Page 5 of Starlit Bargains

“His name is Eliar, and I have no idea what he is.” Kai attempted to sound disinterested, but he could feel Briar's knowing gaze. “He seemed to think I shouldn't be here. That my magic was... stirring things up.”

“Ooh, stirring things.” Briar's voice dropped to a dramatic whisper. “How deliciously vague and ominous.”

“That's what I said!”

“So naturally, you're planning to stay and find out more.”

“Naturally,” Kai agreed, unable to suppress a grin.

“Silas is going to kill you.”

“Only if he finds out.”

“When,” Briar corrected. “When he finds out. Because he always does.”

Kai shrugged, nearly dislodging the sprite. “Worth it.”

He turned down a side street that opened onto a quieter section of the market, an area where the vendors sold more mundane goods—pottery, textiles, woodcarvings. As he walked, he became increasingly aware of a strange sensation, like a subtle vibration running just beneath his skin. It wasn't unpleasant, exactly—more like the feeling of standing too close to a powerful magnetic field.

Kai paused, frowning. “Do you feel that?”

Briar tilted her head. “Feel what?”

“I don't know. It's like...” He flexed his fingers, trying to grasp the sensation. “Like magic, but not quite. More like... the memory of magic.”

He closed his eyes, focusing on the strange energy. It seemed to pulse in time with his heartbeat, stronger in some directions than others. Without consciously deciding to, he began to follow the feeling, letting it pull him forward like an invisible thread.

“Kai?” Briar's voice held a note of concern. “What are you doing?”

“Not sure,” he murmured, eyes still closed. “Just following the... whatever this is.”

He hadn't gone more than a dozen steps when he collided with something solid.

“Watch where you're going, young man!”

Kai's eyes snapped open to find himself face to face with an elderly woman, her wrinkled face creased in annoyance. She clutched a basket of apples, several of which had tumbled to the ground in their collision.

“I'm so sorry,” Kai said quickly, bending to retrieve the fallen fruit. “I was distracted.”

“Clearly,” the woman huffed, but her expression softened as she took in his appearance. “You're not from around here.”

It wasn't a question, but Kai answered anyway. “Just visiting. Picking up supplies.”

She studied him with surprising intensity, her eyes—a pale, milky gray—seeming to look through him rather than at him.

“Hmm,” she said finally, accepting the apples he'd gathered. “Interesting time to visit. The village doesn't much care for strangers these days. Not since the dreams started.”

Kai's curiosity immediately piqued. “Dreams?”

“Dreams of falling stars and forgotten guardians,” the woman said, her voice dropping to a whisper. “Dreams of what was lost coming back to us.” She reached out suddenly, gnarled fingers grasping Kai's wrist with surprising strength. “Can you feel it? The waking?”

The strange energy he'd been following seemed to pulse more strongly at her words, as if responding to them. “I... I think I can,” he admitted.

She nodded, satisfied, and released him. “Good. That's good. Means you might be useful.”

Before Kai could ask what she meant, the woman was already shuffling away, her basket clutched tightly to her chest. He stared after her, the encounter leaving him with more questions than answers.

“Well, that wasn't weird at all,” Briar remarked dryly.

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