Life After Death

Juliet: FINALLY

{Juliet}

Kalexa showed up before Parsifal, not that there was much to do. She brought pastries again, and I gladly took a raspberry filled one.

"Any work today?" she inquired.

"Always," I told her. "Nothing more pressing than this raspberry filling."

She laughed and then glanced at Parsifal's unkempt desk. He had files strewn about it and drawers open as if he had sprinted away from his desk. He hadn't come into work yesterday, and he owed me so many write-ups. If he tried to skip today, I would have to hunt him down.

"Normally he's here earlier," she remarked with a sigh. "Do you think he's going to ever ask me out?"

I was startled for a brief moment, and then began to laugh. Everyone knew that Parsifal had a thing for Kalexa, but I had never stopped to think that she might as well. Kalexa colored.

"I assumed he was going to ask me to dinner or something two days ago, but then he just stared at me. Did I do something wrong?"

Kalexa seemed genuinely puzzled, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning at her.

"I am confident that he would ask you out, only he's too scared to," I told her. "That's why he hasn't yet."

"I've been waiting on him for a month now," she exclaimed. "Do you think I could just ask instead? I know he's a noble and a healer and has an important family, but for just one date? That can't hurt anything, can it?"

I always forgot about out class system in Otherworld. Mikaela would have no problem with it, but I didn't know how the rest of the world would react. It didn't matter; if Parsifal kept tiptoeing around Kalexa, one of their heads would explode.

"I think it would be fine," I assured her.

Tristan burst into the room and shut the door behind him.

"Is Parsifal here?" he demanded.

"No," I responded slowly. "What's wrong?"

Tristan was a rare sighting at Vercyne. He either kept to himself, or was with his father, who was equally hard to find. Even though he was the same age as Mikaela's twins, he always seemed older.

"Nimue is on the hunt for him," he said, opening the door back open, and peeking into the hallway. "He knew my sister and Dagonet were seeing each other, told the wrong faeries, it's a big mess."

"How do you know?" I asked curiously. He was quite astute for a twelve year-old.

"Nimue's room is down the hall from mine," Tristan replied. "And their fights are not quiet. Anyway, she was muttering about find Parsifal this morning, and last time she said that, she froze a faery in ice. My sister is crazy."

"Well, Parsifal isn't here," I told the boy. "But I'll be sure to tell him that Nimue is looking for him. He's a healer, Tristan, he can probably hold his own."

"If you're sure," he shrugged, looking unconvinced.

"And any rate, if she gets any water in here; I'll retaliate myself," Kalexa sniffed. "I'm not letting my papers become a soggy mess."

We heard a knock at the door, light and polite. We looked at each other before Tristan opened it carefully. Parsifal strolled into the room as if nothing was wrong, though he stopped when we three stared at him.

"Have you seen Nimue this morning?" Kalexa asked.

"How....how did you know?" he stammered. "She came at me like, like a creature from Hell, so I gave her short term amnesia and ran." Parsifal retreated to his desk, looking at me for help.

"I suppose that's as good of a solution as any," I told Tristan. "But thank you for letting us know."

He bobbed his blonde head. "Anything to keep my sister from being more crazy."

Tristan ducked out of the room and Parsifal waited for us to give some explanation, which I didn't. If he didn't know why Nimue had assailed him, then he deserved to be kept in the dark.

So he shrugged and began straightening his desk, stuffing the worst of the paper piles into his desk.

"Parsifal, what are you doing tonight?" Kalexa inquired with a smile.

He stood upright suddenly, banging into his chair. "Um, n-nothing," he said. "Why?"

"You're taking me out to dinner then," she said, "in Donlin. Do you have a preference where?"

"No," he managed.

"Good. Seven o'clock work for you?"

Parsifal nodded and then glanced over at me with a pleading expression. I could only imagine what an entire night of my apprentice's date would be like. It would be good for him.

Kalexa clapped her hands and rose from her seat on my desk.

"Shall we get to work?"
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