Coffee

Amanda walked into the cramped office, unwinding the scarf around her neck.

“Sorry, sorry.  Late night,” she announced to no one in particular.  “Anything going on?”  She threw the scarf over the coat stand and shrugged off her overcoat.
 
“New flight restrictions announced on Breakfast Time,” said Delphinia.  “They’re proposing a night-time ban on fairies.”
 
“Yeah, I caught that.  Can you knock up some copy for the press?  Highlight night-time attacks on the fae, will you?  Also see what you can dig up on freedom of movement legislation.  Court of Human Rights cases.  Yeah, yeah, I know,” said Amanda, as Delphinia pulled a face, “’doesn’t apply to fae’, but we need to keep banging on that drum.  We need to get it out before lunch, okay?”
                                                                                                               
She stood over her desk and heaved a sigh at the papers strewn over the surface.
 
“Maelyrra, have we got any of those recruitment posters left?  There’s a pub wants one.”
 
Maelyrra shrugged.  “Stationery cupboard?”  She scowled at the screen in front of her and stabbed at the keyboard.
 
“You okay?” asked Amamda.
 
“Fine!”
 
Amanda stared at the elf for a moment.  “You want a coffee?”
 
“No.”
 
“Well, I need one.  I can’t function without it this morning.”
 
Maelyrra thumped a key and looked up.  “You want me to make you a coffee?  Is that what you’re saying?”
 
“That would be nice.”
 
“Fine.  Fine.”  She shoved herself away from the desk and stalked off to the kitchenette.  Amanda counted to ten and then followed her.

“What’s up?” she asked, closing the door.
 
“Nothing.”  Maelyrra slammed the kettle on its stand and threw the switch.
 
Amanda backed up to the counter and hitched herself up onto it.
 
“What’s up?” she repeated.  “Tell me.”
 
Maelyrra threw instant coffee into a mug and stared at it.  “Twenty minutes,” she told the mug.
 
“Sorry?”
 
“Twenty minutes it takes me to get into work.  I dress down.  I mean, I wear a coat that looks like it was a duvet in a previous life.  I hide my hair under a hat.  Not a fancy hat, just a woollen thing.  I stare at my feet and don’t make any eye contact.”
 
“O-kay,” said Amanda carefully, unsure where this was going.
 
Maelyrra threw her head back and her eyes blazed.
 
“Three men came up to me and asked for sex.  Three!  Not all together, three separate times.  In one twenty-minute journey.  Three!”
 
“Welcome to a woman’s world,” said Amanda.
 
“No, no.  I’m not talking about the catcalls, the whistles, the snide asides or sexual jokes.  I can’t even be bothered to count them.  I mean, three men, each independently, each wanted sex with me.  Two offered money.  Actually offered me money, thinking I would say yes.”
 
Amanda nodded.  “Yes, men can be –“
 
“No!  Not men!  Human men!  I mean, I’m an elf.  They can see that.  They know that.”
 
“Yes, I know, but some men find that arousing.  It’s not right, but –“
 
“No!  Not but.  Not because.  I’m a different species.”  She threw her hands up and paced the tiny room.  “I’m elf.  I will choose an elf, and he’ll choose me.  Elf!  Can you imagine it?  Sex with a human?”  She waved her hands at Amanda as if to erase her objections.  “Not for you, I mean.  Of course you can imagine it.  I mean for us.  Sex?  With a different species?  What is wrong with you people?  If you see a pretty dog, do you want to screw it?  What about horses? 
 
“And it’s not just me.  All my friends.  Every single one, including the men.  Especially the men.  Why do you all think elf men are interested in other men, even if they’re not a different species?  Is that what you people do?  Do you rut with anything?  Why is it okay to go up to a stranger, an elf you’ve never even met, a creature from a different culture, different language, different species, and offer money for sex?  The fairies too!  Ask Delphinia.  Every day.  Every single day.  And I know it’ll be the same tonight.  We should never have come out of the forests.”  She thumped her hand down hard on the kitchen work surface, rattling the mug.  “We should have shot any human who learned we –“
 
She stopped suddenly and looked at Amanda.  She shrugged.  “I know he was your father, but it’s true.  We were better off with our own kind.  We all were.”
 
Amanda sighed.  “Maybe.  I mean it, maybe you’re right.  But we can’t put the genie back in the bottle.  You were discovered, and we can’t undiscover you now.  In our defence, the UK was the first country to recognise you, legally I mean.”  She held up her hand.  “I know, I know, it’s all gone downhill now, but London especially.  Why do you think there’s so many Schwarz Wald fae here?  And the Russians.  We never hunted you down with packs of dogs, not in England.”
 
“But we were hunted all the same.  If I stuck you next to a Russian, how would I tell the difference? And what did you do?”
 
“We objected.”
 
“And did that stop it?  What did you do?”  She stabbed a finger at Amanda.  “You!  What did you do?  I don’t mean post on Facebook or complain to your friends over a latte.  What did you actually do?  Right!”
 
“I do what I can,” said Amanda, her voice sounding small even to her own ears.
 
“Yeah.  Yeah, sorry.”  Maelyrra waved her away.  “I know you do.  I know, I know.  You’re not all the same, and we’re not either.  But even so.  I just feel sometimes – I don’t know.  Like you’re one and the rest of you are seven billion.  Like we’re sticking one leaf back on the tree and it’s November and the floor is ankle deep in leaves.  I mean, posters?  Really?  And every day, every night – and then some of your people come right up to me, I mean right in my face, and offer me money?  For that?  Like we’re not being killed every single day?  Like we’re rats?  Like we’re vermin, oh, and how much for a blow job?”
 
She grabbed the kettle and poured hot water over the coffee granules.

“Do you want a hug?” asked Amanda.
 
“Do you want a face full of boiling water?”
 
“We are making a difference, though.  We’re making our voice heard.”
 
“Yeah?  Tell that to fae who get beat up every night.  Tell that to the fae who get raped.  Tell that to the police who won’t even take a report, unless you’re there threatening legal action.”  Maelyrra flung open the fridge door and pulled out a carton of milk.
 
“But we are though.  Even in parliament, there’s those who will listen.”
 
“And will that make a difference tonight?  When I go home, will I be able to make it to my front door without some dog wanting to rut with me?”
 
“Not tonight, no.  But someday, yes.  It has to.”  Amanda slid off the worktop.  “No one ever said it would be quick, but we will win.”
 
“Right!”  Maelyrra tossed the carton of milk at Amanda.  “Meanwhile, I’ll update our web site, right?  That’ll make a difference.”  She spun on her heel and stormed out of the kitchenette.