My Servant Is An Elf Knight From Another World

817 Great Surprise

Slowly and surely, Amanda was coming round to the prospect that yes – this was really, actually happening. I was really, actually asking.

Seriously… by the way she was acting, you’d think Christmas came true to her or something.

“So just Italian? Dinner? Anything else? Is there any more you have planned before or after that? Can’t be just a simple dinner, right? Right?”

Like a little kid off on a trip to Disneyland. Except keener, and definitely a hundred billion times more cuter.

“Surprises can only be surprises so long as they stay as surprises,” I wisely said. “As you would know yourself. You almost seem to live and die by those words.”

“Okay, alright. Guilty as charged, but…” She sheepishly pouted, swiveling in her seat. “Gonna really leave me guessing – squirming here? Not even a tiny hint?”

“I got you your gift,” I admitted, her fluttering puppy-dog eyes wringing it out of my lips. “But I suspect you already suspected that.”

“Still doesn’t hurt to have that confirmation,” She whispered melodically, drumming her fingers against the counter in anticipation. “Um, I don’t suppose you’d mind sharing just what—?”

“Two days, Amanda. Hold out,” I interjected, silencing her with a finger to the lips. “I know you’ll survive.”

.....

She clicked her tongue, but that was merely a small splash of disappointment rippling across her expression in an ocean of her excitement.

“Fine, alright. So, dinner, Italian, mysterious present – what should I wear?” An impish glint flashed briefly in her gaze. “What do you want me to wear? Any preference? Something easy to peel away or…?”

“Wear what you find appropriate,” I simply said.

“Got it,” Amanda slurped up the rest of her smoothie, rising from her seat with strawberry-flavored determination coating her smile. “Thin laces and skimpy frills it is.”

It’s either she’s making risque comments like that, or blushing red over a simple kiss. It’s always one or the other with her. I seriously don’t get this woman sometimes.

“Guess I’ll see you on set afterward,” I muttered, ringing her up at the register.

“Mm, no, I’m not part of today’s shoot,” She said, forking over the cash plus a handsome tip via a quick, sneaky peck on the cheek. “It’s only the Elidna scenes being shot today, remember? Instead, I’ll be out helping set up the next location. And for that scene, I’m definitely there.”

“Ah…”

Shame. Was kinda hoping she’d be there… ’cause as far as I can tell from my time in showbiz so far, Amanda’s the only one that can get that psycho with a vision to not yell half the crew into resignation before the afternoon’s even finished.

“Oh, also don’t forget about Hayley,” I reminded her just as she jingled the bells draped over the front door. “Pass along the message, alright?”

Amanda turned, her hair blowing in a breeze seeping in through the gap in the doorway. A half-smile obscured partly by stray, blonde locks.

“And make her get the wrong idea that you’ve been having her on your mind?” With a brisk turn of her heels, she waved her hand. “Yeah, no – tell her yourself.”

The door slowly flapped close in her wake, leaving me just downright confused about what she meant by that. That reason didn’t make any sense to me at all. Like what’s the difference? Between Amanda and I, the message was still the same either way.

Before I could shrivel any more brain cells at the thought, however, the entry bells jingled once more, and I immediately reverted back to customer-service mode, welcoming in another pair of patrons inwards for a wholesome morning of warm coffee and fluffy cakes.

By afternoon, and commuting through the blistering cold home, I was about ready to just crumble to dust underneath the warmth of my blanket, but instead I bitterly weaved around my comfy bed and dove headfirst into my closet searching for Chester amidst the dull and drabby rags of boring me.

Decided against bringing along Mom’s cloak for the shoot. Pretty sure that’d be somewhat breaking canon if I showed up wearing such a thing, and I don’t think it’s in Chester’s character to be wearing something so… is edgy the right word? I’m just gonna say it is.

Which was a true shame. I’ve gotten used to fastening that cloak around me and melting in its impenetrable warmth. Though I suppose I’d change my tune rather quickly once spring arrives blowing hot and heavy.

Ash made the drive to the shoot and as well as the looming prospect of the taxing work that’s to come significantly more bearable and appealing just with her palpable enthusiasm alone.

All smiles and ears wriggling, clambering on behind me, how could I remain surly when she’s easily having the best day of her life for like the umpteenth time?

“You’ve been rather active as of late, Master,” Ash remarked at a stoplight midway to our destination. “At times, it seems as if in moments sparingly and brief that you’re ever actually home.”

“You can say that again.”

“Indeed. Why, it feels only a short time ago when our mealtimes were often shared. Times when I could always reliably hear your footprints just down the hall, instead of only my own filling in the vast silence.”

“Yeah…” I mumbled, hearing a bit of guilt resound inside my helmet. “It kinda does feel like we’re spending less actual time with each other, doesn’t it?”

“A small and insignificant price to pay for all you’ve gained from it,” Ash said, shaking her head. “Master, I wish for you to have all sorts of experiences. To collect and accomplish great aspirations in life. And it is of no dire consequence if it is at the expense of seeing only slightly less of you. It only serves to make times like these with you all that more grander in return.”

The light turned green, and revving onwards, Ash wrapped her arms around me even tighter, feeling her wide smile, her brimming happiness, a small imprint against my back.

Well, Ash was certainly right about one thing, alright – ain’t no way any second with her like this was a moment I’d ever forget. And there’s still the convention to boot too. I’m just counting the days at this point until then…

After driving for just a little more, I had us pulling up at our destination and wedging through two large vans parked right in front of the derelict building. A cluttered mess of filming equipment and costume props sticking out of either or’s sliding door.

Felt kinda weird and surreal to be back here again, especially with what went down inside these walls just two nights before. Hopefully, that won’t distract me though when it comes to playing Chester… strutting across the dirty concrete… knowing they were tainted with much more than just dirt and rubble.

“Oh, by the way,” I said, turning to Ash, attempting to clear my thoughts in time before we made it to the top floor of the building. “Have you heard from Sera lately? She been talking to you? I remember you and her can do that telepathic-soul-communicating thingy from before.”

And as soon as I said that, I immediately recalled how they could even talk that way. Through a bond, an attachment, close and unwavering with each other. Complete and utter trust as its barest, purest form imaginable. That was the only way to truly hear her.

But to me, she was still as silent as ever. And why not? why on earth would I be any different? It’d be pretty conceited of me to think I deserve otherwise… so why the hell was I feeling so strange about it?

“Indeed, Sera has reached out to me on occasion, and in alarmingly frequent intervals at that,” Ash said. “She expressed to me the many grievances of her circumstance, to which she has quite the array of.”

“Irene hasn’t been mistreating her, has she?”

“None in any way that I could surmise, Master,” She said. “She mostly complains that she is unable to eat as she wishes, forced to simply make do with what Lady Irene has on offer. And it seems Lady Irene’s cooking is not as up to par as she would have liked. Apparently, she burns her eggs.”

How do you burn an egg?

“And what about the task Irene is having her do?” I asked. “She made any mention of that?”

“Hmm, perhaps it is more appropriate to call it less a task than it is more just Sera complying with Lady Irene’s whims.”

“Meaning?”

“Sera has been given no explicit order to accomplish. Instead, it seems Lady Irene has been simply expending her abilities with no direct rhyme or reason for it.”

Now that was certainly news to me. I knew Irene said she didn’t actually have a solid idea yet of what she was trying to accomplish, but I thought that was just hyperbole. I didn’t think she’d be literally waving Sera around like a magic wand going hocus-pocus and hoping for something to happen.

What was she even waiting for to happen anyway?

“Needless to say, Sera has been growing increasingly restless by the hour. She says she hopes that you would come to appreciate her efforts.”

I blinked, missing a step on the staircase, bashing my feet against the face of one and skidding, nearly bashing my face on one.

“She said that?”

Ash nodded wordlessly, hosting me back upright, and between me recovering my balance and carrying on the rest of the way, the great, strenuous dilemma of trust elevated to a tenser state of disarray.

“Tell her that I already do,” I said after a while. “And, uh, thank you.”

Another diligent nod. “I shall pass along your words, Master.”

Right then with so much to think and simmer on layered like a metaphorical tower of babel soaring high in my head, I knew it was going to be a pretty rough day of acting trying to find a place of Chester somewhere in that wobbling tower.

Then, upon reaching the final floor, gazing straight ahead, another layer piled over atop the countless others. I spotted her, one of the new aforementioned actors – the elf.

Except she wasn’t an elf. Far from it.

I recognized her immediately through the thick veil of costume and makeup, seeing well past the prosthetic ears and the perfectly-fitted wig on her head. It was the smile that gave it away, the way she was talking to a member of staff – that playful sway.

At that moment, it finally dawned on me why Amanda’s parting words were so nonsensical. It’s ’cause it was nonsense all along.

A surprise.

Suddenly, as if in a display of sixth sense, she caught my gaze with hers in the corner of her eyes, and promptly, she turned my way… then slowly, heartily…

Hayley waved hi.