PART VI - TALANIA

Reynard studied the smiling Gnome for a long, long moment, as if trying to figure out what game she was playing. But, with the look in her big, purple eyes, she genuinely seemed interested, or at least was faking it well enough to be convincing, and he felt at ease and as if he could open up, for some reason. “It … it was in Imor. Jorin and I were there to get supplies for our next outing. We’d taken a job from the Adventurer’s Guild to clear a nest of giant swamp spiders, the green ones. In addition to culling them for the job, we could harvest their spinnerets and eyes, which had great value to Enchanters, and the venom sacs for Alchemists.”

Callie made an involuntary shuddering sound, her body shaking in an exaggerated shiver. “Spiders. Eww!” she added by way of explanation, when Reynard shot her a quizzical look. “Sorry,” she added, when she realized she had interrupted.

“It wasn’t a glamorous assignment,” Reynard continued with a shrug, “but it was good money for two Adventurers starting out. Really good money, actually. With my Ranger skills and my father’s magic bow, plus Jorin’s combat prowess, the risk was fairly minimal, too.” He glanced at Jesca, who was making a perplexed look, adding, “When I left home, my father gifted me a bow. It was nothing like your Heartwood weapons, but did have an Endless Arrows enchantment, and a couple minor runes. He spent what amounted to him as a fortune to get it custom made for me. I eventually had to sell it when Jorin lost a leg and needed Regrowth and recovery.”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” Jesca replied, not sure what else to say.

“It was a good, sturdy bow, especially for a beginner,” Reynard said, sighing nostalgically. “My current one is so much better, but I still miss that first one, for some reason.” He looked at Callie, seeming to realize he’d gotten a little off topic. “None of that is really important. You wanted to know how I met Talania?”

“Mmm hmm,” Callie replied with a nod.

“Do you know about Midsummer? About finding companions?” Reynard asked.

“I do. Pixyl, Ambria and Pama filled me in about it last Homeday.”

“Well, it was also the week of Midsummer, so we had a few extra days to complete the assignment, and we decided we’d join the festivities before leaving for the spiders. Neither Jorin nor myself were looking for a companion, but we made rejection presents with the others all the same, as that’s part of the fun,” Reynard weakly smiled.

“She picked you up, didn’t she?” Callie said, her eyes brightening. It must have been just like how Pama snagged Fizzlebek.

Making a half-hearted wry grin, Reynard nodded. “We were at a big, outdoor party in the south city. At least two hundred people there; nobody we knew. Honestly, we really were just attending for the ale and singing and camaraderie, and both steadfastly swore to accept no overtures, although not to the point we wore red fabric on our arms. I mean, you never know, right?”

Jesca giggled for some reason at that, and then apologized for the interruption.

“In the lower city, there are a lot of Dwarves, so Jorin must have rejected at least six or seven ladies, always gracious and bestowing his handmade trinkets in response. A couple people approached me, and I did the same.” He looked at his audience, seeing their rapt attention. “At these big public parties, especially where the attendees don’t really know each other, there’s generally a rule to reject everyone until mid-afternoon, so that the ladies can collect a number of presents and meet all of the eligible males. Someone will ring a bell or call out and then they go back again for whoever might have caught their attention, sometimes wearing a different mask.”

Internally, Callie giggled for some reason. It sounded a little like collecting beads at Mardi Gras, but without having to flash your chest to people. Her junior year in college, she had come home from New Orleans with a lot of beads, and Morgan flashed her way to even more. It had been a fun trip.

“She wore the absolutely most hideous mask,” Reynard sighed in remembrance. “It wasn’t just covering her face, though. She had donned a full-body costume, all made up to make her look like some kind of a disgusting green swamp monster or something, replete with hanging pieces of fabric plants pinned in place. I never did learn exactly what she was supposed to be.” Reynard laughed once. “So complete was her costume I didn’t even know what race she was. She was obviously not a Dwarf, being too tall, and for some reason I thought she might be an Elf. Maybe it was the way she moved.”

The Foxkin shifted in his chair, getting a little more comfortable. He seemed much more relaxed, and certainly much less sullen, now that he was talking and telling a personal story. Callie gestured towards the plate of jellycakes, making an offer to Reynard. He nodded, and then took two of the summoned ones. Jesca likewise took a couple, as did Callie. They were absolutely delicious, like all things Pama.

“So, there I am in this big open space, half drunk on ale,” Reynard continued between nibbles. “Next to me, Jorin was again rejecting a Dwarf with a simple mask, using amazingly lovely drunken poetry that I didn’t even know he could spout, when this hideous monster steps into my view, simply staring down at me. In my state, she actually was a little intimidating.”

“What happened?”

“She looked down at me and simply said, ‘take me to bed’. It wasn’t worded as a request. Well, of course, I tried to say no. I had a bit of a speech I used for rejections, and started to recite it, removing one of the string necklaces around my own neck to give to this monster-person in front of me. For some reason, I noticed she wasn’t wearing any trinkets yet, so hadn’t been rejected before she approached me. You know what she said?”

Jesca and Callie both shook their heads.

“She glared down at me and said, ‘put that away and say yes’.”

Callie snorted in laughter, choking slightly on her cookie. “Really? What did you do?”

“I looked to Jorin, hoping he’d save me. He was still busy with the one he was rejecting, his slurred words apparently being so lovely that she was standing there with semi-drunken tears of happiness on her face. He was of absolutely no help, and here it was probably only around noon. So, I tried to say no again. I couldn’t even get three words out. ‘You’re mine and I’m yours’ she stated flatly, before promptly tearing off a piece of her costume and tying it to my arm.”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Wow!” Callie said. “Talk about being forward!”

“Ambria would be proud,” Jesca giggled, causing Callie to do the same. Even Reynard smirked at the comparison. It was good to see another smile on his face.

Callie had to admit, she suddenly sort of admired Talania, for some reason. If she had been alive, she was positive they’d be besties. “What happened next?”

Reynard shrugged, gesturing for another jellycake. “She promptly sat right down next to me. Jorin finished with the one he was talking to, only to find in the few minutes he had been distracted I had not only been claimed, but this giant green thing had taken a seat between the two of us. So much for taking no companions!”

“So at this point, you had no idea what she looked like, right?” Callie asked. “Or even what race she was?”

“That’s right. For three hours, she and I talked to each other about everything and nothing, poor Jorin eventually heading off to find more-interesting people. She would always turn her head from me to eat or drink, and honestly not knowing became part of the game and maybe part of the allure. But during that time, she’d won me over and somehow, in the back of my head, I knew there could be more than just Midsummer between us. Eventually, a bell rang out, indicating it was mid-afternoon, and the ladies all started to circle back to whomever might have caught their attention.”

“Then there was her big reveal?” Callie asked, obviously seeing where this was going.

Shaking his head, Reynard continued, “Not for a little while, so everyone else could get paired up, and for some reason Talania was quite reluctant to remove her mask, even though I did press her to. I was young and eager and honestly quite drunk, and finally said, ‘I’m just going to get your clothes off eventually, so you might as well show me’. It wasn’t well-received.”

Before Callie could say anything about how tacky the comment was, Reynard held up a paw. “I know. It was crude and she immediately stood, apparently ready to leave. All the warmth we had shared had been pushed away, and I was sure I had lost her in my callousness. Of course, I offered my apologies, probably more likely groveling for forgiveness, and her anger seemed to eventually soften. She took my paw and led me to a quiet, private corner.”

As Reynard relayed his story, Callie noticed all the tension and melancholy that had been in the tiny cabin when she and Jesca had arrived had finally evaporated. Of course, this was all a distraction, and did little to address what Reynard was really feeling down about, but it was at least getting him talking, and even smiling. That was good, right? Even if only a distraction, right?

“Before removing her mask, Talania made a very specific comment. ‘I know you may be surprised, but you may not say hurtful things. If you do, I will lay you flat.’”

“That sounds a little … strange …” Callie mumbled, her face getting a perplexed look.

Reynard sighed. “As she took off her mask, her words made sense, and I will admit I was very much surprised, and somehow miraculously managed to hold my tongue.”

“What was wrong?” Jesca asked, leaning in.

“Half of Talania’s face was nothing but hairless skin,” Reynard said, running his paw over the right side of his own face. Then, he clarified. “Acid wounds, from Firelice Beetles. The entire right side of her face. She fell into a nest when she was a teen. The healers did magnificent work, but the acid is nearly impossible to heal perfectly, and it was all they could do to form most of the skin back into place and keep her eyesight. The skin would never grow fur again, though.”

Callie looked back to the wedding painting on the wall, this time noting specifically that Talania was showing her left profile, the right side of her face hidden.

“She made sure the painting had her ‘good side’,” Reynard said, following Callie’s gaze.

“So what happened?” Callie asked. “You didn’t say something stupid, did you?”

Reynard actually laughed loudly. “As I said, I somehow managed to hold my tongue. In fact, I was quite speechless, truly having nothing to say.” Then Reynard sighed. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t reconsider for a moment, but then I remembered the Fae story that created the whole tradition, and then everything that had formed between us over the last few hours. I looked past her injuries and saw her beauty, and that was that.”

“Aww, that’s sweet,” Jesca said.

“It was a leap summer, so we already had an extra day to be together. But it didn’t matter. She had me from the start and we married only a few months later. Small wedding. Just a few friends and immediate family. She was a fair Healer, so became part of the team with Jorin and myself, and life was good.”

Something clicked in Callie’s head, and she began to make some connections. Midsummer had to be a reminder every year of his wife being gone, and likely a leap-summer even moreso. Add that to being stuck inside and alone with his injury, it was almost no wonder that Reynard had drawn in on himself a bit. If she’d been in the same situation, she’d certainly be depressed, especially without movies and books and the internet to distract her from her own feelings.

“It’s a wonderful story,” Jesca said, and Callie quickly nodded in agreement. “How long were you together?”

Reynard sighed. “A little over four years. She was my light. Maybe she still is, even now.” He looked down at the floor again. “And I miss her every day.”

“Midsummer is especially hard for you, isn’t it?” Callie asked.

“It is. Usually I have training to keep my head occupied, but I’m cooped up here now.” He generally pointed to the room as he glanced at Callie, the look on his face almost ashamed. “I know it’s been over twenty years. In that time, I’ve tried courting others once or twice, but I’ve just never been able to move on for some reason. They weren’t her, and I eventually learned to be content with that.”

“And this would be the twenty-fifth anniversary of meeting her,” Callie said, having done some quick math. “That must make it a little harder, right?” Multiples of fives and tens were always especially meaningful. Things were starting to make all the more sense.

Reynard simply nodded. “This damnable leg just gives me more time to dwell on things.”

“How can we help?”

Reynard actually looked confused by the offer.

“We can lend an ear, or I can go find something really good to get drunk on,” Callie said, her lips quirking slightly at the second suggestion. “Or get more jellycakes, maybe?”

“I … I have no idea. Honestly, until you arrived I was content to just … wallow … for the day. Or maybe the week. I’m not sure why I even let you in, let alone told you about her.”

“Cuz you miss me!” Callie giggled. She gestured to Jesca. “Both of us actually.” Then she whispered conspiratorially, “Don’t worry, we both know it was the jellycakes; we understand.”

“They are good jellycakes.”

Callie put on a soft expression. “Seriously, if there’s a way we can help, let us know. I don’t have any real advice besides ‘ignore it and hope it goes away’, and that obviously isn’t very helpful, but whatever we can do, just ask.”

Nodding in thanks, Reynard took a deep breath, almost as if a weight had been removed from his back. He cleared his throat to change the subject. “Now, enough about me. Tell me about the Elemental fight. I heard you and Pixyl defeated a huge one at the end?”

“It wasn’t just the two of us. It was a group effort,” Callie said, blushing a little.

“Then Pixyl flew down from the sky and kissed her! Ambria said it was super cute!” Jesca added with a grin, Callie’s blushing going even deeper.