Elven Legacy

Chapter 105

Jaden

Chamchi's town center was a vast cobbled square with a pale marble statue of a refined woman as its center piece. Perhaps one of Chyulin's famous empresses.

Next to this statue, a wooden platform atop which a band of musicians performed. Drummers were accompanied by lute players, fiddlers, flutists, and singers. All men, save for one of the singers. They didn't all play at once, rather they alternated depending on the song. And people danced all around the platform in large numbers.

Part of Jaden longed to hold an instrument of his own and play with them.

Presently, Jaden stood with several other people watching three young women perform a synchronized fire show. Their rapidly twirling sticks with flames on either side had a hypnotizing effect.

Jaden held a drink of raspberry cider in his hand – a gift from one of the locals – and a slim turquoise scarf hung from his neck. An older woman had put it there earlier before kissing his cheek and resuming her journey across the partying town folk. Perhaps she'd decided Jaden's clothes were dreadfully boring. Here everyone wore bright colors. A great many women even wore short skirts and cropped shirts – the ones doing the fire show looked especially gorgeous.

You could tell you were in Chyulin and no longer in the Azurian Empire, that was for certain.

The top of Jaden's left ear throbbed, and at the last second he stopped himself from bringing a hand to it, remembering the piercer's advice. No touching, leave it alone.

He still couldn't believe he'd got a piercing. It sort of just happened. Jaden shook his head slightly in disbelief, then he drank more cider and licked his lips. The stuff was in equal parts strong and sweet, therefore quite deceiving.

Jaden tore his gaze away from the fire performers to glance over his shoulder at the piercing stand. No one currently surveyed the display of jewelry with purchasing intent, which gave the piercer and Fenek a semblance of intimacy for their make out session. Jaden laughed, shaking his head again. Tonight felt like a dream.

As soon as they'd stepped onto the cobbled square, Fenek's eyes had fixed on the girl behind the piercing stand. To be fair, she was stunning. Sparkling brown eyes, delicately-shaped round face, thin and yet curvy enough, made obvious by tiny clothes that resembled those worn by the fire performers. Her hair was braided close to her scalp on both sides, and the top was loose and pulled back. The hairstyle revealed the countless jewels adorning her ears. She looked about Fenek's age.

Fenek had hesitated only a split-second before making his way there to examine the piercings. As if those were what had piqued his interest. Jaden had followed along, trying to suppress an amused grin.

Conveniently enough, it turned out that the piercer spoke Azurian. They exchanged simple, friendly greetings, she answered his question about the celebration – Summer's End Festival – and Jaden told her that Fenek couldn't hear.

Then Fenek's hand formed a sign intended for Jaden – but really intended for her. Jaden felt nervous only for the briefest of moments, before he realized he knew this sign very well. Noah had taught him, after all.

"He says you're beautiful," Jaden told the young woman in his best Azurian. And she listened to Jaden but her eyes stayed on Fenek the whole time. Her skin being a rich caramel brown made it hard to be sure, but Jaden suspected a blush had crept up across her cheeks and ears. Which was adorable.

She offered them free piercings. Fenek got his ear pierced, a little golden hoop near the top. Then both Fenek and the piercer urged Jaden to get one as well, until eventually he caved in. He had always found them beautiful on Kitera and Bryani, and he'd always sort of wanted one. So he figured, why the hell not?

The piercer chose a silver hoop for Jaden, said it would look better with his skin color. Before he could get up from the stool, she started braiding the side of his head without asking for permission.

"To keep the hair away," she explained. "It will help it heal, otherwise it might get infected." Jaden stayed still even though the braids hurt considerably more than the piercing itself, with how she kept pulling at his scalp. However, she was done surprisingly fast. She just did two small ones along the left side, and the rest of his hair was left alone, tumbling over the other side.

"Thank you." He timidly felt one of the braids with his fingertips. A new sensation, not unpleasant at all.

After which Fenek gave him a pointed look, which Jaden was quick to interpret as, I'm gonna hang here for a bit, so why don't you go anywhere else.

And Jaden did just that.

The nearby fire choreography had captured his attention, and the next time he'd glanced back, Fenek was already kissing the pretty piercer. Jaden had arched an impressed eyebrow and turned back around to watch the show. He was soon after gifted the drink of cider and the scarf, and here he was. Amazed that this was all truly happening.

He kept expecting to wake up any moment, back at camp, shivering in darkness and wind, Dharkan snoring beside him, and Noah curled up on his side, out of reach.

But no matter how many times he blinked, Jaden still stood here, and the festival was still very real. And when a young man came by with a large pitcher, refilling people's cups, he saw that Jaden's drink was nearly finished and did the same for him.

Jaden thanked him in Azurian, however the dark-haired stranger didn't appear to speak it. His gaze lingered on Jaden though, perhaps for the rare color of his skin and hair. He said something in Chyulin which Jaden sadly couldn't understand. So instead, he thanked him again – in Azurian, apologetically. Slight communication issue.

Pitcher boy seemed to reach the same conclusion, but there was a hint of regret in his eyes as he moved on to refill other people's drinks.

Jaden shrugged and drank, his gaze earnestly returning to the dancing fire. The six flames twirled and twirled as he enjoyed the raspberry cider, until his lips and tongue were most likely stained red. A soothing warmth spread across his body, swallowing away the past weeks' tensions, followed by a surge of tingling energy that made him yearn to join the dancers and forget about the world.

There was only one thing – one person, really – that could've made tonight even better.