“Are you ready Geile?” Kestrel asked. The bearer nodded silent agreement, and Kestrel replaced all his traveling goods back across his shoulder, then grunted as he lifted one of the bags of gold.
“You have been a great help, Castona,” Kestrel said. He liked the merchant, and trusted him, for the most part. “I’ll tell Arlen that you were a big help.”
Together Kestrel and his temporary associate left the shop, and Kestrel led Geile immediately to the Estone Shippers Bank, where he deposited all but five golds in Merilla’s account, then dismissed Geile, and gave him a silver as a token of thanks. With the five remaining golds in a pouch on his belt, Kestrel took his time walking through the human city towards Merilla’s home. These humans were his people now, in a sense, strange as that sounded. Yet it seemed plausible, too. He’d lived a few days in the city and grown mostly accustomed to it, after spending the long journey through the wilderness with Merilla and her boys, acting as a human.
What would he do if Kai tried to compel him to fight against the Elves? Would he argue the reasons not to? Would he refuse, and be struck down? Would he ask for a different champion to be chosen? He had no idea what choice he would make, even up to deciding to fight for the humans.
As he turned the corner, he saw the bright sign above the door to Merilla’s family business, and he knew that he was only minutes away from parting ways with her. It would be the hardest moment of the whole adventure, even harder than saying farewell to Artur, for Kestrel had no choice in that matter, whereas now he was setting his own path away from this special human woman, compelled only by his own internal confusion and need to find answers.
At the door to the shop he paused to unload one of his skins of healing water, then carried it in his hand as he entered the shop.
“Is Merilla at hand?” he asked a man at the counter.
“She’s not here at the moment,” the slender, stooped man replied pleasantly.
“Are you her father?” Kestrel asked.
“I am. Daley is my name; and who are you?” he asked.
“My name is Kestrel. I traveled through the wilderness with your daughter,” Kestrel explained.
“Of course, of course,” Daley replied. “We appreciate your kindness towards our daughter and grandsons. We thought we lost her years ago, and never knew we had them until you brought them back to civilization.
“They’re over at the other home, the one that Merilla thinks will be hers, with a few friends,” he told Kestrel. “I’ve got to stay here and mind the store, of course, and I’m not sure that I don’t mind missing all the hens talking among themselves,” he winked. “You go on over and see Merilla; she’s be so happy to see you again,” he directed, as the shop door opened with the arrival of a customer.
Kestrel left the shop and stepped around the corner, then entered the empty leather shop and let himself upstairs. He opened the door, and found himself under the scrutiny of Merilla and her mother, as well as Hammon the leather monger, and five other women as well.
The room was silent as Kestrel stood in the doorway, confused by the crowd, when he only wanted a private conversation with Merilla.
“Well young man, weren’t you somewhere around the palace yesterday? What do you think of these preposterous stories about what happened there?” Merilla’s mother broke the ice.
Kestel looked around at the faces that seemed closed in universal disapproval, except for Merilla’s own, which looked at him with a sad and sympathetic smile.
“Rumor rarely gets the story right,” Kestrel answered after a moment to consider. He didn’t want to get into an argument, and he certainly didn’t want to try to convince anyone that a powerful deity had materialized on earth and touched him.
“That’s the truth!” Durille exclaimed. “I told you there was only a simple little storm, all blown out of proportion,” she turned to her daughter in triumph.
Kestrel felt a surge of sympathy for Merilla, who appeared to be bound to live a life of constant bombardment by her overbearing mother.
“Merilla’s entitled to believe whatever she wants though,” he spoke up. “Any woman who lives through the wilderness and survives a yeti attack has earned the right to more respect than those who sit safely inside the city,” he impulsively started speaking before he knew what he would end up saying, wanting to defend his friend.
The room was silent once again. “Thank you Kestrel,” Merilla said after the silence stretched out. “It’s good to see you. This is my aunt,” she introduced one older woman, “and this is Hammon’s mother, Mourene, my mother’s special friend.
“There are my cousins, and this is Hammon’s sister,” she gestured to a cluster of younger women on the other side of the room.
“Nice to meet you all,” Kestrel said to the room at large. “Merilla, may I speak with you for a moment?” he asked. “Apart?”
“Let’s go upstairs,” she suggested. “Excuse us, we’ll be right back,” she moved apart from the others and Kestrel followed, as they left the room to climb the steps up to the top floor.
“And so this is it?” she asked.
“Here,” he handed her the five golds. “I put the rest of your money in your bank; you earned fifty more golds altogether from the auction.”
“Fifty? Oh Kestrel, I can’t spend that much in a lifetime! You have to take some of it, I insist,” she said.
“And here’s a skin of the healing water from the spring in the Eastern Forest. Use it for yourself and the boys. I want to imagine that you’re always healthy and without pain,” he pressed the skin into her hands, letting his fingers grasp and hold hers as she accepted the gift.
“Merilla, if I knew anything about my future, I’d take you with me right now, regardless of what Kai wants,” he told her.
“I’ll go with you whether you know where you’re going or not, if you want me to Kestrel,” she answered as they looked at each other.
He bent his head down and kissed her, their lips parted and the kiss a deep one, filled with the longing they felt for each other. Kestrel heard a heavy tread on the stairs, and reluctantly raised his head. Hammon bashfully entered the room. “Durille sent me upstairs to make sure you’re okay. I’ll go back down and let them know you are,” he said as he turned and departed quickly.
“I don’t mind being human because of you,” Kestrel told her. “I think I’ll be back someday; I don’t know if it will be sooner or later.
“But I’ll come see you when I return, I swear,” he told her.
“Unless it’s soon, I’ll be engaged, Kestrel, maybe even married. The mothers have it plotted,” she answered.
He kissed her again, a chaste kiss this time. “I’ll see you every time I pass through Estone, if I ever return,” he vowed.
“Let’s go downstairs,” Merilla said, releasing one hand, but still holding his with her other as they walked back down to join the others, who ceased their whispering upon the couple’s arrival.
“Kestrel has to leave Estone, he’s told me,” Merilla said. “And I’ve told him that if he ever comes back, I’ll have a place for him to stay. Good bye, Kestrel,” she told him directly, then embraced him in a hug that encompassed all the gear on his back, and inadvertently pressed against his burnt skin.
“I’m sorry!” she exclaimed as he sharply sucked in his breath.
Kestrel looked around at the others, then looked at Merilla and gave a wistful smile. He felt his eyes starting to well up, and turned. Moments later he had rushed down the stairs and out onto the street. He tore the dirty white bandage off of his head, and stood outside the leather shop frozen in place by a welter of confusing emotions.
He had to leave her behind. He knew it, though he hated the knowledge. He was going to start on a journey back towards Firheng, and he didn’t know if he would reach the city, or turn aside somewhere in confusion, but he wasn’t going anywhere he felt certain he could take Merilla, let alone her two boys. Pulling the bandage off not only felt good, but it showed the world of Estone that his ears were elven ears, and it reminded him as well.
Kestrel turned and looked at his reflection in the window of the leather shop, and he saw that his ears were unmistakably growing their pointed shapes again, and his eyebrows were beginning to climb back to the home nature had made for them. Despite all the humanity that had been thrust upon him, he still had traces of Elfishness
