Do We Have Everything?

The Hall is bustling. So much activity has me pausing as I step inside. Fauns are straightening the tables and wiping every speck of food off of them. Several elves are on ladders around the walls, cleaning off the banners. Two look like they’re trying to straighten one out. It looks pretty straight to me, but they way they hold their chins tells me they’re not so sure.

I try to take a step, but bright violet light flashes across my vision and is gone. Following it, I watch the purple fairy fly up to one of the Hall’s many stained glass windows. Every window has about a dozen fairies around it as they’re all trying to get them at their cleanest. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who’s on edge about the writing conference.

I take a step, but clench my padfolio up against my chest as a patrol of human soldiers march past me and out of the Hall. A sigh escapes my lips. When I look after them, they’re spreading throughout the courtyard outside. It’s as busy as the Hall with everyone trying to spruce it up.

“Are you prepared?”

I can’t turn back around without jumping, and a quiet “fudge” breaks from my breath. An elderly man with a long silver beard bars my path. His hands are folded in his blue-violet robes and ever present disappointment is settled in his mismatched eyes. “I think we’re at a good spot,” I say to him.

A grunt purses his lips. “Good spot?” he repeats. “We’ve been at a ‘good spot’ for years now. Are you prepared or not? Don’t you recall what happened last year?”

I hum as his words strike a bit of a nerve. I know what he’s trying to bring up, but I point my finger to stop him. “As I recall, I got four publishers interested in our story last year. They all got a chance to meet you guys, but somewhere along the line,” I motion to him with my whole hand, “you guys messed it up, but we’re working on that.”

“How dare–”

“I gotta go, bye.” I wave my hand at him and slip past. His grumbling calls after me, but I don’t turn my head to look back. I need to stay focused and not get muddled in what he wants me to worry about. Instead, I search through the crowded Hall. I have to keep my padfolio tight against my chest to keep from dropping it as I bob and weave through the different races. Halfway down the Hall, I notice three stewards up by the elevated seat on the far side of the room. They’re wiping it down with towels, making it shine like the star it was named after. The person I’m looking wouldn’t be found anywhere near that throne, so I move on.

Dodging around a couple fauns carrying dishes, I bump into one of the tables.

“Watch it,” the sharp tongue holds a familiar ring, but when I look up, I find the butcher’s boy instead of who I’m looking for. He’s frowning at me through matted black hair. “The fauns already adjusted this table fifteen times, you’re going to make them do it again.”

“Sorry,” I mutter. I was going to move on, but what he’s doing makes me pause. He’s leaned over one of the tables with his hands braced against it. A parchment is laying between his thumbs. My eyebrow rises. He hates reading, so why is he bent over paper? “You good?” I ask slowly.

The darkness of his eyes is only amplified by the sour stretch of his pale face. I blow air out my cheeks and regret my question. As hollow as his stare is, he doesn’t look like he wants me to leave yet. He licks his lips and bitterly looks away. “What’s a One Sheet?”

I barely hear his question over the noise of the Hall. I look at his parchment and notice how it has designs on it, but no words. It makes me feel like his question is very relatable. “It’s…” I trail off with a sigh. “It’s a tool, but–” I cut off when I meet his eyes and my brow tightens. “Wait. Why are you asking?”

He pulls off the table and motions at the parchment like he wants to strangle it. “I was told to do it.”

I blanch. “You were told…” I pinch my nose bridge and take a deep breath. “You should not be the one in charge of the One Sheet. Give me that.” I reach out and when he slides the parchment over, I snatch it and shove it in my padfolio. “Go find the Dark One and make sure he’s ready for this weekend. In fact, go find everyone who shows up in the first chapter and tell them they better be packed and ready to go.”

The butcher’s boy immediately turns to depart, but he pauses. “You know,” he looks at me with his chin in the air. “If you put me in the first chapter, we’d have a better shot.”

My turn to reach at something like I want to strangle it. “Go!” He rolls his eyes and leaves.

With another sigh, I try to straighten up my padfolio now that I shoved the One Sheet in it. I still have things in here from last year I need to take out. A faun comes at my shoulder, muttering a quiet “excuse me.” I step away and watch as she and another faun straighten the table I just bumped.

“Eh-hem.”

Every muscle in my back tenses at the throat that clears behind me. My reaction causes a pleasant chuckle from the person. I let out a slow breath and force my jaw to relax. I flash a smile before I turn around and I’m met with the twinkling brown eyes of my most sassy character. Her face is masked, but I can tell she’s smiling. “You’re not coming,” I tell her.

“Oh, but I think I should.” She juts out her hip and rests a wrist against it. Behind her, her long white braid sways past her knees. “I can be your back up.” She shrugs. “I can be his back up to.”

She’s looking at me when she says that last part which tells me the person I’m looking for is not in the bustling Hall. I can’t blame him. The main character always has a lot riding on their shoulders. “I appreciate the offer,” I say to her, “but I can’t risk you telling off the publishers if they say ‘no.'”

She crosses her arms. “They’d be–”

“Don’t finish that sentence.” I cut her off with a raise of my hand. “This is serious. I need everyone at their best.”

She watches me for so long it starts to make me uncomfortable. Her gaze is steady on my eyes even when I look away. Amongst all the activity, the fauns rushing past, the fairies flying over, she remains unmoved. As bold as a mountain and feeling she has nothing to apologize for. That’s what I love most about her, but in this moment, I hate it. “Well,” I clear my throat. “I should–”

“We need you at your best to.”

Her words make me pause. I rub my thumb down the edge of my padfolio. The tightness of my throat lingers at the back of my mind and I force my jaw to relax again. “It’ll be alright.” I flash her a small smile. “I’m not alone.” I pull at the chain of my necklace under my shirt and pull out my necklace so she can see it. “Right?”

Her eyebrow twitches, but I can see the smile rising in her eyes. She nods once. “Good luck.”

“Behave while I’m gone.”

She laughs. “Ha! Never.”

With a light toss of my eyes, I leave her in the Hall. It takes me a few minutes, but I finally find him on the ramparts. He’s leaned over them, watching the plains sway in the wind.

“You alright?” I step up to him and rest my padfolio on the wall. He gives me a side-long look and doesn’t say anything. His hands are pressed together and his fingernails scratch at his wrist. I glance at his arms. All his scabs have healed to scars so he doesn’t have one to pick at. “It’s going to be fine.”

“How can you say that?” He taps his fist against the wall and scratches his forehead with his other hand. “It’s been years.”

I take a deep breath and watch the plains. Such a beautiful blend of greens and golden grasses. “It has been years, but there’s still so much we don’t know. That’s why we’re going.” I look back at him. “I’m taking different classes this time to help me understand the next steps while we work on our current edit. If these publishers aren’t interested, then we’ll finish the edit and go from there.”

He’s quiet for long moments then finally turns his head to look at me. “You’re not giving up?”

I shrug and look back at the horizon. “If I give up, it’s all for naught. I have to believe this novel has a purpose even when the odds are stacked against it.”

We both watch the plains. Such an expanse of land with bright blue sky and clouds sailing like ships across it. I can almost feel the magic that holds the land together.

“Thank you.” His tone is quiet, but when my main character looks me in the eye, I find myself growing a smile. “If anything.” His shoulders balance a shrug. “We’ve learned a lot together.”

My smile grows as I think back to the first days he and I met. We were so different then. The story was so different back then.

He takes a deep breath and leans off the wall. “So, if we’re doing this. Do we have everything?”

I glance at the padfolio. Query letter. First page. A blank One Sheet. I have the schedule and an idea of a pitch. My hand traces to the chain around my neck and I follow it to the charm hanging from it. I’ve had this one necklace since I was a child. I never take it off. My main character watches my hand finger the different points of the cross. He meets my gaze and I give a light smile. “I think we do.”

I’m excited to share that this is my 500th post on this website since starting it in October of 2020. Thank you to everyone who’s been following, reading, and joining in this journey with me!