35: All The Happy Things In Life

I bristled and raised my head, only for our eyes to lock. His eyes reminded me of my own, and that was enough to scare me out of my seat. "Uh, I, uh, thanks for the meal Uta, but I have to get going. My sister's probably awake by now."

She pouted. "But you haven't even finished your meal. Alright, you go ahead. I'll see you around."

The strange man's gaze followed me as I left. If Nareem really worked with Cyr, then there was a good chance the Cyr he spoke of were the same.

I didn't waste a beat, I raced all the way back home. I slammed the door open and what I first saw scared the living day lights out of me. Brise with her hair down over her head, walking out of her room. It isn't as scary as it may seem, but let me tell you if you saw her like this let's say in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere you'd probably either scream your head off or wet yourself. Not noticing me she continued into the kitchen, where she fell onto a chair, dropped her head on the table as she groaned.

I released a breath, closing the door behind me as I entered and took a seat opposite of her. She lifted her head, blinked her red rimmed eyes and dropped it again. "Ugh, I feel like crap."

"I'll heat up your breakfast," I sighed. Once she ate her heated meal she wasn't as groggy and weak, and almost back to being her normal spiteful self.

"I think Cyr lives here," I said.

"What gave you that idea?" She squinted.

"I was at the orphanage earlier and the boyfriend-husband, the man, of this volunteer girl mentioned Cyr."

"That's all? that's it?" She hissed. "You should've stayed and listened for more."

"That would be rude. And really awkward. Plus, he was strange-looking."

She grunted, rising from her seat. "Weakling. Never send a dummy to do a detectives work."

Before she could leave I blurted, "Xon was looking for you this morning."

She halted, her shoulders tensing. "What for?"

"No idea, he was acting all strange. Fidgety. Did you threaten to kill him or something—wait no that doesn't make sense. Anyway, that's that."

Brise winced suddenly. "We are never to speak of this again. Ever."

She stalked out the door, slamming it behind her.

~~~

Whatever Brise had gone to do she didn't come back anything time soon. So I decided I'd return to the maintenance crew. Which was how I ended up at the community hall, mending loose floorboards when I received an unexpected visitor.

"Need any help?"

I looked behind me to see Rowan, leaning towards me, a brow raised.

"I'd say yes, but I just finished," I said. He pursed his lips, looked around at the empty community hall, then took a seat beside me.

"Got time to spare then?" He beamed.

"Sure." I told him about the snake-eyed man and what he said about Cyr and how Brise went to do what I couldn't.

"Snake eye," Rowan mused. "I think I know who you're talking about, tall fella, red hair, mean-looking face?"

"That sounds like him. How did you know? Did you meet him?"

"He was with Xon when we were being interrogated. I think he can tell when someone is lying. Or at least scare them into telling the truth."

"If it comes back that it's really Cyr then we have to inform the king."

"Yes we must." His face creased. "But there's something about this forest that makes me think we can't leave as easily as we'd want to."

"How did you guys get in here in the first place?"

"It was strange...We found out that you girls were being chased when we left the tavern. So we followed after the guards who were after you two. But then you disappeared and the guards weren't the ones who took you. Philip tried a tracing spell which led us to the entrance of this forest. And it made sense to enter but we couldn't just waltz in here, these places are sacred, as you know, magic isn't the same in here. But we did anyway, and that's when it got strange. First it was Philip, he started talking gibberish, something about being too small for his body, and then Lucius started acting weird and before I knew it we were all mad. I practically blacked out after that, and then we woke in our cells and you showed up."

"This is a giant graveyard," I breathed.

Rowan suddenly paled. "You don't think..."

Suddenly the silence was threatening. The ground so far beneath reached for me. And everything I said, it seemed Rowan wasn't the only one listening.

"But ghosts aren't real," Rowan beamed, more or less, still pale.

"I think that's far-fetched." And suddenly I'm laughing, out of fear, out of how funny it was to think that ghosts weren't real.

After a moment, Rowan cracks a smile as well. And he's at ease again. "Alright sure. But talking to the dead, now, that isn't real."

"Maybe." I smirked.

We settled into a comfortable silence for a minute. We sat, leaning against the rails, side by side, staring off into the distance.

"Do you miss your family?" He asked.

"All the time," I let out. "But I know they're safe. What about you? your siblings?"

"I have about 5 altogether. But the oldest is 17 so he takes care of them when I can't. They know my job, they know what it demands from me, but I always make sure they're fed, safe, and happy."

Rowan was such a serene soul, how could anyone, how could Philip, find any reason to hate him. "I hope Philip isn't too mean to you."

He bristled and regarded me from the corner of his eye. "Did he tell you what I did?"

I shook my head. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad, right?"

He looked downcast. Swallowed and met my eye. "Philip and I were good friends back in the army. The best of friends. We were young new knights, rookies, so we stuck together. Philip fancied this one girl, another knight. But I was unaware of his feelings when I had started a relationship with her. She had told me she liked me, I couldn't return her feelings, but I thought maybe if I just played along I'd start to like her. I never did, Philip found out. I broke it off with her as immediately as I could when I realized what I had done. But that broke her and strained my relationship with Philip even more. I didn't care what others thought, all I knew was that I had lost a good friend."

I said nothing. All I needed to do was listen. I put my hand on his, but as soon as I did, I jerked it away and so did Rowan. Something sharp, thin and hot had shot through my hand and for once it stung. I clutched my hand in the other and stared wide-eyed at Rowan, who held his hand as well mirroring me.

"Your hand was burning," he said.

"Your hand was burning," I replied.

"Lightning fairy."

"Half-dragon."

Soon we were both smiling. Chuckling. Then came the imminent cheers and the loud and clear sound of the buzuki above the voices. The voices merged and soon they were all singing together, accompanied by rhythmic claps and stomps that shook the floor.

Lucius led the children with his buzuki into the community hall, Rapio at his side singing along with the children. A group of young girls came over, helped us up and pulled us here and there, till we were separated by the herd of children. Their voices harmonious, their steps in tune, they sang and danced.

I felt out of place, awkwardly clapping softly as I stood among the sea of children who were half my size. I caught Rowan on the other side of the room, dancing, as if he'd done it a hundred times before. Not very good, he'd told me, he was amazing. He stopped when I caught his eye, and I chuckled as I perked a brow. He shrugged, then his eyes caught onto something else and I didn't miss the way his eyes twinkled when they landed on it. I followed his gaze to find Philip at the hall's entrance. Philip found my gaze and he grinned.

Rapio's raspy yet smooth voice rose above the children in song:

Starry nights and

Butterflies

All the happy things in life

Cozy hugs and a loved one's laugh

Philip made his way through the crowd towards me, his eyes never leaving mine, and his smile never leaving his lips.

Let them dwell, ever, in our hearts

He gave me his hand and said, "may I have this dance, my lady?"

When I turned Rowan was nowhere in sight.

Tumble and fall

Yet we stand tall

Let us go on, and on and on!

The singing ceased but Lucius went on, continuing the song on his buzuki. I took Philip's hand and we danced.

I don't think we knew what we were doing but we couldn't stop. Sway, shimmy, twirl, it didn't matter, all I knew was that I enjoyed being around him and being myself around him, being true.

But like all good things, they only briefly exist, and when they're gone they feel like dreams. Then reality strikes and dreams melt into lies, become a faraway truth, a hope that's crumbling.

Brise stood at the entrance, arms folded over her chest. I halted, my smile falling. She nodded and I knew that Cyr was here.

a/n: ugh what have i done. also thank you, @unicornbb777 for giving this story a chance.