NOVEL NEXT Chapter 20: Blue Book
Hannah took a few tentative steps in the new shoes that she had just put on. They were comfortable, just like all the shoes she had tried on before these. Comfort was to be expected after spending a number of years without any shoes at all. She had to admit that they did feel softer than Anna’s old shoes. Nervously, she glanced up at Rayne, who was watching her with a smile. The other person in the room, the cobbler of this store, looked at her with mild disapproval. He hadn’t been the happiest when Lady Hayward had told him that they would be looking for shoes for Hannah and not her.
To his credit, he never complained or spoke out against it. He took it professionally and did his work as he would have for any human. Money could really drive humans to forgo their own beliefs and make them do things they didn’t want to do. Hannah did understand that to an extent, but she couldn’t say that in the past money had driven her that much. Elaine and her had lived a comfortable life where money wasn’t that much of an issue, but that was true for most of the kin in the village they lived in. She was a teacher after all, and that was a very important job that paid well.
“How does that feel?” Rayne asked as the fox took a few more steps. Though the lady should have been focused on the shoes, her eyes kept drifting to the tail that now hung outside of Hannah’s new uniform. Since the pair of them had left the tailor's, Hannah's tail had a small but gentle wag that was so incredibly hard to ignore. She knew Hannah wasn’t doing this on purpose, but Rayne couldn’t help but feel like she was being teased with it. It was something that was easily within her reach but not appropriate to touch. Admittedly, the thoughts of the tail kept away the thoughts of grabbing Hannah by the collar.
“They feel good, as it did with the last ones, Mistress,” Hannah replied. It was still a little confusing to Hannah as to why she had to try on so many different shoes. She only really needed one pair for the time being, as she would still technically have Anna’s old pair, so she would have two pairs after this. Rayne, on the other hand, made it clear that she thought it would be good for Hannah to have more than just one pair of new shoes. She hadn’t fully explained why, but Hannah had the slightest feeling that it had something to do with matching her new outfits. “They're soft.” The cobbler gave a firm nod of approval at the statement about his work.
“Do you think they will be a good pair of shoes to work in?” Rayne knew that the amount of time this was taking was upsetting the cobbler, but she couldn’t help herself. Hannah needed a good pair of shoes and she had a feeling that even if something was slightly uncomfortable Hannah would still say it was alright. As such she wanted to make sure the fox really felt good in them and wasn’t just saying that because she felt like she had too. She had noticed it could be a little hard to read Hannah’s expressions when they weren’t extremely obvious, but her ears and tail didn’t lie. Hannah’s tail had started wagging just a little harder as she continued to take a few more steps.
The shoes were, in fact, soft, and the more Hannah walked in them the more comfortable they appeared to be. She could easily appreciate how much care went into making these shoes. She had been friends with the son of the cobbler in her village back in Everlial, so she had some understanding of the shoe making process. Enough understanding to know that the process was most of the time a labor of love for shoes of this quality. “Yes, Mistress.”
Rayne gave a nod with a smile to Hannah before turning to the cobbler. “I think we will take these, as well as the cream and burgundy balmorals too.” The cobbler took a deep breath before nodding to the lady.
Hannah waited patiently as her mistress set about buying the shoes and having them delivered to the carriage. It was such a strange feeling to have someone spend this much money on her. She found she did like it, though. That nagging negative voice in the back of her mind started cropping up again and Hannah looked down at her shoes. She didn’t want to listen to the voice. This was meant to be a good and happy day. But did she deserve any of this? All she had been treated to today was most likely more than most humans ever got in a single day. Was she really worth all of this?
Earlier, Lady Pinkerton had asked Rayne how much Hannah had cost and the fox couldn’t help but wonder. How much had she cost the lady? She knew she most certainly cost less than the clothes Mistress had ordered, but what about the shoes? Was she even worth one pair of the shoes that were bought for her? They were very pretty and well made shoes. Certainly these expensive shoes had to cost more than her.
It was true that slaves were generally more expensive than the average human could afford on their own, so she was probably considered expensive to some. It was a horrible feeling to wonder how expensive you were to another person.
“Are you ready, Hannah?” Rayne asked Hannah to walk back up to her to find that she was looking down at her shoes. Her tail wasn’t wagging as it had been a few moments again and now Rayne was worried. Did she not actually like the shoes?
“Y-yes, Mistress,” Hannah said, doing her best to put all those thoughts aside now that she was interacting with Rayne again. “I’m ready whenever you are.”
“Good,” the lady said, not letting her worry show on her face. “I have one more place I would like to go.” She hoped that this last stop would make Hannah happy. It was hard to imagine it wouldn’t make Hannah happy.
Once again the lady held the door open for the fox and she quickly rushed through. Rayne was quick to follow her, and soon she was guiding them down the street of the market. Stares and looks still came the pair's way, but Hannah was able to block it out a little more. Not to mention there was also comfort in walking close to Rayne’s side, even if that was also one of the reasons for the stares. The walk was longer than the others and took the two of them all the way to the other side of the market. By the time they reached the storefront, Hannah was feeling a little anxious for some reason. That feeling went away when Hannah actually looked at the store sign; Enchanting Words Bookstore.
“This is a bookstore,” Hannah said with her eyes still glued on the sign.
Rayne smiled. “It is. Would you like to go in?” Hannah looked back at Rayne with those big wide eyes she had seen earlier today when Hannah woke up. The lady was in love with that look, and even more in love with how hard Hannah’s tail was wagging.
Hannah opened her mouth to speak, but found her words failed her. Instead she nodded vigorously. Her mistress had taken her to a bookstore and the fox felt like she might cry. She didn’t want to cry, though, because it would just make it harder to see the books. It wasn’t but seconds before Rayne had opened the door for her and Hannah rushed in. The inside was exactly like she imagined. Shelves upon shelves filled the room and each was packed to the brim with books. There were so many books that she could smell it in the air, and by the Goddess how she had missed the smell of bookstores. Though she eagerly wanted to dive in and start wandering around the store, Hannah forced herself to wait for her mistress. Because that was the appropriate thing to do and not because of the look a man behind a counter was giving her.
The only reason that Rayne’s eyes left the wagging tail was because it slowed down just enough that she wanted to know what caused it. Quickly, she found the man behind the counter looking at Hannah with displeasure before he glanced over at her. Her stoic–but also clearly annoyed–face was enough to make the man shyly look away from her. Though the lady had been in this bookstore a few times, she wouldn’t consider herself a regular to the point of knowing any of the employees. There was actually another book store that one could say Rayne frequented more often, but it was much smaller than this one. Hannah deserved to have the largest selection available to her so Rayne had picked this store. Maybe that was a mistake. “You can pick any book you would like,” she said, turning back to Hannah.
Hannah looked up at her mistress with big wide eyes. With hearing like hers it was nearly impossible to mishear something, but that didn’t stop Hannah’s brain from telling her just that. Did her mistress really just say she could have any book she wanted? “A-are you sure, Mistress?”
It was hard not to smile at Rayne’s fox. “I’m sure, Hannah.” She gently gestured towards the shelves, hoping to let Hannah know it truly was okay.
Nervously, Hannah glanced between the shelves and her mistress, still feeling uncertain. The soft smile Rayne continued to give Hannah did eventually encourage the woman to move towards the books. As she did, the fox continued to glance back at Rayne, as if permission would suddenly be taken away. It never was, and the lady followed behind Hannah, but gave her a few comfortable steps between them. Finally, Hannah reached the shelves and fully turned to the books. There were so many, and where would she even begin?
Time flew by as Rayne continued to watch over her fox search through the books, albeit with a good number of steps between them so that Hannah hopefully wouldn’t feel pressured. There were a few times in which other patrons of the store either watched Hannah with amazement or glared at her for daring to look at books as they might. Once or twice they even started walking up to Hannah, but Rayne did take a few steps closer to her fox. Rayne was proud that she never once felt she actually looked angry with those people, but the calm intense stare she gave them made them all back off. Hannah never noticed as she so easily got sucked into looking at books. That was mostly obvious due to Hannah’s ear never moving to listen to the person approach, staying focused right in front of her, and that her tail never slowed its wag. Rayne could have spent all day in here just letting the vixen wander the store.
Searching through all the books was an absolute joy, and maybe felt even grander than searching through the library due to Hannah’s mistress being the one to bring her out to a bookstore. In the past, Hannah might have considered someone bringing her to a bookstore and offering to buy her any book an attempt at courtship. It was strange to the fox that this felt so similar to that, even if Rayne was her owner. Looking through books garnered her attention more than the familiar feeling of courtship. It hadn’t taken Hannah long to find the organization to the store, as all the sections were clearly labeled. Even after finding that out, Hannah couldn’t help but wander the shelves, even past sections she had no interest in, just to enjoy the feeling of being here.
Now she found herself looking through the romance section of the store, eagerly reading over the prefaces and blurbs of the books. There wasn’t really any awareness of time passing as she did so, even when her body started to feel hungry, signifying it was past time for the usual midday meal. Hannah just kept reading over book after book, almost going one by one down the shelf. One wasn’t meant to judge a book by its cover, but Hannah did fall into the trap of only looking at the books with covers that called to her. They were the most exciting after all. Maybe another time she really would go one by one. It occurred to Hannah that she was acting and thinking as if this wouldn’t be a one time thing. That this wouldn’t be the only time Rayne brought her out on an off day and to a bookstore. She truly hoped this wouldn’t be a one time thing.
After a while Rayne did eventually walk up to Hannah, but that was only after Hannah continued reading one particular book for far longer than she had any others. “Find something you like?” Rayne asked, strangely feeling excited hoping that Hannah would share her own excitement over the book she found with the lady.
It was telling of how focused Hannah was on the book that she jumped in surprise at Rayne’s approach. Hannah looked up at Rayne and felt her face quickly heat up for some strange reason. She looked away and back down at the book, feeling shy that Rayne had noticed her invested interest in the book. Nodding Hannah said, “I did.” She closed the blue cover of the book to reveal the embossed title The Silver Crystal. “It's a romance.” Hannah felt the heat on her face grow a little hotter at admitting that to Rayne.
The lady had already gathered that the book was a romance from having watched Hannah stand in the romance section for well over an hour. She didn’t say that though. “What’s it about?” It did occur to Rayne that maybe in this time watching Hannah that maybe she should have also looked for a book herself. She could always come back another time. Maybe on another day off with Hannah.
“It's about a man and a woman who discover a magical crystal that belonged to the elves. They must find a way to bring it back to the elves, but the only way they can do that is to cross the Divide themselves.”
“A romance and adventure.” The prospects of crossing the divide to the elves did hold interest to Rayne, as that had been where the potions she took as a child had come from. She had never asked her parents if there was any story to those who smuggled the wonderful potions to them. By the times she had wanted to ask it was too late and now she would never know. “I didn’t know you were the adventurous type,” Rayne said with a smile aimed at her fox.
“I like there being some adventure as the main conflict of the story. I don’t always like romance dramas that feel like it could all be solved by just talking to one another.” That always felt like a cheap and, honestly, stupid conflict to have in a book. Why couldn’t two people just be open with one another and solve all their problems? Elaine and Hannah had always been open and upfront about things and they never faced huge relationship problems. Also, adventure and travel had always peeked Hannah’s interest, even if she hadn’t been one for much travel. Besides being brought here all the way from Everlial of course.
The lady couldn’t help but laugh. “That kind of drama accounts for nearly all the drama between nobles in the season. It does get rather tiring.” There was always some big drama going on, and while most could find it rather entertaining, Rayne had often felt a little annoyed that people just wouldn’t be open fully with one another. Granted, there were things that Rayne herself couldn’t be fully open about and that had caused drama of her own. Her argument with her brother last night was a good example. “Do you think that is the book you would like?”
Hannah looked over the closed cover of the book. There were many other books she had liked the look of, but this was the one that was calling her the most. She did actually want this book. Hannah gave a gentle nod, suddenly feeling that her voice might fail her if she tried to speak. Someone was going to buy a book for her.
“Alright, then how about we checkout?” This felt so good to Rayne. Nearly all of today with buying things for Hannah felt good. This was quickly going to become a problem in the future. The lady might have been able to argue initially that she was spoiling Hannah because the fox truly did need the clothes and shoes she bought, but after a few weeks of this, people were going to see past that. It was going to be a problem, but a problem for Rayne to solve at a later time. For right now, she was just going to focus on making Hannah happy and buying her the book she wanted.
Hannah followed a few steps behind Rayne as the lady led them up to the front. She couldn’t help but still look at all the books as they went past, her eyes catching random titles here and there. One title stood out to the fox suddenly and she found herself stopping. She stared at the book for a second as deep and sad feelings washed over her. Glancing back down at the book in her hands, Hannah wondered what she should do.
Rayne walked up to the counter to the man that had given Hannah the mean look. She didn’t let the displeasure of him show on her face. They were about to buy a book from him after all. Not that she thought he wouldn’t sell to her because she was clearly buying the book for Hannah. If he did she was going to have some very strong words with his superior. The lady turned to tell Hannah to hand over the book to him but didn’t find her fox behind her. A pang of panic shot through Rayne as she quickly searched for Hannah. Relief filled her as the fox quickly rushed out from between two shelves and made her way up to the counter. Had Hannah been distracted?
“Sorry, Mistress,” Hannah said quietly as she reached the counter and handed over a red covered book.
“It’s alright,” Rayne said, noticing that the book handed to the cashier was red and not blue. “Found a different book?” The man was moving too quickly to wrap it and mark it down in a ledger for Rayne to read the title.
Hannah nodded. “General Griffith’s account.” She felt her cheeks heat up as she admitted, “I saw it and wanted to get it for Mr. Williams. I know he's been looking for it.” The book did also hold personal value to Hannah, as it was a gift she had once given her fiancee, so it wouldn’t have been wrong for her to want it for herself, but it now held too many memories for her to want to own. She didn’t want to have all those memories constantly flood her when she was in her room and saw it. Mr. Williams had talked about the book a few times and his search for it, so Hannah wanted to get it for him. This would be the second time she gave that book as a gift to someone else.
Rayne studied Hannah with gentle eyes as she processed what she had said. It had been very apparent to Rayne and many others of the house that Hannah was a gentle woman, but now it was clear how kind she was as well. Nearly every action the fox took made Rayne fall deeper in love with her. She was willing to give her only book up to someone else just because Mr. Williams had shown interest in it. The lady felt conflicted. She didn’t want to take away from the true importance and kindness of Hannah offering her only book to the butler, but she didn’t want Hannah to go without a book of her own.
The lady held up a hand to the man behind the counter, telling him to stop. He did and Rayne missed the annoyed look he gave her because she couldn’t look away from Hannah. “Go grab the book you wanted for yourself as well.”
Hannah looked up in surprise. Though maybe she shouldn’t have been so surprised, knowing how kind her mistress was. “A-are you sure, Mistress? I know books can be expensive.”
With a nod Rayne said, “I’m positive, Hannah. You deserve it.”
