Cornbread & Crossroads

the committee has. Several of the new arrivals have already made themselves useful in town with jobs thanks to those willing to hire them.”
Ms. Patty, my mom’s friend who continued to run their shop Life’s a Stitch, spoke up with enthusiasm. “I’m thrilled to have Phacelia and Tansy working with me. Both have great skill with needles. I’d like to help Phacelia sell some of her handmade lace on the internet. And Steve got some much-needed staff to assist with the cooking at the cafe. If I get can get him to stop trying to control everything in his kitchen, I may even be able to get him to take some time off.”
Juniper nodded and added, “My cleaning business has acquired several more pixies, including some from your home, Ms. Hawthorne.”
Color rose in my cousin’s cheeks. “Call me Clementine, please. All Tucker and I did was release them from whatever contract that had been made more than a century ago for them to serve the household. Those who wanted to leave had the freedom to go and those who stayed now get paid as they should.”
Murmurs of approval rose in the room, and my cousin brushed them off with a wave of her hand. I beamed at her once, and she bowed her head with a pleased grin on her face.
Clearing her throat, Clementine asked, “Blythe, what’s the housing situation like?”
More pride swelled in my chest as one of my best friends spoke in a commanding tone. “Right now, everyone has found a place to stay thanks to several people inviting more than their share of new temporary tenants into their homes.” She nodded in my direction with appreciation. “We aren’t quite at the point of need to ask everybody to evaluate their living space and determine whether or not he or she could take on potential boarders, but if David’s right and the invitation is so open that any and all may be coming our way, we’ll need to have more spaces available.”
My best friend had volunteered from the very beginning to take charge of finding places for every short, tall, thin, wide, winged, fanged, and everything-in-between being who’d shown up at our town’s proverbial doorstep over the last few months. She continued working at Mrs. Wilkes’s house to help in the transition from the home being a bed-and-breakfast to a temporary boarding house, but any free time she possessed, Blythe threw all her energy into making sure nobody was unwelcome or homeless.
Juniper raised her hand and waited to be called on. When Clementine recognized her, the fairy’s wings flapped to life, and she hovered just above her chair so that all of us could see her diminutive body while she spoke. “I’ve been discussing the situation with David and Gossamer, and we agreed that we should share with you. Since the majority of the new arrivals are fae, it might be possible to call forth a sithen, which could house a fair number of folks.”
“What’s a sithen?” Clementine asked, leaning forward with interest.
Juniper’s wings quivered with nerves, sending a light cascade of blue-green dust underneath her. “The term is based on the original word sìthein,” she said with a sharper pronunciation. “It’s a fairy dwelling from the old world, although they’re usually incorporated into a hill. If properly created, one sithen could house all of those who are staying with current residents as well as many more.”
Ms. Patty fidgeted with enthusiasm in her seat to my left. “That sounds like a perfect solution. I’m surprised this wasn’t brought up earlier. We should start constructing one right away.”
The fairy nodded once at the witch but held up a finger. “It’s not as simple as that.”
“It never is,” I muttered under my breath, earning a slight smile from Juniper.
“Creating a sithen requires a considerable amount of wild magic,” she explained.
Blythe looked around at all of us seated at the table. “You’re in a town full of those who can wield magic.”
“Tucker’s already using a good host of volunteers to push construction of some new apartments, which is taking a lot of power and energy already. We can’t deplete our entire citizenship,” Clementine responded with a frown.
More dust fell from Juniper’s agitated wings. “We wouldn’t be able to use just any magic. It would have to be fae magic, and pretty powerful at that, too. Goss and I aren’t even sure that if we gathered all the fae here it would be enough.”
In an instant, I thought of one member of the fae in town who might hold a lot more magic than it seemed. Not that long ago, I’d found out the truth of Lucky’s origins. Perhaps a leprechaun king could tap into some pretty hefty powers. However, he wanted to keep his true identity a secret for reasons of his own. It wasn’t my place to out him.
David added, “And even if we could create a sithen with our magic, there are other issues that arise. In the traditional mounds, rooms were given out according to a very ancient and very hypocritical sense of hierarchy.”
Juniper’s upper lip lifted in a slight sneer. “A sithen needs a sense of hierarchy to exist. It’s something about its very nature that requires there to be a top and a bottom. Those who were deemed more worthy had better dwellings. And it behooved the residents to garner favor with the one in control in order to gain favor and move up in ranks. The competition could be fierce. And deadly.”
Her last word echoed in our ears, and a tense silence followed. Beyond Lucky’s tale, I realized there was much I didn’t know about the background of the fae. Something about Juniper’s tone gave me enough to pause to wonder what existed in her history to cause her to be so cautious in her suggestion to the committee.
“If this fairy mound, or whatever you call it, is so dangerous, then why bring it up as a possible solution in the first place?” Aunt Nora