Elven Legacy

Chapter 106

Noah

His first stop was a row of food carts, his search for Jay and Fen temporarily forgotten.

Stomach growling almost loud enough to be heard over the music and crowd, Noah's steps brought him to the longest line, the center cart where they sold sausages wrapped in buns and spicy sauce.

Noah watched longingly as people happily took their first bite, stepping away from the food carts with their delicious-looking purchase. Then he remembered, with a saddened pang, that he had no money.

Gods be damned, he could've sold his soul for one of those.

He moved away from the queue and gave the town square a slow attentive look.

Myriad people everywhere in bright tunics, dresses or skirts, shawls and scarves, glittering makeup around women's dark eyes, and intricate sandals with countless straps, beads and jewels.

Noah was a dull contrast with his worn leather boots, riding pants and a beige short-sleeved shirt with a loose collar, threadbare in quite a few places.

Being tall had its perks. He could scan the crowd for the only blond-haired person at the party. It took a couple of seconds, and a few people inadvertently – possibly drunkenly – stumbled into him since Noah stood very still in a frantic sea of celebration. Some apologized, others didn't bother. Noah didn't mind, he'd found what he was looking for.

A flash of fair hair amidst the crowd of dancers, near the statue in the center of the square.

It disappeared again, swallowed by too many dancers that pulsed with the rhythm of the drums and lutes, but Noah had his target now and he was on the move.

He twisted past tight groups of locals with all the grace and skill of a completely sober person amongst intoxicated ones. Pausing at all the right moments, squeezing past people as soon as he had the chance, making his way over to the dancers and through them. Thinking of all the ways he would later tease Jaden and Fenek for this.

Especially if they were drunk.

The whole situation filled him with excited tingles. He couldn't help but be reminded of the Quickrivers dances of his youth.

Youth? What the hell? He was twenty-one, not sixty for the gods' sakes. Anyway, he would go with Kitera, Bryani, Dharkan, and a couple other kids. Good times. Drinking ale, dancing round the bonfire, laughing with his friends, talking shit with Kitera. And finally sneaking away to some quiet alley where he could see Kili, and they'd talk for ages.

His heart snared. He hoped she was all right. She was probably spending loads of time at Rarima's Home, she did love that place, plus she had friends there. And Seyar would check up on her and see to it that she was safe. Nothing for me to worry about.

He paused, surrounded by fast paced, entrancing music and rapt dancers, and also he was pretty sure someone had just spilled most of their drink on his boot. Thing was, he'd been sure Jaden was dancing around here somewhere, but now, even as he stood on tiptoes among moving bodies, he couldn't see—

Oh, there he was.

Jaden emerged from between two glittery-eyed girls who danced with a fervor that made Noah suspect they'd ingested more than just alcohol. Jaden, however, just looked drunk.

Very drunk. In fact, Noah didn't think he'd ever seen someone so incredibly happy to see him before.

"Noah!" Jaden exclaimed fervently as he made his way through. He fell messily in Noah's arms and hugged him tight. "Noah! You're here!" From how he said it, you'd think Noah had been dead and had miraculously come back to life.