“Okay. That sounds good. Please don’t go higher than mid-back.”
He nodded at me in the mirror, as he pulled a spray bottle out of thin air. I narrowed my eyes at him. Kait said that he wasn’t Shadoewynne, but he just used magic. “Can I ask what’s probably a very offensive question?”
“Wow, it’s only our first time. That’s got to be a record. You can ask all you want, honey, but I may not answer.”
I laughed. “Fair enough. Kait said you aren’t Shadoewynne, but it just seemed like you used magic. What are you?”
“Oh, wouldn’t you like to know!” He playfully batted me on the shoulder.
“Yes, that’s why I asked.” I said it with a laugh in my voice to let him know he wasn’t making me mad.
After he put a cape on me that also came from nowhere, he sprayed my hair, and combed it out, several times. Right when I was starting to think he wasn’t going to answer, he said quietly, “I am a form of what you would call a gnome from another dimension that was a lot like Shadoewynne. Many years ago, when I was young, my dimension was destroyed.”
My mouth slammed shut. I figured my question would be offensive, but I didn’t realize it was so bad. I stammered a bit before I finally got out, “I’m so sorry, Brad.”
He started laughing. “Got you! Sort of. I am a gnome from another dimension, but it wasn’t destroyed.”
“Really? That was mean!” I was flummoxed. Just what the hell is he, and what was with this twisted sense of humor?
“Oh, honey. You need to learn to use your magic to tell when people are lying. That is the other reason I am here. The guys are too close to you for you to practice this with.”
“I’m not a telepath or an empath. I can’t use my magic to tell if someone is lying.”
“While it’s true you don’t have other skills of a telepath or empath, you should be able to tell if someone is telling the truth or lying. Water nymphs have this ability. You need to focus the magic within you on my words, and you should get a feeling when I speak. The feeling will tell you if it’s a truth or a lie.”
“Seems awful simplistic. Also, why didn’t Kait tell me?”
He shrugged. “You’ll have to ask Kait. I’ve never understood that man.” I had focused on him like he said, and there was a faint warm feeling in my chest.
I explained the feeling, then asked, “Was that the truth?”
“Yes. I’ve known Kait for over a hundred years, but I can never tell what he’s thinking.”
There was a cold feeling in my chest with the first part of the statement, and a warm one with the second. “Uh. You haven’t known him for that long, but rest was true.”
He laughed again. “Very good! Kait said you were a quick learner! Okay, I’m about done with the cut, what do you think?”
I swung my head, feeling my hair move around me. It was still long, but it felt so much lighter, and moved a lot better. “Thank you! It feels much better.”
“Okay, let me finish it up, then I can start on the updo.”
“Okay.” We were quiet for a few minutes while he worked.
“So, how did you meet Kait?” I had been lost in my thoughts, and just about jumped out of my skin when he spoke.
Then, when what he asked finally got through to my brain, I started to panic. I wasn’t sure what to tell him. What part of the story was top-secret, if any. I floundered, my mouth opening and closing.
“Wow, he made such an impression on you! You don’t even know how you met?”
“No, it’s not that. I just don’t really know what I’m allowed to tell you. Let’s just say David and Travis introduced us.”
“Oh, Honey. I am Travis's mother’s personal hairdresser. I know part of the story. Orn really likes you, by the way. Angel really wants to meet you. She understands why you haven’t visited yet, but, take my advice, as soon as this Svikari crap is sorted, you better get your pretty little butt there to meet her.”
“Oh. Uh, okay.” I was feeling more and more out of my depth with this being.
He laughed again. “Come on, we need to get your hair washed, so I can do the do.”
I laughed at that. We went into the kitchen, and moved a chair over so he could give my hair an impromptu wash. Again, he pulled the supplies he needed from god only knows where. They smelled heavenly, though. He kneaded the shampoo into my hair, rubbing at my scalp. He rinsed it thoroughly, then slathered the conditioner in as well. We sat and bullshitted a little more while we waited for the conditioner to soak in. After about two minutes, he rinsed that out as well. Then, he put something else in it, that was the consistency of mousse, but it wasn’t sticky. It also smelled awesome.
He wrapped my hair up in a towel, and we headed back to the makeshift salon. I sat down, then eyed Brad, speculatively. “So, Brad. Do you know what my dress looks like?”
“Ummm, yes, I do. You are going to love it, Honey. It will fit you beautifully, and the color will set off your coloring. When I am done, you won’t recognize yourself.”
Again, with the backhanded insult, and to top it off, he didn’t even give me a description of the dress, damn it. I just grunted in reply. He hummed to himself as he did things to my hair. Even watching him in the
