Late that afternoon Hester brought Mobkin and his bag of seedsto Sarwin’s field.
Leaving the village, Mobkin stopped when he caught sight of the horizon for the first time in the world. “Huh, this place is stranger than I realised!” he muttered under his breath.
“I suspect the place you came from is in a different world from this one, so I’m not surprised that some things are strange for you; but what is it in particular?” Hester replied.
“You know how objects in the distance appear smaller than they really are? That’s true where I come from as well but to a lesser degree than here.” Mobkin explained. “Look at that path heading to that other village: it looks to me like the sides curve inwards. And the horizon is all bunched up compared to what I’m used to seeing.”
“That sounds like you’re from a place where geometry works differently, and I don’t see how such a place could be in this world.” Hester said, with a slightly uncertain tone in her voice.
“We can keep walking. That makes some sense to me. I believe I mentioned a human to you earlier: his name is Gavin and he arrived in a place far from my home in a similar way to how I arrived in your bathtub. Most grellings think he’s probably from elsewhere in our world albeit incredibly far away, but he himself always said he was from another world entirely.”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to fill me in on what a human is.” Hester chuckled, “Until you came along everyone I knew was an elf or an animal.”
“I lived very far from him so I’ve just heard reports and seen pictures. It seems he looks very much like an elf, but isn’t quite as tall and his ears are small and round.”
Sarwin was waiting at the field. After an unenthusiastic greeting he showed Mobkin the area he was willing to loan out and Mobkin set to work planting. Hester very quickly lost interest and spent the rest of the afternoon under a nearby tree reading a book. On the other hand, Sarwin spent the afternoon working elsewhere on the field, neither offering to help Mobkin nor taking his eyes off him for long. Mobkin couldn’t help but suspect that Sarwin was keeping himself busy for the sake business rather than doing anything worthwhile.
As the sun progressed to the West Mobkin had been expecting it to set, but instead it appeared to start growing smaller as it moved back upwards again. He planted the last of his seeds and went to sit beside Hester under the tree.
“Does the sun usually move like that in the evenings here?” he asked her.
“Yes, but I gather you’re used to something else happening.”
“Where I come from the sun appears to drop below the Western horizon at the end of each day, and it doesn’t visibly grow or shrink.”
Hester looked alarmed. “Does it hit the ground‽”
“No. The farther West one goes to observe it the later it appears to reach the horizon. But its movement is an illusion: it’s really the world that’s spinning.”
Hester’s face grew a shade paler, and she fell silent for a minute. When she spoke again it was on a different subject.
“I’ve realised I made a mistake. I was avoiding telling you about my past because it’s embarrassing, but if I don’t tell you then someone else will probably tell you some strange version of the events.”
“That makes sense.” Mobkin said, as reassuringly as possible.
Hester continued “Around five years ago I was in love with an elf from that village over there. One day I confessed my feelings for him only to learn that he was already betrothed. We remained friends afterwards and neither of us told anyone what had happened, you’re actually the first person I’m telling directly. Anyway a few months after that my family received invitations to the wedding. I really am happy for him but I just couldn’t bring myself to attend. My family thought it was strange that I declined the invitation but they didn’t mind attending without me. They’re all still hibernating, and that’s why I’ve been living alone.”
Mobkin’s eyes opened wide: “I don’t mean to offend you, but that mention of hibernation was the biggest revelation of anything you just said!”
“Do you mean grellings and humans don’t hibernate after weddings?”
“Until today I’d only heard of animals hibernating, it hadn’t crossed my mind that someone able to speak would also have that ability.”
“I suppose you really are different from elves. Hibernation is actually a response to overcrowding for us, but we usually have enough space so crowding only happens at weddings. Just to make sure; you do understand how unrequited love can be embarrassing, right?”
“That at least is the same for grellings, although it does depend on the specific situation.”