Spirit

Talea awoke late in the afternoon. She knew she had the entire wing of the castle to herself. So she made a fire in the hearth first. The castle's lord had given her bread and cheese for dinner before her task. Against her wishes, she'd also been given a small barrel of wine. She passed on the alcohol, instead drawing some water from the wing's well in the basement. While she melted the cheese on roasted bread, she also prepared some tea.

She'd definitely had worse advance payments.

After dinner, she whiled away her time whittling down a log into the shape of a badger. The fire dimmed, so every so often, she added another log. It was close to midnight when she put down her carving knife. She didn't want to face whatever was haunting this part of the castle with a drawn weapon. Not at first at least.

The church bells hadn't rung out yet when she heard the rattle of keys in the corridor. Just after the last toll, a key scraped in the keyhole of the door on the outside. She'd expected as much. But luckily, the spook didn't notice the wedge she'd shoved between the door and the wall. She really didn't want to be shut in the entire night.

"Excuse me," she called out.

The scraping noise stopped. "Is anyone there?" responded a voice with an otherworldly, ethereal quality to it. But even so, it was unmistakably that of a woman.

"Just me," Talea called out. "Come in, come in, warm yourself by the fireplace. It's a cold night. Nobody should be up at this time."

There was a rattle of keys again. The ghost didn't bother with opening the door this time. Instead, she stepped right through the solid old oak planks. Talea did her best to appear unfazed. The ghost as clad in an all white dress that had gone out of fashion a century or two ago, and an equally white veil obscuring her face. Around her wrist, she carried a bundle of keys.

"What are you doing here?" the ghost asked. She floated closer.

Talea held up her half finished badger carving. "I'm whittling."

"Oh. I always loved all the little forest critters." The ghost brought her face closer to the carving. "A badger," she concluded. "You have quite some talent."

"I have a lot of practice." Talea laughed. "I like to pass time with that."

"Oh, that sounds like fun," the ghost beamed. "I only ever embroidered."

"I never liked embroidery myself," Talea admitted. "Weaving was fine, sewing too. But embroidery? It's just not for me."

The ghost looked sad. "While I waited and waited... I finished so many wall hangings. Well. And then... I didn't finish one. I almost finished it, but... And he, he never..." The ghost flickered in and out of existence.

"Do you remember where that unfinished piece is?" Talea asked hurriedly.

She followed the ghost outside and through the corridors to the keep. There, Talea was pointed to a chest. Between moth warding bags smelling of lavender and old linens, she found the piece. It was almost finished. Almost. There was even some yarn left and needles. It was pretty clear to Talea what she'd have to do to put the ghost to rest for good.

"Can you..." She sighed inwardly. "Can you help me finish it for you?"

The ghost did. It took Talea all night, but she'd sown the last stitch and cleaned up the ends by the time the hills to the east started to glow.

"Thank you," the ghost whispered. Then, she gasped. "Darling!" She jumped to her feet and ran to the door, her keys jingling. "You're finally back!" With a small cry of joy, the ghost jumped at the door as if into the embrace of someone only she could see. Then, she vanished.

Talea leaned back with a sigh. It sounded like she'd been successful. She brushed her hand across the embroidery. It showed a young couple, surrounded by flowers. They were both smiling. Talea smiled back at them.