Flower Falls and Crystal Calls

Duties

Chapter 29

By the time Caius and Elle made it to the platform in the center of the city, the crowds had already thinned. There was still a line of people waiting to be heard, but the rest had better things to be doing. It was a festival after all, and it only happened twice a year. Everyone wanted to make the most of it, from the vendors down to the laughing children.

When they walked up to Yeul, she gave them both a bright smile. She didn't greet them otherwise until the man she had been speaking to headed off stage. Once he was gone, she gave Praes a look that had him holding back the rest of the queue while she went to speak to the latecomers. "I am glad to see you took my advice. Do not worry overmuch about the hour, as you are not the only ones with groggy heads this morning.

Elle felt both relief and worry but didn't say anything right away. Yeul had given them both an evaluating look before her smile brightened, and she gestured to the crowd. "Will you be joining us again today?"

Elle had to force herself to not look at Caius to try and gauge his reaction. She instead shrugged. "I thought it was mandatory. I apologize for being late, even if you say it's alright."

Something flashed through Yeul's eyes, but Elle couldn't understand it before it was gone. Instead, she allowed Yeul to lead her back to the place they were yesterday as Caius moved to take up his spot behind them both. Yeul's voice was pitched low as she maneuvered them into position.

"The rest of the week will not be as long as yesterday. Even I am allowed to enjoy the festival, so we will stop a little early." She paused for a moment before she looked up at Elle's hair and smiled again. "Your hair is even lovelier today than it was yesterday. You should braid it more often."

Elle suddenly had the sense that the girl knew that she hadn't been the one to braid her hair. She tried not to let it show. "Thank you. I'll consider it, that is if I don't get it all cut off. It is getting ridiculously long."

Yeul gave her an odd look, but it too was gone quickly. "That would be a shame, but I would understand." She then turned to look at Praes, and he allowed the next people to approach again.

After that point, the day once again blurred into one person after another. Elle was lucky that most of them seemed to want to speak to Yeul, but she wasn't going to leave until the session was called. Thankfully, it was still early afternoon when Yeul had Praes call a halt for the day. She gave Elle and Caius one last smile before the Guardian led her into the marketplace. He had given them both a hard look before they left but had not said anything.

Once they were gone, Elle turned to Caius finally and found she could not hold in her grin, no matter how hard she tried. At least she was conscious of the remaining people and didn't say the first thing on her mind. No, that would have caused all sorts of issues, as it involved how edible he looked. She took a deep breath and tried to rein in her appetite when he joined her. "So, what now? Are we still free for the week, or do we have other duties to attend to?"

Caius seemed to be having the same issue as his smile was brighter than any she had seen before. "You have just fulfilled your duties for the day, and mine is to accompany you. So the question should be, what would you like to do for the rest of the afternoon?"

Elle had to literally bite her tongue to keep from saying the first thing that came to mind. 'You' would be a horrible answer while they were in public. Even if they ended up not caring if people knew, that didn't make it alright to simply blurt out things like that. Instead, she managed to gesture back to the market. "We didn't get much of a chance to look around yesterday since we spent most of the time looking for pubs. Why don't we see what they have?"

Caius looked like he was about to say something else, but he finally nodded. "After you then. I would recommend that you not buy too much today, however. There will be even more exotic goods after the week is over, and the rest of the traders have come in. This crowd is nothing compared to what it will be."

She paused at that point and gave him a pointed look. "If that's the case, why don't we go take that swim we missed yesterday?"

Caius rolled his eyes at her and shook his head with a smile. "You do realize that to me, and most of the city, it is far too cold to even consider getting into water that is even colder than the air."

Elle tried not to laugh, but it was a lost cause. She still managed to wave his concern off. "Fine, fine. I guess let's go window shop then. I wouldn't want to torture you."

He gave her a look that made her heart freeze before it started racing. He waited until he was right next to her before he spoke in a near whisper. "No, you've done enough of that already today without trying."

He stepped past her as soon as it was out of his mouth. Elle didn't trust herself to move for a few seconds. At least not until she was sure she could look at him and not do or say something stupid. Once she had herself under control, she turned to follow him into the crowd.

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They ended up spending the rest of the afternoon walking through the vendors that they had overlooked the day before. Despite her desire for window shopping only, there were several times she was tempted to buy something. It was only the reminder that there would be more in just a few days kept her pouch closed.

They had run into a few of the other hunters, but none of them stuck around for long. They were doing much the same. They had also reminded the pair that the rest of the hunters had to go back to patrol shifts. Though, for the next two weeks, they would be shorter to give everyone the chance to make the most of the trade season.

By late afternoon, Elle had her fill of looking around. Despite how much she tried to keep her mind on the moment, she had other things she was interested in. When she asked if they could head back, Caius gave her a shocked look that almost bordered on hurt. He quickly wiped it away and turned to head back to the edge of the city.

Elle was more than a little concerned when he didn't say anything at all. His face was almost turned down into a frown, so as soon as they were away from the crowds, she got a little closer so she could keep her voice down. "Caius, what's wrong?"

He turned stormy eyes to her, but he managed to keep his voice even. "Please do not mind me. I- I simply thought the evening would end differently."

Elle stopped at those words. Suddenly she felt something burning in her chest. Did he not want to go back so they could talk, and, well, do other stuff too? Despite her vow to wait to speak about whatever was going on until they were in private, she couldn't hold back her concern. "I thought you would be as ready to go talk as I am. Is that not the case? I mean, I figured we had a lot to go over, and it would be best if we weren't up all night again."

He took a step back and looked confused. "It is not dusk yet. I thought you wanted to go back to the Seeress' complex."

The relief that rushed through her was almost enough to knock her from her feet as she grinned up at him. "Uh, no. Honestly, I'm already trying to figure out how I can get away with not sleeping there again."

His eyes flashed at her words, and she could tell it took a great effort for him to turn around and gesture toward the road. "Well, if that is the case, why don't we get going. I will agree that we have much to discuss."

Elle grinned at his back as she fell into step with him. His emphasis on that last word had her blood boiling already. As she watched his muscles under his top, she began to wonder how much talking they would get done. Not a lot at first, that was for sure.