Ellanor and the Search for Organoth Blue Amber

by K T Durham

  She peered up at the worn sign etched with red and gold lettering: Aunty Mabel’s Bakery.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Of Pineapple Buns and Book Worms

  Elly tried to peer into the shop through the glass windows, but she could not get a very clear view through the fogged-up glass. On either glass door was taped a piece of rectangular-shaped red paper with gold script, which Elly recognised as Chinese characters: “Wishing you good luck, good health, and prosperity!”

  She swallowed nervously as she pushed open the jingling glass door.

  The shop was small, but warm and cosy. She was now enveloped in that deliciously enticing aroma. Almost immediately, she felt herself thawing out. The pink walls were decorated with sparkling red and gold tinsel, and pretty red and gold paper lanterns hung from the ceiling.

  There was a lady behind the counter with dark, almond-shaped eyes and shoulder-length black hair speckled with grey. Elly had read about the dark hair of the Asians in Larabeth Goldberry’s The Beginner’s Guide to Human Races. Apparently, many humans liked to change the colour of their hair, and used some deadly chemical called hair dye to do it. In Alendria, such a thing was unheard of. Elves never sought to alter what they were born with. But Elly wondered if there was something that would straighten her manic hair.

  The lady was watching Elly curiously. What remarkable green eyes, she thought. Lily would love to have marvellous hair like that—so much volume in all those curls!

  Elly shifted on her feet uncertainly as she mustered up the courage to speak up. She had always fancied that her first attempt to communicate with a human would be a dignified, momentous event.

  But at that moment, all she could think about was food. Then her stomach growled so loudly that the lady at the counter raised her eyebrows, and Elly’s ears turned bright red. Thank goodness her hair covered them.

  Mabel Wong knew what real hunger felt like. There was a time back in Hong Kong in the 1960s when her family had so little money that they ate rice with soy sauce every night for many months. Her heart went out to this pretty child, who stood out from the other scrawny and unkempt kids who came in asking for food. The girl’s face was pale with exhaustion, and her red-rimmed eyes betrayed that she had been crying. She was shivering like a leaf in that flimsy purple dress. But otherwise, she looked healthy and well-groomed.

  Mabel smiled and beckoned to Elly, who stepped forward tentatively. To her surprise, Mabel gently took one of her hands.

  “My goodness, you’re freezing!” Mabel cried. She fussed behind the counter, then retrieved a steaming bun and plopped it on a plate. “Here, eat this boh loh bau, a pineapple bun. It’ll warm you up,” she commanded.

  Stammering her thanks, Elly looked dubiously at the round, golden-brown bun before her. Its top crust had a checkered pattern that resembled the epicarp of a pineapple. This would be her very first taste of human food. At least it didn’t contain animal meat. She cringed as her stomach growled again, so she took a small bite. Then another. Elly’s eyes shone, and she beamed from ear to ear. The top part was crunchy and sweet, whereas the bread underneath was soft and fragrant. That old woman from the park was right!

  Whatever this was, it was super-duper delicious!

  Mabel smiled smugly as she watched Elly devour the boh loh bau, her bakery’s trademark. Aunty Mabel’s was the only Chinese bakery in the neighbourhood that many London suburbans would flock to, for her freshly baked pineapple buns, egg tarts, and glutinous red bean cakes, all of which sold out by six o’clock every day of the week. Even her wholewheat and barley bread loaves were popular.

  After Elly finished off the bun, the colour came back to her cheeks. She smiled at Mabel so radiantly that nobody could have guessed that only moments ago she had felt as though her world was crashing down on her.

  Sometimes, one literally needs good food to warm the soul.

  Mabel smiled. “I am Mabel Wong; I run this bakery. It is lovely to meet you, dear. What is your name?”

  Elly could feel Hobbes stirring again, sniffing for food. She patted her pocket and smiled shyly at Mabel. “My name is Ellanor, but everyone calls me Elly.”

  Greymore rumbled in a warning tone. Tread carefully, Ellanor. Don’t say a word about Alendria or elves. Tell her you are from the North, and you are traveling with your guardian. Your parents are currently unable to explore London with you as they are not in town, but your guardian takes care of you. This is your first time in London, and you are here for as long as you need.

  “And where are your parents, Elly?” Mabel asked, replacing a pineapple bun in the display cabinet.

  Elly gulped, then told Mabel what Greymore had instructed her to say. Alendria was located somewhere to the north of Gaya, the human realm. So it was true that she was from the north, that it was her first time in London, and it was also true that Greymore was like her guardian. Elly realised that Greymore was trying to be as truthful as possible, without revealing the whole unbelievable truth to Mabel—after all, Elly had to be convincing as a human. Mabel would think she was insane if she started ranting on about Alendria and elves and goblins. Mabel listened intently. The girl had a very sweet voice, but Mabel could not quite place her accent. She assumed that Elly must have grown up some place exotic in Europe, judging by the foreign yet articulate way she spoke and the unusual way she dressed.

  Mabel secretly loved watching TV soap operas, and speculated whether Elly was one of those “poor rich kids”. Perhaps her parents were wealthy foreigners, so busy sealing lucrative business deals that they had little time to be with their daughter. It sounded like there was some sort of au pair who acted as her guardian. She looked at Elly and felt sorry for her.

  “You look to be about my daughter’s age. She’s thirteen. You’re too young to be left alone in a big city like London. Where is your guardian?”

  Elly swallowed nervously. “I’m quite safe, really. My guardian knows where I am at all times, and he won’t let me come to harm.” She smiled, a little too enthusiastically.

  Mabel raised her eyebrows. The poor girl looked so uncomfortable that she decided to drop the subject for now. Perhaps they’ve kept a tracking device on her. Rich people have all sorts of things at their disposal, she thought wryly.

  “Would you like to stay here for a bit, where it’s nice and warm? It would be no bother at all, honestly.” She thought that Elly was looking much less dejected and pale, but she could do with a warm place to rest.

  Elly was so relieved, she wanted to cry. Greymore rumbled his approval. “Oh, yes. Yes! I would love that. Thank you so, so much!” She bowed in thanks, not realizing this seemed a little unusual.

  Mabel laughed. “You have lovely manners, Elly! My Lily could learn a thing or two from you!”

  Mabel then plopped two more steaming pineapple buns on a plate and thrust it at Elly.

  “Here, go on inside, we have a little fireplace at the back. You’ll get to meet my daughter Lily. She’ll be over the moon for an excuse to get away from maths homework. Besides, she’s been cooped up in the house for the past two days, recuperating from an ear infection. She’s pretty much fully recovered, but I thought it would be best to keep her from school for another day. Don’t worry, go on in—she’s not contagious!”

  She ushered Elly through a doorway behind the counter.

  Elly stepped on soft maroon carpet inside a handsome room with dark brown walls covered in framed black and white photographs of sombre-faced people. There were several large scrolls of Chinese landscape paintings in the centre at the back wall.

  She had read about the history of the Chinese and found them fascinating. From what she had read, it seems that China boasted quite a glorious history, having been the forerunning innovators of science and technology for many centuries. The Chinese had come up with very clever inventions such as the abacus, printing, paper-making, the compass, the telescope, and
many more. Elly had read about immigration, leading many Chinese and other Asian ethnic groups to leave their country to seek their fortune and start families elsewhere, mostly in Western countries such as Britain, America, and Australia.

  In Alendria, elves, too, would migrate to different regions out of necessity, but it wasn’t common. She remembered thinking it was unusual that Edellina had moved to Evergreen City from Morwen Valley.

  Then Elly mentally kicked herself; it still had not fully sunk in that Edellina was an imposter, a wretched goblin.

  The room was warm, thanks to the fire at the hearth that had a lovely marble mantelpiece, above which hung a family portrait. Elly guessed that Lily was an only child. There was a pungent smell that she had never come across before, which she later discovered was Chinese herbal medicine. The room was dimly lit; Elly looked up and saw that some of the light bulbs in the chandelier had expired. Several old leather armchairs surrounded a low rosewood table cluttered with empty teacups, old magazines and newspapers, and a chess board with chess pieces strewn all over the place. A couple of tall, disorderly bookshelves lined the left wall. In the far corner was a desk piled with papers and books, and there sat a girl wearing thick glasses with her head bowed in concentration.

  When they walked into the room, Lily glanced up with a frazzled look. “Mum, I really need a maths tutor, I just don’t understand this gobbledygook!” she wailed, near tears. Then her eyes lit up when she saw Elly. “Hello!” she said with a friendly wave. Elly smiled shyly.

  Mabel put a hand on Elly’s shoulder and steered her forward. “Lily dear, this is Elly. She’s visiting London for the first time, and she can do with some rest and a cup of tea. Make sure she feels at home, all right? Perhaps you can take a break from your homework and spend some time together?”

  Lily’s eyes grew round, and she beamed. “Sure! If I need to look at any more x’s and y’s, I’ll go insane!”

  Mabel laughed. “I knew it! By the way, Elly’s parents aren’t in town, and she’s by her lonesome. I’m sure she’ll like to make a new friend.”

  Then she looked at her watch and clucked her tongue. The bakery was going to get busy soon; it always did at lunch hour. She had to go off and prepare several more batches of pineapple buns and egg tarts. Smiling, Mabel patted Elly on the shoulder. “I’ll leave you girls to it! I must get back to work now.” She hurried back to the bakery.

  Lily stretched and leapt off her chair. “Oh, it’s so nice to take a break from this awful homework. Algebra. Yuck!” She patted a pile of books on the desk with a smile. “I much prefer reading novels.”

  Elly brightened. “Oh, I love stories, too!” She had particularly enjoyed reading Jane Eyre and Oliver Twist, two famous novels written by humans. The library at Arvellon Academy had only a limited collection of novels from the human realm, but Elly had devoured every one of them. The most recent book was dated one hundred years ago—which was how long ago the elves had sealed the portal. Before I was foolish enough to trespass and make a mess of things, she thought unhappily.

  Lily beamed. “You’re kidding! I just adore reading the Brontë sisters and Charles Dickens, but not only the classics—I love contemporary writers, too.” She rattled off a list of titles that Elly had never heard of before. Lily sighed. “Oh, you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find a friend who loves books, too.”

  Then she licked her lips and jumped up. “Boy, I’m parched! Come, let’s have some tea. I would offer you soda or juice, but we’re out at the moment. Besides, I like having chamomile tea in this freezing weather.” Lily poured them some tea into clean mugs. “Here you go. I much prefer this to the strong Pu-erh tea that my folks like to have.”

  Elly cupped the warm mug with both hands and breathed in the soothing fragrance. She tentatively took a sip. Then another. She beamed; she had never tasted anything like it before! Back home, beverages ranged from bubbling spring water to fresh fruit drinks, unicorn milk, and dragon honey ale, but she had never had tea before. The chamomile warmed her from the inside out!

  The two girls sat talking about all sorts of things, from their favourite books to Elly’s hair, which Lily claimed was gorgeous. Elly couldn’t believe it—back home, she was certain nobody thought her hair looked beautiful. Lily sighed. “I wish my hair had as much volume as yours. You seriously could go on one of those hair commercials!” she exclaimed, tugging at her own straight hair with a scowl.

  Elly laughed and shook out her own curls. “But I wish my hair were as wonderfully straight as yours!”

  Lily giggled. “I guess the other side always looks greener, eh?”

  Whenever Lily started talking about something she was unfamiliar with (which happened frequently), she would smile and nod and try her best to appear informed. Lily occasionally asked whether Elly liked some singer or movie star that she had absolutely no clue about. Her default responses ranged from “She’s okay”, to “He’s not bad”.

  When Lily asked about her school, she shrugged and tried to sound nonchalant. “Oh, it’s not anywhere in England, just some boring old school in the north.” She attempted to distract Lily by asking her about chess, which was similar to a game called King’s Quest back home in Alendria. But Lily persisted. “Oh! You’re from somewhere in northern Europe, aren’t you? So where exactly are you from?”

  Elly gulped. “Oh, you most probably haven’t even heard of it, it’s such an… obscure place…” She trailed off.

  Help me, Greymore!

  Lily laughed. “Wow, you must come from the most out-of-the-way place! OK, let me guess—what letter does it begin with?”

  Elly felt doomed. She didn’t want to tell an outright lie. “Well, if you must know, it begins with A.”

  Lily thought for a moment, then her eyes widened. “Oh my gosh, you’re from the Aland Islands in Finland!” she exclaimed, snapping her fingers.

  Elly stared at Lily. The Aland Islands? She had no idea what that was. Taking Elly’s look of surprise as confirmation, Lily grinned triumphantly. “Good guess, huh? I first learned about the Aland Islands in geography class several weeks ago. It’s not exactly well-known, but I’ve been told it’s really beautiful, and has the most hours of sunshine in any part of Scandinavia, right?”

  Greymore rumbled. Perhaps this is for the best, Ellanor. Go with the flow.

  Elly smiled weakly as she thought about Alendria—the rainbow-washed sky that never went grey during the day; the lovely Meridien Meadows where some of the prettiest flowers grew; the bright sun that always seemed reluctant to give way to the moon.

  “Yes, my home is a very beautiful place,” she said softly, and wished she could tell Lily the truth.

  Lily laughed and clapped her hands. “Wow, wait till I tell my folks! I’ve never known anyone from the Aland Islands. That is so cool!”

  Then she glanced at the clock and gasped. “Look at the time! It’s almost two o’clock, and we haven’t even had lunch yet! Let’s eat something; I’m starving!” She winked at Elly. “We spent all that time talking about books and stuff. We’re a couple of sad bookworms, aren’t we?”

  They shared the pineapple buns and ate sandwiches that Lily had prepared in record time. She was considerate enough to ask Elly if there was anything she couldn’t eat.

  “You’re a vegetarian?” Lily asked, finding it hard to imagine life without beef and chicken and pork. Elly grinned as she devoured a tomato and avocado sandwich. When Lily wasn’t looking, she slipped some bread bits into her pocket for Hobbes, who gobbled them up quickly.

  As she waited for Lily to finish her overflowing roast beef and lettuce sandwich, Elly looked around the room thoughtfully. “Has your family always lived in London?”

  Lily wiped her mouth with a tissue. “Well, I was born here in London, but my parents immigrated here from Hong Kong. Which used to be a British colony, as you might know—run by the British, that is. My mother
’s parents came, too. But Gong-Gong—that’s my Grandpa—died a few years ago, so now it’s just Poh-Poh, my Grandma. She doesn’t speak much English, though she’s been here for over fifteen years. She spends most of her time with her friends in Chinatown, playing mah-jong and going to yum cha, that sort of thing. My parents learned to speak English pretty well, but they speak Cantonese at home.”

  Elly nodded as she gulped down the last morsel of her sandwich. “So you can speak fluent Cantonese?”

  Lily sighed. “Unfortunately, no. Grandma insists that I speak Cantonese with her, and she complains that I sound like a gwei-mui; a Caucasian girl!” She rolled her eyes. Then she glanced up and gulped. “Speak of the devil!” She jumped off the couch and went towards a diminutive old lady who had just shuffled into the room in furry brown slippers. Lily took her by the arm and smiled.

  “This is my Grandma,” she said, before turning to the elderly lady and speaking in halting Cantonese.

  “Grandma, this is my new friend, Elly. She’s visiting London for the first time.”

  Grandma Wong would have looked taller if it wasn’t for her stooped back. Her white hair was short and curly, and she was wearing a long-sleeved cheongsam of a deep red with gold embroidery. She had on small jade earrings and a matching bangle on her thin, wrinkled wrist.

  She smiled and nodded at Elly, then turned to her granddaughter. “She has very beautiful green eyes, the colour of my jade!” she remarked in Cantonese.

  Elly smiled at the compliment and bowed deeply. “Hello, Grandma. I am Elly, and I am so pleased to meet you.”

  She was greeted by silence. Looking up, she saw that Grandma and Lily were both staring at her. Lily’s jaw had dropped open. “Oh, my goodness! You can speak Cantonese?” she cried, her eyes bulging.

  Grandma Wong was beaming from ear to ear. “Finally, someone of Lily’s age I can talk to!” she said with an approving smile. Then she looked at her little gold watch. “It’s time for my afternoon nap. Do make yourself at home, Elly.”