Private Tales Candle in the Window

[Lechies Delrio]

Lechies only half-listened to Garrod's exchange with the proprietress. She browsed the shelves in an unhurried fashion, mouthing the contents of the bottles to herself as she drifted down the aisle, fingers passing gently over glass.

It was odd, in some ways, to be taking care of her pre-journey shopping in another's company. Despite all these years with the Greendawn, Lechies still preferred to see to such matters on her own. She'd always thought herself a solitary creature at heart; after all, to form bonds with others was to expose her benefactor to risk of discovery. It was a fine line she'd managed to tread with apparent success, for she'd never heard her peers describe her as unfriendly or unapproachable, and Lechies in turn had never felt lonely... And yet, to know Garrod's presence in her orbit, and know that he would remain there for some time if only she asked, filled her with a deeply serene sort of peace.

Warm with the thought, Lechies glanced towards the counter -- just in time to catch Miss Melodia's gaze. There was something of an entertained glimmer in the other woman's eye. The familiar heat of embarrassment crept up Lechies's neck, and she looked away.

Gods, was their fondness so obvious to anyone who laid eyes on the two of them for more than a few seconds? After years and years of hiding her demon from others, was Lechies already this bad at staying discreet? No, no. This would not do. Appearances had to maintained, secrets kept hidden...

And yet, did they? Was it such an awful thing, for the world to know that... that Garrod belonged to her, and she to him? The greatest obstacle had always been her parents' approval, and that beast was now slain. What more did she need?

Mind whirling with these questions, Lechies finally chose a selection of bottles and brought them to the counter. Miss Melodia's smile was only kind as she looked the items over.

"Two bottles of Phoenix Spit, four of Scholar's Friend, and one Wives' Tea. Will that be all?"

Lechies made an affirmative noise. A price was named, coin passed over the counter. Lechies bundled her purchase into her pack.

To Garrod, she put a hand on his arm and said, "I'll be waiting outside. No rush." Maybe she'd clear her head better, away from the thick scent of herbs.

 

[Garrod Arlette]

"Right," Garrod's brow twist as he looked over the glass vials, and crossed his arms over his chest as he weighed things set upon the scales of his mind.

Lechies had picked her supply so quickly. Knew exactly what she would need, and had it ready and packed before he had even settled and made his own choice.

Salamnder's Breath was always cheapest here in Alliria, the trade ports saw an ample supply of dried salamander tongues delivered come the end of the month, so prices remained steady. Cats eye and Stryx Essence, however were always marked up and!

None of that really mattered then. Nor was it his real concern. "I'll just take the usual order, Miss Melodia, the Hunter's Special,"

A nod nod from the Apothecary. "Two Spits, one Friend, and single dosses of the utility flight," her hands moved with a smooth quickness. Bottle after bottle laid down, then a set of multi-colored vials, neatly bundled in some hempen ruck.

Coin exchanged, and pleasantries and well wishes given, Garrod stepped out of the shop. Adjusted his pack of things neath his arm and stepped up quiet beside Lechies.

"Nothing left," he started, came up besides her and stopped. "But to hit the road," he smiled with a sweet sadness there. "Was almost getting use to stickin around the city with ya, you know?"

 

[Lechies Delrio]

Lechies cast an eye to the sky stretching bright and blue between the timeworn eaves of Leviathan Square. The noises of the city flowed around them, through them, chaotic and lively. Vibrant, in a way that filled her heart as surely as the presence of the man beside her.

She hummed in reply, a neutral note.

"Must we, though? We keep to no one's schedule but our own. No reason to return yet if we don't want to... I'm in no hurry. And besides, we already ruined our appetite for lunch with those meat wraps."

Lechies's playful smile turned tender as she tucked her arm around Garrod's, tugging lightly to take him up the street.

"In fact, our stop by Rosecrown's inspired me to ruin it further. Come this way? I've a craving."

She would take him westward, across a plaza thick with merchants hawking all manner of clothing, garments of every color and embroidery style dangling from the poles, like fishermen's catch hung out to dry. Nothing so fine that would impress a noble, perhaps, but the people of the Outer City had little need for the jewels and precious metals that the upper crust so delighted in showing off. Lechies turned her head to regard an especially lovely scarf folded onto one of the tables, ash gray with brilliant green thread along its edge, but did not slow her stride.

Past that plaza, the wares changed. A woman selling apples dipped in caramel, trying to beckon the attention of children away from their parents. Next to her, a man poured golden batter onto a sizzling pan, spreading it thin with wide, practiced sweeps with the back of his ladle. Beyond him, a vendor rolled balls of pounded rice across beds of peanut and black sesame pulverized into a fine powder.

"Dessert," Lechies sighed happily.

She pulled up to one of the carts. This one had skewers of fruit sticking out of the counter -- strawberries, grapes, blueberries, little oranges. They glistened invitingly in the sun. The seller offered a smile to the two adventurers as she stepped over to a deep, bubbling pot on the side, more skewers of fruit held firm between her fingers. These she dripped into the liquid, and they came away with a clear, shining coat that smelled strongly of sweetness.

"Two, please."

Lechies passed over the coppers. Of the skewers she got in return, one she handed to Garrod, and the other she wasted no time in bringing to her mouth. The sugar shell surrounding the first strawberry broke under her teeth, and she beamed like a child as she chewed.

"Detlef brought me one years and years ago, during one of my worse bouts of illness. Carried it in his hand like a torch, all the way back from the market and in the carriage." Lechies laughed. "I've never forgotten that first bite. Sugar always did make me feel better, no matter how poor my health."

 

[Garrod Arlette]

A simple question seemed to stop Garrod in his glum tracks. A laugh, like the huff of a proud little flame, left him. "That we do," he said in regard to their schedule, his bashful smile grew all the more. "And that we did," he added about their appetite.

Her arm looped about his again, and she pulled him along. Fool that he was for her, he was not fool enough to resist the pull she gave him.

Up the street they went. Easy, he settled into the playful gait.

"Inspired, eh?" he went on as he followed, step for step. "A craving," he said to himself. As if to test the word that fell from her lips. As if his tongue could suss the mystery out of the sounds and syllables each letter carried there within.

But he was gladder still, to just be. With her a while longer. Like this. He thought it funny. The feeling of walking by such colorful things that had made him smile days and months before, and find a new feeling still there across his lips. Now, as they walked together again.

How warm she was against him. Her shape, a bold feeling that worked into wells against his skin, pressed firm against his bones. They had only been so close, so near to this day. Though her smile had crested across his dreams oh so many nights.

A smell tickled his nose and brought him back from whatever place his mind had floated off to. He blinked as he watched the careful work of apples being dipped into what looked every bit like vats of liquid treasure. A deep golden brown that stuck to the skins, and was soon coated with crunchy confections.

"Would you look at that," he said with a boyish grin, eye larger and brighter for the sight.

The order went in, and two confections came out. Lechies took her bight, and Garrod just sort of looked at it in his hand as the soft crunch of the snack, crackled in his ear. Lechies even made an excited little sound that had him chuckle as he watched her and listened.

A scene painted itself in his mind. Another story from her past. Another piece of her history given for him to hold. Detlef, sure then as he was now, like an adventurer in his own right, come home with a treasure for his darling sister. For Lechies, wandering mage to be.

His smile felt like a candy coating, freshly stretched across his face. He took a bite out of one of the strawberries. The pop and the crumble. The way the crunch melted into sweet stickiness that coated his mouth. A pleased sound. A slow nod of agreement. Another bite. Then another.

"Whee," munch munch munch. Chomp. "Shtoppin at one?" he grinned and took the last bite of his stick.

They had a whole adventure ahead of them, after all.

 

[Lechies Delrio]

Lechies answered the question with a flat look of reproach, made somewhat ineffective by the fact that her cheeks were full of sugar-coated fruit. Perhaps she resembled a squirrel in this moment, with her mane of red hair.

Once she'd swallowed: "Greedy," came the half-hearted rebuke, almost musical in tone. She tilted her head, amusement dancing in her eyes. "Do you want to ruin your dinner, too?"

All the same, once they'd thrown away their empty sticks, Lechies took Garrod by the hand and, with an affectionate squeeze, pulled him along to a different cart.

The air around this one carried the scent of sweet batter and the heat of a stove. Seeing their approach, the vendor called out and beckoned to them with a commanding wave of his hand, as if worried they'd suddenly change their minds and veer off course.

"Whatcha want?"

Lechies eyed the hand-carved sign. "Hmm. Let's have two of everything, please."

He nodded and set to work. There was a large metal tray before him with rows of circular, flat-bottomed indents. From a pot on the side, he ladled batter into a funnel set with a handle, and went about piping the concoction into each of the pockets. Once the pockets were filled, he scrubbed at them with a small rounded stick, spreading the batter into a coating.

As they cooked, in went the fillings. Dark, shining chocolate. Bright, jiggly custard. Smooth taro the color of asters. Cheese like melted gold. Once the bottom of the cakes were done, the man popped them out of the tray with practiced speed, and repeated coating the pockets with batter. The cakes went back on upside-down, sealing their deliciousness within.

In due time their snacks were handed over in a paper bag. Lechies had put her gloves back on while the man prepared their wheel cakes, not eager to almost burn her fingers as she had with the meat wraps. She nibbled gingerly at the cake's golden-brown edge until the piping hot custard center was revealed, and blew at the wafting column of steam.

"Do you have much of a sweet tooth, Garrod?" she asked, waiting for it to cool. "Did Master Sinns give you treats when you aced your lessons?"

 

[Garrod Arlette]

Garrod couldn't help but smile. Passed down the last bite of the confection, and wiped away at the crumbs and sticky sweetness that coated bits of his lips and the sides of his mouth. "Guilty," he said, and worked some of the sugar stuck to the tip his thumb with a kiss of his lips. A warm laugh came with his breath. "Don't you worry," he assured. "Plenty more room in the pit,"

His hand was snagged up, and they hurried off. A little adventure, fresh and full of glistening treasures. That they were edible, well, made it all the more fun. And oh how they smelled and swelled, melted and dripped, and before he knew it, Lechies put in an order for another slew of treats. Little spheres of dough, filled with all sorts of delicious things.

They'd just eaten. Had ate well in the morning too. But the smells coupled with the site of it all. How the dough turned golden brown. Crisped. Filled the air with a buttery warmth, just so tinged with vanilla, and caramelized sugar.

His right hand splayed with excitement. Shut to tight fist as the cakes were put into their bags and handed over. With his left, Garrod reached out and took his bag, with his right he grabbed at one of the cakes. Garrod took in a deep breath full of the smell of it was about to take a bite!

Then Lechies' question caught him. He blinked, with cake still clasped in his gloved hand. The heat, no bother at all.

"Well," he looked down at the little cake in his hand. How it steamed. "He did buy me a pie once or twice," he laughed. "Brought some cookies another few times, back when I was, well much younger. Always pistachio, on the days he thought was my birthday," he looked back to Lechies. "Never quite lined up to the same day though, but he always got the season right, Summer," he shared, and looked back at the pie. "He preferred giving me choice cuts of meat, or, making my favorite meal as a prize, always said, too much sugar'll get you killed come the hunt," there was a sweet melancholy to the hunter's look. But it brightened all the more. "I do, love sweets though," he confessed, and chomped down on his little cake. Chewed. Made a deep, pleased sound that had him close his eye.

It opened, and he looked to Lechies again. "Did you have a favorite?" he asked blew a bit of air across the hot cake and its bright purple pudding. "Back when Detlef brought you back your sugary delights?" he smiled soft. "Seems like the sort who'd spoil you with every sort of new treat he would come across," and though he had only met the man, Garrod felt a fondness for him, born of the thought of his dotting on the bed ridden wizardling.

Just one of the many facets he found himself admiring, all the more, as he learned so much of her.

 

[Lechies Delrio]

He loved sweets. Perhaps little Garrod had found them an effective tonic for the general bitterness of life, and that habit carried into adulthood. Same as her. A kindred spirit, and in a way that mattered more than the sharing of their bodies with demons.

Tickled by the idea, Lechies's attention returned to her cake. Not even the sting of hot custard against her tongue could dampen her grin.

"A favorite? Hm... that's a hard question to answer." The tip of her aching tongue poked out between her lips as she mulled it over for a moment. "I was mostly only happy to get anything at all from my brothers. They did their best to share the treasures of the outside world with me, knowing that I couldn't go explore it for myself." She laughed. "It just so happened that said treasures were bad for my teeth. I should be glad they didn't literally spoil me rotten. My parents probably set limits on how many treats they could feed me from week to week."

They walked leisurely along the edge of the square as they chatted, making their way towards an alley whose shade seemed a promising refuge from the press and pull of the crowd. Lechies tested her cake with a tentative lick, and, finding the temperature tolerable, dug in with enthusiasm.

"The treats Master Sinns bought you," she said between bites, "did you ask for pistachio, or was it a flavor he picked himself?" A chew, and a swallow. "You know... it is summer now. Still early in the season, but that gives us time, doesn't it?" Lechies raised her chin, eyes wide with thought. Pink gathered lightly on her cheeks. "... To celebrate your birthday, I mean."

 

[Garrod Arlette]

Well, this was new.

He found himself thinking. The two of them, just, getting to be. Sharing food and thought and. Oh. His cheeks reddened as she weighed the question. Her laugh re-curled his smile, and he nod before he took another bite of the custard filled cake.

"Limits," he echoed. Nod. "Spose that's what Old Sinns was trying to set all those times he scolded me for pinching confections from the local bakers," he grinned, half proud as they walked, his eye, with its easy confidence, caught her sneaking a lick of the custard. His breath caught in his throat and he stared wide eyed for a moment. Almost forgot to keep walking.

Snapped out of the warm daze that had come over his watching. "Ask?" he replied. Chewed in turn. She mentioned the season, and he nod as they hid away in the shade of the alleyway. Why was she blushing like that? Better yet, why did his heart feel like it twist at the site of those wide eyes. "Oh..." he was struck again. Felt his own face flush.

He laughed, small and nervous. "Well," for all the squirm of gentle joy that fluttered in his stomach, he didn't let his eye drift away. Greedy green pool that it was, it would enjoy the site of her all it could. "I never asked for pistachio," he said soft and easy. "As a kid, I mean," he shared on. "Hated it really," the tinniest bit of shame in his eyes, but his smile lost none of its warmth. "I would complain and complain, but, Sinns just, always got pistachio," he laughed. Let his free left hand come up to cup her cheek. Smooth down her neck and pulled her a little closer. "But I'd love to share a little cake with you, all the same" his hand slid down her shoulder. As if feeling her was the only way he could make sure he had truly woken up this morning. He whispered, there in the quiet little alleyway. Each word a warm knock. "I can take you to the little coffee shop, where they serve the best pistachio bread, goes great with a black brew,"

 

[Lechies Delrio]

His hand curled around her, gentle in its insistence, and Lechies quickly brushed the last of the cake crumbs from her palms so that she could lean into his touch without fear of smearing the snack over his front. The noise of the crowd behind faded to a quiet murmur. Distantly, Lechies felt no embarrassment over their stolen embrace, and she was pleased to discover she cared less and less about what others thought of their courtship. All she could hear were Garrod's words, his breath warm against her ear.

"Can I be honest? I'm not all that fond of pistachio, myself." Lechies leaned her head back and peered up, laughing. "But coffee sounds delightful! Let's make an outing of it, then. Though... I suppose it would have to be either now, or later tonight, after dinner. We'll be leaving the city tomorrow..." She spoke quietly, as if talking to herself. "Ah, but I think it would be unwise to partake of anything else this afternoon, else we'll have no room for dinner. So, tonight then?"

Two visits to the city in one day. One for business, and the other for pleasure. Her family would probably have remarks, if not questions, but if her parents were going to object, then they shouldn't have given their approval of Garrod in the first place.

With that childish line of reasoning established, Lechies took Garrod's hand from her shoulder, and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. She watched him from the corner of her eyes, a smile half-tucked against the glove leather.

"If you're ready, let's go home."

Home, just as much his as hers, now. Heat bloomed pleasantly in her stomach, every bit as fulfilling as the candies and cakes that had passed her lips today.

------​

The sun was setting by the time the carriage dropped them back at the estate, casting everything in a hard outline of burnished gold. Lechies came up the walkway hand-in-hand with Garrod, amused by how much taller his elongated shadow was compared to hers. Her free hand clutched the bag containing the remainder of their wheel cakes. She hadn't been able to finish them, and had dissuaded Garrod from making the attempt, because...

"Aunt Lechies!"

As they stepped into the foyer, a boy waved from the top of the staircase, looking to be 7 or 8 years old, his fluffy hair a telltale shade of fiery red. His enthusiasm faltered momentarily at the sight of Garrod, a stranger in his house, but in the next moment a veil of gentlemanly politeness had fallen over his face.

He was much more sedate in the way he descended the stairs. As Lechies and Garrod came to meet him, the boy offered the latter a bow, hand crossed over his chest, and the other at his back.

"Pleased to meet you, sir. I'm Caymus Delrio. Might I, uh, have the h-honor of your name?"

His voice squeaked just a little bit, eyes blown wide to take in Garrod's full height, standing so close. Lechies only laughed and went to his side, putting a fond hand on his head.

"Be at ease, Cay. This is my good friend, Mr. Garrod." To Garrod, she added, "My nephew. Allos and Juliote's son." Indeed, the shape of Caymus's face recalled the elegant slopes of Juliote's cheeks and nose. The hair was definitely his father's, however. "Mr. Garrod is staying with us today. We'll be departing the city together tomorrow."

"Already?" The boy visibly wilted, his refined manner already forgotten.

 

[Garrod Arlette]

The sound of her laugh caught cool in his ear. Like a cool southern breeze, come sweep across the shores of his mind. It made him smile all the more.

"It grows on you," he said, his voice lifted with a lanternlight warmth.

Her eyes caught his and held on to his gaze. "Wouldn't want to ruin our appetites too much," he agreed. "Tonight then," he nod.

With a casual grace, they unwound, his hand in hers, as she pressed a small peck against the bones of his hand. His lips pursed with surprise, and his brows bounced as he followed.

"Let's" he said with a nod. And found it all so, wonderfully warm.

Was this the sort of joy that they would have to look forward to, on those far away nights, set to some adventure, or trapped in some trouble?

A worry that came and went, as a moth to the flame.
---

What greeted them, or rather who greeted them, left Garrod without word. His eye wide with an alert caution as the boy gave an excited hello.

Looked strikingly like Lechies. Coppery strands ablaze beneath the afternoon sun.

The boy quieted. Looked almost scared. Garrod's right hand tightened and loosed. When he gave a proper greeting, Garrod could not help but smile.

"A polite young man," Garrod said with a slight bow once Lechies had given his nae. "A pleasure, Mr. Caymus," he felt his cheeks ache some at the pull of his smile, and he wasted no time in gathering those things they had spent their morning acquiring.

"Your aunt has a penchant for the road, young master," he said through an easy smile. Turned with bundles of kit and goods slung over shoulder and looped under arm. "An adventurer's heart, as well as a wizard's intellect," he winked at the boy. "Can't keep her from the trail for too long, " he looked over at the college wizard, his eye alight with the glow of admiration. "I'll see her returned safely home though," he looked back to the boy, and gave a small nod. "Quick as I can, Caymus,"