Dinner with Filomena was part of the renter’s agreement. If Illandra was in the vicinity of the cottage around the dinner hour, she was to sit down and share a meal with Filomena. And if she wasn’t in the vicinity on too many occasions, there would be trouble. While Filomena insisted that the rule was because cooking for 1 was difficult and she refused to waste good stew, Illandra was sure that the hag simply wanted the company. She had been with her for nearly a year and could see that Filomena didn’t really need the 20 pieces she charged, she let out the garden room because she liked having someone else in the house with her, who was happy to be there.

Being the local hag was surely something of a downer.

“Illandra!”

Illandra jumped at the hag’s shout, “Alright, Filomena!” she shouted back. She hurried to return her lock box to its rightful place atop the chest of drawers, knowing that Filomena would wait to eat until she arrived, no matter how long she took. She leaned in to give Bin Bin the instructions he was to follow during her absence. “Stay in our room! Frogs all look just about the same, so I might not be able to recognize which one you are if you hop off and I have to find you later on. Got it?”

Bin Bin chose not to dignify that with a response.

“Good.” Illandra scrambled out of her room and didn’t slow her pace until she had reached Filomena’s kitchen.

A difficult task, but well worth the sleeping mat, work desk, wash basin, and chest of drawers.

“Just give him a few hours in this position and it should go down, and for god’s sake, don’t try to touch it!”

Illandra glanced around her cozy quarters, the garden facing room in the home of the village hag. She paid only 20 black pieces each month, the unfurnished price for the furnished space, on the agreement that she refrain from ever looking directly at any of the hag’s three facial warts.