PENUMBRA (how the flowers grow)

27. Spine

Note: Oops?


The Goldhands reach Whitegate the day before the full moon. They dick around in the chosen tavern for the night and fill up on food. The next morning, L'gaoia goes to her meeting and everyone else is left to do as they please until she gets done. Eggel and Vetsalla go with L'gaoia since it's never a truly good idea to go meet strangers alone and they're the only ones qualified. Tuluvey drags Xaniphe and Jitho off to an undisclosed location, insisting that he needs their help planning something. He's not subtle about it and Sabina figures that it has something to do with the date he mentioned a while back.

So, since Sabina's not keen on being alone, she accompanies Robb, Flix, Tremas, and Alinrou as they scour the marketplace for treasures. She stays close to Flix since she's the most comfortable around them. Sabina itches to put her gloves on, but she left them back at the tavern and she doesn't want to walk back by herself or ask anyone to go with her. Flix catches on to her nervous buzz and sends her several reassuring smiles over the course of their outing.

She helps Flix pick out a new top, one that has an open back so their wings are comfortable. Sabina chooses an aqua one made of flowy material because she doesn't think she's ever seen anything that particular shade of blue-green. Flix puts it on and Sabina gives them a little smile.

"It suits you," she says.

Flix grins and does a twirl and stretches their wings out. The white feathers catch in the sunlight and gleam rainbow. The beads on their earrings make a soft jingle as they knock together.

"I'm going to pick a shirt out for you now," they say. "It's only fair, really. I'm thinking something bright... maybe green." The smile on their face turns devious and Sabina laughs. "What? You like green."

Flix searches through the piles of premade clothes until they settle on a mossy green undershirt with ruffles at the top. They shove it into Sabina's arms and gesture for her to change. She goes behind the curtain and replaces her worn white undershirt for the new one. She steps out and Flix beams.

"Just charming!" they say, gently bumping her arm.

The both of them pay for their new clothes and return to the streets to catch up with Robb, Alinrou, and Tremas. Flix slows their pace for a moment to pull Sabina aside.

"You doing okay?" they question.

"I'm all right."

"I just wanted to make sure." Flix pauses. "Is it the people?"

"Yeah," Sabina admits. "There's just a lot to focus on and it stresses me out, I guess."

There's too much and I could miss something important.

Flix nods. "That makes sense."

Sabina doesn't get how it could because she knows her anxiety isn't rational most of the time anymore, but she appreciates the sentiment.

"You let me know if you need to go have a sit down." Flix smiles. They continue heading down the path, making sure Sabina doesn't get lost in the crowd. The other three aren't far away and are standing around a weapon's vendor. Robb and Alinrou are haggling with the saleswoman to try to get the price of a sword down to two hundred gold. Tremas stands idly by, arms crossed. He's sporting an unreadable expression as if he's thinking really hard, like he's trying not to be mad about someone taking a shit in his breakfast or something along those lines.

"Do you really need a new sword, Alin?" Flix asks, an eyebrow raised.

"Flix, look at this." Alinrou gestures to the broadsword. It's simple, but beautiful in its own right. A dragon is carved into the gold hilt and wraps around the handle. Someone spent a lot of time on that. "It's steel, too. Not iron."