they're not worth it" Spiller said tersely, his hand on her shoulder. He knew only too well how spiteful and dangerous Ditchley and Ilrich's tricks could be, and he didn't want Arrietty getting involved in their immature games.
"Spiller, you can't just let them win – they can't keep getting away with pushing people around!"
Spiller didn't answer but stared into her eyes, and she stared back, until his intense, dark gaze was too much for her and she turned away, looking back at Timmus, who was watching them with confusion etched on his face.
"Timmus, where's your sister? Is she alright?"
"Well, I don't know…" Timmus trailed off, still staring oddly at Arrietty. Suddenly he spoke up "Arrietty, did you fall in the stove or something? You're all covered in soot."
For a moment she just stood there motionless, then looked down at her beige dress covered in black dust. She gasped, and looked around frantically for a mirror of some kind. She saw the fireplace against the other wall and rushed up to the metal shovel used to clean out ash. Examining herself in its polished silver surface, she saw with horror that the whole back of her dress was black where she had been pressed up against the inside of the oven by Spiller, and there were other smudged marks on her dress and arms and face that looked suspiciously like hand prints. Her hair was all sorts of disheveled, and her lips were red and swollen – she looked a right mess.
'And all this from just a little kissing!' Why hadn't Spiller told her!?
Fixing up her hair a bit in her reflection, rubbing the smudges off her skin and brushing as much soot from her dress as she could, she straightened up and walked back to Spiller and Timmus, trying to keep the blush off her face from her appearance and outburst.
She glared in frustration at Spiller, who was watching her with a blatant grin. He didn't look any different! But then, he was always covered in dirt and dust, so who could really tell?
"Yes Timmus, I fell in the stove. Spiller was just helping me out."
"Oh, okay. So are you going to help me?"
"Help you how? If your brothers have decided to come back home, there's not really much we can do to stop them."
"Could throw 'em in the river."
"Oh Spiller, stop."
Timmus looked incredulous. "But… Arrietty, you can't NOT do something! And Spiller! We'll need your help! You're the only one Ditchley and Ilrich are afraid of!"
"If they're so afraid of Spiller, then why do they keep stealing from him? And anyways Timmus, what would your mother think if we were to do anything to her precious boys?"
Timmus' disheartened expression cut through Arrietty, and despite her misgivings, she found herself saying "Oh… alright Timmus, we'll help. But just what exactly is it that you want us to do?"
At this, little Timmus' face shot up, a wide smile on it, and he grabbed for Arrietty's hand and started pulling her out of the room as he said "We need to find Eggletina!"
Before they could get very far though, Spiller grabbed onto Arrietty's other hand, effectively stopping both her and Timmus. She looked at him with a puzzled expression, and he looked at her with a bit of a smirk.
"Might want to… get cleaned up before you go, don't you think?"
Arrietty paused, looked down at her dress, then turned to Timmus saying "You go and tell my parents – they should know what's going on, and maybe they'll know what to do. We'll catch up."
It was already dusk by the time Peagreen returned home, his borrowing-cart laden with crumbs and spices from the pantry, sturdy twigs and vibrant leaves from the yard, and a large chalky coal from the greenhouse stove.
The coal had been his last borrowing for the evening, though originally he had planned to get more.
He had slipped into the green room just as the sun was going down, the shattered corners of the glass walls providing easy access to the room from the outside.
He had been to this room many times before to borrow from the abundant supply of ashes, soot and lumps of coal which he used for his art, and usually he was alone in this, as these weren't borrowings that many others were after.
So it came as quite a surprise to him when he saw movement over near the old stove, and it was even more of a shocker to see Arrietty, positively covered in soot, laughing and leading Spiller by the hand out of the rusted and blackened box.
Peagreen dove behind a fallen pot to avoid detection, but as seemed to be happening lately, the two only had eyes and ears for each other.
And when they stopped so Arrietty could peck Spiller on the cheek then dance away, only to have him chase after her and grab her and kiss her for much longer, Peagreen almost stepped out from his cover just to stop the nauseating display and tell them to find a private room somewhere where decent folk didn't have to watch.
Of course, realized Peagreen, that's probably exactly why they were there.
After a few more minutes (torturous to Peagreen) they finally walked around the corner and into the hallway, and once he felt they were far enough away, Peagreen crept up and into the stove, gathered his borrowings, and made a hasty retreat back to his wagon.
He didn't have the will to borrow anything more that day.
He got back to his birdhouses while there was still some light, and was preparing to unload his wares, when he saw a figure huddled up by the entrance.
Leaving his wagon for a moment, he crept closer, and to his surprise found it to be Eggletina, sitting on the ground, her knees scrunched up in front of her, and her head hiding in her arms.
'What on Earth is she doing here?'
His first thought was to reach out a hand to comfort her, but he stopped himself, not wanting to alarm her – she seemed to have not yet noticed his arrival.
He cleared his throat, and when this failed to attract her attention, he tried calling her name.
"Eggletina? Eggletina!"
She jerked violently, staring around in a panic, and then her eyes rested on him.
He was surprised by the fear he saw in those eyes.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you – "
"N-no! No, please, don't worry! I… I was just resting! Must have fallen asleep…" She rubbed absently at her eyes, and he noticed they looked a little red. "I'm sorry – it's nothing really. I'll be going now."
Peagreen, being the gentleman he was, stepped forward quickly to help her as she rose to her feet. "Please, don't leave on my account! If you're tired you're welcome to stay and rest, though it might be a bit more comfortable if you come inside…"
Eggletina looked rather puzzled. "Inside? Wha – do you live here?"
"Well, yes! I moved in a little while ago, actually." Peagreen fought down a bit of a blush. The awe with which she had asked made him think that perhaps she looked down on his living arrangements and couldn't believe her ears – she was very refined after all.
But she surprised him: "Oh! That's lovely! You must have a beautiful view of the gardens from there!"
He smiled, happy to see her enthusiasm. "I do, in fact! Would you like to see?"
She turned and looked at him strangely, thinking about something that he could not fathom.
"I would like that… very much."
*Author's Note:
Okay... this was gonna be longer, but I ended up cutting it apart in order to allow the two parts for the two couples (SpiArri and EggieGreen... those are my couple names for them lol jk not really but still) but NEVER FEAR. There's another chapter on the way. It's almost done and will be up shortly. Famous last words.
Anyhow, thanks for all of you who read this story! It may not be popular or well known even, but it sure is fun to write! :3 And I'm happy if at least one other person can enjoy it as well!
And if you're confused about the other cousins, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND reading the books and watching the BBC TV series that can be found on YouTube. It ROCKS. I pretty much watch it every day, and I'm almost not exaggerating. If you like the books, you should like it too. It's got Ian Holm for Pete's sake.
Anyhow, thanks for reading! :D
