22 Their past (2)

The glittering city sprawled beyond, towering buildings and stone structures taking up most of the space. I had passed by here in a carriage a hundred of times, but I had never seen it up close like this. I had never taken a stroll along the streets, nor stop by to loom down the bridge.

Nikolas led me to a place where a mass of bodies crowded, bustling to and fro whether in errands or sight-seeing just like us.

"This is the city square," he said, pride gleaming in his crystal-blue eyes. "There's much to see around here."

Indeed there was. Wherever I looked, some kind of activity was always present. Smaller establishments were set into large ones, seemingly intended for a different kind of purpose from where it was put in. Either the bigger building was a hotel, while the tiny one was a shop that sold chinaware or armor. The doors and windows glistened, beckoning me to go check them out.

Meanwhile, shoppers or tourists were scattered on the cobblestone streets, coming and going in an unending flurry of murmurs and unsuppressed laughter.

My head swiveled left and right, drinking the whole view in. "I've never seen it in this kind of angle before."

"You haven't seen the best part, come on." Niko laughed, leading me by the hand again. When he saw that my gaze was on our intertwined fingers, he cleared his throat. His cheeks were tinged with a soft pink. "Oh, I was making sure you don't get lost, since you're not used to walking around the city like this. Is it okay?"

I gave him a toothy grin. "Yes, it's fine. Thank you, Niko."

Besides, I wouldn't want to get separated from him and his atmosphere that was brimming with jolly and sweetness.

We went through a spacious alley, with people in suits and day dresses sat underneath their umbrellas. Cigar smoke and perfume wafted in the air up to the rooves of brick houses. I had to pinch my nose to avoid sniffing the smell. Niko had an apologetic expression, but he was laughing in a helpless way at what I was doing.

"Cute," he muttered.

Again, there was that flurry of tingling sensations in my stomach—a mix of jitters and pleasantness. A good kind of being anxious perhaps.

We rounded a bend, and rows and rows of white tents and stalls materialized. They all sat beside the bank, with a variety of goods set up on display. Shouts and murmurs echoed in the wind as vendors sold their wares and merchandise. Some of the tents had even hung banners that had a symbol or two of an element, perhaps selling magical items or potions.

We marched deeper into the huddled tents, joining the crowd of market-goers, peering at plates, jewels, clothes and unrecognizable food ingredients as if we were truly interested. True enough, curious was all I was at this very moment.

A savory aroma drifted into my nose, making me stop on my tracks. Niko stopped to, sniffing.

"Do you smell that?" he said, beaming with excitement.

My stomach answered for me. I had just finished eating in the Varemont estate earlier, and it had only been an hour, I couldn't possibly be hungry now. But alas, I was. The smell of these unknown spices were just irresistible.

Niko snorted. "It's making me hungry, too."

As if on cue, a man called out to us and when we turned to the voice, he was waving smoking hot chicken skewers. In front of him was a grill, the coal glowing red as the breeze blew.

It was me who pulled Nikolas toward the vendor, drooling at the juicy meat that had obviously just been taken from the grill.

"Chicken skewers, young lads?" The vendor gestured to the food kindly. In my eyes they were sparkling.

Then I paused, shifting to Niko. My shoulders fell. "Do we have money?"

I bet we didn't bring any. The hope faded, as I remembered that our decision to come here were so out of the blue. We wouldn't have expected that we would spend anyway—

"Of course, I brought some." Niko winked. The light in me flared once more. "Give us two, Mister."

We ate them while leaning onto the railings that loomed into the river below, just a few distances from the last stall in the row. I chewed, appreciating the new flavors on my tongue while watching the surface of the water twinkling beneath the strong sunlight. At times, fish were caught by the claws of eagles and away to the horizon they disappeared.

"Poor fish," I said, munching on the last bit of chicken.

"It's okay. The fish served his life well by feeding himself to the bird." Niko said, his tone gentle and comforting. "Like us, the bird needed to eat. Or perhaps she had hatchlings to take care of."

"But the fish didn't have a choice."

"Yeah, but don't you think the fish will be happy to think that the bird got to live another day because of him?"

I chuckled. "Maybe."

Nikolas braced his elbows into the railing, his silver hair caught by the wind. He was using the stick as a toothpick. "The chicken had to die so you could taste this new food. You appreciated it enough, I believe the chicken would be happy to know that he ended up as good food for you, Lily."

I giggled, that certainly was reassuring.

I crossed my arms, settling beside him. My skirt was also fluttering against the gust, but I didn't bother to hold them. "What's with you assuming genders of animals?"

He shrugged, a playful grin on his face. "I had to guess."

I opened my mouth, but I was cut off by someone who had called out to him.

"Nikolas, here you are."

Before us stood two boys. One had dark skin and darker hair that was spiky and short, his eyes a bright hazel. The other was fair, with freckles on his nose and cheeks. He had orange hair that reminded me of citrus, and emerald eyes.

Both boys were tall, and looked really grumpy.

And then the orange-haired boy said, "Who's this?"