Wood Sprites(152)
“I need bedroom sets for my granddaughters.” Anna waved toward the twins. “You do sell furniture for children?”
He deflated and eyed the girls for the first time. Obviously children’s beds didn’t fetch as big a commission as adult furniture. “Yes. We do. An entire floor of it. Let me show you!”
He led them to an elevator and they went up to the topmost floor. The first large room was a vast sea of cribs and toddler beds. The room beyond was devoted to furniture fit for princesses. Most of it was pink. Even the white-painted pieces were accented with ribbons and bows of pink. There was a Hello Kitty set and a coach straight out of Cinderella.
“Gag me.” Jillian muttered darkly.
“We don’t like pink,” Louise stated. “Do you have anything less girly-girl?”
The salesman looked to Anna.
Anna considered Louise and Jillian as if with X-ray eyes. “Do you have anything more exotic?”
“Exotic? Y-Y-Yes!” The word started as an automatic statement as the salesman thought frantically and then became a solid confirmation as he thought of something appropriate. “In our adult bedroom section. We just got it in this morning.”
Anna flicked her hand, indicating that he should show the way.
They went back downstairs, through a room so crowded with leather sofas that the air was thick with the scent of cured hides. Jillian gasped when they came around the corner of the room to the first bedroom set. It looked like a room lifted out of an Elvish home. All the pieces were intricately carved from ironwood and stained the color of dark honey, bringing out the luminescent gold grain. The canopied bed was draped in white fairy silk that looked magical even under the showroom spotlights. The lamps on the marble-topped nightstands looked like gnarled branches holding small round LED bulbs like elf shines. The price tag discreetly displayed on the end table gave a staggering amount for the set and noted “special order” with no estimate of delivery time. It was totally and utterly perfect.
“All the pieces are solid ironwood and are nearly unbreakable despite its delicate appearance. It’s handcrafted on Elfhome using spells and magically sharp tools. It’s one of a kind and unique on this world.”
“Oh, Grandma,” Jillian breathed, only partially faking her enchantment. “Can we have this one?”
Anna obviously melted, just as Jillian intended. “Of course you can.”
Louise bumped Jillian slightly. The logical tactic would have been to only vaguely like the furniture and extend out the shopping for as many days as possible.
“Our floor will need to be redone.” Jillian pointed out. “This hardwood has been stained black. The white flokati rug is just stunning against it.”
Anna frowned slightly. “Louise, what do you think?”
“I love the bed,” Louise said with all honesty. The more changes they could demand to Lain’s room, the longer they could delay moving into it. “And I love this rug!” She bent down to run her hand over the thick shag. It was like petting a sheep. “It’s so soft and warm. And I really like how everything looks on the dark wood.”
“The black seems too depressive to me,” Anna said.
“Please!” Jillian cried.
Anna didn’t seem swayed by Jillian’s cuteness on the color. She was probably thinking of Esme and all the black-painted furniture.
Louise sought to appeal to Anna’s intelligence. “The floor needs to be assertive to counterbalance the size of the bed. If the two are too close in tone, they’ll clash, and if they match, they’ll wash each other out.”
Anna’s eyebrows went up in surprise and then she smiled. “All right. At least the rug will cover most of the black. I’ll want the largest one you stock.”
Louise waited uneasily as the salesman wrote up the order.
“This is a custom piece,” the salesman explained. “We got the display in a few hours ago, straight from Elfhome. You’re the first ones to see it. We expect it to be popular with the upcoming royal wedding.” He paused in the middle of filling out the order form. “You did hear the news this morning? About the wedding?”
“No,” Anne said in a tone that stated firmly that she didn’t care.
Jillian, however, fed him a line to keep him going. “What royal wedding?”
“Prince Windwolf is alive and he’s getting married. Total The Queen’s Salvage.”
“Pardon?” Anna said coldly.
“Lemon-Lime?” He stuttered. “Videos? Pop culture? A human girl saved the Viceroy and they’ve fallen in love. Her name is Tinker and she’s a hoverbike racer! There haven’t been any pictures of her yet; everyone expects her to look like the video, but what are the odds?”