7. Chapter 7 The Hen #3
"I'm not. Which is why I'm here eating eggs at a frontier inn instead of attending a capital gala in a dress I can't breathe in.
" She picked up her fork again. "My family has money.
Old money. The kind that comes with expectations.
I chose the road because the road doesn't give a damn what your mother thinks. "
"I like that about you."
"Which part?"
"All of it. The fact that you had every reason to sit in a mansion and be comfortable and you chose this instead. That's not nothing."
Sif looked at me. The teasing and the flirtation were still there, always there, but for a second they dropped away. The same look she'd given me on the walk back from the Brood Mother fight, unguarded and real.
"Don't get sentimental on me," she said. "I'm not a sad story. I'm a rich girl who likes stabbing things. There's a difference."
"There is not a difference."
"We already used that joke."
"It was good enough to use twice."
She laughed. Under the table, she pressed her foot against mine and left it there.
We finished the food. Brenna circled back once more to refill coffee and ask if we needed anything else.
Sif told her the bacon was better than anything she'd eaten in the capital, and Brenna said the secret was cooking it slow and not overthinking it, and Sif said that was good advice for most things in life.
I left coin on the table, enough to cover the meal and extra. Brenna glanced at the coins and gave me the look she always gave me, the one that said the tip was too much. She deserved it.
"Come back soon," she said with a small wave.
"I will. Take care of yourself, Brenna."
"Always do."
The walk back was brighter than the walk out. The sun had cleared the buildings and the avenue was full of morning traffic, carts and people on foot and the sound of Larg's hammer ringing from the smithy. The air had warmed enough that the frost was gone from the cobblestones.
Sif walked close to me, closer than she had on the way over. Her shoulder brushed mine when the crowd pushed us together and she didn't correct it.
"Thank you for breakfast."
"Thank you for the company. I had a really good time this morning."
"You sound surprised."
"I'm not surprised. I'm just saying it was nice. Just the two of us. I don't get that with you very often."
She looked up at me. Her blue eyes caught the morning light and held it. "You can have it whenever you want. All you have to do is ask."
She touched my arm, her fingers resting there, light and sure. Then she pulled them back and kept walking, and I could still feel where they'd been.
She looked at my crotch all of a sudden. “I see your boner is missing in action.”
“You actually looked at my dick while there are children running around?”
“They don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Kids know more than you think. Please behave… at least until we get back to the apartment.”
“I’ll try.”
The apartment door was open when we came up the stairs.
Bjorna was at the trestle table with the blackstone discs spread in front of her and a piece of chalk in her hand, making notes on the slate.
Nott sat on the bench under the east window with a cloth bag at her feet and a small wrapped bundle in her lap.
"How's the shield?" Sif said from the doorway.
"Larg says the blackstone is good quality. He can reinforce the face and add a lip along the bottom edge. It'll take him the rest of the afternoon. It should be ready for the dungeon. He's keeping the two best discs to start the work." Bjorna looked up from the slate. "Where have you been?"
"Brown Hen. Daniel bought me breakfast."
"Lucky you." Bjorna's voice was dry. She went back to the slate.
"Nott, did you find what you needed?" I asked.
Nott unwrapped the bundle in her lap and held up a small crystal, deep amber, the size of the tip of her thumb. "Amplification grade. Mildred had three in stock. I bought two."
"What do they do?"
"They make things louder." She wrapped the crystal back up with precise fingers. "In the way that matters."
I shook my head. “I have no idea what that means, but I’m sure I’ll see it soon.”
“You will,” Nott replied nonchalantly.
Sif dropped onto the bench beside Nott and pulled one knee up. "Is Liv still asleep?"
I checked the door to Liv's room. It was closed. I pushed it open. The blanket was in exactly the same position it had been in when I'd left. One ear was visible at the edge of the wool, perfectly still.
"She hasn't moved."
"Gods," Sif said. "How is she alive?"
"Rabbit-kin conserve energy," Nott said, without looking up from her crystals.
"She's not conserving energy. She's in a coma,” Sif replied.
I snorted. “Hopefully Liv wakes up before sundown at least.”
"She'll be up by noon," Bjorna said. "She always is. She just takes her time getting there."
"Noon is generous," Sif said. "I've seen boulders with more morning ambition."
Bjorna's mouth twitched. She picked the chalk back up and made another note on the slate.
I plopped down on the bench and exhaled. “So we’re really doing this.”
“Absolutely. We’ll be fine,” Bjorna replied without looking at me.
“What if we’re not?”
“Well, we open a portal scroll and leave. Simple.”
“If you say so.”
“I do.”