The air was crisp and the sun was shining brightly as Rowan stepped out of the Crimson Drakiir with Seres and Tehri in tow. They had a busy day ahead of them. To start, however, they just went for a casual walk. It wasn’t much, but it gave both Rowan and Tehri a chance to re-familiarise themselves with the home that they had lost.
They didn't linger for too long in the busy town centre, instead opting for the quieter suburban districts. That way, they were able to have a more relaxed start to the day. It also meant that they could walk around without Lochlan and Liadra breathing down their necks.
That isn't to say that they weren't being tailed. It's just that Lochlan and Liadra were staying far enough back that it wasn't blatantly obvious what they were doing. At least that would be true if it wasn't for Lochlan flirting with literally anyone and everyone. He even flirted with an old lady at one point. Rowan could have sworn that she was both incredibly on board with the idea and highly suggestive. She was also enthusiastically telling him about her thirty-seven grandchildren as she linked arms with him.
Instead of fooling around and helping him, Liadra just carried on following them, and even managed to almost fade into the background. If Rowan wasn’t keeping her own watchful eye on their surroundings, she would have lost Liadra in no time. It was actually rather impressive to see her act independently, given how Lochlan tended to overshadow her with his particularly bodacious way of doing things.
There was another silver lining to the old lady taking Lochlan away to do Goddess knows what with him as it meant that it was less likely that he would try and flirt with her in front of Tehri. Rowan shuddered at the thought and the colour drained from her face as she realised he could do much worse; he could flirt with Tehri. Rowan really hoped he had some sense in that regard. After the old lady, however, she had her doubts. Even so, she refused to dwell on the notion for more than a few seconds. She’d address the issue if and when it became a reality. For now, Tehri was her priority.
*****
With everything that had happened over the last day, Rowan was able to look at the town in a more natural light, free from overwhelming nostalgia. She was glad it was gone; the memories would just make her feel sad, perhaps even depressed. Now was not the time to be feeling such negative emotions, not when she was meant to be spending time with Tehri.
The lack of full-on nostalgia also let her experience the town a little more objectively. Much of her observations from the day before were much the same, but she was able to appreciate them a little better. A big example of that was how she no longer felt quite so tiny amidst the various buildings. It was kind of a funny realisation as she hadn't actually grown much in the caves. Not physically at least. She had, however, grown a lot as a person.
With that in mind, she imagined the effect was much greater for Tehri as the past five years had been much more significant for her. Her face also spoke of wonder, though Rowan wasn’t sure exactly what had sparked it. Even so, seeing Tehri smile made her happy; she didn't need to know the exact reason. All that truly mattered right now was to make sure that Tehri didn't lose that smile.
With that in mind, Rowan took her two sisters to one of the small, out of the way parks on the outskirts of the town. Her reasoning was twofold, the first of which being that it would be a nice quiet place where the three of them could play some simple and slightly silly games, the kind that children might play. The second reason tied into the park being out of the way as it would let Rowan tease Tehri without the presence of a large audience to make her feel overly embarrassed.
Once they entered the park, Rowan spun around bodaciously so that she could give her two sisters a brilliant smile. With her arms stretched out dramatically, she called out to them. “Glorious sisters of mine, I welcome you both to our grand stadium where we will compete for the title of best sibling.”
Seres slapped her forehead and sighed audibly in response while Tehri just stood there looking flabbergasted and amazed. After a moment of taking everything in, Tehri raised her hand questioningly.
“Yes, Tehri?”
“Umm, what do you mean by sisters, plural?” She didn’t manage to say all of that, but Rowan was able to get the gist and Seres filled in the gaps from Tehri’s signing.
“Oh right, yeah, I may have forgotten to mention that.”
“With everything that happened while we were held in captivity, Rowan and I formed a rather close bond,” Seres explained. “She also saved my life. I owe her everything and more.”
“I could say the same thing,” Rowan added.
“But…”
“Don’t worry, Tehri, I’m not about to steal Rowan away from you. If anything, I’d be honoured if you would also consider me as family.”
“I couldnae a’ said it better myself. Seres is right, Tehri. Just because I love her like a sister, I’m not about to love you any less. If anything, I’m just going to love you more than ever.”
“Seems like a pretty good deal, doesn’t it? Not only do you get more from Rowan, you also get a whole new honorary sister, and I promise I’ll do my part. I’ll even tell you all of Rowan’s embarrassing secrets.”
“Hey! That wasnae a part of the deal.”
“It is now,” Seres laughed.
Tehri soon joined in. Quietly at first, but it didn’t take long at all for the sound of her lilted giggling.
“Enough of that!” Rowan said after several minutes of trying to shield her ears from the silvery peels of laughter. When the laughing eased up, she started speaking again. “Okay, so back to the reason why we’re here. As I said before, I thought we might play a game or two. I even grabbed a few props for some of the classics when we were still at the inn.”
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“What’s first, then?”
“Blind Miirak,” Rowan answered, pulling out a long strip of cloth from a pouch at her belt. “Do you know the rules, Seres?”
“Of course I do,” Seres harrumphed, her hands resting on her hips in indignation. “I might be a princess, but I’m not so sheltered that I don’t know how to play such a simple game.”
“Great, you can go first.”
“But…”
Rowan gave Seres a sly turn of her lips as she capitalised on her little revenge for Seres offering up her embarrassing secrets. “Having second thoughts?” she asked. It wasn’t much of a revenge, but it was the best she could do when it was just the three of them as all of Seres’ embarrassing secrets would be lost on Tehri.
Seres just sighed in response. “Fine, I’ll do it. But you owe me a treat if I catch you. And you better not use your abilities to gain an unfair advantage. If you do, I’ll be forced to retaliate in kind and that wouldn’t be fair on Tehri.”
“If you insist.”
With the terms agreed, Rowan blindfolded Seres, turning her into the villain of the game. That left Rowan and Tehri as the poor victims of the terrible miirak, a horrifying demon with obsidian eyes that supposedly went around eating naughty children who stayed out too late. The game was created by children as a way to combat their fear of the miirak, and the game’s popularity suggested that it had been very successful in that regard. It helped that the rules were fairly simple.
The first round started as a blindfolded Seres started spinning in place as Rowan and Tehri ran circles around her. Then everyone stopped and the real challenge began. Seres’ job was to catch either Rowan or Tehri, and they had to do their best to keep moving and not get caught. The game would continue until there was only one survivor remaining. Of course, as there were only two of them, sabotage was both expected and encouraged.
With that in mind, Tehri beelined for Rowan, being as loud as possible while Rowan took the opposite approach. It didn’t take long for Seres to make her move. Instead of going straight for Tehri, she went to intercept her at just the right time. This inadvertently had her going straight for Rowan. At least it would have had Seres’ dizziness not veered her off course. Tehri pulled back and Rowan resorted to diversionary actions.
The round continued for another five minutes with Rowan managing to avoid capture at the last second as Tehri attempted another bait and switch. Overall, it was clear that Rowan was taking it easy on Tehri, but that was okay. If Rowan was being serious it would have been over within moments and that wouldn’t have been fun for anyone. This way, everyone was able to have a good time. To make sure the fun continued, Rowan also chose to take the role of the miirak next.
They played a few more rounds before moving onto some other games of a similar nature. Alas, they couldn’t play forever, especially with Tehri’s constitution. As such, they stopped as soon as Tehri started showing any signs of tiredness. It was incredible that she lasted as long as she did, considering everything that had happened to her since the storm. Rowan knew that she had to be exhausted, but she maintained a strong face and it warmed Rowan’s heart.
With the games done and dusted, everyone took the executive decision to sit down for a few moments.
“You did great Tehri,” Rowan said.
Thank you, Tehri signed back.
“No problem. Take as long as you need to catch your breath. We can do some shopping later. My treat. Before that, would you mind telling me what it was like in Aran Village? Be as wordy as you want to be. Seres can translate.” Rowan gave Seres a look before she could object, hoping to convey some of her intent. It wasn’t a perfect way to learn sign language, but it was a start and there was the added benefit of getting to know more about Tehri. Furthermore, it would give Rowan a perfect segue into asking about Kamren.
Tehri started by telling them about her quaint little life with Hana and Byrden, focusing heavily on everything they had done for her. She also went into great detail on the strange little ways in which village life was different compared to life in Næmyris. In some ways, her descriptions almost made it seem idyllic. At the same time, it was also clear that the village was severely lacking in certain amenities that Rowan had just assumed were commonplace once a settlement reached a certain size.
How could people live without plumbing? That was one of Rowan’s immediate thoughts until she reminded herself that she knew the answer all too well. At the same time, she couldn’t exactly compare life in Aran Village to life in the caves. They were completely different beasts. No, that was still an unfair comparison. It was more like comparing a rabbit to a Vhoraks.
Rowan’s attention was once again drawn back to Tehri as she started telling them about her garden and the horrifying foods that Hana had created since learning that she was pregnant. Seeing that Tehri had found a new way to express herself with the garden brought a genuine smile to Rowan’s face. Meanwhile, Seres turned pale at the mention of congealed frog jelly soup.
After a fair while, only one subject remained. “Are you not going to tell us about Kamren?” Tehri was blushing before Rowan had finished asking.
“If it helps, Tehri, I can tell you about Rowan and Lady Alena,” Seres offered.
“You wouldnae dare!”
Seres did indeed dare as she ignored Rowan’s protests completely. “So Rowan and Alena managed to become the talk of the capital over the course of a single night. They managed to dance so passionately together that they managed to light some flames that many had considered to be more frigid than a boreal storm.”
“No more!”
“And then they were acting all lovey-dovey in the days that followed, I think Rowan might be smitten.”
Rowan’s heart was racing faster than she had ever ran and she was blushing so hard that she was half-convinced that even her hair was somehow turning redder. Trying to tease Tehri with Seres right there was perhaps one of the most idiotic ideas she could have possibly conceived.The only positive was that Tehri was smiling and any hint of being reserved around Seres was non-existent.
“Please stop, Seres. I’m just curious.”
Tehri also signed something to Seres which Rowan interpreted as “It’s okay, you can stop now.” She then went on to sign, He’s my friend. He learned sign language so that we could talk. No one else made the effort apart from Hana and Byrden.
“So he’s just a friend?” Rowan asked knowingly, though her voice was still quivering slightly with embarrassment.
No. He was also my first kiss and…
It was clear that Tehri was saying a lot more than just that on account of her still signing. Rowan couldn’t be completely sure what she was missing, but she could guess a fair bit from Seres’ reaction and refusal to translate any further. There was also the fact that Tehri was blushing almost as furiously as Rowan had been just a few moments ago.
“You can stop there, Tehri. I think I’ve got a good grasp of your relationship now. Perhaps we should get going before it gets any colder. Yes, that’s why we should leave. Oh look, Lochlan managed to escape that old lady.”
Rowan was on her feet in an instant as she brushed herself down. She nodded to Lochlan and Liadra before turning back to help Tehri and Seres to their feet. Without giving anyone a chance to argue, she marched out of the park with a gentle grip on both of her sisters. The rest of their day stood before them.