Life must have been difficult for Johan without his words, but if he’d spent his life any other way, would he even be the man he was? Would he have stopped outside the market on that frigid-cold day and offered two starving elves a place to stay? He didn’t know, but he knew there wasnothinghe would change about Johan.
“Shame,” the sorcerer replied. “What brings you to darken my doorway today, then?”
Henrik had expected Elias to speak up like he usually did but he was staring at the golden-haired man in the chair like he hadn’t even heard the question.
“We escaped captivity,” Henrik began to explain. “But these”—he held up his wrist to display the bangles—“still suppress our magic. We’re looking for someone who can remove them for both of us.”
The sorcerer snapped the book in his hand shut, startling Henrik. He stalked towards Henrik and, without asking, grabbed him by the wrist. The sorcerer stroked his index finger along the bangle with his eyes closed, and Henrik shivered under the phantom touch.
Johan and Elias’ proximity as they stepped closer to see what the sorcerer was doing was a comforting warmth at his back.
The mysterious man hummed quietly to himself, and it felt like the copper band was heating up around the sensitive skin underneath. When it became so hot that it began to burn, Henrik snatched his hand back out of his grasp.
The sorcerer looked unapologetic as Henrik cradled his hand and glared at him.
“I can remove it… technically,” he said.
“What do you mean by that?” Elias asked.
“I mean that I’m capable. But if I’m going to expend my resources on you, I’ll want something in return.”
Johan took the leather coin pouch out of his bag and handed it to Henrik, who in turn, tried to pass it to the sorcerer. “This is everything we have.”
The sorcerer looked at the bag with disgust and snorted derisively. “Your petty coin collection is meaningless to me. I am not in need of money.”
Henrik’s stomach practically dropped out of him. This was all they had. He looked to Elias and Johan, who appeared equally distressed. Elias was rubbing at the copper band on his right wrist helplessly, and his eyes began to well up.
“Zel, do you know much about elves?” the sorcerer asked the golden-haired man sitting in the corner.
“Not much, other than what I know about you,” he replied.
Now that he said it, Henrik’s attention was drawn to the sorcerer’s pointed ears. They were indeed elf-like, but there was something not quite right about him at the same time.
“You are lovers, no?” the sorcerer asked Henrik unexpectedly. He stood with his mouth open, and his stunned silence answered for him. “It is extremely common among elves for men to desire only lying with men, and the women with other women. Do you know why that is, little elf?”
Henrik did know, but Elias spoke up first, “No. Why is that?” he asked.
It surprised Henrik a little that Elias was unaware, but he had not received the education that Henrik had as a child.
“I know it is common and not met with judgment. But not why,” Elias continued.
Henrik answered before the sorcerer could, beginning to understand what he might be after, “It is because elves were blessed by the Gods to be unusually fertile. It is a biological imperative for our people that we are not all… inclined to reproduce. It would be unsustainable, and people would starve. People already do.”
Elias looked shocked. “Why don’t I know this about my own people?” he asked.
“Some elf families believe to openly discuss the gift, risks the gift. There are nearly entire generations who will not speak of it out loud,” the sorcerer explained with more knowledge than Henrik had expected.
Elias’ expression was both confused and thoughtful before he blurted out, “You want a baby elf?”
The sorcerer snorted a laugh at the question. “No, little elf, I do not want any offspring from either of you.”
Henrik could practically see the cogs turning in Elias’ mind. “So you want this gift, then?” Elias asked. “The fertility gift from our Gods?
But that didn’t entirely add up for Henrik. “Why, though? You are also an elf, are you not? You must possess the gift already, surely,” he said, gesturing to the sorcerer’s pointed ears.
“I am not what I once was, and it has been a long time since I met others of my kind. A rare find, you might say, and a useful gift to barter with. That’s my price for removing the bands.”
“Take mine,” Elias rushed out, not even pausing to consider the consequences.
