8. An Unwanted Re #3
Aria was careful to shift the baking dish away from his sticky fingers. “What do you want?”
“To walk with my dear friends the rest of the way to Romy's beautiful new abode.” Noble tucked his hands into the pockets of his coat and fell in step beside Morgan.
“Well, we were talking, and you interrupted,” said Morgan.
“Talking? About what?”
Morgan gave Aria a look. “Romy's housewarming soiree tomorrow.”
Noble snapped his fingers and said, “That's right. We'll need to stop somewhere to get a gift. On our way back tonight?” He smiled down at Aria and said, “I'll pay for the thing if you pick it out.”
“Certainly,” said Aria. “My favorite kind of shopping, that is.”
Noble laughed, and Morgan said, “Aria, you were…” He met Noble's eyes, paused, and shrugged. “Never mind. Let's hurry up. I'm sure Romy is famished after her moving day.”
The pottery store was dark and narrow, with a single window at the front that faced away from the sun.
Combined with the incense the seller burned near her seat, the dim, smoky atmosphere seemed a drastic change from the loud and vividly colored rooms of Romy's new home nearby.
It was a single detached structure—very rare for New Hieroph—made of gray brick, and pressed close to three other homes nearly identical in style.
It'd been built, at one time, for an extended family of orcish nobles to share.
They'd since moved on, and Romy was the third owner to take over the place.
Several of her dishes had been broken during the move, and Aria tugged Noble's sleeve as they passed this particular shop to get her housewarming gift for the party tomorrow. Aria made his way straight to a wall of serving platters, to a pink one shaped like a fish.
It was perfect.
Noble stepped behind him and said, “Really?”
Aria humphed. “Yes. It's her.”
“Romy is a salmon?”
Aria knocked his elbow back into Noble's stomach, and he coughed in pain. “She's a pretty fish, yes. She's a marelfine, if you didn't know.”
“Alright, alright.” Noble waved to the shopkeep. “Can we get this one wrapped as a gift?”
“Not a problem,” said the girl, hopping off her stool and making her way to the appropriate shelf. “That's a good pick. Made this when I was my most in love. Think the affection'll permeate out of it, I do.” She shuffled off to the back. “I'll wrap it for ya. Wait here.”
When she disappeared behind a taupe curtain at the back of the shop, Aria spun around to face Nobel. “You've been cheerful lately.”
“It's starting to feel like I've figured things out, a little bit. I mean, I don't know exactly how it's going to work—but.” His eyes scanned Aria's face. He lifted a hand, as if he was going to touch him, and then stopped halfway. “I’m optimistic I can make it work.”
“If you're planning your future,” said Aria, raising a brow and offering a smile, “you're missing a key component.”
“Oh?” Noble leaned forward, placing his hand upon the shelf at Aria's side, caging him in. “You got something I'm missing, then?”
Aria reached out to playfully pull at one of the dark brown ringlets that fell in front of Noble's face. “It's been a few weeks since you've gone out with someone. Maybe you should get back out there. Find that wife of yours.”
Noble's face fell. Slowly. Second by second, until he frowned. “That's not really what I've been thinking about.”
“Obviously not,” Aria said, “Not after what happened with Virginia. Who would want to invite that into their life again?” He sighed and said, “But I told you. Not all people will want your coin. There are good women out there for you.”
“I don't…” Noble began to say.
“Take someone to Romy's soiree tomorrow,” Aria suggested. Noble's face closed off entirely, then, and he stepped away. Aria added, following at his heels as he walked to the front of the shop, “I plan to. Do you remember Lord Hampenstead? We met him weeks ago.”
“The viscount?”
“That's right. I was going to take him as my double with you and Romy, but I had to put him off when you got Morgan to agree.
I'm making it up with him tomorrow, at Romy's. You should find someone too—we can make it a double-thing. Like last time.” When Noble neither turned around nor spoke, Aria reached out to touch his arm.
“The night was fun up until your former wife arrived, wasn't it?”
Noble had gone terribly still before he pulled his arm away from Aria's touch. He cleared his throat, and when he faced Aria again, his voice was feather-light. “You're right, of course. Right. Yes. Lord Hampenstead?”
“That's right.” He owned some land on the edge of the kingdom, near to the Northern Mountains. “He just moved here from Sallansa. Half-orc? Round glasses? He was a bit nervous to meet everyone at that dinner party.”
“No,” Noble said, firmly. “He wasn't nervous to speak with anyone. Just with you.”
Aria pouted as he recalled the night. “Me?”
“Because he liked you. Obviously. I didn't realize he'd actually built the gumption to ask you out.” Aria looked away, tucking hair behind his ear. Noble released an exhale, a quiet noise of understanding, and said, “You asked him. You're the one doing the chase.”
“No—” Aria started to say, uncertain why he would deny it, or why his palms sweated. “No, not quite like that. It's just—I thought he was kind, and not many nobles are that way. I asked him to call on me if he could, and when Romy told me about her soiree, I sent him a missive, and…"
“Half-orc, you said? Right.”
Aria could barely make out the words Noble muttered to himself as he continued to the front of the store. “What? What is it you—"
“I think I may be able to find a date,” Noble cut in, tone firm. When Aria circled around to face him, his gaze was distant and focused far out the shop's window like he could see ghosts upon the winter air.