Hannah Mitchell's Arc

Chapter 5 of 8

The sick traveler drank his tea and slept, and by morning his fever broke. Hannah watched him walk out with the guardian, steady on his feet. That should have felt like a win. Instead she saw the room clearly for the first time. She served tea standing, moving jar to jar, cup to cup. Her guests took the tea and drank alone against the walls. No one spoke. The weary curled up by themselves and drifted to sleep like strangers in a barn. She wanted them to feel at home. A home had a place where people sat together. She had no table. She had no chairs. She thought of the abandoned cottage in the grove where she had once found the copper kettle. Hannah walked there through the trees. The cottage stood wrapped in a lush grove, its wood dark with age, ivy climbing the walls. Handcrafted shutters framed the windows. She pushed the door and stepped inside. Dust hung in the light. Against the far wall stood a long wooden table, thick and plain, and a bench beside it. Both were sound. She rocked the table with her hand. It did not wobble. But the table was heavy, and the cottage sat far from the travelers' house. She could not drag it through the roots and mud alone. A small light flickered near the window. Luna, the fairy who had helped Hannah find the kettle here, hovered above the sill. She flew down and landed on the table's edge. "You always want the biggest thing in the room," Luna said. She looked at the table, then at Hannah's empty hands. "You'll break your back before you break the tree line." "I need it for my guests," Hannah said. "They drink alone. I want them to sit together." Luna tilted her head. "Then don't drag it. The winged horse carries loads deep into the forest. Send for it." Hannah remembered the horse that carried supplies to the far oven. She had not thought to ask for herself. She and Luna cleared the table of dust and old crocks. When the winged horse came, they roped the table and bench across its broad back. The horse walked slow and sure through the grove. By dusk the table stood in the center of the travelers' house. Hannah set the bench along one side and laid a fresh armful of grass on the floor around it. That night nine travelers came in cold and quiet. She did not carry tea to the walls. She set the cups on the table and waved them over. They came. They sat. An old man passed the honey. A young woman laughed at something he said. The room filled with low talk for the first time. Hannah stood back and watched them lean toward each other in the warm light. Then she saw the trouble. Nine cups crowded the table, and three guests stood waiting. The bench sat four. More travelers came each night, and one table could not hold them all.