Magic and Matchmaking: A variation of Emma volume 1 (The Jane Austen Fairy Tales) by Nina Clare

Author:Nina Clare [Clare, Nina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-07-06T16:00:00+00:00

16

Highbury Gossips

It relieved the residents of Highbury that the visit of the North Wind had not heralded a harsh and early winter. October resumed its usual mildness, for Highbury had always enjoyed a temperate climate, due to its proximity to Faerie.

The gnomes and mortal gardeners had plenty of time to plant their spring bulbs, but their delicate plants had suffered in the great gale that had passed through.

The crab-apple tree sprites found sport in dropping apples on unsuspecting mortals passing by. The cavernous kitchens of Donwell, and the tall, airy kitchen of Highbury were busy with salting and pickling and jam-making, and preserves of all kinds, but despite the baskets and stone jars and barrels of produce, there was still a feeling in the air that something was amiss.

When something is amiss in the magical energies, the mortal inhabitants perceive it as things being ‘out of sorts’, or ‘under the weather’. But the fae folk are more discerning and feel the uneven shift in the energy more deeply. They lit their pipes or took out their knitting and spinning in the evenings and gathered about their firesides, telling stories of past mis-alignments and the steps the royal fae took to bring back order.

Unfortunately, an imbalance in the energies gives an opening to all the disagreeable aspects of human and fae, in proportion to their propensity for disagreeableness. The schoolmaster of the village boys’ school complained wearily that he did not know what had got into his pupils, for they were at best unsettled and at worst riotous, and thoughts of early retirement and a quiet cot by the sea became more frequent.

The laundry woman of Highbury grumbled that her suds would not froth, nor her iron stay hot enough, nor cease from being too hot to scorch – what was the matter with everything?

Widow Wallis in the bakery was so vexed with her goods coming out of the ovens with burnt bottoms, that she threatened to sack the baker and send him packing, which would have been rather harsh, seeing as he was her son. Mischief was afoot in Highbury.

Master and Mistress Perry, the fae healers of Highbury, were disturbed by the shift in the energies of the plants and herbs. They had to travel farther afield, beyond the village border, to gather plants, for those within the proximity of Highbury were most definitely ‘off’. The chamomile ointment Mistress Perry sold for napkin rash turned the Highbury baby’s extremities a shade of puce, which, while harmless, was alarming. And the hair-thickening tonic Master Perry sold to gentlemen of a certain age, resulted in all the male inhabitants over forty sporting ringlets beneath their hats.

Mischief was most definitely afoot. The unexpected arrival of the North Wind last week was testament to that – there should be no North Wind before Midwinter.

Word was spreading like dandelion clock that Highbury was not a safe place to be, and in ones and twos the boarding students at Mother Goodword’s school were removed by their

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