Chapter 103

The chiming of the front door bell interrupted their conversation and Roger excused himself to get the door.

Standing at the door was three small bodies, all under five feet tall.

Christina and her parents had arrived.

Looking like so many little Inuit children, the Aquinos were bundled up to their eyes and swaddled in thick scarves or furry hoods.

Roger smiled, "Good evening, come in, come in out of the cold!"

Freya appeared and said cheerfully, "Come wi' me an' we'll hang up yer coats in th' close closit."

Christina and her mom were both carrying covered dishes in baskets and Roger said, "Here, I'll take those and you can go with Freya."

He took the fully laden baskets and carried them into the kitchen while Freya showed them the hall closet.

Moments later, the Aquinos were standing in the hallway looking somewhat overwhelmed.

Roger smiled at them and said, "Christina and Maria I've met, you must be Rudolfo!"

Rudolfo smiled, said "Call me Rudy!" and extended his hand in greeting.

As he and Roger shook hands, Rudolfo smiled and said, "Christina's told me so much about Freya, but seeing her in person for the first time, tells me she was actually being modest in her description of Freya."

Roger grinned and replied, "Wait'll you meet our wolvies! You three could easily ride them like ponies."

Rudolfo chuckled and said, "Considering Freya's size, I can believe you very easily."

Maria asked, " Excuse me...Where did you put our baskets?"

"I put them in the kitchen on the small table." replied Roger as he pointed the way into the kitchen.

Maria and Christina ventured into the kitchen and Roger heard them both laughing gaily.

He and Rudolfo exchanged glances and they followed the two into the kitchen to see Christina standing next to the massive cast iron stove while Maria took pictures of her.

Maria grinned and said gaily, "My sisters back home won't believe how big this stove is, if I don't send them a picture of it!"

Putting away her phone, Maria asked, "Why is everything in this house so big? The ceilings being high I can understand with Freya being so tall, but this stove is huge!"

Roger smiled at them and said, "This house was once home to a retired circus giant couple. They both stood around eight feet tall and the house was built to their scale. Many of the fixtures were also scaled up, this stove being just one example. Fortunately, they expected normal sized visitors and so the guest bathrooms are normal sized."

He grinned, "The master bath is all to their scale though. The toilet, sink and bathtub are all giant sized. So it may as well be Freya's bathroom!"

Freya, Lorna and Deirdre came into the kitchen and after a brief exchange of hugs with Christina, Lorna grinned and asked, "So, what kind of down home cooking did you guys bring?"

Christina smiled and replied, "We brought Molo soup made with my grandmother's secret broth. Some Pancit Bihon Guisado for longevity, some Biko sticky rice for good fortune and grapes for prosperity.

"Everyone gets twelve grapes each and they have to be eaten tonight!"

Lorna grinned and replied, "I brought my grandmother's nabe pot and I'm making a Momiji Nabe with venison."

"Venison?" asked a wide eyed Christina.

"Deer meat" replied a grinning Lorna

"Ah... Where did you get the venison?"

Lorna smiled and replied, "My dad knows a place in South Texas and I got it from them."

Deirdre smiled, "My mom brought a big pot of mulled wine to wash down all that good food!"

"Mulled wine?"

"Yes, it's warmed in a pot and spices are added. It's really good on a cold winter night like tonight!"

The three of them looked at Freya and Deirdre asked, "What Jotun foods are we going to try tonight?"

Freya smiled and replied, "Roger has a big pot ay a kin' ay stew gart wi' smoked elk meat, root vegetables an' whatever spices he wishes tae add."

Freya smiled at her diminutive by comparison friends and said, "Mah fowk bide sae much closer tae nature than your fowk dae, an' until Ah mit Roger we aft becam concerned abit uir scran supply durin' th' lang winters we hae.

"Winter solstice meant it was half way o'er an' suin th' days woods graw warm again an' we coods hunt an' graw uir ain scran again."

Deirdre smiled and remarked, "My mom's told me some stories about old Ireland and how her family barely survived the famine by poaching fish and game from the forests and lakes and having to hide their extra food from the authorities."

She glanced at Freya, "Where did Roger get the smoked elk meat?"

Freya grinned, "Wa, he shot it ay coorse. E'ery time we visit mah fowk he brings his granddad's auld rifle an' goes it huntin' wi' th' men fowk."

"Does he smoke it too?"

"Nae, we hae neighbors who will pit uir meats in their reek shed an' we either gie them back later oan, ur they gie us their own smoked meats in exchange."

"Ah."

Roger glanced at the wall clock and said, "Welp, I've got to stir the pot a bit, why don't you all go into the front parlour and make yourselves comfortable!"

At his suggestion, they headed into the said parlour while he stepped outside and gave the bubbling pot a few turns with his stirring stick.

After replacing the lid he turned and saw Ildico and Phillip trudging up the driveway in their winter gear, he smiled when he noted that Ildico was wearing a knit scarf that Silky had made for her out of woolybug wool as a gift.

Ildico often took Silky with her to go grocery shopping and the diminutive house spirit had become a familiar sight at the Farmer's market they went to.

The silky soft scarf was her way of showing her appreciation for Ildico's help.

Ildico was carrying a paper bag and Phillip was carrying a cooking pot.

"Hail and well met!" Cried Roger at the approaching couple.

He grinned, "What have you got there?"

Ildico grinned and said, "I brought a large firework that oughtta wake up half the neighborhood and Phillip is carrying a pot of freshly cooked crayfish."

Roger chuckled and said, "Lorna usually brings some sort of a sparkler fountain and I'm sure our neighbors will grumble about the noisy one. Lord knows we've given them reason to grumble before!

"I'm sure the crayfish will be welcomed here. We've already got the Jotun tradition, Lorna's got her nabe pot ready to go and a class mate brought her Filipino traditional foods."

Ildico grinned and remarked, "The crayfish are a Swedish tradition and were originally eaten to celebrate the end of the annual ban on shellfish at new year's day. I'm not gonna recite the Lord Tennyson poem as I think Freya's got that covered already."

"Ah."

Roger led the couple into the house where Phillip placed the pot of crayfish near the Filipino foods.

Tiny Christina admired the crayfish and smiled when Ildico told her they were a Swedish tradition.

Having divested themselves of their bulky outer garments and hung them in the hallway closet, the couple made their way into the front parlour and were greeted by Sasha and her kin.

While making her way through the deeply furred wolvies all wanting her attention, Ildico laughed when she got to Cormac, the Irish wolf hound and said brightly, "Well, we have a guest I see, and who, are you?"

Cormac gave her a shlurp and she laughed.

Deirdre spoke up, "That's Cormac, he came with us 'cos I wanted him to meet Freya's wolvies."

Ildico grinned at the tall red head and said, "I'm Ildico, I live just down the street and you are?"

"Deirdre, I'm a class mate of Freya's and we play basketball together."

She glanced over at the towering girl standing nearly twice as tall as the tiny Filipina she was talking to, "Or at least I try to keep her from making the shot!"

Ildico grinned, "Let me know how that works out for you!"

Deirdre shrugged, "It hasn't yet!"

The door bell rang and Freya went to get the door, moments later she reappeared with Lorna Yamada's parents and her aunt Meiko after they had hung their outer garments in the hall closet.

Lorna promptly stepped forward and declared, "Hey everybody! I'd like you guys to meet my folks."

She gestured, "This is my dad, Tohru, my mom Mako, and visiting from Japan is my aunt Meiko, say hello everybody!"

There was a chorus of hellos and similar greetings from the assemblage.

Meiko smiled as she looked around inside the front parlour which was now fairly crowded and she said softly, "The house is so...Huge, but it is perfect for Freya, it fits her."

Meiko gaped when she saw the wolvies snoozing in front of the fireplace and she looked at Lorna inquiringly, Lorna grinned at her and said, "Yes, they are real, they came down from Canada."

Tohru grinned and held up a large bottle of premium Sake, "For tonight?" he offered.

Roger grinned, "I've got just the thing to warm that up in, come with me!" and with that, the two men went into the kitchen to set up a warming pot for the sake.

The door bell rang a second time and this time Roger answered it.

Standing there bundled up to her eyes was Maribel the renfairy he'd met last summer, and perched on her shoulder was the tiny sprite who'd adopted her during faire.

Maribel grinned, "May we come in?"

Roger stepped aside, smiled and waved them in.

Maribel stood in the hallway with a look of wonder on her elfin face, "This house is sooo cool!"

There was a brief whirr as her little sprite flew off to join the other sprites cloistered in the front parlour.

Maribel asked, "Will she be alright with the others?"

"She'll be fine. Our house gets a little crowded with sprites during cold weather so I built little homes for them up high where they're out of the way and won't annoy Silky."

"Silky?"

"Our housekeeper."

"Ah."

Maribel paused, "Is Dena here?"

"Yes, she is but she is staying out of sight for now."

"Okay."

Maribel went into the now fairly crowded front parlour and mingled with the others.

With the chiming of the ten o'clock hour, everybody bundled up again and went outside.

It was time to begin.

Roger lit the bonfire and stirred the big pot of food he'd made for the occasion.

Lorna set up her nabe pot and began laying out the ingredients to be added.

Warren Johnson and Paul Shannon carefully set up the pots of mulled cider and wine and set out the cups.

Tohru Yamada set up the warming pot for the sake and set out the tiny cups for its consumption.

The food was laid out on the side table and everyone was encouraged to try a little of everything on the table.

Christina and her mom went around the table distributing twelve grapes for each guest and offering pancit to everyone.

Mako smiled when she heard the younger folks saying "Itadakimasu!" before they began eating.