Foraging Friends

Ruby followed Piccolo down the corridor, excitement bubbling within her, ready to see the inn’s kitchen. When she was younger it was the busiest kitchen in the village and where her aunt had worked until the place had shut down. She had always wanted to visit the inn kitchen but had never been allowed, with everyone saying she was too young. No longer a busy working kitchen it wasn’t going to be the same as when she was younger but she was still excited to see what it looked like.

Piccolo started to slow down as he reached the dining area to allow his visitors the chance to look around. It was the largest room of the inn and possibly the one that needed the most care. As the trio entered through the main entrance, they were greeted by the bar area in front of them. After so many years of use it had become quite worn with hundreds of scrapes and cracks along the wooden surface. Kiki gave a sigh. “I’m afraid this will need quite a lot of work, Ruby” she said, snapping Ruby out of her excited daze.

The red fairy looked around. Many of the old tables and chairs looked in dire need of repair or replacement. They would probably need to start this room from scratch. The only thing that didn’t need to be replaced was the brick fireplace. Looking at the little mouse fidgeting beside her she wondered if they would be able to get it finished with just the two of them. “I-I have only really been able to dust in here. I-I didn’t really know what to do with the place. The bar stools had completely broken so I ended up using them as firewood one winter. S-sorry” Piccolo shakily explained as he looked down at the floor. Ruby smiled down at him “ Don’t worry about it, I’m here to help now” she replied, trying to convince herself.

Kiki started to fly around the large room, inspecting every corner. “Isn’t it such a beautiful room though” she mused, gazing at the large wooden beams in the ceiling. “ It may need a lot of work but the bare bones of this space is just so beautiful and cosy. I would love to spend evenings eating here when it’s all done and I just know everyone else will too!” she happily exclaimed, turning to Ruby and Piccolo. “Shall we continue to the kitchen now” suggested Kiki, reigniting the excitement in Ruby. The little mouse smiled and began to walk towards the kitchen, the two fairies hot on his heels.

The door to the kitchen had been left ajar with a small enough gap for the little mouse to enter as the door was quite heavy for him. Piccolo made his way through the gap, unaware the fairies couldn’t fit through. Turning around, he noticed they weren’t going to fit and began to push the door with all his strength. The door was old and heavy and after years of not being constantly opened and closed, the hinges had seized up so even with all his strength, it just wouldn’t budge. Noticing his struggle, Kiki began to pull from the handle. With all her strength she pulled and pulled until suddenly the handle broke and she was thrown through the air. Ruby couldn’t wait any longer, she had to get into that kitchen! Adrenaline coursed through her as she gripped onto the edge of the door and pulled with everything she had. The hinges creaked under the force and then, suddenly, it opened a couple of inches. Within seconds, the mushroom fairy had squeezed through the gap and into the kitchen.

The kitchen was large, larger than Ruby had ever imagined. As Kiki made her way through the gap she saw her friend’s eyes light up and her wings twitch behind her. In the middle of the room were two large wooden tables, perfect for preparing food. In total there were three wood stove ovens as well as a large Aga in the open fireplace. Under the kitchen window was a large Belfast sink which sparkled in the light showing off how clean the little mouse had kept it. There was plenty of worktop and storage for crockery and dried goods. Ruby noticed old wooden crates piled up as steps in a couple of areas for Piccolo who had been using the kitchen to cook for himself and she smiled to herself, pleased someone had ben using such a wonderful place. Overall, it was the kitchen of Ruby’s dreams. All it needed was a fridge and freezer which Ruby knew she could easily acquire.

As Kiki looked around, she noticed it was beginning to get dark outside the window. “I think it’s time for us to go for today now, it’s almost time for dinner” she said, signalling to Ruby it was time for them to depart. Piccolo gave a small nod before making his way to the door, ready to guide them back to the entrance. The trio quickly found themselves by the front door of the inn and Piccolo gave a small wave to his new acquaintances as they left. Just before the door closed behind them, Kiki quickly turned around and called out to the little mouse, “Would you like to join us all for dinner together in the Library? The whole village gathers for all our meals there and I’m sure everyone would love to meet you!” Ruby nodded in agreement. Piccolo took a few step back, scared by the offer and the thought of meeting anyone else new. He politely declined before scurrying back to his room, his heart pounding in his chest.

Over the next few days, Ruby was busy starting work on the renovations of the inn. Every morning she would arrive after cooking the village breakfast and find Piccolo already hard at work cleaning in the reception area. He always seemed very content cleaning on his own so Ruby began tackling some of the lodging rooms by removing the old peeling wallpaper. Although she worked quickly, it seemed to be an endless task as she still had to juggle cooking meals for the village, but she never complained.

On the fourth day of working on the inn, Ruby arrived after breakfast and was surprised to not find Piccolo as she entered. She quickly flew around the inn, checking every room but he wasn’t anywhere to be found. Concern growing, she ventured out of the inn and into the forest hoping to find him. What if something had happened to him? Did she scare him away? All she could do was hope that he was okay as she scoured the nearby area - surely he couldn’t have gone far?

*

That morning Piccolo awoke excited for the morning ahead of him. As he made his breakfast and brushed his teeth, he didn’t really remember Ruby would be coming that morning. All he could think of was meeting up with his friend in the forest. Once a week, the little mouse had an appointment with his friend to go foraging for wild fruit and vegetables in the forest. It was in this way he was able to have enough food to cook for himself each week and it also made him very happy to have fun doing his little tasks with a friend.

As he drew closer to their meeting spot, with his little basket in hand, he could make out his friend already waiting patiently for him. With beautiful tan wavy fur, darker ears and tail, and striking turquoise eyes, Hattie was a beautiful dog. Noticing her friend had arrived, her tail wagged and ears flapped as she bounded over to Piccolo who quickened his pace into a run before hugging her soft fur in greeting. Piccolo listened intently to Hattie as she told him everything she had been up to in the week - their usual routine when meeting. Out of the corner of his eyes, Piccolo spotted a patch of daisies in the grass and soon couldn’t concentrate on what Hattie was saying. Noticing her friend had once again been distracted by the daisies, Hattie slowly wandered over to the flowers before picking one and handing it to the little mouse. “How about we make a daisy chain before we begin?” suggested Hattie, happy to spend more time together doing something she knew her friend would love. Piccolo’s eyes lit up and he quickly  scampered to pick more. Before long, the pair had made a beautiful daisy chain, which Piccolo put onto Hattie’s head as a flower crown.

*

Ruby had been flying through the forest in different directions for quite a while now calling out to Piccolo but to no avail. He heart pounded harder in her chest as different possibilities flooded her mind. She pushed them aside. She must find him. He would be okay. Finally she caught a glimpse of a long thin pink tail - it had to be Piccolo surely? Pushing through a few more branches, she came to a small clearing in the forest. It couldn’t have been more than 2 metres at its widest. Calling out his name again she saw a little mouse quickly dart behind someone else that Ruby had not yet noticed was there as well.

Turquoise eyes stared at Ruby with curiosity. Ruby was astounded. Was this a friend of Piccolo’s? The little mouse seemed so timid she could’t quite believe he was so comfortable around someone else. The beautiful tan dog in front of her slowly sat down and urged Piccolo to come out of hiding. The little mouse slowly peeked out from behind his friend and stood next to her, hugging her soft fur for comfort. “I-I’m sorry for not starting the cleaning yet. I-I-I had other plans.” stuttered Piccolo, scared Ruby was here to scold him for not working yet. Ruby sighed in relief. “Oh don’t worry about that!” she exclaimed. “I was only worried about you, scared something had happened or that I had accidentally chased you away.” reassured Ruby, desperate for Piccolo to feel comfortable. The little mouse softened his grip and looked up at his furry friend.

*

Hattie looked down at her little friend. It had been a couple of years now since she first met the little mouse and they started their weekly foraging meet-ups. In all that time, Piccolo had grown a lot more comfortable around her but he never shared what was going on in his life. All she knew was that she was the only other creature he saw each week. Seeing a fairy come and find him was not what she had expected when they met up this morning. She wondered how the two had met but was pleased to see the red fairy cared about her little friend, even if they hadn’t known each other for long. Hattie had always been concerned Piccolo didn’t have other friends and the sight of a possible new friendship made her very happy.

“Hello! I’m Hattie, Piccolo’s friend. It’s so lovely to meet you. Would you like to join us? We were just about to start foraging.” introduced Hattie. She was a well traveled dog and had met another red fairy a few years ago and they were an avid foodie who loved cooking and foraging. They had explained to her about mushroom fairies and the little dog thought the fairy in front of her fit the description perfectly. This was a perfect opportunity for Piccolo and his new friend to bond quickly.

Hearing Hattie’s words, Ruby gasped in excitement and eagerly accepted the offer after introducing herself to the fluffy dog. As she looked around more closely at the area she had entered, she saw an abundance of food to forage. This place was amazing, she thought. Ruby was so pleased to see so many ingredients she could cook with, without having to travel to the nearest town to collect more as she was slowly running out of her stockpile.

Piccolo and Hattie were working as a team to collect berries and different wild vegetables. After a few minutes they had collected wild carrot, garlic and some blackberries. Ruby, on the other hand, was focusing on mushrooms but had also collected some burdock and sorrel. Taking a moment to look around, Ruby noticed her foraging companions were completely bypassing the mushrooms but didn’t say anything, assuming they did not like eating them.

Hattie looked up from her foraging to see how her new acquaintance was doing. Ruby seemed to be putting lots of things into a small purse which astonished her greatly. Did the fairy really have one of those special magical bags she had heard about in the city? She didn’t ponder this for long as she suddenly realised the fairy had been collecting mushrooms. Excited, she bounded over to Ruby. “Do you know which mushrooms we can pick to eat? Oh how exciting, we never know which ones are safe! Could you teach us? Please? Pretty please?” said Hattie, bouncing on the spot. Ruby gave a quick chuckle, now understanding their avoidance, and slowly gave them a lesson on the easiest mushrooms to look for that are safe to eat.

“And finally if you look for a broken elder tree and find mushrooms with an ear-like shape, brown velvety outer surface and shiny, wrinkled inner surface you have yourself wood ear mushrooms. Those are safe to eat, yummy, but quite gelatinous” finished Ruby to the two intent students in front of her. Giving each other a nod, Hattie and Piccolo stood up and went searching for mushrooms together for the first time, creating a pile on the ground which they could later ask Ruby to check before they took them home.

Whilst they were looking for mushrooms, Hattie took the opportunity to ask her friend how he knew the friendly red fairy. It was one of the first times she had asked Piccolo to tell her more about his week as she often waited for him to take the initiative to tell her any news he had. Piccolo nervously scratched his ear before explaining how they had met and all about Ruby’s plans to renovate the inn. Hattie understood quite quickly that Piccolo still didn’t know the fairy very well and that his nerves were holding him back from getting to know her more.

Calling Ruby over to check what they had picked, Hattie became lost in thought. Finally, intrigued by Ruby’s plans, and eager to finally visit where her friend lived, she asked Piccolo if she could come and visit the inn once they were done. Piccolo gave a small nod, a smile spreading across his face. Ruby looked up from what she was doing, and exclaimed “What a wonderful idea! Why don’t you join the village lunch I will be cooking?”.

Making their way back towards Kiki Lane, Hattie quietly asked her friend if he would be at the lunch. She had hastily accepted Ruby’s offer, excited to meet new people, without consulting her friend first. Piccolo fidgeted with the handle of his basket, looking down at the ground. “I suppose it will be okay if you are there. They have invited me before but I’ve always been too scared. I think I can do it with you by my side,” muttered Piccolo trying to calm his nerves. Ruby was flying ahead of them but faintly overheard their conversation and smiled to herself. It would be wonderful if Piccolo finally joined them, everyone was excited to meet him, especially Prickles. They would be fine friends, thought Ruby as she waved goodbye to the pair behind her, making her way to the kitchen as Piccolo took Hattie into the inn for a tour.