"Stand up straighter," hissed the Argonian, "You don't look arrogant enough. Come on, pretend you just stuck your bare foot in mammoth dung. Yes! That's it."
"I don't think I can hold my face like this," I groaned, feeling the muscles in my face stiffen and begin to ache.
We stood on the threshold of the marketplace, preparing to spend the last of our septims on ingredients to complete our ruse. A woman pushed by me, muttering some rude sentiment, a basket in her arms. Derkeethus snatched it when she set it down to adjust her shoes, and I raised an experimentally imperious eyebrow at my "servant" and the woman's surprised glance back. She opened her mouth to protest, and probably demand her basket back, but Derk's lingering palm on his Dartslinger had her hustling along. My expression started to fall once I realized what I had just allowed, but my friend's stern glance pushed my face back into one of mild disdain.
"That was very good, Henny," he said, a fierce kind of affection tinting his tone. I made to reach for the basket. "Ah-ah. I hold the basket. Servant, remember?"
"Right. Servant." A lump stuck in my throat and I swallowed thickly. The woman's frightened face floated in my mind. "Why did we have to take the basket?" We should give it back...
"That's what the upper class do. Haven't you ever noticed this?"
I shook my head. My family had kept themselves isolated is Chorrol, and I followed suit as I grew older. Certainly, I had seen some bullying between the upper ad lower class, but never quite so blatantly. Even the Colovians knew a little of civility. Not for the first time did I wonder about my friend's childhood.
"Give it up, crybaby!"
"No! That's mine! Give it back!"
"Strange figures rushing through a looming, drooping forest. Glowing trees whispering in a breeze. Black water and tangled roots. Splashing.
"What are you gonna do, cry for your elders?" Crowing, raspy laughter.
"That's not funny!"
"Come on," said the older version of that tiny squawk. I started, his voice breaking my thoughts suddenly.
Making our way through the stalls, I did my best to appear as intimidating and discerning as I could. However, due to my diminutive height, the effect was less than impressive in comparison to my Altmer cousins, who had looking superior down to an art. Derkeethus aided me in selecting vegetables as I had little idea of their worth, while I prowled the fish monger's wares. In the end, we walked away with enough ingredients to look believable, though our pockets were now empty.
"What are we going to make with...this?" the Argonian queried, gazing uncertainly at a strange, tentacled sea creature. I had found its blue rings and strange eyes intriguing.
"I don't know, but if we throw enough spices on it, no one will know what it is," I replied with a confidence I didn't really feel.
"Henny..." he said warningly, but made no further comment. That didn't stop his disapproval over wasting our coin from washing over me. With a grunt, Derk hefted the basket under his arm and glanced at me with a forced, subservient grin. Don't blow this. "Where to next, milady?" We strolled down the street, Derk keeping a few paces behind me with his head bowed.
"The Blue Palace, of course, where else would we be going in this ridiculous getup."
"If I may be so bold, milady, you look good enough to eat in that 'ridiculous getup'." I stared at him, fighting a blush rising to my cheeks, the urge to laugh, and the desire to slap him for such a terrible pun. We passed under a great arch separating the mercantile end of the city with the residential side. Already the greenery increased and the street opened up into a sunny space bordered by natural boulders coated in thick layers of moss.
"Enough with you! Or I'll send you off to Solstheim if you persist!" I cried, feigning offense. Inwardly, I was burning from his compliment and my face must have betrayed something of this reaction for Derkeethus only grinned more broadly. Around us, the lane continued to open into a bright thoroughfare lined with stone houses, all bearing whitewashed sides and red, clay roof tiles. A small garden grew untamed to our immediate right, and a gloomy wooden hall squatted in the late morning sun just ahead.
Suddenly, tiny shouting voices and gallumphing feet crescendoed behind us.
"No way! Your da' saw a dragon?" said one voice belonging to a little girl in a bright blue dress.
"He did not. Svari's papa is always telling stories."
"He did so! He said it swooped down and took his entire catch from his boat! We didn't get to eat for a week..."
"Tch'. Stories," scoffed the boy, attempting to sound like an adult.
"Kayd, why d'you always have to ruin our fun," pouted Svari, her white hair glaring in the light.
"Hey! Are you a chef? Are you Odar's app. Appren. App...ren...tice?" said first child, sounding the foreign word slowly, then smiling with pride as she said it correctly. Her eyes were wide and exited as she looked up at me. For a moment, I wavered, unsure of how to respond. I couldn't be rude to these children. Something about that just seemed very wrong.
"Whoa, is that a crossbow? Wow, can I try it?" exclaimed Kayd, eyeing my friend's weapon eagerly. A crossbow...that's the name for it... I heard him thinking. He looked at me in askance, and I nodded. Unhooking the weapon from his back, he showed the boy how to dry fire it, which, of course resulted in my imaginary death along with the thoughtless murder of all his friends.
Seizing the moment, I knelt before the girl and dropped the entire superior mer act.
"Yes, I am a chef and I am Odar's apprentice. But I'm a little lost, can you help me find the Blue Palace?"
"You can't find the Blue Palace? You must be blind!" laughed the boy called Kayd.
The girl ignored this and smiled brightly. "Sure! My name's Minette." Then she took off, swift as an arrow down the street. When I didn't follow, she turned and beckoned with her hand. I started after her at a jog.
"What's your name? Where do you come from? Are you visiting?" Then, seeing an ear peeking out from under the odd chef's cap, "Are you an elf? Wow. So can you do magic? My da' says elves can do magic. Can you make me invisible?"
I made no attempt to answer the barrage of questions as she led me through a twisting maze of side streets. Derkeethus chugged along with the basket behind me, having given the boy a dart for a keepsake. The other two children ran along with us, Kayd sticking by Derk's side. "Your friend looks like a complete wimp, but you. You. I bet you've beaten lots of people up, huh. But there's no way you could beat my papa. My papa can beat up anybody."
"Kayd, mama says we shouldn't talk to the lizard-people. She says they're dangerous," I heard Svari hiss.
Always 'the lizard people'. Always dangerous... my friend remarked resignedly.
But you are dangerous, I thought, smirking inwardly.
At last, Minette led us to a wide road dominated by an enormous, dark building on my left. Stained glass windows gleamed in an array of bright colors. For a moment I thought I was in Chorrol once more looking upon the Chapel of Stendarr. I half expected to hear bells tolling. Instead, my ears caught snatches of a song sung to the plucking of a lute.
"That's the Bard's College," said Minette, finally stopping to catch her breath. "Lots of bards come to the inn. They always leave a mess. Da' makes me clean up after them all the time," she commented, wrinkling her nose at the thought.
Looking ahead, I saw a pale, slate-blue dome at the end of the road. "Is that the Blue Palace?" I asked.
"Yes! There are lots of rich people there."
"Minette! Come on! You're mama's calling us!" shouted Kayd.
"I gotta go. Bye!" And then she was gone like a blur.
"If ever Y'ffre had a form, it would have been a child," I mused, watching her disappear around a corner.
"Hmph. No wonder your people are so strange," Derkeethus smiled.
"Silence, impudent servant," I mocked imperiously.
We made our way down the road, passing houses containing far wealthier people than even the nobility of Windhelm. At least for a stronghold of the Imperial army, the city was relatively pleasant. I enjoyed the neat stone houses lined with wild gardens. Bosmer in Valenwood could have lived like this, if ever they learned masonry. It was still a mystery to me why no one had ever managed to build stone houses around the trees. It would have complied with the Pact and provided ourselves with better shelter than hide-walled shacks.
Passing under a wide archway, we entered an overgrown courtyard surrounded by slate walls adorned with glittering windows. Ahead the entry to the Blue Palace loomed, imposing and authoritative. I stopped mid-stride, my hands suddenly trembling. Derkeethus turned to me, hefting the basket to gain better purchase. "You can do this. You've been doing well thus far." With his free hand, he took my mine and gave it a firm squeeze, shifting so no one from the windows could see us. I clutched at the offering of comfort like someone drowning, then I released his hand and took a deep, steadying breath.
"Well, what are you waiting for, boy. Lead the way."
Comments
You reveal so much about your characters in subtle ways, and I am always surprised at the end of your entries..."H... more