Without thinking, Abigail reached her arm through the hole and frantically swung her arm around, hoping to grab the gnome. She could hear the gnome laugh and felt something move at her fingertips. She pulled her arm out and stuck her face as far into the hole as she could. She was nose-to-nose with the gnome, who was smiling and staring straight into her eyes.
“Where did you get this?”, the gnome moved back, inspecting the amulet, “Oh, where are my manners…”
The gnome gave a nod and the hole slowly grew to an Abigail-sized opening, which she quickly leapt through.
Amethyst lined the floor, the roof, and was scattered around the ground… this was an amethyst cache. A gnome amethyst cache. Light played off each gem, bouncing beautiful beams in every direction. Despite the circumstances, Abigail felt a sense of calm wash over her. The gnome was a bit taller than other gnomes Abigail had come across, only about a foot shorter than she. She noticed that the gnome wasn’t wearing a hat, which was odd.
“I’m called Kompis.” Kompis bounced from one foot to the other, as if doing a jig. With each hop, a question- “Who are you? How did you get here? Where did you get this?”
Abigail thought for a moment on the best way to answer the questions. Kompis’ thick, dirty fingers ran over the amulet as though they were seeking answers in braille. Out of the corner of her eye, Abigail spotted the gnome’s pointy purple hat sitting on what looked like a wooden crate.
“Abigail. The swamp. My father.” Not knowing if her answers were going to result in getting the amulet, Abigail very slowly moved herself toward the crate, keeping her back to it.
“Ehhhh… Charles is your father? You’re *the* Abbey!” Kompis’ eyes grew large, mouth agape- as though being Charles’ daughter was more fantastic than anything else that was happening in the moment.
If there was a name to call Abigail to send her into a quiet rage, it was Abbey. There was only one person in the world that called her Abbey, and he was gone.
“My.. name.. is.. Abigail!” she said slowly and sternly, as to not allow anger to over take her, measuring the amount of emphasis on each word in an attempt to sound calm. Emotions fought to take over, she could feel both tears of sadness and tears of anger welling up in her eyes. She sat on the crate, the hat was now directly behind her. She saw Kompis’ expression go from amazement to compassion. This was something she could work with.
“How do you know my father?”
“Oh, ho- Charles saved my life. He saved all our lives. He’s still saving our lives. Don’t you know? Are you sure you’re the Abbey? How do you not know?” Kompis sat on the ground before her, rolling the amulet between his fingers, alternating between holding it close to his eyes and holding it at arm’s length and squinting to look at it with one eye.
“Abigail. Please call me Abigail. Only my father can call me Abbey. Please, may I have that back?” Abigail reached her hand behind her, grasping the brim of the gnome hat between her fingers.
Kompis picked up a large piece of amethyst by his foot. “May I interest you in trading this for this?” Kompis held the amulet in one hand and the piece of amethyst in the other. Exactly what Abigail expected.
“Hmmm.. may I look at that?” Abigail said, pointing to the piece of amethyst. With her free hand, she reached down and took the piece of amethyst.
“This is beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous!” Abigail said, closely inspecting the purple shard. She could see light twinkling from inside the shard. “Yes, perhaps we should trade.” Abigail tucked the twinkling shard into her pocket.
Kompis looked shocked, he wasn’t expecting that at all, and Abigail could tell. A slight grin curled her lips.
“Oh me, this is wonderful. Do you have anything else to trade? I have many many gems!” Kompis excitedly raked in gems around him on the ground.
“Yes, let’s trade!” Abigail pulled the gnome hat out from behind her and held it in front of Kompis.
Kompis’ face shifted from excitement to concern.
“That’s MY HAT! That’s my tribal hat, I NEED that hat.” Kompis jumped to his feet, clumsily attempting to grab the hat. Abigail held the hat over him, just out of his reach. Realizing the situation, Kompis surrendered the amulet to Abigail. Abigail handed him his hat.
“I like trading.” Abigail said with a smile.
“You *are* the Abbey, er Abigail. Your father talks about you all the time. We all know the Abbey, ehhh, Abigail.” Kompis said with a laugh, fixing his hat back on his head.
“Talks. You say that like he’s still talking.” Abigail cocked her head slightly, stopping herself from saying too much.
“Oh yes yes yes. On the Darkest Night, he gives us new Abbey stories. Erm, Abigail. Why are you never there? Why does he speak like you are gone? You are right here.” As Kompis asked the questions, a look of confusion washed over his face, realizing that none of the Abbey stories explained her absence.
The thought of her father existing *somewhere* other than her dreams made her break out in a full sweat. It was becoming difficult to hear Kompis over her own heart beat. The Darkest Night must be the night of the new moon.
“I have been on a quest, “Abigail fibbed, “that I need to complete before finding my way back to my father.”
Kompis was rubbing his hands and pacing in a circle, his tongue stuck out from the side of his mouth, deep in thought.
“If I bring *the* Abbey, oh oh- Abigail, to the Darkest Night… what a way to reward him for his service to us!” Kompis stuck his index finger in the air at the culmination of his thinking.
“Will you be my guest on the Darkest Night? Please please?”
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