A month passed as Aleyn delivered Thess's and Stev's letters to each other. It started as something she really wanted to avoid doing but the effort Thess put in to make the job not disrupt her everyday life was quite touching so she gave in.

Besides her morning jogging ritual and letter delivery job her enchanting progressed by large heaps. She now had finished all five parts of her partial enchantments, however the significantly harder part was still ahead of her which was combining the parts correctly and in succession.

She had memorized the partial enchants quite well but the moment she had to combine all of them the whole picture turned in to a distorted image that might as well have been a foreign language. The only option she had was to start with combining few parts at a time and then working up from that. Not much different from what she originally had to do but it was definitely a step up in difficulty again.

Still, today wasn't the day to think about those things. It was in fact the first day Thess was allowed outside of the inn by her mother and Aleyn was accompanying her. They were on a quest for some parchments and fine cutlery if they could find some. It was nice that Thess was finally let outside the house, though she had been asking for it for a week or two already.

A lot had happened in the past month for the innkeeper family. Though the most important bit had definitely been that her father was allowed back in the house and with that the inn had returned back to its previous management style where there are no gender restrictions. One thing didn't change though and that was how she handled Stevarth, she still refused to see him and he wasn't allowed near the inn.

The market was full of life early in the afternoon as people went about their business. It shouldn't be  much of a task to find some nice things to buy with so many different merchants having their stores set up

"You okay back there?"

Aleyn asked Thess as she turned around. She was supposed to be trailing behind Aleyn but after turning around she noticed the girl wasn't there . Her momentary worries were unfounded though as   after a quick glance a bit further she saw where the little elf girl had gone to. Thess was enthralled by a tent filled with rolls of fabrics amongst other clothing material.

Moving over Aleyn watched silently as Thess looked through the fabrics with a keen eye.

"Hmmm.."

Aleyn just stood besides her and watched her. Shuffling through all the rolls. Shifting them left and right very indecisively.

After 15minutes or so Aleyn sighed loudly and crossed her arms while Thess was still looking through the fabric rolls.

"You've looked through all of them by now, surely."

Now remembering she hadn't come here alone Thess flinched a bit in surprise and turned to Aleyn.

"A girls got to make sure she picks the best colour and fabric. Come on you're a girl as well aren't you? Help me a bit, I can't decide."

Aleyn moved next to Thess and took a look at the fabric rolls. She had a quick look through all of the rolls, seeing no difference part the colour so she just chose one.

"That one."

A light green fabric roll. It was pleasant on the eyes and the fabric didn't seem bad either.

"I do like the green but..."

Thess started comparing the roll to others but Aleyn wasn't having any of that.

"How much?" She asked the merchant

The rolls themselves were at least longer than Aleyn and as thick as her head. Even if she knew nothing of fabric quality she could estimate a decent price for the quantity.

"1 gold."

She tossed the man his coin and picked up the roll over her shoulder. Thess had not noticed her purchase and was still going on about the differences on the fabric and colours, but Aleyn had had enough of fabrics so she grabbed Thess's hand and started dragging her away from the fabric seller.

"Wait what about..?"

Now noticing her carrying the light green fabric roll she could only sigh and move on to the other merchant tents with her.

Thess appeared to be in her element. They didn't have to look far for parchments so if they could find some good quality dining tools they were set. Browsing and searching, spending hour upon hour looking through what exotic things the traveling merchants might bring to Dvalfgar.

Behind her carrying everything, Aleyn was growing bored as she was dragged to every tent by Thess. She didn't mind it that much since it made Thess more lively but her mind did start drifting away and she started listening in on some merchants chatting.

"A whole town disappeared? How does something like that even happen?"

"Well they say the whole town disappeared, but I happen to know that they actually discovered some corpses. Or should I say.. husks."

"Husks? What does that even mean? Like bones?"

"No no, apparently they were dried up corpses like you would find inside of a tomb."

"That's creepy. They got any clue what could have done something like that? A disease? God if there's another plague..."

"Well they don't know so they blocked off all entry to Millbreach for the time being while Keitwell and the elves try to figure out what happened to their outpost. Suppose we have to find another safe route to Shevia."

"It's a scary thought that we might have disappeared in thin air if we were just a few days ahead of the traveling schedule to the Elf city"

"Or turned in to mummified corpses."

Aleyn snapped out of her eavesdropping and looked around to see that Thess was no where in sight again. She must have absentmindedly thought Aleyn was right behind her as she moved on to other tents.

Aleyn started searching for the elf girl in a hurry but it only took one turn around the corner to find her.

Two men with a lot smaller elf girl in between them. They were all facing away from Aleyn but from her point of view Thess had her head quite low and her hands in front of her. Was she trying to cover her face ? Aleyn could see Thess head move constantly, she seemed to be hunched up.

The two men occasionally put their hands towards Thess's face which disappeared behind her back.

The scene was definitely concerning and Aleyn immediately picked up her pace as she approached the three people while carrying the cargo.

As she got closer the men's heads kept creeping closer to Thess's. Aleyn now almost behind the group was very ready to drive them away.

"Okey guys ..."

Thess turned around with a map in her hands and as a sudden realization popped on her face she pointed down the merchant road.

"So if you go down there and then turn left around the corner you should be on a clear road towards this place." She pointed on the map.

The two men cheered and thanked Thess as she handed the map back to them and shook their hands.

"Oh Aleyn, you ready to continue now?" Thess said as she realized Aleyn was right next to her.

"Erm, yeh.. sure." Aleyn said as she watched at the two men walk away.

Thess took off again to window shop while Aleyn trailed behind, but she still had something on her mind.

"I really don't get it."

"Get what?" Thess asked.

"You don't seem to have any trouble interacting with men, for someone with a crippling fear of men."

"Well I'm not afraid of men anymore obviously."

"Well sure. Kharis is back home, the inn is back to normal and you can even abandon me at a tent and talk with men you don't know without collapsing." Aleyn stated.

"Oh did I leave you behind? Sorry I'm just too much in to this after being stuck inside for so long." Thess giggled.

After a little pause Aleyn followed up.

"Yet you still refuse to see or meet Stev."

Thess froze.

"I really.. really don't get why you would do that. Specially to a friend you've known since child hood." Aleyn continued while Thess stayed quiet and listened.

"A friend you've known for so long. If I were him I would definitely be sad and worried. Maybe even slightly offended."

Thess looked at Aleyn straight in the eyes as she kept going.

"Then I thought... There has to be some other reason than a fear of gender, there's no way something like that would stay for just one person after all of your recovery." Aleyn leaned the fabric roll to her shoulder as she used her hand to rub her chin.

Thess's silence gave Aleyn some confirmation on her ideas.

"It must be because you're quite close with him. You two seem far more than just close childhood friends though. Maybe you're even..."

"Think you got the idea." Thess interrupted.

She took a quick look around her, only seeing Merchant tents and people.

"Lets find a more quiet place.."

At the edge of the merchant area a lone old merchant woman kept a tea shop tent where she brewed some more exotic brands of tea. In front of the tent she had a few tables and some stools, nothing grand but enough to let a few people sit as they tried some of her brewing.  

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Mostly empty right now as the only two people around were Thess and Aleyn who had taken refuge from the crowd of people in the market.

Thess and Aleyn took a sip from their teacups.

"Mmm, that's good. I have to take some back definitely." Thess said as she put her cup down on the table.

"Not bad." Aleyn agreed as she took another sip.

The tea was good but the flavor wasn't as special as she expected, just pineapples with a sweet after taste. Not necessarily that exotic but growing pineapples or any fruit in the snowy regions of Dvalfgar was surely futile as it wasn't a habitat where they would survive. Something so simple that you could grow it in abundance at a warmer location would definitely sell for a lot more in a place like Dvalfgar.

Aleyn took another sip of her still warm tea but her attention was stolen quite quickly while doing so.

"Stev is my boyfriend. But I guess you already figured that out." Thess confessed calmly.

"All signs pointed that way." Aleyn nodded.

Thess sighed.

"Signs?"

Aleyn finished drinking and put down her cup.

"Well the first time I thought about it was after your performance when you dove in to his arms and clung to him like glue."

"You.. you noticed?" Thess blushed.

"Yeh, me and the whole table noticed it. I doubt many people in the bar missed it in fact."

Thess looked downwards and covered her face with her hands.

"The fact that you treat him a lot differently is also a clear hint. Secret letters when you wouldn't even communicate with your father in any way." Aleyn continued.

Thess stayed quiet.

"I also got the feeling from Stev that he doesn't consider you as just a friend. He holds you quite dear you know, patiently waiting every morning for a letter and with his questions about your well being."

"Thats all the proof I needed, though two young people being in love wasn't the weird part. You avoiding him this hard even when you obviously still like him was... I haven't really gotten that far yet with speculating though so I have no clue." Aleyn finished as she took another sip of her tea.

Silence followed as Thess tried her hardest to think. You could see it on her face as her expression changed constantly.

She sighed deeply.

"Mother told you about my little event that happened when I was young which made me scared of men right?"

"She did."

"It's not true."

Aleyn gave a quizzical look towards Thess.

"Well it's true that I got bullied a lot by a certain teenage group, but it never made me scared of men. Just those few kids."

"Then what was the reaction you had towards your father and Stev that day? Or when that dwarf lord what ever came to make a ruckus."

"Acting mostly. I needed a good excuse to drive Stev away, sadly father had to play a part in it as well." Thess brushed some bangs of hair away from her face.

"Why would you do that to your boyfriend though? I'm no expert in relationships but surely having your boyfriend helping you through this would be the best thing?"

Thess turned to look at the passing crowds.

"We've been close ever since we were little kids, but as we got older I came to realize how much he meant for me, I loved that man. He has a gentle heart, good manners, he is strong, we know each other very well. Not to mention he feels the same way.

During my fifteenth birthday Stev confessed to me, I was so happy to hear he felt the same about me.. We've been dating in secret for a year or two now."

"Why in secret, Stev seems like a nice guy to me?"

Thess looked towards Aleyn for a moment.

"Mostly because of our fathers. Dad has always been very protective of me, he never really trusted Stev. Thinking he is too well mannered and is hiding something behind a mask. So we decided to just not make it official until we can figure out something."

Aleyn put down her tea and crossed her arms.

"And his father? You said because of both of your fathers."

"His father... Brevurth is a strict but fair man. Stev doesn't want to share the specifics but his father used to be a great swordsman. After his wife's death, Stev was the only family he had left so he started training Stev so that no harm can fall on him."

"Also." Thess continued as she placed her arms on the table.

"Dragonkin are also  known to have  a lot of customs that are meant to guide them but Stev has never really heard his father talk about them so he had to find out for himself. It turns out that "dragonkin should only bond with other dragonkin" is at the top of the list."

"So you think he wouldn't allow any of it?" Aleyn asked.

"Exactly."

""If they never ask, they'll never know. Still that's not the part I'm curious of"" Aleyn thought

"That doesn't explain why you're avoiding your dear boyfriend though. From the sounds of it you're meant for each other."

"Do you really care?" Thess asked.

"It bothers me. You don't seem like you're enjoying it any more than he is."

Thess started rubbing her arms while looking very uncomfortable.

"I'm... I'm scared."

"Huh?"

Thess stayed quiet for a moment and kept rubbing her arms after which she looked at Aleyn.

"I'm scared of what he'll think when he sees me and hears what happened.. "

"My body is scarred, I don't look the same as I used to. Another man had his way with me so I'm no longer a virgin." Thess continued.

"What if after hearing and seeing me. He doesn't want anything to do with me anymore?" Thess shed a tear.

After hearing her reasoning. Aleyn only had one thought in mind.

"Are you fucking serious?"

"Eh?" Thess flinched.

"You don't look the same as you used to? No shit, I doubt anyone would after what you've gone through."

Thess frowned and looked down on her lap.

"But even with that you're so beautiful, if a man looks at you and doesn't find you attractive because of some scars they're so far down the list you shouldn't even want them to."

Thess raised her head a bit as she listened Aleyn lecture on.

"And you say another man had his way with you? Who gives a shit, if Stev really loves you he wouldn't. It's not like you had any say in the matter anyway, sooner you forget about it the better it is for you. "

"If he after hearing the story and seeing you doesn't want anything to do with you then he is no good." Aleyn concluded.

Thess stayed quiet thinking things through as tears formed in her eyes. After a little thinking she responded.

"Still... I'd rather not see him than have everything fall apart. My scars will heal eventually. I love that man, if he would reject me I don't know if I could live through it..."

It was Aleyns turn to be alarmed.

"Thess surely you realize..." Aleyn tried saying before she was interrupted.

"That's enough Aleyn."

Aleyn looked her straight in her teary eyes.

"It's fine." Thess said.

""How can this be fine?"" was all Aleyn could think. She tried reasoning with her.

"But..."

"Aleyn..." Thess whimpered now slightly angry.

Aleyn froze after hearing the tone of her voice change. She very rarely showed anger towards anyone.

"You are not not to tell anyone.. Especially Stev."

What she was asking of her felt silly. Surely the best thing for both her and Stev was to confront him. She stared at her straight in the eyes as she waited for a response.

"Aleyn... promise me.."

With no way to change her mind Aleyn could only concede. She wasn't in any position to tell her what to do in the first place.

"Fine.." Aleyn sighed in annoyed manner.

The pair drank the rest of their tea without much more conversation until Thess suddenly realized something.

"Umm... you're still going to deliver the letters right?"

Aleyn stared at her in silence and raised an eye brow. Thess begun rubbing her arms in discomfort again, she knew her request wasn't in good taste considering Aleyn disagreed with her but she was the only one who knew about their exchange of letters so she had to be the one to deliver them.

She felt a bit helpless realizing she might lose her only way of communicating with Stev.

"I will."

Thess was surprised but didn't question Aleyn. She just smiled and replied.

"Thank you."

Her smile was a nice to look at, but Aleyn didn't feel very happy about it. The story brought a new perspective to the scenario which she didn't like at all but there was very little she could do about it.