They could see the town from the top of the steps—small enough that the town gates were visible from the same vantage point, just before the smattering of buildings turned into a smattering of trees, which then became a denser forest at the edge of the horizon. The town curved around the edge of the hill on which the castle rested, so he was sure it was larger than it appeared. At least, he hoped it was. If the last remaining home of the fae were no more than a few city blocks... He thought of Jerah's expression of despair each time he'd spoken of the fae’s dwindling numbers, and he felt less hopeful.
The stairway down was almost as steep and crooked as the switchbacks that twisted up the opposite side of the cliff from the narrow beach. Florian took the stairs carefully, but Kade made his way down as effortlessly as if he'd climbed the stairs a hundred times before—which was certainly possible. The space between them was steadily increasing.
“You alright?” Kade called over his shoulder, when he seemed to notice Florian was quite a distance behind him.
“Yeah,” he stammered, taking the next few steps two at a time to try and catch up. “Sorry.”
Kade looked up at him wordlessly as he closed the distance between them, his expression as inscrutable as ever. But as they moved on, Kade’s pace became slower, so there were only ever three or four steps between them as they walked. Eventually, they made it to the bottom of the stairway, where a single guard sat on the other side of a second castle gate. The guard jumped to her feet as they approached.
“Kade,” the woman said, before her eyes flickered over to Florian. For a moment she looked confused, before snapping back to attention. “You must be Florian. Please, come in, welcome.”
“Thanks,” he replied, glancing nervously between the two of them. But Kade didn't seem perturbed as he opened the gate for Florian to pass through; the woman standing guard didn't say anything else to them as they walked past and followed the cobblestone path into the town.
The first buildings they passed looked residential, and while Florian could hear some signs of life, he did not see anyone out on the street where they were. Some of the buildings looked run-down and abandoned, and he wondered how many were occupied, and how many had been empty for centuries.
“So what are you getting?” Florian asked, coming up alongside Kade now that there was room for them to walk side by side.
“Food,” Kade replied. Though he had invited Florian along, there was a controlled neutrality to his voice that made him wonder if Kade really wanted him there after all. “Snacks, mainly.”
Florian looked away, stifling a chuckle. He wouldn't have taken Kade for the snacking type.
“What kind of snacks do people eat here?” he asked. Next to him Kade seemed to hesitate for a moment before answering.
“Well, I mostly get things that remind me of home. A lot of it is seafood,” he said slowly. “Shrimp chips and that kind of thing. There's this fish soup my mom used to make for us... Sometimes I can find the ingredients for that.”
They lapsed into silence as they walked. It seemed like a personal admission in a way, but Florian was unsure how to respond. Both Kade and Jerah had mentioned the former's father several times, but this was the first he'd heard about his mother. He had no idea what to say—somehow, Florian thought that mentioning something about his own dead mother would be a mood killer.
Around them, the buildings that had been obviously residential slowly became larger, looking more like storefronts and businesses, and even a few restaurants with the telltale scents of warm food and spices wafting from their doors. The main road was mostly empty, though there were a few shopkeepers peering out from within open doors or windows, as well as vendors with carts set up on the street. Most seemed to recognize Kade, and they called out a greeting or would give him a polite wave as they passed; some of them were looking at Florian with curiosity, though others paid him no mind. He was glad for that.
As they approached the center of town, and the streets came alive with activity—at least compared to the sleepy, quiet outskirts—Kade turned around suddenly to face him. Though his expression remained as neutral as ever, he said,
“Want to see something first?”
“Uh,” Florian stammered, taken aback. “Um, sure?”
“You'll have to follow me, then,” Kade said, and before Florian could reply, his body glowed with the now-familiar orange light. In a moment Kade’s wolf form stood before him, his ears pricked and his tail slowly sweeping back and forth.
Florian hesitated. He must have been visibly nervous, as Kade tossed his head in a clearfollow memotion, and started to trot off without waiting to see if Florian would follow. He could only waffle over it for a moment—with a stifled groan of exasperation, he squeezed his eyes shut and started the increasingly familiar shift. There was still some discomfort—he wasn't sure if he would ever get used to the sensation of his bones morphing so significantly—but it wasn't painful, the way the first shift had been.
When he opened his eyes again, he was lower to the ground and it seemed a little darker, a little less colorful; but he could hear Kade breaking into a run ahead of him—could smell his excitement. Every time he'd seen Kade's wolf form, he had been so playful—was this really the same stoic man?
He didn't have time to ruminate on it, though, as he started to trot after the wolf, who eagerly dashed away as he got closer. Florian could barely focus on his surroundings as he chased the other wolf, the world passing by in a blur of grayed-out color. His nostrils filled with the bright tangy scent of fae bodies, as the town residents went about their lives; smoke and spice from food being prepared; and herbal, earthy comfort from the nearby forest. But he pulled his attention toward the blur of movement ahead of him, and the delicate, rapid sound of big wolf paws galloping across the paved stone path and then softer earth.
When Kade's pace finally slowed, Florian nearly ran into him, barely managing to skid to a stop just short of his wagging tail. The rush of the run was still buzzing through him, and his tongue lolled from his mouth as he looked at Kade curiously. Though he had no intention of saying anything, he could smell thehappy!radiating off his own body, as clearly as if it were steam rising from a kettle set to boil. There was a flash of embarrassment when he noticed it, but Kade was panting and wagging his tail—his scent just as pleased—and that made him feel better.
Where?he thought, tilting his head. Kade nodded, tossing his own head in another clear command to follow. They trotted side by side, slow enough now that Florian realized they were no longer in town, but in the forest itself. The smells of civilization had faded away, replaced by moist earth and living plants with the occasional flash of some other living creature in the distance. It became overwhelming when he focused too heavily on it, so he tried his best to keep his attention on Kade.
They were heading uphill, on a barely-there footpath that very well may have only been a game trail. Florian eyed Kade curiously, but neither his body language nor his scent betrayed whatever he was planning.
After a few minutes of walking, Florian could see the trees thinning out a little ways ahead, where the path tapered off and the slope flattened out. It looked like a bit of an outcropping, and he thought maybe there was a good view of the town that Kade wanted to show him.
When they emerged in the clearing, it extended a few feet before dropping off quickly: less of a hill like the one they'd come up on, and more like a cliff. When he glanced at Kade, he was sniffing along the earth, but quickly turned to meet Florian's gaze. The wolf's eyes softened, like a smile, and his body started to glow as Kade shifted back to his human body.
“Shift back,” he said as he straightened up. “You can see better this way.”
Florian nodded and shifted back. Going back to his normal body was easier than becoming a wolf, so it took only a second or two for him to stand up alongside Kade, looking out past the outcropping.
As he had suspected, they had a clear vantage point of the town nestled around the castle in the distance. There was a majestic air to its spires rising up atop the steep hill it sat upon and the town curving around its ascent, cradled in the small valley created by the opposite hill.
