Chapter 81

Roger smiled at his tiny companion, gently dabbed at her bright blue eyes and said,"Somehow, I think you're right my dear...Any ideas on what Silky might do? If she really wants to leave I can't force her to stay, I might as well enslave her and that'll never happen."

He muttered, "I wish Anna was here, maybe she'd know what to do..."

"Ah resent 'at!" Declared Dena stoutly, "An' what's wrang wi' me? Ah am ay th' fae an' I've got centuries oan Miss Anna. She only became a supernatural, Ah was born a supernatural! Ur ye gang daft?"

Taken aback by her outburst, Roger sat with an astonished look on his perpetually sunburnt face and looked at his tiny companion in wonder while Dena put her hands on her trim hips and glared at him.

After a few moments Roger smiled at her and said in wonder, "You really do care about me...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to take you lightly and you're right. You're more akin to Silky than Anna is, I don't know about the centuries part because neither one of you looks to be over 21 years old.

"I'm afraid that of all of us here, Freya and I are the mortals with our mortal perspectives on life. I do know that in the time I have left, I want all of you to be with me. I want this place to be the happy home I never had as a child growing up in the foster care system."

Instinctively, he reached out and took Dena's tiny form into his arms where he held her very tenderly and murmured, "Truth be told, I do love you, just like I love Freya and Anna and now Silky."

Dena snuggled against his broad chest as only she could and replied,"Ah loove ye jist loch th' others loove ye. Th' nicht Ah first mit ye Ah kent ye woods become close when Ah watched ye bond wi' Sasha. Ah kent she woods ne'er be canty wi' onie other body, Jotun ur otherwise. Ye becam 'er bond mucker, 'er muck is fur makin' puppies but 'er heart belongs tae ye 'til death dae ye part."

The two of them sat in the kitchen holding each other and bonding even closer until Anita came in with Warren right behind her.

Anita was saying brightly, "Gudrun gave me this tea that is great for pulling a late nigh writing session...Hi Roger, hi Dena!"

She reached into a cabinet and Warren stopped short as he realized the doll Roger was holding so closely was moving on its own.

He finally blurted out, "Is that one of those robotic dolls I've heard about?"

Roger straightened up quickly and said hastily, "Actually no...This is not a doll..."

Warren stepped closer and peered at Dena as he muttered, "So life like...Where did you get this?"

At this point Dena scrambled up onto the kitchen table and cried,"Ah ainae nae bludy doll! Fa dae ye hink yoo're talkin' tae?"

Warren gasped and staggered back, his eyes fairly bulging out of his head and his mouth in an 'O' of astonishment.

He staggered over to a chair and sat down heavily as if all of his strings had been cut.

He sat there gaping until finally he recovered his scattered wits and gasped in a near wheeze, "My God... You're alive!"

Shaking his head, Warren looked at Roger first then he looked at Anita, and finally he asked, "How long have you known... Her?"

Anita looked at him in surprise and said, "I thought you knew about Dena...You haven't met her yet?"

Anita cleared her throat and said, "Dena, I'd like you to meet Warren 'Whisky' Johnson, he's the head librarian up at the research library. Freya and I have been helping him with the book stacks."

She smiled at Warren and said, "Warren, I'd like you to meet Dena, our resident wood wife. She and Silky run this household quite efficiently I might add."

Warren sat there blinking for a few moments until he finally stood up, doffed his Alpine hat and bowed low to Dena while saying ,"A pleasure to meet you Dena, a pleasure indeed and my heartfelt apologies for mistaking you for a doll."

Dena smiled at him and replied in her piccolo of a voice, "'Tis a pleasure tae meit ye tay guid sairrr, a cheil is aye a pleasure tae meit."

She extended a tiny hand and Warren gallantly bowed low as he took her by the hand and brushed his lips across the back of her hand like a proper gentleman.

Dena giggled afterwards and said brightly,"A lassie coods graw tae likin' thes!"

Warren straightened up again and stepped back to resume his seat with a very big smile on his face, he said cheerfully, "I feel like I'm living in a dream. The club I ran the library for sold their building and with the library in storage, I was no longer needed. I applied here on a whim really and was surprised to get the job over other, more qualified applicants."

Roger grinned and remarked, "Your connections to the realms of fantasy and science fiction were a big factor in your hiring."

Warren grinned back and continued."The next thing I know is that I'm meeting the tallest girl I've ever seen, then I meet her giant wolf and her even bigger mate and today I got to meet the smallest girl I've ever seen. And it turns out they are all creatures out of myth and fantasy, I mean a frost giant girl, two giant wolves right out of Ragnarok and now a wood elf maiden. Oh yes, half the books in the library are written in runes...If this is a dream, please don't wake me up!"

Warren looked around inside the kitchen once built for a giant and said, "This place is like a halfway home between the worlds and I can't believe I'm a resident!"

Dena smiled prettily at Warren's comment about her being an elf maiden and she said cheerfully, "Ah hate tae break th' speel, but Ah am a stoatin, stoatin grandmother several times ower noo!"

Warren just laughed and said, "Why am I not surprised! Of course you're a great many times over grandmother, you're also amazing!"

Roger smiled at Warren, got up from his chair and asked, "Care for a cold one? You could probably use on about now."

Warren grinned and replied, "Like a bear in the woods!"

Roger chuckled and said, "Well, in that case, we'll make this a special occasion. After all it's not every day one meets a wood elf!"

He reached into a cabinet and got out a couple of tankards then paused and asked Anita, "Would you like one?"

To which she quickly shook her head and said "No thank you, I'll make myself some tea. That Jotun ale is pretty strong stuff and I need my wits about me tonight."

Smiling at her he replied, "Not a problem dear, just bein' polite...How about you Dena? I have your little tankard right here." Dena smiled and nodded her pretty head.

Roger opened a cabinet next to the refrigerator and Warren saw the end of a firkin gleaming in its wooden cradle.

Roger gently poured one tankard after another then shut off the tap before closing the chilled cabinet again.

Warren grinned and remarked, "Nice rig you have there, do you brew?"

Roger smiled and replied, "Not me. I don't really have the knack, however I do know a brewer or two and they're happy to fill my firkins for me."

Roger handed out the foaming tankards and smiled as Warren held the tankard up and gently inhaled the aromas wafting from its contents , then took a little sip and smacked his lips a few times.

Taking another sip, he repeated his earlier tasting venture and smacked his lips some more.

Meanwhile, Dena had already downed a fair amount from her tiny personal tankard and was smiling contentedly.

"Well? Whaddaya think?" asked a curious Roger.

Warren's reply was to take a big sup from his tankard and grin, "I like this, it's a braggott but not like one's I've had before, I'm getting hints of pine and heather with wild honey mead...It's very good. Who brewed this?" he concluded.

Roger grinned and replied,"That, my friend was brewed by Young Harald, Old Harald's grandson and Freya's cousin up in Canada. It is a recipe they brought with them "Athwart the briny" as they describe their journey across the Atlantic. You're the only other person aside from immediate family that has tasted Jotun ale. Eugene down at the Brewer's Warehouse would kill me if he knew I had a firkin of Jotun ale and hadn't told him or invited him over for a taste or two or three."

Warren chuckled and commented drily," Yes, he would kill you and he would also invite a dozen of his 'thirsty' friends along to help you drink this all up."

"You know him well then," remarked Roger.

Warren smiled and replied,"Let's just say I know his type. When I was head librarian at the club, I would host weekly taste testings of various beverages and members were encouraged to participate and contribute if they so desired. Of course there was this one woman who would come in and demand alcohol or stick her head in to see if I had poured yet. She hardly contributed anything unless it was some weird soda she'd gotten from somewhere else without paying for it.

"I figured she hated me because I would say something while others let it go, she never hesitated to ask for a taste because she knew I would share. Even when I managed a booth at Southern Faire she'd stop by for a little nip, she never bought anything of course but that didn't stop her from asking for a taste."

Roger could only smile and remark, "I could tell you a few horror stories about my two exes, lovely to behold indeed, but each had a trainload of emotional baggage I didn't know about, until after the honeymoon was over. Thankfully, they don't know where I am and I'd like to keep it that way."

"Any children?" asked Warren.

"No, thank goodness. It wasn't through lack of trying, it just wasn't meant to be. Living with Freya has been sort of like raising a child for me. With having to deal with school and all her outside activities I've been fairly busy. She may be a giantess but she still has feelings that get hurt by thoughtless remarks or misunderstandings, thankfully her accent isn't as thick as it was at first."

He grinned, "Either that or I've gotten better at knowing what she means. Spending some time with her people has also helped."

Roger looked over at Dena who had finished her tankard and was quietly listening to their conversation.

Anita had gone upstairs to her room and was deeply involved with a story idea.

He smiled at her and said to Warren, "Like you said earlier, I too, am living in a dream. Freya and I moved into this house when it was pretty dilapidated and the yard was a weed lot. She fixed up the yard and I fixed up the house. We've had quite a few adventures together, Freya and I. Now we live in a house full of life and love, and I wouldn't trade any of this for the world!"

Dena was beaming at him while he said his last remark, she knew part of his remark was directed at her.

They had nearly finished off their tankards when Roger saw Ildico's note lying in plain sight on the kitchen table.

A quick glance at the kitchen clock and a bit of mental gymnastics later, Roger noted that he had a few hours to get ready to be figuratively dragged from hearth and home to go running with a 6 foot tall Viking shield maiden/fitness model, cleverly disguised as a trauma center nurse practitioner.

Finishing off his tankard, Roger washed it out and carefully dried it before putting it away.

Warren eyed him and asked, "No more for you?"

"Yep!" Replied Roger, "A neighbor is coming by after her shift to take me out running this evening."

"Oh?"

Roger grinned at him and said, "Ildico really helped me in my recovery process after I had gotten shot a while back and we've been going running ever since, when I'm in town."

At Warrens quizzical expression, Roger related the story of his getting attacked by a Great Dane and Sasha's intervention and their subsequent encounter with the dog's owner that left Sasha with broken bones and Roger with a bullet wound and a long, painful recovery process.

He left out the parts about Anna giving him a 'rose kiss' and his brief stay at the fae hospital under Dr. Shannon's care and the after effect of his treatment being his now having 'the sight', and all the little sprites sitting quietly perched above them listening to him talking.

Warren did not need to know about them...Just yet.

Warren peered into his nearly empty tankard and Roger said cheerfully, "Not to worry, I'll send you home with one for the trail so to speak. Besides, it's not like I'm kicking you out just 'cause a neighbor's coming by to go running with me."

Warren smiled and said, "I do need to go anyway, the club meeting starts in a couple of hours and I want to get some library work done before the crowd shows up."

"Their library or ours?"

"Theirs, it's almost up to 10,000 volumes now and needs cataloging...I kinda got volunteered into it..."

Roger grinned as he refilled Warren's tankard from the firkin of Jotun braggott he'd brought down from Canada.

"I hope she's worth it!"

He remarked as he handed the foaming tankard of braggott back to its owner.

Warren grinned as he placed a cover over the contents, "I think she is, she's the main reason I came up here to begin with."

"So this isn't a recent encounter then?"

"Nay, I've known her for years from Southern Faire, she moved up here, got herself established and encouraged me to come visit after my dad passed away and his house was sold."

He and Roger went outside where they found the two giant wolves lolling about.

"I found this place almost by accident when I came up and when I heard they needed a librarian, I applied on a whim mostly and was shocked when I got the job. The cottage to live in was not expected and I really appreciate it."

The two wolves got to their feet and after a brief period of rump scratching and ear rubbing Roger said softly to Sasha, "Walk Warren home, okay? See that he gets there safely."

He hugged Sasha's giant frame and got shlurped in reply.

The two men shook hands in parting and Roger watched as Warren trudged up the well tended foot path leading up to the library.

Escorted by the two giant wolves, he looked like a small boy walking between his father's favorite hounds.