Page 38 of Ties of Legacy

“Of course, how foolish of me,” he said lightly, but he didn’t seem to be judging her. Instead, he looked thoughtful.

“My specialty is noticing what wares will be appreciated by which people,” she said proudly. “It might not have been an official commission, but I knew she would want to buy them, and I was right.”

“Impressive,” he said, his voice hard to read.

She watched him out of the side of her eyes as they walked. What was he thinking? She was tempted to ask, but another cart swerved in front of them, nearly causing a collision, and she gave up on the idea. The streets of a busy city weren’t the place for probing questions.

Thanks to Avery’s sleep-in and her small piece of business, they were hardly the first to arrive at the ferry for the day. They found it already in mid-crossing, but Avery didn’t mind waiting. There was always something interesting to see on the Marleston stretch of the river.

“I love the river,” Elliot said, echoing her thoughts. “It brings people together.”

Avery looked sideways at him. She’d never thought about the river borders in quite those terms, but he was right. Since each bank sat in a different kingdom, the powers of both Legacies swirled in the water, allowing the citizens from both sides of the river to use it comfortably.

As if on cue, a gaggle of giggles erupted, pulling her eyes back to the water. A fleet of small orange boats floated downriver toward them, each captained by a child, some with a smaller passenger on board.

Elliot broke into laughter. “Are those pumpkins?”

Avery grinned but didn’t take her eyes from the miniature fleet. When the hollowed-out pumpkins bobbed past them, the children called out and waved. Avery and Elliot both waved back enthusiastically.

“I think my childhood would have been happier if I’d had a pumpkin boat instead of a dragon in a cave,” Elliot said wistfully.

“They’re harder to use than they look,” Avery said. “We visited when I was nine, and I was determined to captain one on my own. The local children weren’t sure, but one of them finally loaned me his boat.” She paused, her eyes crinkling as she remembered the experience. “I promptly rolled it and got tipped out. I had to swim for shore.”

“Did the locals help you?” Elliot asked.

Avery chuckled. “No. After I reached the bank, the other children made me turn around and swim back out to retrieve the boy’s pumpkin. Since I was the one to lose it.”

“Harsh,” Elliot said, respect in his voice.

Not much past the ferry landing, the child in front called out a command to the boats behind him. Paddles flashed through the air as the children retrieved them from inside the pumpkins and leaned over to thrust them into the water. With a few skillful strokes, they steered their makeshift boats to the shore.

Within two minutes, a line of children were making their way up the bank, each pulling a cord attached to their pumpkin. The pumpkins bobbed along in a row, pulled upstream by the children.

Watching them approach brought an old pang to Avery’s heart. She had loved traveling with her parents, but she had always regretted not being part of a group of children.

She glanced carefully at Elliot. He had hinted at unhappiness in his past, but he rarely gave any concrete details. Did he have siblings? Had he grown up as part of a happy group like this?

Nothing in his current expression of indulgent amusement gave any indication of an unhappy past. Maybe she had read too much into his comments?

She would have preferred not to be curious about his past. But she had never been good at suppressing curiosity. And it was even worse with Elliot. Perhaps it was because the longer they traveled together, the more it started to feel like they were a small version of the children’s cheerful gang—as if they were a true team.

She clamped down on the thought. The previous night’s events had been a warning. Avery couldn’t afford to get too comfortable in Elliot’s presence. Not only were the inhabitants of Bolivere at stake, but her own comfort was as well. If she grew too used to traveling with a companion, how would she go back to traveling alone when Elliot was no longer tied to her by the lamp?

Chapter 14

Elliot

“Iwonder which child first came up with the idea of pumpkin boats,” Elliot mused.

“Probably the first Sovaran child to notice that pumpkins float,” Avery replied as she guided Nutmeg several steps backward, giving the children plenty of room to pass. “I’m pretty sure every child raised on the river wants a boat of their own.”

Elliot nodded. The town where he’d grown up only had a stream, and he’d still wanted his own boat.

The ferry returned, ringing a bell that sent the children scampering faster upstream. The ferry master called grumpily after them, and the smallest child turned back from the end of the line to stick her tongue out at him.

He narrowed his eyes in her direction, looking as if he meant to hop down from the ferry, but Avery spoke quickly.

“How much to take my cart across?”

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