Elliot moved the chairs around. The Barkeeper wanted to add one more chair to each table. Elliot was having trouble keeping track of how many chairs were at each table. He had to count them often. His apron made moving them very easy, but he put too many at some tables or missed other tables completely. Elliot was growing frustrated. No one was at the tavern yet, so Elliot was in no rush, but it still bothered him that he was having trouble with it.
The door cracked open. Elliot looked over and saw the fancy girl come in the door. She was always covered in bright colors and wavy magic. Elliot figured she must be a very important singer or someone who would do plays on a stage. Today she was many types of purple. She would always change not long after walking inside. Elliot had seen her do so several times. She would sort of shiver, and the colors and expensive clothes would turn into plain fluffy things. Her smile would go away too.
Outside she never stopped with that kind of sideways smile that Elliot had trouble understanding. This girl, Tilt, Elliot remembered her name, wouldn’t bother with it inside. Elliot wondered if she was sad.
“Hello?”
Elliot looked down at Tilt who was waiting on him to move the held chair out of her way. Elliot opened his mouth, his brain switching back from thinking to moving.
“Oh. Uhm,” he swung the chair left and then right, wondering where to go.
“I…” Elliot couldn’t remember which table needed the chair and he couldn’t count on his fingers in front of Tilt.
“I’ll just…” Elliot waddled in a small circle trying not to move to quickly and hit anything with the chair.
Tilt was staring at him, he hoped she wasn’t mad that he was being a problem.
She pointed at the table, “Just plop it there big fella.”
Elliot set down the chair without counting and smiled at Tilt for her help. She was looking at him strangely. Elliot kept his smile but wasn’t sure what she was waiting for. He looked around, but The Barkeeper was still away getting things ready. Tilt rolled her head around, looking up at Elliot with big eyes. Elliot was getting nervous. Usually, when people watched Elliot for this long they were going to cause trouble. Tilt hadn’t been mean to him, but he knew that Captain Ridgelen had talked with her a lot. Maybe he had been telling her about town rules like he did with Elliot.
“Your quite the strong helper aren’t you?” she said, but Elliot could hear the odd voice that stretched words and smoothed sounds. Elliot could only shrug.
“Yeh, I can lift and move things well. The Barkeeper thinks that I do pretty good moving everything around.”
Tilt leaned against one of the building supports and gave a little laugh. Elliot wasn’t sure what he said that was funny but he was glad that she didn’t seem bothered at him. She was almost smiling, but he could tell that she was thinking.
“And do you help anyone else besides The Barkeeper?” she asked, biting her lip. Elliot wondered if her lips were chapped. He often bit his lips when they were chapped. He remembered to nod at her question.
“Oh yes, Momma needs help, and she sends me to my aunt a lot. And there’s usually people between our houses that need stuff.” He smiled thinking of a few days ago when he had to lift a wagon up so that a farmer could put on a new wheel. He noticed that Tilt was letting out a loud breath like Momma did when Elliot was doing too much talking. Elliot wasn’t sure what he said, he had only answered her question.
The outside door opened again and Shula came in. She had been helping The Barkeeper cook in the kitchen. She helped the floating pots and pans cook things better by adding seasonings and stuff. The Barkeeper said she was quite good at it. Elliot still got to tell them if soup or things tasted good, but he didn’t know what to say if things needed to change. Shula looked up at Tilt and Elliot. Shula bared her teeth that showed off her pointy bottom orc teeth. Elliot had seen this often directed at him but today she was staring at Tilt. Tilt was facing away and Elliot couldn’t see what she did in response.
Shula put her chin up and gave a simple smile as she waved at Elliot, “Morning Elliot, I like the color or your shirt.”
Elliot smiled and felt his cheeks get hot. He had been happy with how nice Shula had been since she had started helping at The Shelf.
“Thanks,” Elliot managed to say.
He saw Tilt open her mouth, looking confused as she glared back at Shula. Shula shrugged and said, “Try hard,” for some reason before disappearing into the kitchen. It seemed to make Tilt angry.
“Uhm…” Elliot said wondering what just happened. Tilt looked up at him and shook her head, walking quietly around to the table where she would likely again go to sleep. Elliot looked between Tilt and the kitchen door knowing that he was missing something. Then he saw a table with only four chairs still, and he quickly walked off to go get another chair from the basement. Carrying around chairs was less confusing than girls.