Fell was still smiling.“I am lucky she has not struck me down already.”
So began a night of reckless fun.We played Two Cups and each time the egg came for one of my goblets, Fell caught it and paid my attacker back three times over.When we played another game, and the winner of each round gave out two drinks, Fell would defer to me when it was his turn to dole: “Who should drink?”I spilled mead on him, and he didn’t mind in the least.I got drunk enough that twice I forgot what language I was speaking and told a full story in Islish.Fell frowned and nodded along and commented as if he could understand me.“No!What next?You did not…” until I realized my error.
When everyone was drunk enough to forget the pains of the brawl, we played a hiding game, which was my specialty.I’d won every single time I played with the court as I was exceptional at finding places no one thought to look, so I never had to dash away and outrun my hunter.I simply waited until the game was over in my superior hiding position.But in our drunkenness, Fell and I hid together beneath a clothed table in one of King Arik’s sculpture rooms.It was a terrible hiding place.Obvious in every way.The first place anyone would think to look immediately upon entering the room—and not far at all from our starting positions either.But it was big enough for both of us—just barely.Our knees were almost touching.I looked at him and he looked at me and it seemed impossible that being looked at could feel so good, but it kept happening, and I was too drunk to question the lightness of the feeling.
Broder was the one seeking people out to begin with.(The rules of the game dictated that every found person must join in the hunt for the others, so eventually everyone would be looking for the one remaining hiding person, but to start, one person would be wandering around looking for anyone.) Broder’s drunken steps were shuffled and obvious as he sang, “I know there is someone hiding here.Come out now, or I will drag you out…”
I’m certain my expression said to Fell,we will be found any moment now.The room wasn’t large, and there were very few places a person could fit.
Fell’s eyes widened.
The corners of his mouth twitched in a way that let me know he knew something I didn’t.
And then the brazen fool shot out from our shared hiding place, and ran for the door, drawing Broder away.I heard Broder charge after him, cawing like a hawk, and the two of them colliding in the hall.And though Fell knew where I was, he didn’t reveal my place now that he was hunting as well.
I pulled my knees against my chest and tucked my chin in and felt warm and weightless and as soft as lamb’s wool.I felt protected and noticed and a hundred other naive, silly, girlish things.
Twenty-Three
Iwas not the only one to be softened by Fell’s return.I came into King Arik’s study the morning after Fell and those I’d befriended had wrestled with those I’d annoyed, and found the king absent.I waited and waited.Then I waited some more.Finally, our usual hour passed, and I grew hungry.I wandered to one of the smaller halls where berries and honeyed tea could be found in the early hours of the morning.
Ivar had been insisting I drink hawthorn tea for many days; when I asked why, he’d glared and said, “I am a healer, can you not trust me?You are imbalanced.”So, I sought out that tea, enjoying the rich, rosy taste of it and how my chest from the collarbone all the way to the end of my rib cage felt warmed by it.As I sipped my tea, holding the clay vessel up to my chin to feel the heat of the steam on my face—I remembered‚ not with my mind, but with my body—the sweetness of the evening before.The sensation of hiding under the table with Fell.The feeling of being protected by someone, even if it were just from losing a silly game.
The hall was empty apart from those laying out the morning meal and a father who was being dragged around by his teeny daughter.The man looked utterly miserable with the experience of being awake, while his daughter happily rambled about rabbits.I revelled in it; the freshness of morning air, the comfort of slow quiet, the oblong beams of light on the floor from the three windows.
When my tea was half complete, I heard a giggle in one of the nearby alcoves and King Arik’s stern voice.“What hour is it?The young woman is probably waiting for me.”
I hopped from my chair and found my way to the alcove, peering around the corner slowly, ready to look away quickly should I find someone indisposed, which happened a lot with the alcoves.King Arik and Fell were sitting among the pillows, drinking what I hoped was milk (the king drank milk every morning) but very well could have been spirits carried on from the evening before.Fell was leaning very far to one side with three pillows beneath his shoulder to keep him at the strange angle.
“Iwaswaiting,” I said, feeling very Norsern because of how teasing my tone was.“But I gave up on you and came to eat.”
The king smiled as he looked up at me with bright eyes.“That was quite the show you caused last evening.”
I pursed my lips.“I wouldn’t sayIcaused it.”
Fell began to laugh but winced.
The king struck him playfully.“Just be still, let your shoulder find its resting place.”
I quickly understood that Fell was lying so strangely because he was sore from the evening before.Please don’t hate me, I thought.
Fell frowned.“She has come to take you away, but it is not fair.You are my king too—my king first indeed—the mornings used to be for my lessons.”
King Arik snorted.“Yes, but you never attended.”
They both laughed, and Fell winced once more.
“He exaggerates,” Fell said when he finally caught his breath, his eyes prancing to me and then back to the king, whose mouth was open—ready to contest the statement.“I came at least twice.You taught me about the crab man.”
The king frowned.“What?”
“The man who collected different crabs and painted them and then let them go to study how they travelled.”
King Arik snorted again.“Ah, yes, a most valuable lesson.”
“It was,” Fell said matter-of-factly.“I think of it often.Every time I see a crab, I wonder where it is going, and I think,ah, that crab man might know.”
They both laughed again—laughingcæliken—how you laughed when you were with your closest friend, like no one else was watching.
