Chapter 12
Twelve
Pearl Street
Puko cawed in my ear. A startling wake-up call, especially since it took me a moment to recognize the room.
It had been so long since the outpost that the softness of my bed had been a problem to sleep on.
I had thrown the linens on the floor at some point and curled up on my side near the edge of the mattress.
The pillows I had thrown against the wall in my sleep.
All I could see when I opened my eyes were the long black tail feathers of an annoying bird. He pecked my nose and flapped away out the balcony window. Groaning, I stretched out my stiff back and got ready for the day.
I studied the hallway as I walked along.
I had walked on rugs but never carpet before coming here.
I ran my fingers over the ornately carved frames that held paintings of strange fae.
The other doors, like my own, were a solid color, but the doorframes were all painted with wildflowers.
Every other lantern in the hall was lit.
Just enough light to mix with the rising sun and make it bright enough to see where you were going.
By the time I had reached the end of the hall and the top of the stairs, my stomach growled. So downstairs I went.
The sun didn’t reach quite this far down yet, and the great fireplace had to be lit for both warmth and light. I heard birds outside, and the rustling of leaves in the wind. Activity from the kitchen drew my interest.
“Wren, please come have some breakfast,” a light voice sang through the great room from the doorway opposite me.
The voice wasn’t one I knew, but I also heard the unmistakable grunt of Thain when he didn’t wait for his tea to cool.
If Thain was there, it was probably a friend.
Though, I wasn’t sure how to feel that they were already calling me by name.
The kitchen was large. One end of the room held the cookstove and shelves of storage.
A carved lattice of white wood divided the working end from the rest of the room, which held a table under a window to the garden.
Thain gestured me to sit with him, and I did.
Bowls of fruit and strange oatcakes were spread before me.
“Sleep well?” Thain put an oatcake on the plate in front of me.
“Yes, thank you,” I said, inhaling the aroma from the warm pastry.
“Hmm.” Thain frowned and drank his tea, looking directly at what must have been tired circles beneath my eyes.
“Well,” I admitted, “the bed is a little soft after all those nights on the road. I’ll get used to it.” Softer than sleeping on the road. Softer than my hay bed from home.
Thain laughed, that low, feral joy of his that used to frighten me. “After weeks on the road, a bed can be too much.”
“You are welcome to sleep out under my tree.”
I had nearly forgotten the other voice in the room when I turned to see another tree person. She could have been Wairen’s sister. Pale and tall and standing up straight. A birch fae. If she’d stood still, I would have thought she was growing through the kitchen floor.
“No, thank you.” I watched her move in that same stiff way Wairen did; perhaps it was a dryad trait. “I didn’t know there were more people in the house. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Yes, it is nice to meet you again.” The birch fae nodded her head and moved toward the window that looked out into the yard.
“That is Wairen,” Thain said. “The tree sprites don’t understand male and female the way we do. What does a tree care for ‘that sort of nonsense,’ as Wairen puts it. I believe they think you will be more comfortable around someone more female in appearance.”
“Oh.” I stared after Wairen, who was now watching something out the window.
“Wairen is a wealth of knowledge and would likely be better company than me.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I turned to my plate and tasted the warm oatcake. Like everything else in the Autumn Lands, it was a new wonder to experience. I bit into it, the softness surprising me as a drizzle of honey hit my tongue.
“The king wants to meet you this afternoon.” Thain drained his tea and sat back in his chair. “As for this morning, we’re going to find you some clothes.”
“I couldn’t, I don’t have enough money. Besides, Eberon already gave me so many things.”
“Clothes you feel comfortable wearing,” Thain clarified. “Something you chose for yourself.”
Nearly choking on my tea, I cleared my throat. “For someone of so few words, you are shamelessly observant.”
The barest hint of amusement crinkled around the corners of his eyes.
Bryn had been a jovial man. He could not get enough of a good story, he knew no strangers, and he was quick to offer help.
Observant, however, he was not. Mila was the most practical person I knew: if it wasn’t essential, it wasn’t important.
But Thain, who I could still barely get a read on, was forever pointing out the smallest things.
I wonder if anyone pays as close attention to Thain as he does to the rest of us?
I finished my cake and ate another while watching the breeze tickle the garden.
In the mountains, we wore loose breeches to the knees and plainly cut tunics with little shape to them.
Even the dresses were simple and formless, in a freeing way that allowed movement.
From what I had seen of the city so far, I was in for something very different.
I traced the delicate lip of my cup with a finger as I ate the last few bites of oatcake.
When I was done, I thanked Wairen and headed toward the door.
Thain was dressed simply in black, standing by the window as he watched the street outside. He wore the same sort of thing he did while traveling through the mountains, and he looked more ready for an adventure than a trip to the market. I held back a smile and walked up to him.
He opened the door for me, and we walked into a haze of falling leaves. Smoke wafted overhead, carrying the smells of morning baking and burning sandalwood. Thain took us not too far from his home to the busiest street I had seen so far.
Fountains and benches lazed under the trees. Shops of every sort welcomed the heavy flow of traffic through their doors, and market carts shouted for nearby business.
My mouth hung open in awe. How had we been so close to such a market without all that noise bothering us? Fae of feathers, fur, and a rainbow of hues walked around us on the crowded cobblestones.
Several curious onlookers paused or slowed down to openly stare at me, but I had become skilled in avoiding eye contact, and thankfully none approached us.
Thain guided me to the side of the street. We walked where there was slightly less of a bustling crowd, and I turned my attention back to the amazing shops around us.
Almost all of them had glass windows and held wonders inside.
I could get lost forever in the depths of what I learned was called Pearl Street.
I stopped to watch a carver working on the most beautiful stone statues in the window of a dark green shop.
Flakes and dust from the red stone he carved covered the floor and his apron.
“If you’d like to watch, we can come back later. Schula is expecting us, but I’m sure she wouldn’t mind coming back here,” Thain offered.
“Schula?” I asked.
He shrugged. “If you wish, I could try to advise you on clothing, but Schula has the more discerning eye.”
“No, I would love her help.” I took one last look in the shop window as we continued on the path we had been on. “I’m sorry, it’s all a bit distracting.”
“Have you ever seen such a skilled carver before?” Thain asked. “Thanantholl is famous for our craftsmen.”
I thought of Bryn and my little carved bowl back at Thain’s house. Self-taught and always trying new things with his carvings, each thing he made was different from the last. “I like to think so.”
Suddenly, I didn’t want to watch the carver anymore.
We walked on in silence, and I tried to force my mood back to pleasant.
I didn’t want to be the dark cloud hanging over this happy market.
A happy market I imagined myself walking through on lazy afternoons.
Maybe one where I could be a familiar face with my favorite shopkeepers, just as Bryn had been.
My association with him had never gained me the same warm greetings and secretive samples of new items, but I’d watched every one of them all the same.
Here. I wanted that here.
We resumed watching the shops ahead until I spied a familiar silhouette.
“I think I see Schula.” My eyes had drifted toward a large shop with bright green shutters. Each window had a little wooden box under it where yellow flowers dripped down, reaching for the ground with buttery petals. A still white figure stood outside, eyes roaming the streets around her.
“You’re right.” Thain followed my gaze.
Schula spotted us before we reached her. She gave us a small smile and pushed off the building she was leaning on to meet us halfway there.
“Hello, Wren. Are you ready to do some shopping?” she asked, taking my hands.
“I think so. I don’t have a lot of coin, and I don’t know if the fae will accept human currency, but I have some bronze pieces and two silver coins that could be melted down.” I reached for the pouch in my pocket. Schula swatted my hand off course and wagged a finger at me.
“No, no, no, that’s not how this works.” She slung an arm around my neck and gestured to the store behind her. “You see, I’m to dress you properly and make sure you’re ready for your debut tonight, and it’s all on the king’s bill.”
“How?” Thain asked, crossing his arms.
My eyes nearly popped out of my head. The clothing in the windows behind her was impressive. Tiny embroidered details and gold finishing threatened to give me a heart attack. “I can’t accept something like that!”
Schula pulled her lips between her teeth for a moment, following my gaze to the window of clothes. “Well, I’m persuasive. And he likes me. Or he likes that I irk my father. It doesn’t matter; just know we have the king’s tab to fill.”
“Schula,” I started, “I really can’t, this is too much.”
She gave a dramatic sigh. “I’ll just go back and tell King Baeleon you refused his hospitality, shall I?”
My back stiffened. “No, no, that does sound worse.” I knew I was being backed into a corner, but I wasn’t about to offend a king. “We can pick something out. I’m sorry, I’ll go in.”
Schula clapped triumphantly. “Good, let’s go. Come on, Thain, you can carry our bags.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Well, I can’t come to my favorite shop and not get a thing or two myself, can I?” Schula patted Thain on his giant muscled shoulders. “Come along now, Baeleon’s orders.”
And with that, I was pulled inside the bright storefront.