Of Gnomes, Orcs & App Design

I followed Andrei outside. The rain had stopped, but the chilly air did nothing to calm my nerves. The muffled sounds of music and laughter in the background made everything feel more intimate.

We walked past a row of trees decked in festive fairy lights, and I almost bumped into him when he suddenly stopped beneath one. He turned to me with an apologetic smile.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“That’s ok,”

I pulled my coat tighter around me, glancing down at my jittery reflection in a puddle at my feet.

“Can I tell you something?”

The question caught me off guard. When I looked up, I noticed a soft blush tinting his cheeks and nose. I’d never found anyone more attractive.

I gathered my remaining brain cells and used them to nod my head.

“Well, uh, my grandma told me to stop being a chicken-”

“Your grandma?” I asked, wondering if it was possible for him to get any cuter.

“Don’t laugh, I’m being vulnerable here,”

I bit my lip and tried to adopt a serious expression. He studied my face, looking like he was on the verge of laughter himself.

“I guess I must’ve told her a bit too much about you, because now she keeps insisting we have you over for dinner,”

I didn’t know what I was expecting - but it wasn’t that. Not exactly, at least.

“Your grandma is inviting me over for dinner,” I said, trying to keep my lips from twitching upwards.

“Well I am too. Monday evening, if you’re free. We can go straight from work,”

“I would love to!”

I surprised both of us with how quickly the words flew out of my mouth. His expression softened. My knees turned to jelly.

I cleared my throat. “Should I, uh, bring something? I can bake some cookies,”

“No need, she always makes too much food anyways,”

We stood quietly for a moment.

“Oh, I completely forgot,” he said, reaching inside the pocket of his pants.

He pulled out a small beige box wrapped in a red ribbon. “Your gift. I hope you like it, but I really don’t know anything about these things,”

I hesitantly picked it up from his palm and opened it. Inside was a dainty bracelet in the shape of a branch covered with elegant leaves. It gleamed in the moonlight. It was beautiful.

“Thank you, I love it,”

Andrei looked relieved. “May I?” He asked, extending his hand towards mine.

My heart was beating out of my chest and I worried that if I said anything it would jump right out, so I only nodded again. He picked the bracelet from the box and secured it around my wrist.

“It suits you,” he said, and we both admired it together.

He didn’t let go of my hand, and I felt my cheeks heating up.

“Guys, we’re doing the secret Santa reveal, come back inside!”

We both jumped, and I slid my hand out of his instinctively. Jessica’s gaze jumped from my new bracelet, to my face, and then to Andrei.

“Can you be my secret Santa next year? William got me a juice cleanse,”

“They’re starting already? Let’s go, we don’t wanna keep them waiting,” I said, slipping past the two of them in a hurry.

My heart needed a break.

Xxx

“I’m sorry guys, I really couldn’t refuse. It’s her 400th birthday,”

Sassa looked genuinely apologetic.

“Why? You said they have food,” Gavak said, sniffing the air around him suspiciously.

Nelle lightly smacked the back of his head, then turned to look at the three-tiered mansion in front of them.

“I didn’t know your parents were loaded,”

Gavak didn’t know either. He expected a tiny house built into the side of a mushroom - or maybe a hole in the ground. This was something else entirely. There was even a stable for two overfed ponies and a wooden barn housing some cows. When a little goat trotted over to him, he perked up in excitement.

“You train your food to come to you?”

Sassa jumped between him and the goat.

“No! That’s Greta, she’s family!”

‘Greta’ possessed no gnomish features whatsoever, but Gavak wasn’t rude, so he decided to keep quiet.

“Can you guys please behave? I’ll never hear the end of it if you don’t,”

Daisy laid a hand on the witch’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll be angels,”

Sassa sighed, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.

The person who opened it looked just a little older than Sassa. Another redhead, with hair pulled into such a tight, elaborate bun that it might have permanently altered the shape of her skull. She wore a fancy, tailored outfit in muted colors, and one of her hands was trapped in an oversized oven mitten.

“Sister,” she greeted bitterly.

“Flippi,”

A glaring contest ensued between the two, which worried Gavak. When he fought with his brothers, the worst they could do was knock another tooth out. These two could literally incinerate one another with a flick of a finger. He subconsciously stepped back.

“I’m here for mom’s birthday,”Sassa added.

“So I see,”

Flippi turned to look at the rest of the party, eyeing them all like they were beggars come to seek shelter for the night.

“And you brought your little gang of… loot seekers with you. How nice,”

“Yes, well some of us need more in their lives than a diploma.”

“Two diplomas. From the Blackstaff Tower, nonetheless.” Flippi said tersely.

Sassa snorted and shoved past her inside the mansion. The rest of the party stood hesitantly by the door.

“Typical. She can’t even see her own guests in properly,”

Flippi didn’t wait for them to react either and marched in herself. Perhaps it was a family thing, Gavek thought to himself.

The group awkwardly ducked to avoid hitting their heads on the low door frame, then walked past a fancy living room and into a spacious kitchen where three other people were huddled around a table.

A middle-aged woman with round cheeks and graying hair, a man of about the same age wearing spectacles and a red bowtie, and a younger man who was far more focused on a random spot on the ceiling than any of them.

“Mom!” Sassa called, the coldness leaving her tone entirely.

She ran up to the woman and the two embraced, much to the annoyance of Flippi, who was watching from the sidelines.

“How are you my little Butterbiscuit?”

“Mom I told you to stop calling me that,”

“Are you my daughter’s friends?” the man in the bowtie asked.

He made his way over with the use of a walking cane, though he looked far too young to use it.

“We are, sir,” Daisy shook his hand. “She saved all our lives more times than I can count,”

“Yes, she was always very talented. Pity she’s wasting it all on dangerous adventures,”

Daisy looked momentarily taken off guard, but was quick to compose herself and put on a diplomatic smile.

“You don't think adventuring is her true calling?”

“With all due respect, young lady, adventuring is not a ‘calling’,” Sassa’s father said, fixing them all with a cold look.

“It's a hobby. Instead of risking your lives for a bit of gold, you could find a respectable job and go hiking on the weekends like normal folk,”

From the corner of his eye, Gavak saw Sassa deflate.

“It’s not a bit of gold, Mr.-” Nelle interjected.

“Quilstand.” He said.

“Right, Mr. Quilstand. I don’t know how much your daughter told you, but we make more in a week than a professor at Blackstaff makes in a month!”

“And how much will that gold be worth when you end up as dragon fodder?” His voice cracked with emotion.

“Dad,” Sassa untangled herself from her mother’s embrace.

Mr. Quilstand sighed, his eyes making note of all the scratches and bruises that had accumulated on his daughter’s body over their recent travels.

“We could’ve given you a job at the inn-” he started, but Sassa was quick to cut him off.

“For the last time, Dad, I’m not going to perform magic tricks at children’s birthday parties!”

“You could help Pigbum Jr. manage the bathhouse,” Flippi said dryly.

At the mention of his name, the third gnome who has been staring at the ceiling until now turned to give them all a friendly smile, as if noticing them for the first time.

“God knows he could use the help,” Flippi murmured under her breath.

Gavak suddenly felt a deep sadness for Sassa.

When his grandmother took up knitting and started making sweaters for her wargs, they’d nearly thrown her out of the village. It's hard to be different. He always managed to fit in, no matter the company - but for those without his social skills, the world could be a much harsher place.

“Sir, if I may,” Gavak said.

Sassa’s eyes snapped to him. So did Daisy’s and Nelle’s. They all looked… nervous? No, that couldn’t be it.

“Your daughter can’t swim, so I don’t think managing a bathhouse is a good idea.”

Mr. and Mrs. Quilstand gave him a bewildered look, so he figured they weren’t convinced quite yet. That was fine, he had more up his sleeve.

“Also,” he continued. “If you can accept Greta as family the way she is, it seems a bit hypocritical to not accept Sassa,”

If anything, the expression on their faces grew even more puzzled. Sassa shot him an angry look, her cheeks burning.

“Not that I’m judging, of course, I’m sure wool or no wool she’s a gnome on the inside,”

“Sassa honey, who is this… charming fellow?” Mrs. Quilstand asked with a polite smile.

Gavak puffed up at the compliment. He was quite charming.

Xxx

Andrei opened the car door and offered me his hand. All day, he’d endured Nikita’s teasing about showing up to work in his only nice pair of jeans and dress shoes. I wasn’t sure if it was for my benefit or his grandma’s - but either way, it was adorable.

I took his hand, feeling warmth creep up my neck.

“She’s gonna be so happy that you agreed to come,” Andrei said, smiling down at me.

“I just hope she likes the cookies,”