In the early morning of the next day, Oliver stayed seated in the house, staring at the floor as he tried to think of an excuse not to leave.
He didn't want to go back to the sage's library, and he definitely didn't want to see that broom again. But Elinor didn't give him any chance. She grabbed his arm and dragged him across the road like a sack of potatoes.
She pulled him behind her until they reached the sage's tower door, and she said firmly as she pushed him inside,
"Go in, don't start your usual game."
As soon as they entered, the sage was standing near the bookshelves, holding a broom. He handed it to Oliver the moment he noticed he had come in.
"Today you'll start by cleaning the floor, then take all the books down from the shelves and reorganize them alphabetically."
Upon hearing that, Oliver automatically turned toward Elinor, then instantly produced a set of dramatic fake tears across his face.
After that he walked toward her and stretched his arms out in an overly dramatic way.
"I swear I'll never run into the forest alone again in my entire life. Just don't make me clean this place for the fiftieth time. I want to go out, everyone is celebrating, the festival only happens once a year, and I already wasted a full day!"
Elinor stared at him while trying to keep a very strict expression, while he kept trying to look as pitiful as humanly possible.
In the end she sighed,
"You can go…"
And even before she finished the sentence, Oliver had already vanished through the door like a bird escaping its cage.
Elinor looked at the door and sighed. The sage threw the broom on the floor in pure frustration.
Then he sat back down at the wooden table and placed both of his legs over each other on top of the table.
After that he exhaled,
"You spoil that boy too much. When I was his age, my father didn't even allow me to look in the direction of the festival. He left me here to clean the library."
"Honestly… that's a very sad story. And not something you should be proud of."
He didn't like her comment, but he said nothing. Elinor raised her hand and wiped the dust from the edge of the table.
"What do you say we go out and see the festival together?"
"I can't, I have to take care of the library."
She shook her head.
"Honestly, it doesn't look like you take care of it that much anyway."
"Whatever the case is, I can't leave it without someone watching it."
"Are you saying this because you truly want to watch it? Or because you're scared of the spirits filling the streets right now?"
The sage straightened his back and lifted his chin.
"Me? Scared?! I would never be scared of something like that."
Elinor smiled with an extremely wicked grin.
"So there's no problem with us going out now and joining the festival, right?"
"As I said, I'm not scared of those… tiny disgusting… creatures. But I need to stay here."
"Does that mean that if I found someone to watch the library instead of you… you'd go with me?"
He answered confidently,
"Of course. If you find anyone to take my place, I'll go with you immediately."
She didn't even wait for him to finish his sentence before leaving the library quickly, and he exhaled with extreme relief.
He said to himself while shaking his head,
"No one would accept sitting in this boring tower while the festival is happening outside. It's already decided. What a genius I am!"
But against all his expectations, only a few minutes passed before Elinor returned. And when she entered, someone stood behind her.
A tall man dressed entirely in black. A black coat reaching his knees, a black hat hiding most of his face except for a glimpse of dark red hair falling from underneath it, with a few bright red strands. On his left eye was a black patch.
The sage recognized him immediately. This was the same traveling man who volunteered to go into the forest and search for Oliver when none of the others dared even to approach its borders.
He didn't expect Elinor to find anyone. He didn't expect her to find someone that quickly. And he definitely didn't expect her to bring that man specifically.
He opened his mouth to object, but then he remembered that this man had entered the forest alone and returned alive. Something no one had ever done before except the sage's own father. Even his father had never gone that deep.
So the sage closed his mouth simply, turned around and went out with Elinor even though he was planning to find a way to escape.
Inside the library, the masked man remained alone between the tall shelves.
Soon he began pulling books one after another, opening them and reading with sharp focus.
Those books contained the history of the village since its founding by the first sage.
…
Outside, the sage walked beside Elinor with a stiff back, trying to keep as much distance from the spirits as possible. Meanwhile, she wandered around and played with them.
A giant autumn spirit passed in front of them, and the sage threw himself to the side to give it space.
Elinor smiled.
"It seems you are scared after all?"
He lifted his chin.
"Me? Absolutely not afraid of these things."
"The same thing you used to say when we were kids. Why are you scared of such gentle creatures?"
"As I said before… I'm not scared."
She looked at him and suddenly shouted while pointing at him,
"Look, one of them is on your back!"
He turned quickly and began waving his hands in the air trying to remove the nonexistent creature.
"Where? Where?!"
And in one moment he lost his balance and fell straight into a mud puddle.
Elinor laughed.
"It's extremely obvious that you're not scared."
She extended her hand to help him up but he grabbed her strongly and pulled her with him, making her fall beside him in the puddle.
This time the sage burst into laughter. Then he stood and reached out to her, and she pulled herself up with his help. After that she began brushing the mud off her clothes.
"You ruined my new clothes."
"And you didn't do the same to me?"
"I don't think I dragged you into a puddle."
"Consider it 'justice' for lying to me."
"Fine, fair. But seriously, why are you scared of spirits? Even as children you used to run away from them."
The sage stayed silent for a moment, then said as he looked toward a group of spirits in the distance playing with some villagers,
"Every time I slept, I used to have nightmares."
"Nightmares of what kind?"
"I saw the spirits turning into terrifying monsters and attacking everyone."
Elinor opened her mouth to reply, but at that moment a full parade of autumn spirits, both small ones and the giant one, rushed past them. They collided with both of them, sending them into the mud puddle again.
In front of them, Oliver was running after the spirits with a group of village children.