CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The date of the dinner arrived. I’d spent the entire afternoon cooking and just finished setting the table with (almost) all the cutlery the kitchen possessed.
With nothing left to do, I stood near the cottage doorway, anxiously awaiting my guests.
Would they like the fish I prepared? Why hadn’t I thought to ask them what they liked to eat beforehand?
Would they be uncomfortable cramped together in such a small space?
I’d never hosted so many people in the cottage all at once.
Perhaps inviting everyone had been a mistake.
The cottage chimes rang out, interrupting my spiraling thoughts.
As soon as I opened the door, the group’s smiling faces and friendly expressions put me at ease.
Everyone was dressed more casually than our last meeting.
Farryn’s multi-colored pixie wings dazzled in the light, tucked at her back.
I got the impression that unlike Corvin and Tercel, she couldn’t vanish her wings.
Corvin stood at the front of the group, wearing a plain black tunic—still no feather cloak—and holding a large wicker basket.
“We brought this for you,” he said earnestly.
“I wanted to bring you something you could use. And you don’t have any hens on your island.
So I thought you might enjoy cooking with—”
Zorana stepped out from behind Corvin, her shadow cloak briefly shimmering at her back, before vanishing from sight once again. She elbowed Corvin in his side. “Just give it to her already.”
“I am,” he snapped back, offering it to me.
Accepting the basket, I took a quick peek inside as Corvin intently watched my face.
It contained a plethora of eggs. Not just chicken eggs though—eggs of all kinds.
Large and small. Plain and speckled. White and colorful.
Round and oval. I stared at one of the eggs near the top, which was a rather interesting shade of purple.
I smiled broadly and Corvin visibly relaxed.
“Thank you all for the gift. And welcome to my island,” I said with a wide smile, conscious that it was a sentence I so rarely had the opportunity to utter, guests being so few and far between.
Even when Kaylin was around, she rarely invited company.
She had tried on a few occasions to have people over, but it hadn’t gone well, the villagers’ discomfort too difficult to overcome.
The island made her different. Made her dangerous in their eyes.
And after meeting Edwin, she so desperately wished to be accepted by them.
“You must live somewhere with a lot of birds,” I remarked to my company with a laugh, raising the wicker basket in my hands. “I’ll try and make good use of these.”
“I suggested we bring you a live chicken instead,” Tercel said, grinning. “But nobody likes my ideas.”
At the sound of people talking, Nix came scampering out the front door.
“Bird Boy and company are here,” he announced, pressing himself against my leg.
“Yes, thank you, Nix,” I muttered, pressing a palm to my forehead. “I’m aware.”
Zorana knelt down to his level, scratching him between the ears.
He seemed surprisingly receptive to the attention.
“Hello, Nix! It’s nice to see you,” Corvin said with a hint of mild amusement.
“Please come inside,” I said, stepping back through the door. “I’d ask if I could take your cloaks, but—”
Zorana strolled into the entryway. “I like the decor,” she complimented, looking around appreciatively.
“Were you talking about my cloak just now? It’s not really a garment; at least I never take it off.
It’s a permanent part of me now, but it’s usually only visible to others when I’m actively using my magic. ”
Corvin groaned, trailing inside. “Yeah, still no cloak for me. Kygraw hasn’t given it back to me yet. Something about needing to learn the virtues of prudence and restraint. Personally, I think he’s just upset I used the Roc feather when he wasn’t there to witness its magic.”
Farryn stepped over the threshold and into the cottage.
“I think he was more upset about the unexplained phoenix feather than the absent Roc feather. He cares about your safety, Corvin. We all do. He just doesn’t want you doing anything reckless.
Like showing up with a powerful feather it made no sense for you to have.
There’s a reason we always travel in groups of three when we’re out collecting feathers.
I mean, how did you even find something so rare?
Phoenixes don’t even shed their feathers. ”
“Kitchen’s this way,” I said, heading down the hall. “The food’s ready as well.”
I lingered by the threshold as everyone took their seats, hoping they wouldn’t be put off by the mismatched chairs since I’d had to move a few in from Kaylin’s room to seat everybody.
“I’ll bring everyone’s plates to the table!
” I said, heading farther into the kitchen.
I grabbed a plate filled with smoked trout and vegetables in a fresh herb sauce.
Corvin materialized at my elbow. “Can I help?” he asked kindly, reaching for a different plate.
I gave him a soft smile. “Sure, thank you.”
Nervously, I set my plate down in front of Zorana, hoping she’d find it appetizing.
“Mmm, smells great,” she said, sticking her nose closer to the food.
Corvin placed a plate in front of Tercel and returned to the kitchen to grab another one.
Taking two plates, I suffered for my hubris, accidentally setting the first plate down a little too forcefully as I tried to keep the other balanced, causing some sauce to splatter onto the table.
“Sorry!” I yelped, relieved to see that the sauce had ended up on the table and not all over Farryn’s clothing.
“First, I destroy your dress. And now I’m attacking you with sauce.
I never got to apologize about that in person.
Thank you for loaning me your dress, and I’m sorry to have returned it the way I did. ”
Farryn wiped the excess sauce off the table with her napkin. “Please, no need to apologize. I intend to use it as an excuse to avoid the next few formal dances if I’m lucky. Really, you did me a favor,” she said with a generous smile.
I chuckled. “You don’t like to dance?”
She shrugged. “There are other ways I’d rather spend my time.”
“I bet you’d like going if Deldrach ever showed up,” Tercel teased.
“The food looks delicious,” Corvin declared, sliding into the seat next to mine with his plate, saving Farryn from responding, with the well-worn patience of someone used to breaking up his friend’s bickering.
His thoughts were almost written across his face: Can we please not do this right now.
I secretly smiled to myself, enjoying the natural flow of conversation between him and his friends.
“I hope it tastes good. Please don’t feel that you have to eat it if it ends up not being to your liking.”
“Oh, I plan on consuming every last bite,” Tercel said with a grin, cutting into the fish with his knife.
Farryn raised her fork to her mouth, swallowing her first bite. “It tastes amazing!”
“Thank you for dinner,” Corvin said, brushing my hand as he reached for his fork.
“Yes, thank you,” Zorana echoed, reaching for her silverware.
A companionable silence fell over the group as everyone began to eat their meal.
Based on the enthusiasm with which Tercel was shoveling fish into his mouth, I had to assume the food turned out alright.
Well, don’t just watch them eat…that’s weird.
Hastily, I ate a bite of fish off my plate, spearing it with my fork.
“How long have you all known each other?” I asked, bracing myself for a vague non-response.
To my pleasant surprise, Corvin answered, his voice relaxed.
“Tercel, Farryn, and I have known one another since childhood. Zorana came to live at the South Sky Tower as a teenager, and we’ve all been inseparable since.
” Farryn briefly rested her head on Zorana’s shoulder with the easy familiarity of best friends.
The gesture caused my heart to momentarily constrict in envy, wishing I could experience that same closeness.
“What made you decide to become a ternion?” I asked.
Tercel looked across at Zorana, smiling mischievously. “That’s easy—Zor begged me to be their third.”
Zorana snorted. “As if—you approached us!”
“Begged,” Tercel repeated.
Zorana shook her head, but her gaze was full of nothing but warmth when she looked back at her friends.
“I think you have a selective memory, Tercel. But I’ll be the first to admit, the three of us make an excellent team.
Farryn and I first met working in the gardens together back home.
We share an affinity for plants. And apparently, an affinity for keeping these two out of trouble.
” Zorana jerked her thumb at Tercel and Corvin.
“We’re going to be the first team to beat out Grodin’s ternion.
Between Farryn’s uncanny ability to always know what to do, and Tercel’s blatant disregard for his own well-being—”
Tercel huffed a short laugh. “My fearlessness, you mean.”
“Whatever you want to call it. My point is—we’re the ternion to watch.”
“I believe it,” I said, my smile broad and sincere, impressed by the ferocity driving her words.