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Lizzy's Sunset - Chapter 6 - Pauline the woodcutter
Beth was once again ready for Viola, the next morning. When she answered the knock on the door, Viola stood there with a strange smirk, looking at Beth's chosen dress of the day.
"I think you'll want your sturdiest outfit today." Viola stated. "I'll wait."
After breakfast and pixie dust, they flew off toward the border between Autumn Forest and Winter Woods.
"What's up for this morning?" asked Beth. She noticed Viola still wore that strange smirk.
"You'll be spending the day with Pauline, our only woodcutting-talent."
They were approaching a large timber-frame work-shed, perched on a hillside, over a stream which was supplying power for a water wheel. Around the shed were tidy stacks of wood and cut lumber, drying in the fresh air. Beth spotted a blonde fairy in green, loading firewood into a large wagon.
As Beth and Viola flew closer, the fairy on the ground seemed to grow bigger, until they touched down nearby. Viola and Beth walked up to her.
"Morning, Pauline!" called Viola.
"Hey, Viola." answered Pauline, who towered over the 2 smaller fairies. Beth looked down to see if she and Viola were standing in a hole. Pauline was almost as tall as Queen Clarion, but she was much more solid; all muscle. She looked as if she could crumple sparrow-men into a ball and toss them over her shoulder non-stop, until Pixie Hollow ran out of sparrow-men.
"Who's your friend?" asked Pauline.
"This is Beth, our New Arrival. She doesn't have a talent yet, so we were wondering..."
"Are you sure?" Pauline eyed Beth's slight frame.
"Well, we have to try." Viola offered.
"Alright then, it'll be nice to have some company." Pauline grinned.
"Send her home before supper!" Viola said, taking to the air and flying off.
"Nice to meet you, Beth" Pauline turned to her. "We'll just finish loading this wagon, then we'll be off to Pixie Hollow for deliveries." Pauline wore tinker-green, but Beth was sure they were tough oak leaves. Pauline's blonde hair was twisted into a pair of tight braids, which sprouted from each side of her head like tree branches.
Beth loaded firewood, a few pieces at a time, while Pauline heaved armloads into the wagon. Pauline asked Beth about the latest Pixie Hollow gossip, as she hitched 4 mean-looking work-mice in front of the wagon. The 2 fairies climbed aboard, the seat creaking under Pauline's weight, and they were off.
"How did you find your woodcutting talent?" asked Beth.
"I don't know if there's actually a woodcutting talent." began Pauline, "I was originally a tinker." Beth looked at her in surprise. "True story. But I kept breaking things."
"Breaking things?"
"Tools, equipment, buildings, ...things. Plus, my hands are too big for delicate tinker work, so they tried me with wood-cutting, and here I am!"
"How do you like it?"
"It's a bit lonely, but I get plenty of fresh air and exercise. I get to run my shop as I like. As long as Pixie Hollow gets wood deliveries, nobody complains."
"Who gets the wood?"
"Dulsie still likes a wood-fired oven, the blacksmith-talents need it to start their coal forges, and there's a community woodshed for fairies with fireboxes in their cottages. The carpenter-talents build with the lumber I cut, too."
"That's really useful!"
"I think so." Pauline smiled.
They stopped at the back of Dulsie's tearoom to stack as much wood as would fit, then they rolled on to the Hollow's woodshed to stack the rest. Once again, Pauline moved 4 times the wood pieces that Beth managed. Beth's arms were getting tired.
They rode back to Dulsie's for lunch. Pauline ate enough for 3 fairies, while Beth only picked at her food. The ride back was faster and rougher at an easy gallop, with an empty wagon.
When they arrived back at Pauline's place, she unhitched the mice and let them wander the hillside. Pauline took Beth inside to show off the workings of the sawmill.
"I built it all myself." beamed Pauline. "Being a tinker has advantages." She rolled a log into place and set the reciprocating saw going, to cut it length-wise. "It'll take a while to hack through that. Let's go out back and play." Beth wondered what she meant.
Pauline grabbed a huge axe and 2 much smaller ones, as they stepped outside. She pointed to a large log-end target some distance across the field. To Beth, it was the size of her thumbnail at arms-length.
"This is what I do for fun." said Pauline. She raised the huge axe over her head with both arms, and flung it at the target. Beth was sure it would overshoot to the right, but the whirling axe arced toward the target, and landed close to center with a loud pop.
They fluttered to retrieve Pauline's axe, then came back a little way. The target looked about tea-saucer size at arms-length.
"Your turn." said Pauline, handing Beth one of the small axes. "Those are what I started with, years ago."
Beth hefted the axe to check the weight. She grabbed it with both hands, as Pauline had done, swung it over her head, and squeaked as it slipped out of her grasp.
"Watch your wings." chuckled Pauline. "Try to give it 1 or 2 rotations before it hits."
Beth tried again, and the axe dropped at the foot of the target.
"Aim a little higher." Pauline handed Beth the second small axe.
Beth tried for 10 or 15 minutes, but only got an axe to stick once. Her shoulders were getting sore.
"Enough playing for now." smiled Pauline, "Time for more work."
They flitted back to the sawmill to reset the cut log for another pass, then went outside to split wood. Pauline showed her how to set a short log on end, and split it. She then showed Beth another trick, where she set one log on top of another, and dropped the axe through both of them. Pauline and Beth split logs for the rest of the afternoon.
Beth was aching from neck-to-calves by the time Pauline called it a day. She felt and looked wretched.
"I must admit, you're a good little worker." said Pauline. "A lot of fairies would have fallen before now. Sorry they put you through this. Did you really want to be a woodcutter?"
Beth looked at Pauline, wings drooping, and slowly shook her head "no".
"Can't blame you. It took me months to get this fit, but you might never make it. I'll show you something before you go."
Beth wearily followed Pauline into the sawmill, to a corner with an axe-blade over a wood block. She pulled a short log off a nearby pile, put it on the wood block, then pulled a wooden lever. The mill gear-works pushed the axe blade through the log, splitting it in 2. Beth whimpered.
"It sort of works, but I can still split wood faster by hand." explained Pauline.
Beth said "thank you" and "good-bye" to Pauline, and with great effort, flew her way back to Pixie Hollow.
Beth stopped at Dulsie's tearoom for a light bit of supper. Half way through her meal, one of the tearoom fairies set cake-stands full of muffins on all the tables.
"They're new." she explained, "Banana-walnut with mouse cream-cheese icing."
Beth loved them, but was too tired to stay for another. She dragged herself up to her apartment and fell into bed.
Sometime in the wee hours of the morning, Beth woke, hungry. She managed to get herself sitting on the edge of the bed, still half asleep. She wanted one of those banana-walnut muffins so-o-o badly. If only she could just reach out, and...
Dulsie's tearoom was open 24-hours for the convenience of fairies working at any time. One of the tearoom fairies was cleaning tables, when she noticed a sleepy fairy reaching for a new muffin.
"Oh, I didn't hear you come in." she said. "Say, you're that new fairy, aren't you?"
The sleepy fairy didn't seem to hear, but took a bite of her muffin, then suddenly vanished!
"Clarion's wings!" exclaimed the tearoom fairy.
Beth didn't hear the knocking at her door, next morning. She didn't hear Viola come in, or call her name. Viola picked up a half-eaten muffin from the floor next to the bed, and dropped it into the waste basket. She sat on the floor next to the bed, where she could see Beth's face.
"Beth." Viola softly called, shaking Beth gently. "Beth, wake up. It's a new day." shaking Beth some more.
Beth moaned, "Too tired, let me sleep."
"I really think you'll want to get up today." Viola coaxed, shaking Beth some more.
"Have mercy." groaned Beth.
"We think we know what your talent is."
Beth's eyes popped open.
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Author's Post Note: The character of Pauline was inspired by Paul Bunyan, of course.
More of Lizzy/Beth in chapter 7!