Page 8 of Shadows in Bloom

“Kallistra,” my companion offered her name. “And this is… Nairu.” She motioned to me, and I nodded in greeting, keeping my head down while their attention fixed on me.

“Call me Zorinna,” the female spoke. “And my companion here is Alandris.”

Zorinna eased into the spot next to Kallistra, while Alandris took the spot just across from her, next to me.

“Are you well? Nairu, is it?” Alandris directed his attention to me, causing me to choke on my own breath. Most people would ignore me in Kallistra’s presence, so long as she spoke for the both of us. It’d worked with everyone else we’d encountered in Fernfallow.

I had my arms wrapped firmly around my stomach, contemplating if I could disappear rather than answer him, if I closed in on myself tight enough.

Alandris yelped, a boot slamming down onto his toes the moment the words left his mouth. No doubt, his fiery partner in crime.

“Please, stop talking,” she glared.

“It’s quite alright,” Kallistra interjected. “His honesty is refreshing compared to how we are typically treated.” She bit down on her lip, eyes drifting toward her lap. “Nairu’s appearance is… different, for a human girl, so we are not used to, uh… pleasant guests?”

Alandris ignored Zorinna’s obvious wish for him to shut up. “I once came face to face with a Keldrigg. Horrid creature with twelve eyes and half as many pincers. Surely, you’re not so bad? Are you, Nairu?”

“Oh, by the Gods! You absolute idiot.” Another vicious kick from Zorinna sent Alandris into a fit, but I couldn’t muffle the chuckle that left my lips.

“It’s okay, Nairu.” Kallistra looked at me with a gentle nod. “You may remove your cloak. They won’t harm you.” Her laststatement came off as more of a threat, her eyes meeting Alandris’ gaze with a deadly chill.

He mustered a most pleasant smile in return.

I took a pause before heeding Kallistra’s words. I pulled down my hood with shaky hands and felt the light of the tavern wash over my features. And then their eyes were on me. Zorinna’s first, there and then gone again in a matter of moments, as though she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to keep looking at me. As though she wasn’t entirely comfortable looking at me. It was the reaction most people had the first time they glimpsed my unusual features. She’d masked her shock much quicker, though. Impressively so.

Alandris’ gaze was different. There wasn’t a hint of surprise or disgust or anything of that manner. Just curiosity. Intrigue. And he didn’t pull his eyes away as Zorinna had. He met mine with a smile that lit up his face, so bright it made something foreign stir inside of me. Even when his gaze lingered on mine so long that even I felt I needed to break away, he remained, never drawing back from the sight of me.

“You’re staring,” Zorinna quietly warned her companion.

“I’m admiring,” Alandris replied, not bothering to keep his voice down.

The words struck me so quickly I had no ability to stop the blush from rising to my cheeks. Against the pale of my complexion, I was sure it looked ridiculous. I had no choice but to break our eye contact, turning my attention to the table. To theempty plate in front of me. Anything other than ice-blue eyes, attached to an even bolder male.

Still, I mustered the courage to at least respond to him, my hands busying themselves by awkwardly picking at the hem of my olive-green bodice. “Thank you… for addressing me.” I spoke so only he could hear.

“What do you mean?” he pondered.

“Most people ignore me. They ask Kallistra their questions intended for me.” A sad truth, but a truth nonetheless. I was a background object for most people. The dynamic worked for us. It was safer, but I couldn’t deny that it felt lonely.

“Oh, well, my pleasure, I suppose,” Alandris chuckled, the brightness and volume of his voice made even more evident in comparison to my nearly inaudible one. “I wouldn’t thank me for asking you if you looked like a Kelldrigg, though. They truly are hideous beasts.”

I looked up at him then, my nose scrunched and mouth turning up into a smile, the tiniest bit of laughter escaping my lips. “You’re a strange one.”

“I am often told as much.”

“As am I.”

“I beg to differ.”

I bit my lip to hold back another grin, and Alandris turned back to Kallistra, his face shifting to something more serious.

“Here’s the deal. I owe a favor to a Fae,” he started plainly, ignoring the groan from Zorinna as he once again led the conversation against her wishes. “She gave me the location of anitem, a flower, which she desires, in the heart of a cave in the Azog Bog. I will take no treasures, and I will pay the way for those who are willing to assist me.”

The task seemed simple enough. From what I had gathered, interactions with the Fae were reputed to be complex, but fetching a flower couldn’t be that terrible. Besides, we needed the coin desperately. Kallistra and I didn’t have a ton of battle experience, and we didn’t exactly have the strength for manual labor. The fact that someone approached us for a job was a godsend in and of itself.

“This Fae—would she be willing to offer a favor to us in exchange for this flower?” Kallistra leaned forward eagerly, elbows pressed into the table. Clearly, she had other things in mind than the gold.

“The flower is payment for my own debt, so she will no doubt want something more from you.” Alandris let out a breath. “I certainly don’t recommend getting involved with a Fae, but if an audience with her is what you desire, I am inclined to believe she will oblige when we return with her precious flower in tow.”

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