Signore Lupen first came when Genevieve turned nine. He came when she was eleven, and again when she was thirteen. Each time, he stayed during the month of May and each time Genevieve’s position in the house grew more and more difficult. On the last visit, when she turned fifteen, she was the only servant left in the house. She had to cook and clean and got very little sleep and little to eat that month because their visitors came early that year, in April, the slim month, and Genevieve feared they might stay through June. She imagined she would not survive that long. They would work her to death. It was bad enough when they left around the third of May. She was so exhausted she hardly knew what she was doing.

Genevieve escaped the house and ran through the meadow at the back of the hill. She went into the little woods at the bottom to hide from whatever eyes might peer down from the house above. She found a clearing there and collapsed to the ground on top of all the old leaves and pine needles, and she wept, bitterly, being unable to do anything else.

Edelweiss, the fairy found her first. “Why are you crying?”

“Oh, Edelweiss.” It was all Genevieve could get out at first.

The fairy came close, a curious expression on her little face. “You know my name?”

Genevieve tried to sit up and wipe her eyes, but the tears would not stop that easily. She just nodded before she heard two more voices in the woods.

“Little one.”

“What did you find?”

The fairy flew up to face the two young elf maids that came to the edge of the clearing. “The young lady Genevieve,” Edelweiss said. “She won’t stop crying.”

“Margota and Nellinis.” Genevieve called to the two elf maids and waved them to join her but could not say anything more just yet.

“She knows us?” Margota wondered.

“We know you. How do you know us?” Nellinis asked.

The elf maids came close and sat near her. They found a few empathetic tears though they did not know what they were crying about, and Genevieve’s tears were mostly from exhaustion in any case. Soon enough, Genevieve took a deep breath and settled herself to talk.

“It is Signore Lupen and his son, especially the son, Antonio,” she said.

“Mister Lupen,” Nellinis responded with a frown. Genevieve looked up as she explained. “He is no more a knight than I am.”

Margota said, “He is from Lombard lands. Up here, the Franks and Germanic people have no way of checking. He can claim whatever he wants.”

Nellinis added, “I am sure with a title he expects better treatment than he would get as plain old Mister Lupen the merchant.”

Genevieve shook her head, but she was not surprised. “Anyway,” she said. “I feel there is something wrong with him, and his son, especially the son. His three hired men, the dark one, Blondy and Baldy might just be mean and ugly, it is hard to say, but Signore Lupen—Mister Lupen… There is some seriously wrong there.”

“The dark one?” Edelweiss asked as she settled on Margota’s shoulder to participate.

“Dark hair and dark eyes, never a smile, and always standing in the shadows,” Genevieve described the man. “They have names, but I know them as Darky, Blondy, and Baldy.”

“Good names,” Nellinis decided.

“Anyway,” Genevieve said again. “There is something twisted, something wicked about the Lupens, father and son, only I can’t put my finger on what that is.”

The elf maids nodded, and Edelweiss probably did as well, but she was small, covered by Margota’s hair, and hard to see, so she spoke instead. “My mother told me when they come I need to keep an eye on you to make sure you stay safe.”

“Your Mother Heartsease,” Genevieve said.

“That’s the one,” Edelweiss agreed. “My mother is from the mountains and gave me my name, Edelweiss. Sadly, there are no edelweiss flowers around here, but my father agreed with the name.”

“Your Father Evergreen,” Genevieve said.

“That’s the one,” Edelweiss agreed. “He said your mother died mysteriously and your father married a lady he hardly knew, and then he died. Father worried about you, but he never said why.”

“And you two? Margota and Nellinis—Margo and Nelly. Why are you here?”

Margo and Nelly looked at each other, and Margo confessed. “Lord Alpine had the same feeling as Lord Evergreen. He said there was something special about you, a good kind of special, and given the way your mother and father got killed under questionable circumstances, he said you needed to be watched.”

Nelly added, “We’ve been coming here regularly since you turned six and that Lady moved into the house, and especially when Mister Lupen came here.”

“You feel it too.” Genevieve plainly said it and did not ask it as a question. Nelly and Margo both nodded, and probably Edelweiss as well, but it was hard to see.

“It is difficult getting close to the house when Mister Lupen and his son are here. It feels like the very air around the home is dark and wicked,” Margo explained.

Genevieve agreed, but then they dropped that subject and spent the next hour sharing as all young women do, and becoming friends, as all young women should. After that, Genevieve shared that Wednesday was shopping day, though they all knew that already. After lunch, Mother Ingrid always took Ursula and Gisela to town to look at all the pretty things. Margo, Nelly, and Edelweiss agreed to come to the house Wednesday afternoon and help Genevieve with her work and be her friends. And when they could, they would meet her on the way to town when she got sent on various errands. Genevieve cried again, but just a little, and this time they were happy tears knowing she would not be alone forever.