It wasn’t like he noticed connections all the time. There might be none, or it could appear to be one-sided, and Perian always left those ones alone. The only people Perian nudged were those who seemed to him to be equally interested in one another. It made him feel better when people were together rather than apart, but only if they wanted to be.
And of course, even if people wanted to be together at one point, it didn’t mean they stayed together. People came together for all sorts of reasons, not all of them good ones, and not all of them meant to be. People grew and changed all the time—or sometimes started seeing someone else at the same time when it was clearlynota mutual decision.
Perian wasn’t the only one who had borne witness tothataltercation. In fact, pretty much everyone in the training yard had, though Perian had done his best not to laughtoohard when the Warrior in question was pelted with what proved to be overripe tomatoes.It was hard to feel very much sympathy for him, even though it was probably quite disgusting, because it became quite clear thanks to the yelling and his attempt to exculpate himself that he’d told this lover they were exclusive but had apparently changed his mind without informing her.
Onadal seemed to also feel that this punishment was pretty well deserved, because he didn’t let anyone intercede, just let the wronged woman vent her ire. Overripe tomatoes were kind of gross, but they didn’t do any real harm.
When she finally ran out of tomatoes, Onadal told him to go get cleaned up.
“And think about how you’d like to be treated,” the captain of the Warriors said sternly. “If you treat people poorly, then you shouldn’t be surprised if you get treated poorly in return.”
That stern glare was enough to cow just about anyone, and the man slunk off to get cleaned up while one of the woman’s friends swept over and headed off with her.
Perian hoped she was going to be all right. It had been clear from her reaction that there had been lots of feelings with her attraction, and he hoped she recovered soon. There were obviously times when attraction was not enough.
Perian kept his eye out for that sort of… bashful mutual interest that most benefited from a nudge. His time in the castle had clearly honed his people-watching skills a lot. He was also trying more seriously to figure out who Cormal could get together with, but so far, this was an abysmal failure. As far as he’d observed—though admittedly, he wasn’t in Cormal’s company all that often—the man wasn’t really attracted to anyone. (Well, apart from the obvious. But not only was Perian obviously not going to give Brannal up, it wasn’tquiteattraction. Well, it wasn’tnotattraction, but maybe it was more… habit? Perian still didn’t know how to describe it.) As far as he could observe, others found Cormal superficially attractive (wasthatwhat Cormal felt towards Brannal, with memories of their past mixed in?), but there wasn’t anything resembling a pull strong enough for Perian to feel like he should intervene. Setting Cormal up for a failed relationship was the exact opposite of what he intended. And Cormal had been in a foul mood in the dining hall yesterday. Perian was pretty sure this was the worst time to try to set him up with anyone.
He’d keep watching. Maybe now just wasn’t the right time for Cormal, even if it was working well for lots of other people. People were in high spirits in the summer. As the Fire Festival approached, people were pairing themselves up with wild abandon allon their own, and Perian was happily leaving them to it, liking to watch when matches succeeded, even if it made him wince a little when it didn’t always work.
He was going to the festival with Brannal, although it wasn’t quite an evening off, since Brannal was nominally patrolling. Normally he would beentirelypatrolling, but Perian had been so excited about his first festival in the city that Brannal had arranged to split the shift with Molun and Arvus, and he was prepared to intercede only if necessary.
Delana had volunteered to remain on duty at the castle (Onadal, too, what a coincidence), along with a number of the Warriors and Mage Warriors. Nisal was one of the many Mage Warriors who’d been loaned out for a full patrol in the city, along with a number of the Warriors, including Onadal’s second-in-command, Yallon, who’d just got back from an extended inspection of the watch stations, which was why Perian hadn’t met them before.
Molun, Arvus, Perian, and Brannal got to roam the festival and take turns half relaxing and half being ready for anything.
Since Brannal was half-ready for anything pretty much all the time, it didn’t feel a lot different than normal. There were barrels of water and earth that were placed strategically around the various city squares in case of wraith or nightmare attack, there were Warriors and City Wardens at the gates of the city, and even more Warriors, Mage Warriors, and City Wardens patrolling.
It was actually a really nice occasion for them to wander together and enjoy themselves.
Perian had asked Bennan if he and Chamis were going to be at the festival, and Bennan had laughed and said that they’d volunteered to stay behind and guard the castle. Perian thought about it for a minute.
“Oh, far too many people for Chamis?”
Bennan nodded. “He offered for me to go, but I’d much rather be with him.”
Perian grinned at him, nodding, because he would have chosen the same. “Anything I can bring back for you?”
But Bennan shook his head. “Everything I want, I’ve got right here.”
Perian nodded, because that was exactly it. They were so lucky to have found the people that matched them. Bennan was staying in the castle for Chamis, and Brannal was taking more time to enjoy the festival with Perian.
Chapter Seven
Although Brannal was effectively on patrol and keeping his eyes on so many people, he was willing to hold Perian’s hand with his left one, his right hand ready to grab his sword or practice whatever magic it was that could settle a situation if one came up.
They roamed the streets, sampling from a variety of vendors, because of course Perian couldn’t make up his mind and was lured in each time a new cart appeared. Brannal laughed and happily indulged him, splitting the food and always willing to finish something off if Perian didn’t like it.
But Perian usually liked it. There wasn’t a lot of food that he didn’t like, to be honest.
The crowd was huge, bigger than anything Perian had seen before. The city had just been filling up like this when he first arrived, he remembered, the pubs starting to overflow before the Water Festival. Only then Perian had been attacked, been rescued by Brannal, and convalesced through the whole festival.
So this was his first big city festival. There was a huge central square, and Perian hadneverseen it this full of people. There was a gigantic bonfire in the middle of the square. The Festival of Fire wasn’t super practical for heat purposes in the middle of summer, but it matched the fiery and energetic mood.
Periodically, people threw more wood on the fire just to watch it leap higher.
“Do you and Cormal ever add fireballs?” Perian wanted to know.
Brannal nodded. “Usually, yes.”
