The Empty Ones (Fantasy Romance)

48. Oher nightly activities

Coffee is an interesting drink. Mixed with milk and honey, it's bittersweet and has its own unique flavour.

It tastes like life, I felt like saying. But I didn't say anything anymore. Being there with him was strange. His presence was making me uneasy. It still does. I don't know why.

Or well, I do know, at least in part. Every time I see him, I find myself looking at him almost obsessively. The red hair, the quizm ears, the attitude, the few freckles on the bridge of his nose and his cheeks... If Mairi were born male...

'You can ask me anything. '

Well, what I wanted to ask was a perverse little question that will never see the light of day. Can I touch your hair? Or the tip of your ears?

And there is his odd interest in books. Maybe if Mairi had grown up in a noble family, she would have been like this too. No. No, she wouldn't. She liked fighting and moving too much to sit at a table from dusk till dawn like this guy does.

He does indeed. It's been three days since he arrived, and he has camped in the library.

That's a bit annoying because it means I cannot go there anymore.

I mean, I could, but then we would have to talk, and I don't like that.

And since I am a pariah at court, I cannot really ask servants about how long it's rumoured they will stay. Boring days ahead. I spend most time in the little herb garden I started planting near Paisa's tree.

We had to do some gardening in the priory too. Then I didn't like it, but now it's oddly calming.

And when it's dark, like really dark, I take the stairs by the cliffs and descend to town.

One might think that I haven't learned my lesson. But I have. I know by now that I should wear common clothes, no jewels, nothing that looks fine or expensive, and that I should return before dawn because otherwise soldiers will be sent after me. And don't talk to people more than necessary.

It happened progressively; at first, I went only till the House of Orchids, like that one time. Then I ventured further.

Tonight it's pleasantly cool, and people seem to be preparing for a feast. Oh, it must be the one for the goddess Ma.

I walk carefully among the crowd.

"Little mistress, can you spare a coin for me?" asks a woman with three children, one still a baby in her arms. They all look scrawny, hungry and... yellow.

"The children need to eat, my lady. Please. They are sick."

"Yes, they are," I mutter.

"Some coppers, my lady," she pleads.

"I, I don't have any on me."

"Please, little mistress, the children are starving."

Little mistress. Two words, and by chance, they make me now attached and responsible for this unknown woman.

Too bad I don't have coins on me. I didn't take an,y so people wouldn't be tempted to rob me.

"I will bring you some next time," I repeat.

"Please, the children are sick of hunger." She grabs my hands and my skirt and drags me after her in a dark alley.

From experience, this isn't good. If I will die in a dark alley, it's on me alone for being stupid.

However, there isn't any knife at my throat or similar. She is actually bringing me to a hut, more like a shed.

Another child is lying there on a pile of hay, breathing heavily. His complexion is even more yellow.