Well goodness, a new mystery for me to follow, and oh, how strange it was! Dear reader I have poured over my stories trying to see if they might offer any clues, but thus far none of my faery tales make any mention of the eerie light which Elise and I saw the other day.
So to start at the beginning, in my last journal entry I mentioned that I was going to visit with Elise, and we did pass a most enjoyable afternoon together. When I arrived at the inn, Mary greeted me kindly with her usual warm smile. Elise was sure to be down in a moment, and in the meantime, Ms. Mary showed me the huge pot of stew she was making in the kitchen. She told me how in the evening many of the villagers and a few travelers would come in to enjoy a hot meal, always with “a few drops” of one of my remedies. She added this with a wink and I blushed. I had no idea my Impressional magic was so popular with the folks at the tavern and inn! Mary made it sound as though folks use my remedies with their food the way some people use salt and pepper, but I am very glad people are enjoying it. That is the point after all.
Elise came down stairs looking a bit flustered. We asked her what was the matter and she said that she could not find the scarf she’d been wearing, but “no matter”; it was “certain to turn up sooner or later”. So the two of us went up to begin making some paper flowers. We chatted about the changing leaves and the Hallinox festival as I demonstrated the steps to folding the flowers. Elise learned quickly and even added her own flourishes to the pattern, curling and trimming the edges of the petals so that by the time we were finished all of her flowers looked unique, making a very pretty bouquet indeed. As the sun began to set and it grew colder, she began to look for her scarf again. I offered to help and made to light a candle, and that, dear reader, is when it happened.
As I struck the match and held it to the wick, the flame shot into the air and blazed blue! Elise shrieked and we jumped back, clinging to one another! It just hung there, about a foot above the candle; then it began to circle and dance around us. Elise cried out “It must be a ghost!” and pulled me away. But as it slowed to hover in front of us once more, I swear I could hear the faintest of whispers. Oh goodness, it was soft as a sigh, and it seemed to beckon to me. How strange! So, when the little ball of blue flame slowly drifted out the door, I found myself rapt and moved to follow after it. Elise grabbed my arm. “Sonya!” she whimpered at me, “Have you gone mad?!” She looked terrified and was certain we should not follow it! But my curiosity was piqued. I patted her hand, asked her to “trust me”, and cautiously slipped out the door.
Thank goodness, there was no one else around as we followed the light down the dark hall. Every now and then it stopped and whispered in its soft little way, as if to reassure me. Elise stayed close behind, clutching my arm, all the while bemoaning her misgivings, but still she followed. Eventually the blue flame led us to a closed door before it snuffed out in a puff of smoke. I asked Elise what was behind the door and she answered that it was just a closet, though she seemed a bit unsure. Perhaps she was nervous that the blue flame might have been trying to play some trick, but when I opened the door, we found nothing but a broom and, tied around the handle, a red scarf. “Oh Sonya, you found it!” exclaimed Elise and she moved forward to take hold of it with a giddy laugh. She thanked me for having found her scarf, but I reminded her that it hadn’t been me, but the little light.
We talked for a few minutes pondering over the strange thing which had just happened. Elise thought it must have been a little ghost or a spirit, and I said if that was so, then it had been a very helpful one indeed. It was then that villagers began to shuffle in for dinner, and Mary called from the kitchen for Elise to come and help. We hurriedly hugged, said our goodbyes, and then I went on my way.
So, I am left mystified. What was that light? It is almost Hallinox, and fall is said to be the season of strange and unusual things, but goodness, if it’s not even fall yet, then what might happen when is?!