Arwen’s Anomalous Antiquities

A warm breeze carried leaves past Eloise as she sipped from a mug and peered at the strip of shops across from her. On the small street bustled people enjoying the unusually warm weather, one of the last days of this kind before autumn began to turn toward winter. There was a small bookstore, a bakery, an artisanal cheese shop, and the spot of Eloise’s attention, Arwen’s Anomalous Antiquities. Painted a dark green, with mahogany detailing around the windows and doors, the gold letters labelling the shop spread large across an arched awning. A place of hobby for some, a place of pass through for wandering customers, it was something entirely different for Eloise.

While she simply appeared as another patron taking a midday break for coffee, those occupying the street alongside her were uninformed of the items weighing heavy in Eloise’s pocket. Found wedged beneath her front door three days prior, Eloise had taken a yellowed, envelope inside her home and torn it open. In well-scripted ink, the letter informed Eloise she had taken something from this unnamed writer, something Eloise did not believe to be possible. The writer claimed that Eloise had an ornate golden compass in her possession, yet the only compass Eloise could think of was one that had appeared in a dream the night before. Surely, Eloise thought, this unknown writer did not know of her dreams, did not walk within her head.

Despite Eloise’s surety that the claim within this letter was bogus, she followed the directions of the letter and looked beneath her bed. To her surprise there, on the warbled floor, sat the golden compass. With raised swirls decorating the outside and an engraving upon the back that read, “To find your heart’s desire,” Eloise was left in a state of perplexion. Only the night before had she walked through a shop she had never seen, found a beautiful compass upon the stacks of treasures, and purchased it with the intent of adding it to her collection of unique accessories. While vivid, it was only a dream she tried to convince herself, yet she was losing faith in her ability to do so.

On theme with the obscurity of the week she was having, Eloise found that, just like the golden compass, the shop was real as well. Following the message on the location of the compass, was an address, along with a request that Eloise return the compass in three days' time. Eloise had waited until the third day, however, because the situation she had found herself in seemed too bizarre to be true. Dreams and reality are not realms that intermingle. Eloise had purchased this compass in a dream, yet now it laid heavy in her pocket alongside the strange letter. In the end, however, Eloise had decided that she would rather do as the unnamed writer asked than to find out what would happen if she did not.

Eloise mustered her courage and stood slowly. She adjusted her jacket pocket to ensure the compass was still there. One easy step at a time, Eloise made her way across the street and pushed open the door to Arwen’s Anomalous Antiquities, the bell clanged above to announce her arrival. The added noise made Eloise’s heart pound furiously, but she forced her face to stay neutral. She was just another patron in the shop, she told herself, and no one else would be the wiser.

The shop was charming. Under different circumstances Eloise might have spent hours enjoying the obscure treasures. The letter had been vague, she was only told to go to the shop with the compass and to wait. Eloise wandered the stacks of items and found a prickle of unease. Despite the busy street outside and the people she’d watched wander in through its doors, Eloise seemed to be the only person occupying the shop. Her heart drummed fast and hard, as if trying to escape from her body. Eloise decided that she would take her chances with the unnamed writer and, leaving the compass on a large, mahogany table, ran. She soon realized, however, she could not find a door and, neither to her horror, any walls. Only stacks upon stacks of items surrounded her, seemingly endless mountains of antiquities for as far as she could see. It seemed that the shop had now become a maze of immense proportions. Elose took a quick turn around a corner and came face to face with a man.

The man stood in front of her, his heeled and laced boots attached to green, geometrically patterned pants. He was wearing a long, red, velvet tailcoat that draped dramatically behind him, almost to the floor. Emerald green buttons fastened the coat over the somewhat plump man’s colorfully striped button-up shirt, a large yellow bow tie nestled against his neck. He held a long, iridescent cane topped with a large ruby, a tall tophat with various ribbons tied at its base sat atop his head. He had bushy, black eyebrows and a mustache to match, which he had spun into large handlebars along his upper lip. He smiled down at her, a warm look upon his face.

Eyes glittering, he said, “Welcome, Eloise!”

Somehow sure of his identity, Eloise responded, “Arwen?”

His smile widened, “Indeed.”

Eloise gave the oddly dressed man an appraising look, unsure whether she should be frightened or feel welcomed. The panic the shop brought upon her only moments before made her unwilling to accept the kind face in front of her with ease.

As if Arwen sensed what she was thinking, he said, “I am sure you want to know about my shop.”

Arwen waved his hand in a gesture that meant Eloise should follow, so she did, listening to him speak from a distance of a few paces behind him. He wound his way around the shop with ease, stopping every now and again to adjust a piece that perched precariously. Arwen tapped his cane along the old, wooden floors. The boards creaked beneath their steps.

“I’m sure you’ve discovered the anomalous nature of my shop. From the outside, one would find a normal antiquities shop, but from within you find it is much more. This is not simply a shop where one can buy an antique tea kettle, or painting, or compass,” with this Arwen turned to wink at Eloise. “No, no. It is a place where people can find what they wish most for. A place where they may live on forever along with their most prized possessions.”

Eloise was not sure if this speech was meant to be unsettling or comforting, but she found herself leaning toward the former. If this strange man meant that she was to spend forever amongst the items of this shop, he would be sore to find her compliance. Unsure of what to say, Eloise let the strangely clad man continue, following him further into the shop.

“Now the compass,” Arwen trailed off.

Eloise chewed on her lip and took a glance around the shop. She’d set the compass down somewhere, but at the rate the shop seemed to grow, the maze becoming more complex, the more sure she was that she would be unable to find it again. She wrung her hands together.

“Oh! Here it is!” Arwen said, making a quick motion and flashing the compass in his hand.

Eloise stared at it for a moment, unsure of how it just appeared in his palm, but Arwen didn’t stop his trek through the narrow aisles. She sped up her pace to keep behind him as he continued his speech.

“You wandered into my shop recently, correct?” Arwen stopped to shake a globe and watched the glitter spiral around an uncanny rendering of the current section of the shop the pair stood in.

Eloise shook her attention away from the globe, “Yes. No. Er- Maybe? I remember this place, but it was in a dream. I came in, I saw the compass and I purchased it. The next day I found this letter and the compass at my home.”

Eloise dug into her pocket and produced the letter, extending it toward Arwen.

Arwen looked at it briefly, “Ah, yes. Well, the people who find their way into my shop by accident are the ones who need it most.”

“I’m sorry. I just- I’m confused. It was a dream, but now it’s not?”

The pair wandered up to a counter that looked familiar to Eloise. Made of a heavy, carved, dark wood, Arwen made his way behind it. A large, moss green cash register sat atop, the old-fashioned kind with clunky keys and an attached arm. She was sure this was the counter from the dream, as Eloise had seen her hand slide across with the compass and cash, but in her dream she hadn’t seen the face of the man ringing up her order. It may be possible that it was Arwen.

It couldn’t have been him, thought Eloise. It was only a dream. Or was it?

Arwen smiled at her from behind that counter, a look on his face that told Eloise that he saw the internal war happening within her and that it was one he’d encountered often with his customers.

“You will find in places like these,” Arwen gestured to his shop, “that dreams and reality are quite inseparable. In fact, these places of in-between are the places where the most magical things come true.”

Arwen tapped a dramatic finger on the counter to emphasize his point.

“A place of in-between?” Eloise questioned, eyebrow arched.

“Yes. Well, this may explain it better. The letter?” Arwen pointed to Eloise’s hand where she clutched the letter.

Eloise handed over the letter and watched as Arwen unfolded it. He held it in the air with a flourish, flipping it on both sides and it was suddenly blank. Eloise blinked in confusion as, with another flourish, the paper showed what seemed to be a contract. Arwen smoothed the paper out on the counter in front of Eloise and she followed along as he read aloud.

Arwen cleared his throat, “Arwen’s Anomalous Antiquities is a place of in-between. Not quite reality and not quite dream. If you find yourself here, it is no scheme, just talk with Arwen and you’ll be a team. Whatever you wish or desire, consider Arwen your wizard for hire. If it is of life that you wish to retire, hand over your most prized possession to live forever, of his magic he is no liar. Simply plant your soul within that object and in your happiest day your soul will be kept. If it is a simple wish you want to be granted, hand over your dreams and you’ll be enchanted. By day you’ll live with your wish, by night you’ll be transplanted. An employee of the in-between while you sleep becomes a wish forever granted. To make a deal, it is up to you, but leave this place and your chance is through.”

A long silence held upon Arwen’s completion of the contract reading. The words seemed to glimmer on the paper as Eloise’s eyes scanned them once more. She wasn’t sure how it had happened, but Eloise was now sure that this place of in-between was real. Unsure of how she’d managed to stumble across this place, she now understood its purpose. Eloise lifted her head slowly and met Arwen’s twinkling gaze.

Eloise spoke, “You mean to say that you’re a wizard?”

Arwen gave a swift nod of his head, snapped his fingers and a butterfly drifted from his palm and disappeared into the shop.

Mouth agape, Eloise continued after a moment, “And this place I came to because?”

Arwen playfully twirled his cane, “Magic has reasons beyond what even I know.”

“Okay, and now that I’m here, I can either tie my soul to an object and live forever,” Eloise continued.

Arwen cut in, “Live forever in your happiest day, yes.”

Eloise nodded, “Or I can have one wish granted in exchange for becoming an employee here?”

“Yes, each night in place of dreams, you will return here and work as a guide and, when you take your final rest, you will stay here as an employee forever,” Arwen filled in.

Eloise looked around, for she had seen no one else in the shop.

Arwen registered the look and added, “No one sees the other employees until a wish is granted. They’re here now, you simply don’t have the magical eye to view them.”

“And if I choose to say no to both options?” Eloise wondered.

Arwen’s eyebrows scrunched, as if this was an option he rarely came to face, “Well, then you will return to normal life and we will never meet again. Your chance for magic will have been spent.”

Eloise nodded, thinking. Logically, Eloise knew the prospect of dealing with a wizard in exchange for magic and an eternal promise should make her nervous, but for some reason she trusted Arwen. She felt assured that if she chose to leave this place with no magic having been done, that she would be allowed to walk away. That seemed the safe choice, but then again, the opportunity for magic was tempting. Eloise found herself looking around the store, all the items that harbored the souls of those before her that took a chance and, she was sure that if she returned an employee, there would be many more whom she would find took the latter option. This decision was monumental and Eloise found herself standing squarely in the middle of her options.

Arwen looked at her and then, a look passed his face as if an idea just came to him, an actual spark glittering briefly above his head. He leaned beneath the counter and rummaged around, an array of noises filling the space before he lifted an item onto the counter between them, sitting it down beside the contract. It was a large, bronzed, ornate canister. Eloise watched intently as Arwen grabbed the knob atop the canister and lifted the lid to reveal that it housed a candle with a single, hefty wick. Arwen grabbed his cane and, with a tap of the giant ruby to the wick, the candle began to burn a bright green flame.

“Look into the flame and find help in coming to your decision,” Arwen offered.

Confused, Eloise obliged and leaned closer to the candle. The oddly colored flame danced and swayed about. At first, it seemed to be a normal flame, but slowly, Eloise began to see flickering images of herself. She watched herself hand Arwen the silver locket she wore each day, the one gifted to her by her grandmother before her passing. The locket lay in Arwen’s palm and a spinning orb released itself from Eloise and into the locket, then Eloise was a child again. She was swaying back and forth in a porch swing, a summer breeze blowing stray hairs around her forehead, her grandmother’s wrinkled hand soothingly pushed them away. Eloise arose from the swing, giggling and running barefoot into the grass around her grandmother’s home.

Then, Eloise was sucked from the memory and saw herself once again in Arwen’s shop, but this time shaking his hand before awaking in her own bed. Except the bed was not empty, she was beside the woman she’d loved and lost to life’s circumstances years before. The home seemed cozier than Eloise had left it this morning, pictures of the two women smiling and kissing each other on the cheek adorned every available surface. The two women ate breakfast together as Eloise read the paper aloud, they kissed goodbye in the morning before work, returned for candlelit dinners at the dining room table, spent weekends hiking, summers travelling, slowly wrinkling hands held together until the end. And then Eloise was here, in the shop again, arranging items and laughing with other spirits, but always wishing for her lover to join her, knowing she never would.

And then Eloise was once again staring at the candle, this time the green flame was extinguished. Arwen placed the lid back onto the canister and it disappeared beneath the counter once more. Eloise stared down at the contract, the possibilities shown to her weighing heavy in her mind. Both options offered incredible opportunities, but they both had their drawbacks. Eloise had many great days ahead of her. She didn’t want to give those up in place of one day of bliss, didn’t want to sacrifice the memories she’d made since childhood. In the second option, the one in which her love was returned to her, she knew she’d be happy, but that she would never fully be content knowing what was to come in the end and that the love was only the result of a magical contract. Eloise knew she wanted life and love that was real and untethered, she wanted to live in a way she was fully in control of. If she was to find her happiest days or her truest love, she wanted to do so of her own volition.

Eloise smiled, a wide and true smile. When she looked at Arwen, he returned it and, as if he knew the decision she had come to, he winked and the contract disappeared from the counter. Eloise felt a flutter in her chest, but also the surety of her decision. Arwen extended his hand across the counter and Eloise placed her own within it.

“Thank you for visiting Arwen’s Anomalous Antiquities, Eloise. It’s been a pleasure,” and Arwen gave her hand a firm shake.

Eloise blinked and, upon opening her eyes, she was once again bundled in her scarf, a coffee cup in hand. A breeze carried leaves past her and passersby filled the air with chatter. She looked around, a new appreciation glowing warm in her chest as her eyes landed on the small antiquities shop in front of her.