Everett stood in the foyer of a very small office. The whole space must have been no larger than a walk-in closet, and from the looks of it, most of it was hidden behind the large indigo curtain in front of him. To his left were two waiting chairs, and just in front of that was a reception desk, hand-painted with a mural of a pine landscape at night. The whole space, so far as he could see, had been painted with gorgeous representations of the Pacific Northwest, from the ocean to rocky beaches and jagged cliffs to forest mountains and towering pines, all painted in the color schemes of twilight. The stars and moon were painted in beautiful detail on the ceiling, displaying the grandeur of the milky way and all the constellations.

He tapped the little bell on the desk in front of him, and did his best to wait patiently, despite the nervous fidgeting his fingers seemed to do of their own accord. Before too long, the curtain parted and an aging woman stepped out, along with a bright violet pixie hovering beside her.

The woman’s face had a droopy quality to it, with just a bit too much rouge, and large glasses that magnified her eyes considerably. Her silvery hair reached down past her lower back and had small sections that were braided here and there, with little beads and charms weaved in at strategic locations. She wore a loose black shirt with sequins embroidered in a paisley design, with a dark purple scarf loosely wrapped around her neck. To top it all off, she wore a set of gaudy yellow pants that seemed to clash with the whole ensemble, and yet, they had an eccentric quality to them that was endearing somehow.

She smiled warmly at him and Sybil, and Everett could feel himself relaxing in response.

“Good evening, young sir, how can I help you?” she said.

Everett didn’t know why being called ‘young sir’ was uncomfortable in that singular moment. It probably just meant he was eager to grow up. He swallowed.

“Um, are you Meredith?” he asked shyly.

“The one and only.” She chuckled to herself. “I and Joanna here”--she gestured to her pixie, who gave a bright smile-- “listen to people and help them sort through their problems, and offer a little bit of magical services on the side, if more supernatural means are warranted.” She leaned her elbows on the desk and clasped her bony hands together, giving a deep look towards Everett. “And my old eyes here tell me that you have something serious on your mind, don’t you?”

“Yeah, well . . .” he idly scratched his neck. “I saw your ad online and saw that you help with pixies, and uh . . . mine and I have been having some trouble, and I didn’t know if you could help us out or anything.”

“Well of course, yes yes. We would be happy to help you two out, why don’t you just come on back and we can get to know you a little better!”

Meredith pulled back the curtain and beckoned Everett to follow as she and Joanna made their way deeper into the store. As he passed the threshold, he was greeted by a long hallway stretching before them, with another curtain at the far end.

So much for a small office.

As he followed the strange old lady and her pixie through the hallway, the murals on the wall gradually shifted and changed, becoming much more abstract and stylized. By the time he reached the end, what had been detailed landscapes before had morphed into large swaths of violet, navy blue, and magenta, swirling and dancing around each other, with abstract highlights of white and yellow dotted throughout, replacing the moon and stars.

Stepping through the second curtain, the room before him could be described with one word: cozy. The murals had been foregone with a simple maroon paint scheme, with a soft muted blue carpet. In the center of the room was a homespun rug with a small wooden coffee table that retained the qualities of the tree it was cut from. Surrounding that was a large, incredibly soft looking purple couch, some large pillows for seating, a burgundy leather chair, and a table upon which sat a most adorable pixie hutch expertly crafted from maple, featuring an open air design with a blue curtain stretched across the front. In the corner of the room was a small gas fireplace which, along with a couple lamps and a few candles scattered about, lit the room with a warm glow.

“Now,” Meredith said, taking a seat in the leather chair, “please come take a seat wherever you please and Joanna can come take care of your--”

“My gods, what happened??” exclaimed Joanna, floating towards Everett’s shoulder with a look of shock. Sybil lay there, tucked in his collar, looking as if she might blow away at any second, barely conscious, and slowly trying to sit up. The violet pixie rushed to Sybil’s side, and Everett saw as she came close that she was wearing a cute knee length cloak with her hair braided into pigtails, and the same large glasses that magnified her eyes as Meredith.  She helped Sybil to her feet, who looked on the verge of passing out.

“This child is in critical condition, Meredith,” she said, leading Sybil down Everett’s sleeve and onto the table with the hutch. “I need to care for her immediately or she won’t last much longer, I’m going to have to use some flux grass for this.” Meredith nodded swiftly, and Joanna nodded back. She pulled back the curtain of her hutch, revealing a small living area, much like the larger room it sat in, and led Sybil inside, seating her on a tiny couch and wrapping her up in a comforter.

“You just stay here honey, we’ll take care of you,” she gently said, then stepped out and catapulted herself off the table, whipping around and shooting through a hole in the wall that Everett hadn’t noticed before.

“What’s going on?” he started. “What’s happening to Sybil? Will she be ok?”

Meredith looked up at him nervously.

“Your pixie looks to be starved of her life force, and badly so. This is a rare thing to happen, and usually means that your Bond has weakened to a critical state.”

“My Bond?” He scooted to the edge of his seat. “How does that happen? I thought they were just supposed to ‘work’.”

“They usually do, and while I am more than eager to learn about the underlying cause of this, we have more pressing issues to deal with at this moment.” At that moment, Joanna zipped out of the hole, clutching a vial of herbs to her chest. She skidded to a stop on the table and rushed into her hutch.

Everett lost track of her as she hustled deeper into a kitchen area of the hutch, humming very nervously. The diminutive sounds of clanking and crashing reached his ears as she got to work.

“Will--” he gulped, “--will she be okay?”

“She’s in good hands now.” Meredith sat back and placed her hands in her lap. “Joanna is the finest in the county in pixie wellness, and I have no doubt we can bring your Sybil back to good health. Right now she’s preparing a brew composed of flux grass, a powerful magical herb with healing and invigorating properties, and it should help restore some energy back to your pixie. It’s only a temporary fix, but we should be addressing the root of the problem soon enough.”

Before too long, Joanna stepped back into the small room Sybil was in, carrying a bowl full of a broth that glowed nearly as much as she did. She sat next to Sybil and handed her the bowl, instructing her to drink. As she drank, Sybil’s dim glow began to brighten, and the aquamarine color returned to her face.

“You just relax now, and keep drinking that,” Joanna said, rubbing Sybil’s back comfortingly. She stood up and flew to eye level with Everett. “It’s a good thing you came to us when you did, a day longer and she would have died, understand?” There was a stern firmness in her eyes, the kind of look that mothers gave to their disobedient children.

“I thought pixies couldn’t die,” Everett weakly responded.

“They absolutely can, if their human is reckless enough.”

She looked back towards Sybil and sighed. “I’m really looking forward to hearing just how you managed to fuck things up this badly.”

“Joanna!” Meredith hissed. “Language!”

“Listen,” Joanna snapped, spinning towards her. “You get paid to be nice to all our clients and agree with whatever they say, but I have to deal with the poor pixies suffering from their negligence, who come in hurting because their human was too idiotic to take care of them! So if some human is abusing their pixie unknowingly, you can bet your butt I’m going to let them know about it, real clearly.”

A moment of stillness hung in the air.

“We can discuss this later, Joanna, when we don’t have clients here.” Meredith said quietly. “Any pixie who is ailing usually means their human is in just as much pain on the inside.”

Joanna paused for a moment, before crossing her arms and making her way back to the hutch to be with Sybil. She gave one last look of annoyance towards Everett before drawing the small curtain closed.

Meredith slowly leaned back into her chair.

“Now,” she said, giving a soft look to Everett, “let’s find out what’s been giving you two so much trouble.”