CHAPTER VI – AN INTERRUPTION
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Sije marched along the cobblestone road, veering away from the quay in order to follow Pitgazer’s steadfast lead and Jaez just behind. All the while, Esza spoke with sly banter, occasionally clapping Sije on the shoulder in order to direct the construct’s attention to passing village lasses.
“Human women share a strong resemblance with we Purebloods,” Esza whispered. “I would not be surprised if the lot of them were some degenerate breed of my own kind.” He then turned to look at Sije directly through his slitted serpentine pupils. “Their pupils are round, Like an elf or gnome.” Esza gestured with a head nod to Pitgazer’s shepherding lead, with Jaez following behind the gnome by a mere shoulder’s width.
Esza straightened his neck then, alerted by something which Sije had not yet noticed.
“What is it?” Sije asked.
“Our own human comrade seems to be missing,” Esza spoked in a hushed cadence.
“She had pressing matters to attend to on her own,” Jaez shouted back over his shoulder, somehow picking up Esza’s muted speech despite the flock of human folk all about the street.
“Elf ears,” Esza sighed. “I guess the long ears aren’t just for show.”
The quartet continued then down market street, the entire party taking note as a lone avian adorned in robes passed them by. Sije in particular stared at the creature as the bird folk rummaged through a carrier bag strung over his shoulder. Sije was also curious that the avian was too distracted to take notice of their unusual party now made up of denizens of the Always Dark, thanks to the departure of their human friend.
Sije turned to Esza to ask, “Are there any avians who find their home outside of the Always Dark?”
“Aye,” Esza chuckled. “There are likely a handful, just as you may find a few humans scattered in the Always Dark. However, I reckon they would most certainly be travellers who have left their nests for their own reasons.”
“Wings,” Jaez interrupted. “Creatures with wings often fly in the open skies of the Cloudsea.”
Sije then took note of his own wings, which had never taken to the open skies. Which in fact he realised was something he had never considered from the dark and cavernous depths of the Mantle.
“Someday I shall fly like the avians, amidst the Clouds,” Sije turned to Esza to gauge a reaction, seeing that Esza smirked while nodding in agreement.
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The party stopped short of a tavern soon after, and Pitgazer gestured to the door. “The Sparrow’s Song Tavern and Inn. The finest hole for ales in all of Windswept.”
As Sije contemplated the unimpressive wood structure, his concentration was soon broken by an eager and childish voice.
“Wow! That construct has horns!”
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Sije turned to inspect the source of the voice, seeing a young blond human boy staring in wonderment through sharp blue eyes. To the left of him, a similarly sized and featured human girl grinned as well, whispering something through cupped hands into the ear of the boy.
“Umm, twins,” an older red headed girl came traipsing along sheepishly. “You know what Caitlyn would say. Mind your manners around folk of different lands.”
Sije felt like smiling then at the courteous and amused children, yet unable to do so he simply stared at them with his own sense of amusement.
“Greetings wise children,” Sije spoke, immediately followed by the stifled gurgling chortle of Esza, who held a hand over his mouth in order to politely control his laughter.
“Hey there, umm… mister?” the younger of the girls responded.
“Mister?” Sije contemplated. “I believe I’m too young for that title. You can call me Sije.”
“Well, hi Mr. Sije. Umm, or I mean, Sije, I’m Dorothea.” The human child then held out her hand.
“I know this gesture,” Sije spoke, and reached out to gently shake Dorothea’s hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Dorothea held her smile for several seconds. “Would you like to buy anything to eat?”
“To eat?” Sije released his hand from the handshake, retracing a step back to get a better look at the stall the human children were operating, but winced on realising there was nothing to his liking. He looked over to his companions, hoping to get advice on how to proceed, but turned back to the children after seeing that the three friends were preoccupied with a vendor at another stall across the street. “I only eat rocks.”
“We can fetch you some rocks!” the male child bounded forward, pushing his shoulder against the girl. “Oh yeah, by the way, I’m Theodore, and Dorothea is my twin sister.”
“Twins?” Sije was taken aback to see that they were not identical. “I thought twins looked the same, although you two are similar you seem to have slightly different features and shapes.”
“Oh that,” Dorothea giggled. “Some twins are identical, but it's more common that they aren’t.” She then turned over to the older red headed girl. “Take my older sister Jalyssa as an example. She’s a triplet, sharing a birthday with my two older brothers, who also could not possibly be more different than one another.”
“Well,” Jalyssa now stepped forward, raising a finger in the air with abrupt confidence. “Aside from all of us sharing a birthday, and being seventeen, me and my triplets are also all red heads.”
“Seventeen?” Sije almost shouted in excitement, catching all of the children’s nerves off guard.
Jalyssa was the first to bravely step forward, realising she was responsible for any mishaps while Caitlyn was away.
“Wh-what is it mister, uh… sorry I mean Sije?”
“I thought humans grew taller as they aged.”
“Well, are you meaning to say I’m not very tall?” Jalyssa brought a wrist to her hip and tilted her head in confusion, causing her long curly hair to fall over her shoulder slightly.
“No, that’s not it at all. I simply find myself surprised that you are taller than my human comrade Malea, who is herself twenty seven years old. In fact the twins Miss Dorothea and Mister Theodore are about her height.”
“Oh,” Jalyssa giggled. “Yes we grow taller as we also grow older, but not at the same pace, and we mostly stop growing once we’re adults.”
“Yeah, Jalyssa and Caitlyn are our older sisters, and they’re both taller than our mother now,” Theodore interrupted. “And she’s… uh, thirty–”
“Thirty-nine,” Dorothea then interrupted. “How old are you?”
“Ten.” Sije announced matter-of factly, to which all of the children were visibly surprised.
“I s’pose Cloudforged don’t have any relationship with height and age,” Theodore contemplated in a thoughtful tone, as he slumped his chin on an upright fist and nodded.
“Sije!” the familiar voice of Esza shouted behind Sije, clapping his shoulder once more in order to turn his friend’s attention. “Enough dawdling, we’re going into the pub now!”
“Oh,” Sije turned his head back to the children. “Sorry twins and Jalyssa, I have to go now.” He then turned abruptly to follow Esza across the street to the pub, where Jaez and Pitgazer both waited patiently.
“Pleasure doin’ business with you!” Jalyssa shouted from behind.