He paused, looking back at his friend. There was pain on the other boy’s face, perhaps regret or sorrow. “I really am sorry.”
“Yeah,” Kaleo replied softly. “Me too.”
The next breath brought Kaleo out of the Poppy Fields to the stabbing discomfort of his hammock twisting his left wing up wrong and a sinking feeling in his gut. Kaleo ached for a bed. Soon, Reven had promised. He hissed as he sat up, rubbing his shoulder and then miscalculating the step out of his hammock. He tumbled out, landing on his face with a groan.
“Ugh, today sucks already…”
Two hours later, everyone stared at the manse in the foothills with skeptic faces. Reven grinned from ear to ear, arms spread wide to display his newest acquisition. It looked different in the light with vines still growing on some of the walls and part of the roof. All the doors had been replaced with strong pieces of oak and shiny brass hinges. The shutters were all closed to protect the interior of the home but those were not as nice as the door, some even looking like they were pulled from the wreckage of a sunken ship. It was easily the size of the city’s best inn with another smaller edifice around back that had no true purpose. Plus, it had a fountain out front that was an exact miniature replica of the Fuente del Cielo. It was hideous.
“Glorious, isn’t it!” Reven said. Kaleo made a face, even Serai who was normally so supportive, wrinkled her nose. Reven dropped his arms. “What?”
“It is broken,” Serai said.
“It needs paint,” Kaleo added. Lara stood beside him, nodding in agreement. She’d come with him after their morning lesson of the city and Mahalan people.
They were unlike anyone Kaleo had known thus far, with very strange customs and a panache for celebration that rivaled the tywyll who celebrated everything.
“It is…different,” Ajana finished. Reven sagged with an over-dramatic sigh. The half-olven thief-taker came to Reven the night before with tears in her big eyes and a welt on her cheek. Liam had gone too far. “It has some rustic charm.”
“You’re not seeing the big picture,” Reven continued, stepping over a large chunk of something that was buried beneath a mountain of dead leaves. Landscaping was not part of the repairs, apparently. “Imagine all the potential. Especially once it’s painted and restored; clean.”
“What do we clean it with, holy fire?” Kaleo muttered. Lara giggled.
“No one asked your opinion, urchin,” Reven said. “Who is that with you?”
“Lara,” they both said simultaneously. “Oh,” Reven replied. “So, you are real, good to know. Told you there was nothing wrong with him,” Reven said, making Kaleo arch a curious brow. “It’s even a girl. But I’m not taking care of her, got it. No more urchins.”
“I’m sorry, when was this a discussion?” Kaleo asked, feeling suddenly embarrassed by the topic of conversation. Lara giggled, glancing at him almost shyly. He liked her but their relationship had not traveled past student and teacher. Yet.
“You talk in your sleep,” Serai and Reven both said with Ajana nodding in agreement. Reven added, “Mentioning someone named Jaysen many times. I’m not judging.”
Kaleo merely palmed his face, wanting to crawl under the pile of dead leaves. Horrible day, indeed.
***
Several hours later, Kaleo lay on his back in a room that would eventually be a dining hall. The manse had three levels total and a sub-level used for food storage. The boy was covered in grime and his fingers looked like pale prunes, but the place was starting to look better. So far, no holy fire was needed. The women took their leave to go back into town for pretty things, which meant they were tired of cleaning and wanted a break. Reven did not blame them as he was just as tired, flexing his fingers one at a time. All the crates from the previous owner were still there, each one so rotted that one already broke just by touching it. Stacks of new crates stood beside the old, full of things Reven ordered. He put a large amount of coin into his new home and would need to put in more still before it felt right, but it was a start.
“Looks better in the daylight, right?” Reven said, looking down at Kaleo as he rifled through a crate stuffed with straw. It held fine tableware that he procured for the manse though he still had no place to put it. Furniture was still coming, already commissioned. What few pieces that remained in the manse were almost as rotted as the old crates. All in due time. The space and privacy were needed for Malek and Azure - - and the chimera that followed Kaleo around. It was a topic he needed to broach with his urchin but he could only tackle one bit of insanity at a time.
“Sort of,” Kaleo replied, tilting his head back to see the bard. Reven smirked. “Do I have to keep my hammock or do I get an actual bed, Master Bard?”
“Depends - how often will Lara be visiting?” Reven countered. Kaleo flushed so red the bard was positive he would ignite in flames. “She seems nice. Runeli, right?”
Kaleo’s answer was squashed by loud pounding at the door. Reven frowned, moving to the wide double doors in the grand foyer. He cracked one of the doors open and groaned. Liam stood on the other side with a scowl on his face and a welt under his right eye that was too perfectly round; a bar fight. Serves the idiot right, Reven thought.
“Where is she, Rev?” Liam asked. The two men had not spoken since their row over Kaleo. Now the duende man came with his usual demands, demands that Reven was not inclined to give in to.
“Not here,” Reven retorted. He tried shutting the door but Liam stuck his foot in the way. Kaleo
