crossing her legs. “I’m sorry, my clothes are all in the other room; I can’t get dressed for the moment.”
“We just took our time brushing the horse, and then we walked around the square. I thought you might appreciate some time alone to relax,” Kestrel answered, perched on the other side of the mattress, trying hard not to look at the large swathes of bare skin that Merilla displayed.
“I did, I did,” she agreed. “I just lay in the water until my fingers wrinkled, and I thought about what to do next. I think I’ll go visit my parents tomorrow. They need to meet their grandchildren, and now I know I can see them and I won’t be running back to them begging for money.”
“Merilla, about the money,” Kestrel began, realizing that he hadn’t told her yet about the prospect of more money to come from the planned auction.
“I want you to take half Kestrel, please,” she replied, interrupting him, leaning towards him earnestly, causing his eyes to stray to the cleavage that came into view.
“No, Merilla, it’s all yours,” he twisted his neck rapidly to force his eyes away from the compelling sight. “And there’s going to be more,” he added.
“More? How?” she asked, so he explained the plan for the Doge and the auction, and Castona’s expectations of raising more money within the week.
She listened quietly. “I can’t imagine,” she said simply, and grew quiet. “I better get dressed and get the boys,” she said as she stood. “We’ll be back in a few minutes,” she told him, then slipped away to the other room. Minutes later she returned, wearing her dress while her boys were naked, and she plopped them into the tub.
She and Kestrel watched the boys splash and play, and she brushed her hair. After several minutes, the boys unwillingly submitted to Merilla’s scrubbing as Kestrel noticed the sky growing darker outside the window while nightfall dropped over the city.
“Shall we go find some dinner?” Kestrel suggested.
In what seemed like just moments, the two boys were dried and dressed, and the four of them were walking down a neighborhood street, stopping at vendor’s carts to sample a variety of choice items, ending with candy that left the boys with sticky fingers. Back in the room their hands were washed, and they were put to bed on their mattress. Merilla re-entered Kestrel’s room moments after the boys were still.
“I am not ready to go to sleep with them yet,” she announced. “And I can’t leave them alone up here to go out. Would you like to go downstairs and buy a bottle of wine to bring back up here and share?” she asked.
“I’ve never had wine,” Kestrel replied. “At home the wine is either swill, or it’s really good and expensive, and I’ve had neither.”
“Well, you can ask the man at the counter for a decent bottle of wine and get something affordable and good,” Merilla assured him.
And so they drank a bottle of wine that night, lying atop Kestrel’s large bed, telling one another stories about their childhood experiences, then starting to talk about their futures.
“Are you going to stay in Estone long?” Merilla asked.
“Castona said that we could get to the auction and have it over with in less than a week,” Kestrel answered, as he felt the wine coursing through his brain.
“How much longer will you stay in Estone after that?” she persisted.
“I’ll probably go home right after that,” he answered. “I don’t know what they’ll do with me when I get back; I don’t know what I want them to do.
“I never imagined that I could be comfortable being a human, you know,” he turned on his side to face her. “But these past two weeks I’ve spent with you have felt like a normal life. I talk and think and even dream in the human language!”
“What does the Elvish language sound like?” Merilla asked as she rolled to face him, the gap between them narrowed. “I’ve never heard anyone speak in Elvish.”
“Merilla, if you were not a widow, and I did not remember Lucretia, I would be wooing you with all my heart,” Kestrel said impulsively in Elvish.
“That sounded so odd! But I watched your mouth move and I heard your voice, so it must have been you,” she gave a little giggle. “What did you say?”
“It was nothing really,” Kestrel grew shy.
“Really? Because I thought I heard my name at the beginning,” she reached over to touch his chest.
He closed his eyes. “I said that if you were not a widow, and I did not remember a girl who has died, I would want to court you,” he admitted.
There was a soft grin on her face. “If I were not a widow, or even a widow of such a good man, I would welcome your courting, Kestrel, my good friend.
“Who was Lucretia? I’ve heard you mention her name before. What happened to her?” she asked.
“She was someone I met at Center Trunk. I only knew her for one day, before we were separately assigned to go elsewhere. She was killed a few months ago,” his eyes grew teary. “She longed for adventure, and went out in search of adventure, and got into an adventure that overcame her.”
“I’m sorry Kestrel,” Merilla spoke. Her hand left his chest. “Will you come back to Estone after you visit the land of the elves?”
“I don’t know; I hope so,” he replied.
“I hope so,” she replied. “I want you to.” She leaned over towards him, and they began to kiss, a kiss that became passionate, before they both withdrew and stared at one another.
“If it makes any difference, I hope you’ll come back,” she whispered.
“If it makes any difference, I want to come back,” he replied.
They remained silent atop the bed, holding hands and looking at one another.
“If I’m going to see my parents tomorrow, I better get a little sleep tonight,” Merilla said at last. She pulled back the covers and climbed within. “Good night Kestrel,” she told him as she rolled to the bed’s other side.
“Good night, Merilla,” he answered softly, his hand reaching over to gently rub her back, before he too fell asleep.
Chapter 19 — The Doge’s Palace
When they awoke in the same bed the next morning, at the same time, they both felt uncomfortable. “We shouldn’t have done that last night,” Merilla said as she looked at Kestrel. “I feel bad; it was unfair to Youkal to say and do what we did last night.”
“It was,” Kestrel agreed, sitting up. “It was the wine,” he hesitated, then finished the old saying, “and our hearts. But we both know better in the morning.”
Merilla went to check on her boys, who could be heard rustling around in the other room, and led them back into the room where Kestrel was dressing, to tell him good morning.
“We will eat some breakfast, then buy some nice new clothes, and then we will go see my parents, and see if we can begin to start a family life here in the city,” she announced, before she led the two youngsters back to the other room, where the three of them prepared to go downstairs.
“Will you join us at breakfast?” she thrust her head into Kestrel’s room as she started to head to the dining room.
Kestrel followed them to a table in a sunny corner, and they all sat down to their meal. “What will you do today?” Merilla asked. “Would you like to come meet my family?” she asked hesitantly.
Kestrel thought about the nearly intimate evening they had shared, and the implications of meeting Merilla’s family upon her return to the city. He was determined, sitting in the morning daylight, to make his return to Firheng as quickly as possible. “No, I’ll go visit Castona again, and see what he wants me to do.”
Merilla accepted his declination, and Kestrel thought he saw relief in her eyes, relief that somehow obscurely hurt his feelings. They went their separate ways after the meal, and Kestrel was treated to a daylong experience with Castona. He still felt uncomfortable in the urban environment of the city, he realized as he strolled through the streets. When he showed up at the trader’s shop he was greeted as if he were royalty, known by all the staff members as the yeti-killer. He found that the yeti remains had been locked away and guarded overnight,
