Forever Green

~23~ Concealed Revealed

While the witch was busy cooking in the kitchen, Theiden looked for blankets. At first, he thought he might have been able to use the second padded quilt beneath the blanket he had been using as a bedroll, but a long gray stain revealed itself as soon as he lifted the cover. It would need to be washed before it could ever be set out for a picnic.

"Where are you going with that?" Lenesa asked, sounding a bit startled as Theiden descended the loft ladder and carried the bundle into the washroom.

"It's something for Kettle to have fun with later," he called back over his shoulder. He opened the door to toss the quilt into the copper tub, and then returned to the main area of the cottage, looking around.

"Are there any blankets in the chest by your bed?" he asked. Behind him, something clattered, and he turned to find Lenesa hurriedly picking up the wooden spoon she had dropped on the counter.

"Uh, no, I don't think so," she replied, turning away to sort through her ingredients.

"I could check," Theiden offered.

"It's locked," she blurted, looking up at him and then back to her work just as quickly.

"Well, give me the key," he said, confused at her sudden aversion.

"I-I don't have it right now," she said. "I think Kettle must have put it someplace. You can just take the quilts off my bed for now."

"They'll get dirty," Theiden said.

"That's okay," she hastily replied, rifling through a few pages of her cookbook. "The nights are getting warmer, anyway—I shouldn't need so many anymore."

Theiden narrowed his eyes, but Lenesa studiously avoided his gaze. Eventually, he gave up trying to figure her out and took the top two quilts off her bed. He was surprised to realize that three others still remained, and he wondered how the witch had been able to sleep at night without being suffocated.

"Could you bring out the lanterns from above the fireplace, too?" Lenesa called once Theiden had laid out the blankets and returned to the cottage. "I think those would add a nice touch."

Theiden took the four ornately-designed black lanterns from their place on the mantle as she had suggested, and set them outside along the perimeter of the quilts. Shwei followed after him as a cat, batting at the inside of each lantern as it was set down to leave a small blue flame glowing within.

On his next trip back into the cottage, Lenesa suggested he find them something to drink in the pantry. Most of the bottles were different selections of meads and beer from the various Patachal City breweries, but Theiden finally found a bottle of wine from the Panpipe Pub that would do nicely. Meanwhile, the sweet aroma of strawberries and sugar filled the kitchen, making his mouth water.

"Smells good," he commented as he passed Lenesa to get two glasses from one of the cupboards.

"Those are the tarts for dessert," she explained, a small smile cresting her lips at the praise. Whatever mood she had been in earlier seemed to have vanished. "The dinner's almost ready. You can wait outside—I'll be there in a minute."

The sky had darkened a little in the time Theiden had been searching through the pantry, and it was now dark enough for the lanterns to cast their light in scattered beads across the ground.

He poured a glass of wine while he waited and looked up at the sky. The sun was setting, tinting the clouds a cherry blossom pink, and a lump formed in Theiden's throat as he realized he was facing the same direction as his home. How was his mother? Was Em eating well? He downed the drink and poured another, not pausing to savor the taste. To keep his mind off the worries of his family, he tried humming a tune—an upbeat waltz from the dance hall he had frequented when he was younger. He hadn't had so many worries, then.