“Anyone else would’ve stopped to help. I just happened to be on my way out to the car.”
Yadje shook her head. “No, anyone else would not have done what you did, phér móre. It’s rare in Ambar’ogúl, and it is just as rare Earthside.”
“Well, hopefully, that changes pretty soon.” Cheyenne shot them another smile, wondering what in the world was making the basket in her arms so heavy.
“Please.” R’mahr gestured toward the basket. “Open it.”
“Right now?”
“Yes.”
“Uh, okay.” The halfling settled the basket in the crook of one arm and quickly unfolded the squares of bright-orange cloth covering the top. Inside was just more cloth. A lot of it. “Oh.”
“Take a look,” Yadje prompted.
Taking the first bit of lime-green fabric off the top of the pile, Cheyenne shook it out and recognized its shape immediately. What kinda can of worms did I just open with these people? Turning toward the half-wall of the kitchen counter, she laid the first pair of lime-green underwear on the countertop and picked up the next bit of cloth in a dark scarlet covered with gold sequins. More underwear. Blue, purple, silver, decorated with beads of clay and painted wood. Woven in seriously intricate designs that would have been more than a little impressive. But this family of trolls had literally just given the drow halfling more than a lifetime supply of fancy underwear she would never use.
“Uh…” Cheyenne choked on a laugh, then set the whole basket down on the counter and scratched the side of her head. It was hard enough to look R’mahr and Yadje in the eye; they were clearly proud of themselves and their effort. “Those are really something.”
“It’s good to see you like them.” R’mahr puffed out his chest, and Cheyenne nearly lost it.
“You, uh, you made these, huh?”
“Spent all day on them, yes.”
Yadje squinted at the halfling, her eyebrows flicking together. “You don’t like them.”
“I didn’t say that. I’m sure someone would really get a kick out of all this.”
“But not you. It’s too much, isn’t it?” Yadje didn’t look like she’d just gotten her feelings hurt. The look she gave her husband made it perfectly clear she blamed him. “I told you it was too much. We should have filled the smaller basket.”
“Hey, it’s okay. I mean, yeah, it’s a lot of underwear.” Cheyenne couldn’t hold back her laughter anymore. It burst out of her, making R’mahr jump in surprise while his wife turned to stare at the halfling. “I’m sorry. It’s just a surprising thing to give somebody as a…as a thank you—”
Another laugh took over, and the half-drow doubled over, bracing her hands against her thighs.
“A funny surprise.” Yadje turned toward her husband and whispered, “Why is it funny?”
“I don’t know. I thought it was a normal thing over here.”
“Nope.” Wiping her eyes, Cheyenne sighed and shook her head, trying to wave off their concern and keep herself from cracking up all over again. “Not that normal. Underwear is one of those personal preferences. I mean, it’s a great thing for you guys to give each other. You know, ‘cause no one else is gonna see you in it.”
Yadje’s eyes widened, and with a gasp, she slapped her husband’s chest again. “Now who’s being insulting?”
“I thought it was. I mean, all the stores. All those tall signs and in the shiny books. With all the pictures. They’re everywhere.”
“Oh, in magazines? Uh, yeah.” Cheyenne stifled another laugh. “Yeah, I can see how you got confused.”
Yadje clicked her tongue at her husband. “Confused. You just ruined our gift and wasted an entire day of my time. Do you know how many other things I could have done with all that?”
“I’m sorry.” R’mahr lifted his hands in surrender. “I made a mistake. This is…this is not what I wanted.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. It’s fine.” Finally back in control of herself, Cheyenne waved them off. “Seriously. It’s really thoughtful, and now I’ll never run out.”
Her laugh this time echoed down the hall, and she clapped her hands over her mouth.
Bryl glanced at her parents, who’d started the bickering all over again, and tugged on the bottom of Cheyenne’s t-shirt. The halfling looked down to see the kid cupping her hand around her mouth before she whispered, “I think they’re beautiful.”
The halfling bent over to join the private conversation. “They are. I can tell you guys put a lot of time into it.”
“If you don’t want them,” Bryl glanced at her parents, who’d forgotten her completely in lieu of their arguing about what they were supposed to do now, “You can give them to me. I won’t tell.”
Cheyenne chuckled and winked at the kid. “Maybe we can figure something out.”
“We’ll make this up to you.” Yadje whisked her daughter away from the half-drow, nodding over and over. “We’ll try again with something that isn’t so completely different than what we meant to say.”
“You really don’t have to—”
“Oh, we do. My husband will have one good idea on this side eventually. But please know we meant every word we said.”
“I know.”
“Come share a meal with us,” R’mahr shouted, pointing at Cheyenne as his wife ushered him and their daughter back down the hall. “You eat food, don’t you?”
“Every day.”
“Can’t go wrong with that. We’ll, uh, we’ll cook for you. Tell us when is a good time—”
“Probably never, now,” his wife hissed.
“And come sit with us in our home. You’re always welcome.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Cheyenne waved back at R’mahr before Yadje slapped his hand out of the air and shoved her family toward their apartment three doors down. The halfling stepped back into her apartment, closed the door, and burst out laughing again. Crossing the Border had to be hard enough, based on what little Rhynehart had told her about the difficult journey magicals made just to get from the other side onto a Border reservation. But trying to fit into a new home that was so completely different from their own—not just a different country,
