Part 2
After her father was shown out, a young man in the king's livery approached her. "If you'll come with me, miss?"
The young woman followed him out of the throne room, through a door, down one corridor and up another one, and then down a flight of stairs.
He opened the door to a room which had a cot, a spinning wheel, several bales of straw, and not much else.
"Will you need anything else?" he asked her politely.
"Why is there so much straw in here?" she questioned.
"I hope this is enough," the man replied, "That is what you need, right?"
"I need straw?" she blinked.
"To spin into gold, right?"
"Straw into…" she started to repeat.
"That's what your father said you could do."
"My Papa said that…" She blinked. This explained everything, the King's interest in her, her father's nervousness. Oh papa… what have you gotten me into now?
"Miss?" the man looked at her curiously, "Are you alright?
The young woman gave a nervous giggle. "Well, I guess the secret's out."
"So, do you need anything else?" he asked her again.
She shook her head, somewhat in a daze.
The king's man bid her good evening and left her alone in the room full of straw.
Almost in a daze, she sat down at the spinning wheel and picked up a handful of straw. Maybe she could make a sort of golden string. Then she could tell the king that that's really the sort of gold that her father had been talking about. The stiff fibers wound around the distaff, scratching her fingers. After a few minutes of work, she was rewarded with a thick coating of straw around the wooden pole.
She tried to feed a strand of the straw into the bobbin, but the straw just splintered and broke. She coughed and tried again, but after about an hour she had to admit defeat. Spinning straw into anything, much less gold was impossible!
She flopped down next to the spinning wheel, putting her head down on a straw bale. "I wish…" she whispered.
"You wish?" came a male voice.
The young woman gasped and sat up with a start. There was a strange looking man standing outside of the window. He had long, dirty black hair, and he wore a strange patched coat. He gave her a grin, revealing a mouth full of rotten looking teeth.
"Hello dearie," the man greeted her, "What seems to be the trouble?"
She scrubbed her tears away with the back of her hand. "I must spin this entire room of straw into gold."
The man opened the window and climbed inside with a gracefulness that didn't match his appearance. He looked around, taking in the sight of the room and then turned back to the young woman. "Why?"
"The king believes that I can do it," she said softly.
"And why would he believe that?"
"My papa told him I could…"
"Did he now?" the odd man responded, "What would he do that for?"
"I don't know…" she looked down at her hands.
"You mentioned a wish." He said, "What do you wish?"
"I don't know how to spin straw into gold," she said, "I wish I had a fairy godmother… or someone with magic to help me…"
"Yes, I suppose it would take magic to turn straw into gold," he agreed.
She sniffed and put her head back down, more tears coming. "And now the king will be so angry with me and Papa for lying to him."
"What would you give me?" the man asked.
"G-give?" she raised her head and looked at him questioningly.
"If I turned all this straw into gold."
"You can do that?" she sat up properly.
"I didn't say that, dearie," he answered, "I just asked what you would give me if I did."
"I don't have much…" she looked down at her hands again, and then slipped off the simple golden ring that she was wearing, "But… I could give you this. It isn't much… but it's the only valuable thing I have. It… it was my mother's…"
"Let me see it."
Wordlessly, she handed him the ring. He looked it over, holding it up to the light from the window, rolling it around in his fingers.
"I'll take it," he said with a nod. The ring vanished from his hand. "In exchange for this ring, I will spin all of this straw into gold for you."
She stared at him in astonishment. He lifted her to her feet and moved her out of his way, and then he sat down at the spinning wheel.
"Thank you," she murmured as the wheel clattered into motion.
*~*~*~*
The sun rose and birds sang outside her window. The miller's daughter woke, disoriented. The light was all wrong, the bed was all wrong. She wasn't at home.
Suddenly the memory of last night came rushing back at her. The straw! She sat up with a start, fearing that she had just dreamed up the odd man.
Everything was sparkling. Last night, there had been bales of hay and straw. Today, the room was filled with bundles of golden yarn. She gasped and picked up the one nearest her. It was heavier than yarn, definitely metal. Definitely gold.
"Thank you," she said again to the air, hoping that the odd magic man would somehow hear her. He could not have been an ordinary man; he had to be a fairy or an elf or something.
There was a knock on her door.
"Come in," she called automatically.
"Miss?" the door opened. It was the guard from the night before. He entered the room. "How are you-" he trailed off, looking around the room. His eyes grew wide, and he could not hide his shock.
"Surprised?" she asked meekly, "I hope this is what the king wished for…"
"You did it," he sounded astonished. He looked to her, "Please forgive me."
"Forgive?" she blinked.
"I thought that you were lying," he said, "I did not think this was possible."
She gave him a warm smile. "I forgive you, of course."
He gave a little bow. "Please, come with me. The king will want to see you."
An hour later, cleaned and fed, the miller's daughter appeared before the king once more.
"You have done well," the king informed her.
"Thank you sire," she gave a curtsey
"I admit I was skeptical," he told her, "Your talents seemed too good to be true, but this…" he held up one of the skeins of gold yarn, "This is amazing. It will solve so many problems."
"I am just glad that I could be of service," she told him.
"How would you like a job?"
"A… a job?" she repeated.
"Official Royal Gold Spinner, what do you think?" he asked.
She gathered her courage. "I apologize, your highness, but I must decline."
"Yes, you are right," he responded, "I must not be greedy."
"Greed will only come back to haunt you, sire," she nodded.
"You are wise," he nodded gravely, "But please, allow me to call upon your services once a year."
"Once a year?" she repeated.
Inwardly he sighed. Well, he supposed it just made sense. Any woman as beautiful and talented as she was must have some sort of flaw. And it appeared that she was rather simple. "Spinning for me." He told her, "Of course I will reward you and your father for your services."
"Well, I don't know," she said slowly. She wanted to confess, right then and there, but the king had seemed so pleased with her. "I must speak with my father first."
"Very well," the king said, "I will have one of my men escort you home."
"I will take her," the same guard who had been guiding her around earlier spoke up.
The king gave a nod. "Go on home then. You are dismissed."
Most of the walk back to the mill was silent.
"You don't have to walk me all the way home," she spoke up after a moment.
"I don't mind," he assured her, "It's a nice day, and you look like you could use the company."
She sheepishly twisted a lock of blonde hair around her finger. "Is it that obvious?"
"I'm afraid so, miss."
"It was a bit unnerving, meeting the king in person like that."
"He's actually rather nice," he assured her.
"I'll take your word for it," she nodded, "Thank you… for being so kind to me. I am Claudette."
"Baelfire," he replied, giving her a polite little bow, "And I wish to thank you. I don't know if you know how helpful this gold will be. Our kingdom will put this money to good use."
"I'm glad to help," she nodded.
"I do hope you will consider helping out again next year," Baelfire said.
"I will think about it," Claudette agreed, "But I do not like the idea of leaving my father alone."
"Just for one day a year?" the guard questioned.
"I'm all that he has," Claudette said softly.
Soon they reached the mill, with the familiar cottage that Claudette had lived in all her life. She bid farewell to Baelfire and made her way inside, calling out for her father.
He was very pleased to see her, rushing to her side and embracing her. "I am so glad to see you again, my girl," he murmured.
"Papa," she pulled away from him, her tone scolding, "Your lies could have cost us our lives."
"I am sorry, my love," he told her, sounding like he meant it, "But it seems to have turned out alright in the end."
"I had to give up mother's ring," she said softly, showing him her bare hand.
"What happened?" he asked.
She told him the tale of how the king believed she could spin straw into gold, and had placed her in a room full of straw. How frightened and devastated she was. And then she told him of the strange man who had spun all of the straw into gold for her, in exchange for the ring.
The miller whistled softly. "He must have been magic. Spinning straw into gold is impossible without magic."
She nodded.
"You are very lucky," he told her.
"No more drunken stories," she told him firmly.
"I promise," he told her with a nod, "That is the last out of me."