Frozen Summer

Chapter 31

It had been three weeks since Konnor and his friends had come back to Malik's tavern. Spring had arrived, the sun was out earlier, the air felt warmer, the muddy paths were now mostly dry. The rich townsfolk were now swapping their heavy fur coats for silky robes and classy shoes. The city was preparing to celebrate the Circadium, a grand celebration about giving and receiving where most people would exchange gift with their loved ones, light candles and pray to the Creator. Therefore the city was getting a lot of traffic, new merchants from far away countries and thus way more people to serve at the tavern. Konnor's day were busy, wake up, prepare the main room, serve the clients, have a small break and back to work until nightfall and then he would just fall from exhaustion into bed. Ever since his breakout and under Richards and Malik recommendation he had not been away from the tavern. Maureen and Izi were also getting worked to exhaustion so the trio did not have much time to interact with each other until one night.

It was an evening like any other, customers were taking their bedrooms, finishing their meals and drinks and emptying the main room one after another. Konnor was finishing to sweep the floor and was ready to go and pass out in his bed. He placed the broom on the door near the kitchen and was ready to run into his room. As he was making his way up the stairs he caught a glimpse of a hooded figure entering a room at the end of the corridor. He did not see this person enter the tavern, it looked like the build of a woman. " seems kinda suspicious .. ". He approached the door that he saw the figure enter and peeked inside. The room was barely lit and he could not make the shapes inside of it from the angle he was. " Why is it so dark in there ? Usually I can see pretty well in the dark. " The answer was quite simple, as he looked up, he realised he could see the difference between the lighting of the ceiling and whatever was in front of him. He then realised that it was not dark because he could not see the person, what he was looking at was the person staring back at him from the other side, barely an inch away from the door. Realising the position he was in, he jumped back and got into a fighting stance, ready to fend off whoever it was.

" Unless you want broken bones you better come out of here ! "

As a response he heard a woman giggling from the other side of the door. The door then opens to a woman in a dark silky hood. The hood was so dark it could make shadows stand out. She then lifted her hood and Konnor relaxed himself.

" Helen, what are you doing ? "

" I was getting into my room before someone tried to take a peek. " She walked closer to him and made her finger dance on his chest, she leaned over and whispered into his ear. " You know if you wanted to see me with less clothes, you just needed to ask. "

Trying to hide the fact he was blushing, he moved her hand away and looked to the side.

" I just did not see you in a few days and I did not remember that it was specifically your room. "

" You have been here yet absent boy, I see you everyday and I do work here "

" I guess you are right "

He looked into the distance, not knowing how to follow up on this. She then took him by surprise and grabbed his hand to bring him into her room.

" Come here and sit down, I feel like you need to talk. "

" Hmm, ok .. "

The room was like every other room of the tavern except she had arranged a small cupboard full of books. The smell inside the room was peculiar, it was a mix of vanilla and some weird sour chemical.