“Listen dear, that fellow over there
has been checking you out ever since we got here. I don't know how
you feel about casual hookups but none of us would blame you if you
took the opportunity to engage in some, shall we say, recreational
activities this evening.”
Leffi had brought Wyndal an ale, which
she offered to him while simultaneously pointing at the man she was
referring to, who had indeed been eyeing Wyndal all evening. Wyndal
glanced in the man's direction, making eye contact with
him on accident, which he recoiled from. Now he couldn't tell what the
man's reaction to the eye contact was because he was trying very hard
not to do it again, so he was looking in every other possible
direction.
“Thanks for the, uh, suggestion,”
Wyndal said, licking his dry lips, “but I think I'll pass.”
“What? For real?” Leffi stared at
him like she thought he'd lost his mind. “He's totally hot, and
totally into you.”
“Okay, be that as it may, it doesn't
mean I have to sleep with him,” Wyndal objected, tapping one foot
against the bar in agitation. Leffi always meant well but she didn't
know when to quit. “I mean, I don't know him at all. Would you
sleep with him, if it seemed like he was into you?”
The elf plunked herself on a stool at
the bar, then spun it around so she was leaning back against the
counter, facing the man in question. She looked him up and down and
then spun back around. She took a long drink of her own ale before
she responded.
“Well, no. He's not really my type.”
She cracked a grin. “I have terrible luck, you know. It would end
badly. Would probably still be fun, though.”
Wyndal did not know how a person could
be so at peace with having what could only accurately be described as
the worst luck. If it could happen to Leffi, it usually did, from
tripping over her shoelaces to taking an arrow to the shoulder. And
yet she was almost perpetually smiling.
Relaxing a bit, he sipped his own ale
and asked her, “If he's not your type, what's your type?”
Leffi responded by shrugging her
shoulders, as if she'd never really thought about it before. Wyndal
had noticed that Leffi tended to behave in a more childish manner
when she was avoiding something. She was very intelligent, despite
being an utter goof. It astounded him that such a brilliant mind
could be possessed by such an eccentric person.
“Do you like men?” Wyndal prompted.
“Do you like women?”
Tapping her lips, Leffi considered the
question with a thoughtful expression on her face.
“I like interesting people,” she
said at last.
What a cop out, Wyndal thought to
himself, rolling his eyes. It was true enough, he supposed. Leffi
largely ignored people she didn't have much interest in. For such an optimistic person, she was rather rude at times. Wyndal
supposed he should count himself lucky that she found him
interesting. Then again, if it meant she'd leave him alone, perhaps
being uninteresting wasn't so bad.
“Hey, Trey's here!” Leffi sat up
straight and smiled, waving her hand in the air. Wyndal followed her
gaze to see that the Gwilimen twins and Spencer Spencer had just
entered the tavern. He noticed that Leffi referred to them
collectively as “Trey,” and also the way her face lit up when she
said the name. Well, Wyndal supposed it was true that Trynace
Gwilimen was an exceptionally interesting person.
Their friends joined them at the bar.
Wyndal was grateful for a bit of reasonable conversation with Alyx,
who was not nearly so interested in his love life as Leffi seemed to
be. Leffi and Trey were soon trading insults, as per usual. It was a
matching of wits, which he knew Leffi took great satisfaction in.
Trynace, of course, was head over heels
for Spencer Spencer, which Wyndal could hardly blame her for. The man
was attractive. They looked good together, Trey and Spencer. He
wasn't sure if they were officially together at the moment or not,
but all a person had to do was look at them to know.
Lucky Trey, he thought gloomily. Not
that Wyndal was interested in Spencer himself, perish the thought,
but he was jealous of the easy relationship the two of them had. He
wouldn't mind having someone look at him the way Spencer looked at
Trey, or vice versa.
That silly elf really did have the
worst of luck, Wyndal thought. What was worse than being in love with
someone who'd already met the love of their life?
“Have we found our fifth crystal
yet?” Wyndal asked Alyx, though he could assume by the absence of
an additional party member that they had not, or at least hadn't
managed to recruit said person.
“Not yet,” replied Alyx, shaking
his head. “I do think we're on the right trail. Trey thinks maybe
the person we're looking for wouldn't be the sort to loiter in human
villages. Now would be a nice time for a little guidance from the
gods, though. Even if one of them just showed up and pointed us in
the right direction, it would be better than nothing.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Wyndal
saw the man Leffi had pointed out to him stand from his table and
approach the bar. He tried to keep his cool, eyes locked on his mug
of ale, but the man walked right up beside him, shoulder almost
touching Wyndal's as he called out to the barmaid for another pint.
The man was tall and muscular and he smelled like pine trees.
He could make eye contact. He could
invite the fellow back to his room for the evening. Or perhaps the
man lived nearby himself. It would be easy, if he asked, it was
pretty obvious that his admirer would agree. But he couldn't make
himself do it.
“I'm Herbert,” the man said
suddenly, causing Wyndal to jump a bit in surprise.
He hadn't expected to be spoken to.
Daring to look up, he noticed that “Herbert” was looking back at
him and Wyndal quickly averted his gaze once more.
“Ah... nice to meet you,” he
mumbled, not quite sure what he was supposed to do in this situation.
His heart was beating a little faster in his chest.
“And what's your name?” Herbert
asked. He sounded amused.
Rubbing the back of his neck and hoping
his blush wasn't too visible, Wyndal told the man his name in hardly
more than a whisper.
“Wyndal, what a nice name,” said
Herbert. “Listen, Wyndal, I hope I'm not being too forward but I
wondered if you might like to come back to my room with me this
evening?”
Wyndal had, unfortunately, chosen that
moment to take a drink of his ale. He choked on the liquid and spat
it out all over the bar, much to his embarrassment. Wiping his mouth
on his sleeve, he looked at Herbert with wide eyes. He felt trapped.
Did he have a good excuse for the panic that rose in him at the idea
of spending the evening with this fellow? It shouldn't be a
terrifying notion. He daydreamed about it often enough.
And yet, faced with the reality of it,
all he could think about was what might be the easiest way to get out
of it.
“Ah, well, th-thank you for the
offer,” he said, knowing that his cheeks were bright red. “I'm
afraid I have to turn it down.”
Herbert looked disappointed but he
nodded and bade Wyndal a good night before wandering back over to his
table with the pint of ale the barmaid had just brought to him.
The rest of their little party had
grown quiet and Wyndal knew they were all watching him. He could feel
their eyes on him. So he looked up at them, meeting Leffi's gaze for
a moment. To his surprise, she cracked a smile at him and, patting
Trey on the shoulder, she moved to the empty stool beside him.
“Don't,” Wyndal said, trying to
preempt any discussion of the huge mistake he'd just made. “I know
I chickened out.”
“You don't know what I was going to
say,” Leffi replied. “This might surprise you, but I know a
little bit about feeling like it's easier to be on your own than to
be open with another person. I'm sorry if I put too much pressure on
you earlier. Dude's hot, but he's a stranger and if it were me, I'd
want to know the person, be comfortable with them first, before I
ever even considered sleeping with them.”
On his other side, Alyx nudged his
shoulder. “It could be dangerous, at any rate. Not that you
shouldn't have done it if you wanted to, but maybe it was wise not to
in this case. We don't know who might be looking for us.”
A little of the tension in Wyndal's
shoulders eased. They weren't judging him after all. He was still
embarrassed that his companions had witnessed his moment of utter
panic, but it was good to know that they weren't laughing at him
about it. At least, Leffi and Alyx weren't, and Trey and Spencer were
back to laughing at one another, so that was something.
Leffi peered around Wyndal at Alyx with
an expression of curiosity. “You've got a wife and a kid back home,
don't you, Allie?”
Alyx wore a proud smile as he nodded.
“I look forward to returning to them. Ando is still quite small. I
can only hope this quest doesn't keep me from watching him grow up.”
“I can't imagine having a family like
that,” said Leffi. “I don't think I could tolerate staying in one
place for the rest of my life. Not interesting enough.”
“I can't either,” Wyndal murmured,
hiding behind his ale mug as best he could.
“Really? I could see you settled
down, Wyndie,” Leffi remarked. She downed the last of her ale and
called for another. “I think it will happen one day. The man of
your dreams will sweep you off your feet and you'll live happily ever
after. I'm jealous.”
Her gaze landed on Trey again, just for
a moment, before she ducked her head.
“Married life is pleasant,” said
Alyx, seeming to miss Leffi's glance at his sister. He leaned back in
his seat, relaxed. “I suppose it's not for everyone but even Trey
seems a likely candidate for it as of late. I'm happy for her, though
I'd appreciate if neither of you mentioned it to her.”
Wyndal snorted at that. Trey was the
kind of person who did the opposite of whatever it was she thought
someone else wanted her to do. If she thought her twin wanted her to
get married, that would probably be the one thing that actually kept
her from doing it.
With a sigh, Leffi said, “Yes, they
do look rather happy together.”
At the moment, Spencer was leaning in
to kiss Trey, who pushed him back with a scowl that turned into a
sort of fond frown. She said something to him that Wyndal couldn't
hear and Spencer laughed nervously.
Trey could be quite terrifying. Spencer
was endlessly kind and affectionate, however, seemingly in direct
opposition to Trey's nature. Opposites attract, thought Wyndal.
Perhaps that was why he and Leffi were friends, despite how annoying
the elf could be. Well, in truth, they were friends because Leffi
would have it no other way and Wyndal didn't see the point in
fighting it.
The barmaid brought Leffi her second
ale, as well as a mug for Alyx, and Leffi raised hers to propose a
toast.
“To true love,” she said in a
cheerful tone, “and to the perseverance of the realm.”
Unsure if he believed in the
possibility of either of those things, Wyndal nonetheless raised his
mug in solidarity.
He was still a mess, but at least he
had friends who didn't seem to mind.
FIN
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