Chapter 10
ELOWIN
After breakfast, Sparrow and I returned to the market.
The balloon rides left from the northwest corner of the market near Kidd Kidderson’s Killer Kart Kare, from a field that was empty except for the carts that the balloon was kept tethered to for safety’s sake.
There was a lot of bustle in this corner of the market; all the gearheads usually congregated here after visiting the nearby tool and tech stalls.
And it wasn’t just the Gearwick elves who filled the place.
This was where elves came to get their carts and wagons repaired or to buy new ones, to send communications or goods through the messengers and couriers who hawked for business, or simply to gawk at the colorful balloons that hung in the sky like leaves floating on water.
Sparrow’s face was bright with anticipation as we joined the small line waiting for a ride.
A woman came along and sold us tickets, and Sparrow held his like it was a treasure while I pretended not to notice how short the line was and how soon we’d be in the air.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like heights—I was fine with heights.
It was the lack of anything solid under my feet that I didn’t enjoy.
But Sparrow was so eager to get aboard that I didn’t tell him I wasn’t sure my breakfast would survive the trip.
Eventually, we reached the front of the line just as one of the crew guided the balloon to the ground, where it landed with a gentle thump. After a few moments the previous passengers exited the large rectangular basket, all smiling and chattering among themselves. Then it was our turn.
I gripped the side of the basket tightly as I clambered aboard, then helped Sparrow climb over the side.
The crew member took our tickets and we shuffled along as another group of elves boarded.
Once the basket was full, I tried to find us a spot that was a safe distance from the edge and carried less risk of leaning too far over the side.
But there was a gap right at the front of the basket, and Sparrow noticed it right away.
“Can we stand there?” he asked, tugging me toward the spot before I could refuse.
I wouldn’t have refused anyway, despite how much I wanted to, because he was so excited.
We slowly became airborne, and even from here the ground looked a very, very long way away. The wind caught in my clothes and tugged at the strands of hair that had escaped my braid. I was glad Sparrow’s hair was still braided too; otherwise it would have lashed us both in the face.
He leaned on the rail, and I stood beside him. I wished that the rail felt more solid, but it could have been made of iron and I still would have panicked that it was flimsy.
When all of the passengers were settled, the crew member untied us from the platform. With a shudder and a lurch, like an eel slithering into a stream, we were off, floating upward.
“Oh!” Sparrow leaned out farther, and I held the back of his tunic. “This must be how it feels to be a bird!”
We rose into the sky on an updraft, the central burner hissing and roaring as it belched out flames, and suddenly the market was laid out below us like a patterned quilt, its panels intersected by the roads that cut their way through the different areas.
The sunlight gleamed on the magnificent rooftops of the Ceremonial Pavilion and the Marketplace Pavilion, each section reflecting the light like the facets of a pair of cut jewels.
At the southern end of the market, past the livestock paddocks, the campgrounds were a jumbled mess of color and chaos.
I caught sight of what could have been Silrisar’s wagons, but it was hard to tell as they receded rapidly into the distance.
The Glaesflod Islands came into view, and then the roads and fields and woods that surrounded the market.
I tried to distract myself from the sights below by watching Sparrow instead, and the sheer happiness that lit up his features somehow made every minute of the gut-lurching ride worth it. I breathed in and out slowly and kept my gaze fixed on his face.
A horse pulling a cart trudged down the road heading for the Glaesflod Bridge, and Sparrow, delighted, pointed. “It’s so small!”
I looked down and nodded, my fingers gripping his tunic so tightly that my fingertips were bleached white. The ropes tethering us to the ground looked as thin and insubstantial as cobwebs.
A gust of wind caught us, and the roar of the flames changed pitch as the driver steered us through it. The basket dipped for a moment, and my stomach swooped. Sparrow beamed, and I squeezed my eyes shut and tried not to be sick.
“Elowin?”
I opened my eyes to find he’d turned to face me.
“You’ve gone very pale. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” I lied.
His hands sought mine. “We can move away from the edge if you’d prefer?”
“No,” I said. “You like it here.”
He tilted his head and showed me a puzzled smile. “I’m sure I’ll like it further in as well.” He tugged on my hands. “Come on!”
He pulled me toward the centre of the basket, and kept his hand in mine as we shuffled into a less vulnerable spot. His gaze was immediately drawn to the view; mine found the floor in the hopes I could convince my stomach that we were just in a normal room.
“Thank you for bringing me,” he said, his voice soft and earnest. “Especially since you’re clearly hating it.”
I laughed under my breath despite myself. “You’re welcome, Sparrow. Can you distract me by telling me all about your favorite birds, please?”
And he squeezed my hand and stood with me, and the rest of the flight turned out to be not quite as terrifying when I spent it listening to Sparrow chattering on about birds until we finally landed.
Ifelt a lot better once I had my feet back on the ground. Sparrow and I explored the market again. There was always something new to discover.
We were walking toward the food stalls when a familiar voice called, “How goes it, Sparrow?”
We turned to see Silrisar hailing us from his market stall.
He was wearing a loose vest that was all the colors of the rainbow with no shirt underneath, and his nipple rings gleamed in the sunlight.
His stall was filled with row upon row of carefully drawn artwork, both in color and black and white, and Sparrow’s eyes lit up when he realized what they were. “Oh, you do tattoos? How interesting!”
“And piercings,” Silrisar said with an easy smile. “I farm cattle most of the time, but a week at the markets makes me enough to buy new livestock and enough seed for the year before I go home. People pay good money for my art.”
We chatted for a while. Silrisar showed me some of his designs up close while Sparrow gazed wistfully at the racks of gold and silver rings on display. Silrisar noticed him looking and said, “Want something pierced? First one’s free for anyone from Hillstowe.”
Sparrow worried at his bottom lip as he considered it and for a moment I was convinced he’d take the offer, but in the end he shook his head.
“Come and see me if you change your mind,” Silrisar said cheerfully, and we bid him farewell.
We bought lunch from one of the many food stalls and went and shared it with Rowan and Teon. Teon was still helping Rowan out at her stall. They said they liked to be useful, but I knew Teon too well for that. What they really liked was to critique other elves’ fashion sense.
“Careful,” I said as we shared a plate of egg and cheese tarts. “Or Rowan’s husbands will get jealous!”
Teon laughed. “If those boys can’t handle the competition, that’s their problem.”
Sparrow’s jaw dropped, and he asked, “How many husbands do you have, Rowan?”
“Two,” Rowan said, her smile fond. She loved the market, and it was a wonderful opportunity for her business, but I knew she missed her husbands. Unfortunately, both Aran and Finhad were stuck in Emberleigh with the bookshop they ran.
Teon gave an exaggerated leer. “But if there’s a position open for a third spouse, I’m always happy to apply. Elowin could give you an excellent testimonial.” They blinked at the looks both Rowan and I gave them. “Too far?”
“Too far,” I agreed, and Rowan snorted with laughter. Even Sparrow laughed.
Later, as we walked through the streets of the market, Sparrow said, “Is it very usual to have more than one spouse?”
“It’s not unusual,” I said, remembering he’d asked a similar question the morning in the tavern when Celeradona had stripped off her shirt in front of him to wash.
He chewed his lower lip for a moment and nodded seriously. “I think that the world is very different than my parents told me.”
“I think that things have changed a lot since the Fyreham Lathian was introduced,” I agreed and added, in what I hoped was a diplomatic way, “And that maybe it takes a while for that change to become known in places like Hillstowe.”
“That is a very kind way of saying that I’ve been very sheltered,” Sparrow said, his mouth quirking wryly before his expression became serious again. “There are a lot of times you could have made fun of me, but you haven’t.”
“Why would I make fun of you?” I asked him.
He gave me a rueful smile. “The way I wear my hair, the ruffles and velvet on my clothes, and how I blush as bright as a scarlet tanager when I see breasts?”
“Is that a type of bird?” I asked him and he nodded.
“So, those things aren’t you. Well, perhaps the blushing part, but that’s part of what I like about you.
You weren’t rude to Celeradona when you saw her washing, and you weren’t offended because you thought she was doing something improper.
You adjusted what you thought you knew with what you know now, and then you barely blinked at a stream full of naked elves.
You are clever, and kind, and open to learning new things. Why would I make fun of any of that?”
“You say that like I’m special,” he said, his brow creasing.
“You are special,” I said. “I’ve never met anyone like you, Sparrow.”
He blinked rapidly, his eyes shining. “You’re special too, Elowin, and kind. I would have been lost without you to help me. I couldn’t have asked for a better companion to bring me all the way here from Hillstowe.”
“Even if I didn’t bring a carriage?”
“Especially,” Sparrow said. “If we’d been in a carriage, I wouldn’t have seen so many birds and animals along the way, and I wouldn’t have gotten to spend as much time with you.”
I reached forward and tugged his braid. “Wouldn’t have got your hair caught in a bush either.”
“Worth it,” Sparrow said and went up on his tiptoes to press a quick kiss to my mouth. When he moved back again, his cheeks were pink. “I know it’s forward of me to ask, but it’s not just kissing that’s allowed before marriage, is it?”
My throat felt dry. “No.”
“I like you, Elowin.” His hand found mine, his thumb skating over the skittering pulse in my wrist. “Can we do more than kissing? I want to make love with you.”
“I thought we were going to look for that stall you saw yesterday that sold the purses in the shape of animals,” I said stupidly.
Sparrow wrinkled his nose and blinked up at me. “Those were nice, yes, but I’d rather make love with you.”
He was naive in so very many ways, but there wasn’t a shadow of artifice in him.
And I discovered that for all the reasons this was a bad idea—my fast-falling heart foremost amongst them—there was no power in all elvendom that could allow me to refuse him anything he wanted that was in my ability to give him.
I nodded and squeezed his hand. “I’d like that too, Sparrow. More than anything.”
We headed back toward the inn.