They spent almost the entire day shopping, eating and dancing. He allowed her to lead the way, going wherever she felt inclined to. He enjoyed watching her flit from one place to another, a spring in her step and a smile on her face.
As she was distracted by the music and dancing, he slipped away from her for a few minutes, going over to the forge. He stepped into the dark hot building and moved closer to the ferrier. He made sure he could still see her from where he stood. He yelled over the noise of the hammer striking anvil. “Ho, Gardan.”
The ferrier stopped his hammering and looked up. “Your Majesty, what brings you into town?” he asked, wiping his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand, then wiping it on his apron.
“I have company staying with me for a time, and I’m entertaining for the day. Anything strange happening around here lately? Any strangers nosing around?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary. Had a couple of sailors from Seabrook looking for supplies to repair their mast lines, but other than that, all is quiet. Why?”
“I need to know if you notice anything strange, anyone asking too many questions. Can you send a messenger if you see anything out of the ordinary?”
“Of course, Sire.”
“Thanks.”
“Anything for His Majesty,” Gardan said, bowing.
Dain left the forge and returned to the square, just as the musician was ending his session.
As the afternoon started to blend into evening, they gathered up the wares they had purchased and paid the stable hands for the watch of their horses. They mounted and passed by the gate a couple of hours before sunset.
She was dusty and tired but was saddened by their departure. It had been a long time since she had been escorted into town and allowed to have free reign. She went into Kingswell often, but always by herself, and it was nice to have the company.
They rode side by side again, Dain’s men behind them, the dry road kicking up dust as they moved along. She was sitting up straight in the saddle, humming a low tune to herself. He could hear it, but not enough to recognize it.
“That song you hum, what is it?”
“An Elvin lullaby that my nanny used to sing to me when I was a small child. It’s about a faerie who is called upon by an evil witch. The witch wants the faerie to grant her the gift of beauty so that she can mesmerize a man of her choosing into falling in love with her. The faerie tells her that she cannot gift her with outer beauty because she has no inner beauty. The witch becomes enraged at being refused, so she puts a hex on her. The faerie is turned into a human and given an ugly appearance to match that of the witch. She would stay that way until a man fell in love with her inner beauty and chose to ignore what was on the outside. If she found a man who fell in love with her, she could turn back into a faerie, or stay human and lose all her powers. She would have to make the choice to either stay human and ugly or turn back into her original form. She was human for thousands of years until she met a young man who had been scarred from a fire. He was burned trying to rescue his lady from the flames, but, after seeing what he looked like, she shunned him for his hideousness. The faerie and the man fall in love, both anguished by what they looked like, but saw past that to what was inside. The faerie, after the man tells her of his love and devotion, decides to trust him and tell him the truth about herself. But the witch had tricked her, and as soon as she revealed her real self to her love, she turned back into a faerie and lost the magic she once had. The man, devastated about losing his love, jumps into the river and is never seen again. The faerie, after losing her love and her ability to grant wishes, is sad and searches for him. To this day the faerie roams the forest near the Xanthe River searching for her lost love and agonizing over her useless life as a powerless faerie. His anguished cry can be heard in the rapids if you listen closely enough.”
He stared at her. “That’s a terrible story to tell to a small child.”
“It is, isn’t it? Well, it’s sung in Elvish so it does lose some of it’s meaning in translation. The tune is lovely though.”
“Yes, I suppose so.
“It does put quite a damper on the idea of finding true love.”
“You don’t believe in true love?”
“You mean a love with someone that would die for you? I would like to. But I think men and women are more interested in the intrigue of the hunt. They see it as a game to see who can gain the most out of it. Women have no say in the choosing so they use whatever powers they have to charm and seduce in order to gain the most. Men see women as merely conquests, and as they tire from one, they move along. I don’t think anyone knows what it means, or how to obtain and keep it.”