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“Thank you,” Cricket said finally, her voice barely a whisper.
“No, thank you,” said Edric. “It has been too long since I have sung that song. And it is good to have another share it.”
“Even a half-elf?” Cricket said, somewhat rueful.
Edric reached out and placed his hand on her knee. She allowed the contact, for she knew it meant merely friendship. “The same elven blood flows through both our veins, my dear.”
“Only yours is pure, while mine is mixed.”
“Perhaps, but yours is no less red than mine,” said Edric with a smile, giving her knee a reassuring pat before removing his hand. “And in a place like this, what do bloodlines matter?”
“In a place like this, perhaps they don’t,” Cricket replied with a shrug of resignation. “But there are places where they do matter very much.”
“Was it your father who was human, or your mother?” Edric asked.
“My father.”
“Ah, so your mother was tribal, then.”
“Yes, how did you know?”
“It took no great powers of deduction,” Edric said. “In cities, elves are less clannish, and those of mixed blood are not uncommon, whereas in desert-dwelling tribes, such things are not easily accepted.”
“No,” she said, softly, “they are not.”
“And do your parents still live?”
“My mother died five years ago, old before her time from laboring as a scullery maid in a tavern owned by humans. I never knew my father.”
Edric nodded. “Regrettably, such things are not uncommon these days, either.”
“Were you ever tribal?”
“Once, many years ago, but that was in another lifetime,” he replied.
“Why did you leave?”
He shrugged. “I fell in love.”
“Ah.” She smiled. “With an elf girl from the city? A half-elf woman, perhaps?”
“Worse than that, I fear,” he said, smiling. “With a human man.”
“Oh,” said Cricket, with surprise. And then she chuckled.
Edric raised his eyebrows. “That amuses you?”
“No, forgive me,” she said. “You misunderstand. That was not the reason I laughed.”
“Then, pray, enlighten me.”
“It’s only that Rikka will be crushed,” said Cricket. “She has had her eye on you, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“Rikka is the tall one, with the dark hair and the large…?” Edric pantomimed the features.
“That’s Rikka,” Cricket said with a grin. “She thought you were avoiding her because she is Turin’s favorite.”
“Ah. Well… that was not the only reason.”
