He bought me one drink.And then another.And one for Dania as well.
His name was Geryn.He told us he worked for a salt merchant.That sometimes he went to the Isle in a roundabout way—delivering goods to one place and from there going to our country.That sometimes he brought Islish goods back to the market in Aalt.
Dania rolled her eyes at me when the man went to piss.“He has invited you to bed him a hundred times.”
I was under the impression he hadn’t invited me anywhere even once.
“Mira, you are hopeless.Do you want to be naked with that man?”
“No,” I said, giggling because I was the kind of drunk that made everything funny, even Dania’s frustration.
She laughed at me.“You must let him know.He has devoted two hours of his night to you.This is Reedman all over again.”
I gave Geryn less attention, choosing to focus on Hald who was jumping up and down, screeching with the music, stamping his little feet as fast as he could.Geryn was gone elsewhere quickly.And suddenly, Fell was near.Had he been giving us space, but when I stopped appearing interested in Geryn, he’d returned?Had he noticed I was hoping Geryn would leave us alone and come closer?I couldn’t figure it, so I stopped trying, opting to drink and dance with my eyes closed, feeling the rush of music with my whole being.
It was hot and smelled of sea and sweat where the dancing was the fiercest, and there came a point when my legs and lungs were exhausted, but the party still roared to life around me.I wanted to walk away from where the dancing was the tightest so I could see it all, so I could remember the look of it.
I walked a little, finding a large stone protruding from the sea beneath the ever-creaking docks.
Ah, a steady viewpoint, I thought drunkenly, which seemed a very Norsern thought to have.I climbed up the little height, not at all worried I would fall despite my drunkenness.
I watched the dancing, too tired to even sway with the music.Alive, I kept thinking.Everyone is so very alive.
And then Fell caught my eyes.He came out of the crowd and toward me, gleaming in sweat, grinning like the drunk fool he was.His steps were even more lazy and meandering than usual.
“Where did your tunic go?”I said sternly when he was close enough to hear me over the din.
His grin didn’t fade.“I have it here!”He lifted a bundle of linen tucked into his belt.He leaned against the rock I sat on, resting his elbows behind him on the stone, leaving me speechless in a dozen different ways.
Do not stare at his chest, I told myself.And I think I did fairly well with that.
“You tell me when you are tired,” Fell said.“I will go back to the palace with you.”
I caught a glimpse of Dania’s face in the crowd.Her eyes widened teasingly, but also tellingly.I glared fiercely at her.I would not have her expression revealing to everyone—including Fell—that I was dizzy with his attention.Wild with it.
When I looked back at Fell, he was still looking at me.
“You are not cold?”he said, his voice a little quieter than before.
I shook my head.“It is a very warm night.”
“But you are from the Land of Mud and Mist.These people are always cold…” He trailed off, his voice even quieter as he stared at me.
I felt like I were being fearless, like there was only water around me and any sudden movement might leave me sinking.My eyes flicked to his lips and then back to his eyes, my cheeks heating, terrified he would know I had noticed his lips.
The music kept playing, and we kept looking at each other, but then he looked away and the enchantment between us was broken enough that I could breathe.
“I will speak of the ship on the mountain,” he said, rolling his eyes playfully to the side.There was a hint of true bashfulness in the gesture, but mostly play.
“The what?”
“The ship… Ah, it means, if we were looking at the mountains and there was a ship atop one… we would both notice it, correct?As it is a very noticeable thing.”
The corners of my mouth lifted.I held the laugh in, not wanting to make fun of his language, but his face showed me that he understood how strange a concept it was as he was explaining it, so I think if I had laughed, he wouldn’t have been offended.Fell was famously difficult to offend.
I stilled myself and listened, ecstatic that we’d somehow managed to be alone and talking.
He said, “I find you interesting.And… I can guess only, but you seem to… at least be interested enough in me to spend some of your time with me.”
