Everything got bright when he moved behind her, and she turned around to find he was lighting a chandelier made of deer antlers that had candles fitted into it. Glittering trinkets hung from it by strings with some dangling lower than others. Some had crystals, others rocks and bones.
There were two chairs with armrests that were covered in so many different animal hides that they looked quite soft, as well as bulky. Between them was a small round table with another candle that he lit, while in front of them was a fireplace and chimney.
She wiggled her toes when she realised there was something soft and ticklish beneath her feet and found herself standing on fur. Her eyes didn’t stay downturned, however, as she once more marvelled at what she was standing in.
It looks like a log-cabin. The walls were made of thigh-sized, thick logs that had been neatly carved to all look the same diameter. The timber was distressed and old looking. She knew a second layer must be on the outside because there was not a single gap between them, and she couldn’t feel a single drift of air.
“This is your home?” she asked, her bottom lip falling in disbelief.
But she knew it had to be his home by the single fact that the air smelt like timber, fur, and, most importantly, his smoky mahogany and pine scent.
He answered her with a grunt and a singular nod.
“How did this come to be here?” This was not what Reia was expecting.
I thought he would take me to a cave. Like, like… some kind of barbaric animal! But this was a house, an actual home.
With furniture, and candles, and warmth. It looked cosy despite the fact that she could see that many of those trinkets appeared to be bones and small animal skulls.
The room she was standing in was like a large living room and kitchen area. There was a darkness present down an unlit hallway that held a door on one side whereas the other had two.
The ceiling was tall enough that it allowed him freedom to move around with his massive height and the Impala antelope horns that made him even taller. He did have to duck slightly under the chandelier, but not by much, only to make sure his horns didn’t knock into it.
“It was built a very long time ago,” he answered, walking around her and then the long table with two chairs around it – one that appeared to fit him and another that was much smaller – to walk to the counter where she saw a cooking hearth on the opposite side of the basin.
The table came to his hip height, which just so happened to be at her bottom ribcage. Being in this room, with everything that was designed to allow for his weight and mass, Reia felt undoubtably small.
She’d felt small sitting in the crook of his elbow or being cradled in his arms, but with the light and this room, it made her realise just how large he was.
He had to be at least seven feet and two inches tall from foot to skull, his horns reaching at least seven feet and nine inches, and even though Reia wasn’t short, a strong five feet and six inches for a human woman, he was still a giant. He was also wide, a wall of flesh and muscle.
He opened one of the many cupboards above the counter next to the wide window to pull out four dill herb bundles wrapped in white ribbons with jingle bells and red berries. There was also a bone, like a rat femur, dangling down horizontally by a string.
“Stay inside, I will return momentarily,” he told her as strode towards the front door. Like he knew she’d ask, he added, “My protection enchantments are no longer in place as they only last a few days. I must replace them.”
He promptly left, leaving Reia by herself to take in his home while she was alone.
She brushed her fingertips over the long table before making her way over to the counter to see what other items he had lying around. There was a second stone mortar and pestle that was already filled with crushed herbs and spices.
The chiming of the jingle bells told her he was right next to the window at the front of the house, near where she was standing. His footsteps began to thump to the other side of the house as she picked up a yellow glass bottle and opened it, daring to sniff its contents.
A noise of surprise came from her nose at the strange, but sweet, smell. She placed it back down to open a wooden container to find a dry black powder inside it. When she sniffed it, she sneezed. It wasn’t terrible, but it tingled her nose.
She touched the healthy vine-like plants with three leaves sprouting from its vines in different sections. I’m surprised anything like this can live in the Veil. The trees she understood, but this seemed far more delicate.
She moved to the table to figure out what the ornaments were. They looked like driftwood with clumps of silver ore growing from it like moss.