sparrow and lion

Chapter 13: the final night, Part 2: the silence

Anyone who had known the two of them for any amount of time could see that something wasn't right, of course. Leo's laughter was a little too loud. Her smiles ended a little too fast. Even Wren seemed distracted. His gaze on Leo was more attentive than intrigued. He seemed to be with her there out of a sense of duty and nothing else.

They walked too far apart or too close together. Every moment of contact seemed charged with too much awareness. The only thing the pair had in common was a strange sense of desperation. Even that desperation, however, was different.

Wren had regretted his decision the moment he had escorted Leo off the estate. There was nothing he wanted more than to go back. Indeed, the only reason he did not was because doing so would break his word. Leo so clearly wanted to be here. He couldn't let her know.

Leo had been overjoyed from the moment Wren had escorted her off the estate. There was nowhere else she would rather be than at this festival. Indeed, the only reason she was not celebrating in earnest was because doing so might raise questions. Wren so clearly did not want to be here. She couldn't let him know.

Wren noticed immediately when Leo shoved something into her pocket at a vendor's stall and kept walking. Wren always noticed. Perhaps he should have said something then. Instead, he dropped some coins into the vendor's bowl and kept walking, too. Leo noticed, of course. Leo always noticed. Leo had known Wren would notice, too. She had simply hoped he would go along with it. But he had not. So she did not do it again.

Any hope Leo may have had to make Wren pliant with drink was quickly dashed. Wren refused. He stood stubbornly to the side. The bright lights and the laughter did not sway him. Leo was only allowed a few sips. Then Wren dragged her back onto the street.

Her venture to see a mermaid was also promptly thwarted. Leo was enamored by the smooth pale skin merging into sequined scales. Wren refused even to take a second glance.

"Look!" Leo said. "She's beautiful!"

Wren's face was red. "No," he said. "She's naked."

Leo was puzzled. "She's wearing seashells over the important parts."

"It's not enough," Wren said. Leo tried to argue. "I shouldn't be looking at her like this. It's indecent," Wren said. More quietly, Wren said, "It is disrespectful." He stared at the ground for another long moment. Then he left. Leo, for once, followed Wren.

The evening did not improve from there. Leo's interests grew more scandalous. A card game where people gambled favors instead of money became a group of oil-slicked dancers who took their clothes off onstage followed by an impassioned rendition of a famous playwright's numerous love affairs complete with demonstrations of the bedding of his mistresses. Wren's mood continued to deteriorate. Leo's desperation rose as Wren stormed out of one shocking feature and then another.

They somehow ended up at a boxing match. Wren breathed a sigh of relief. Boxing was not a feminine art nor one that the lord of the household would smile upon Leo attending. It was, of course, far more appropriate than simulated intercourse and public nudity. Yes, Wren could enjoy this with Leo without much of a thought. The gates on the event closed. The torches around the arena were lit.

The fighters were naked when they entered the arena.

Wren put his hands over Leo's eyes and held them there until it was over.

"We're going home," Wren said afterwards.

"I'm not ready to leave," Leo said. "You haven't allowed me any fun." Wren didn't answer. He didn't know what to say, of course. Wren rarely knew what to say. "This festival was really important to me, but you don't seem to want me to be here."

They were both fully aware, of course, that she wasn't supposed to be there at all. No respectable lady of nobility would have gone to any of those events even if she had been permitted to attend the festival. Which Leo had not been. But neither of them said anything.

Things were about to get far worse between them. But this new silence would hold. It had begun years ago in some ways. But the permanence of their wordlessness had been set. And this wordlessness began with a single word.

"Look," Leo said. She disappeared into the crowd.