Page 19 of Starlit Bargains

“Don't play ignorant, boy,” she snapped. “I know what happens in my village. I was there—watching from the elder circle when the temple lit up like a beacon. With him.”

A cold prickle ran down Kai's spine. He'd been certain no one had followed them last night. “I think you're seeing things, Madam. Too many herb fumes, perhaps?”

Her grip tightened painfully. “The fallen one has been dormant for generations. Watching but not interfering. Until you.” She leaned closer, her breath smelling of strange spices and bitter tea. “What are you, that you could wake what even we could not reach?”

“Just a traveler,” Kai said, trying gently to extract his arm without causing more of a scene than they already were. Severalshoppers had stopped to stare. “As I told you yesterday, I'm just running errands for Thornhaven.”

“You lie,” she declared, raising her voice. “You lie with the same silver tongue as the fallen one. Perhaps you are his kin? Another exile sent to join him?”

Her words sent a jolt through Kai. Exile. The same term Eliar had used to describe his punishment. How much did this woman actually know?

“Madam Wisteria,” a man's voice interrupted, firm but respectful. Kai recognized the butcher he'd seen in the marketplace the previous day. “This is hardly the place.”

The herb woman reluctantly released Kai's arm, though her accusing gaze never wavered. “The Keepers must convene,” she announced, glancing at the butcher with clear meaning. “This outsider is not what he seems.”

“I'm exactly what I seem,” Kai protested, rubbing his arm where her bony fingers had dug in. “A messenger who had the misfortune to knock over some of your overpriced lavender. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“We'll see,” Madam Wisteria said ominously.

With that cryptic parting shot, she allowed the blacksmith to lead her away, still muttering about sleepers and fallen ones.

“Well, that was subtle,” Briar whispered once they were alone again. “Think she really saw us at the temple?”

“I don't know,” Kai admitted, disquieted by the encounter. “But either way, she knows something about Eliar. About what he is.”

They continued through the market, though Kai was now acutely aware of the stares following him. What had been merely suspicious glances before had hardened into something closer to hostility. A child who accidentally bumped into him was yanked away by his mother with a muttered warning. A vendor who hadbeen friendly the day before now claimed to be out of stock of the very items displayed on his table.

It was clear that overnight, Kai had gone from curious outsider to potential threat in the village's collective mind.

“This is getting ridiculous,” he muttered after the third shopkeeper mysteriously couldn't find the items he wanted to purchase.

“It's getting dangerous,” Briar corrected. “These people are scared, and scared people do stupid things.”

“What exactly do they think I'm going to do? Summon shadow monsters in the town square?”

“From their perspective, you might as well have already done that,” Briar pointed out. “Whatever happened at the temple last night has them spooked, and you're the obvious outsider to blame.”

Kai sighed, reluctantly acknowledging her point. “Fine. Let's just get what we can and head back to Thornhaven. I can always come back another day when things have calmed down.”

“Or you could, you know, not come back to the village that's one pitchfork short of a mob,” Briar suggested.

“And miss the chance to unravel the mystery of the fallen star and his connection to my magic? Not likely.”

They made their way to the edge of the market, where a small, unassuming stall sold writing supplies. The proprietor, a middle-aged woman with kind eyes, was one of the few who didn't immediately scowl when Kai approached.

“You're brave, walking about so openly today,” she said quietly as she wrapped the rare inks he'd requested. “The Keepers are gathering. It would be wiser to be elsewhere when they finish their deliberations.”

Kai glanced at her, surprised by the warning. “You're the first person today who hasn't looked at me like I might sprout horns at any moment.”

She smiled slightly. “Not everyone in Mistwood fears change, or strangers. Some of us remember the old stories properly.”

Her phrasing echoed what the baker had said the night before. “What old stories?”

The woman glanced around before leaning closer. “That the fallen star was not cast out as punishment, but sent as protection. That his dormancy is not defeat, but patience.” Her eyes met Kai's directly. “That he waits for a catalyst to reawaken what was bound.”

A catalyst. The word resonated with what Kai had experienced the night before—his magic somehow triggering Eliar's.

“Why are you telling me this?” he asked.

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