“Does seem simple enough,” I smile.
“Here, I’ll go first and show you,” Willem grins, picking up the crystal ball in his small fingers. He flicks it skillfully, hitting a red marble out of the circle, “see!”
“Let’s see you do it again, then,” I arch my brow, impressed.
“I may be too good for you, Lady,” he replies with a shrug, hitting another marble out of the circle.
“I think you may be, too,” I laugh, watching as he thoroughly beats me in our first game together.
“Here. You can go first this time,” he offers.
I tip my hand down and place the ball between my thumb and forefinger, flicking and completely missing every single one of the marbles. Willem laughs out right, hitting his hand to his forehead in disbelief before reaching for the crystal ball.
“You’re worse than mommy! Here, go again. You won’t get better unless you practice.”
“Too true, little one.”
I take aim again and hit the side of a red marble, but it remains within the circle. Willem takes his turn and glances at me with a curious look.
“Why do you have a bird sleeping under your hair, Lady? Seems an odd thing to do.”
“He’s my friend,” I reply with a smile.
“You have odd friends,” he comments, looking up at Golem, “but I’ll be your friend if you don’t trick me again. And I can introduce you to my brother and Kyrsten and the other kids here.”
“I would like that,” I nod quietly, not having the heart to tell him that I don’t know when he’ll next see me once we leave Fumagalli. I sigh and forgo even mentioning it, the two of us playing on the side of the road until the sun reaches directly over our heads, a signal to midday.
“I have to get going, Lady,” Willem notices the bright rays over us, “mommy will be mad if I’m late for lunch.”
“Well we can’t have that,” I nod.
Willem quickly picks up all of his new marbles and places them into his sack, standing up.
“Thank you for the marbles and playing with me, Lady Alexis,” he flings his arm around my free shoulder so as not to disturb Storm.
I reach around and give the boy a tight squeeze, “you’re very welcome, Willem.”
He waves goodbye to Golem and bounds down the road for the Hidden City.
“Wait, Willem!” I stand up, “your old marbles…”
“Keep them, tricky Lady. You need the practice.”
I chuckle at his honestly and pick up the green and black marbles from the side of the road, dropping them into the bottom of my travel bag.
“Lunch, ale and reading, Golem. Emphasis on the ale.”
The two of us head straight for the only pub in the village that doesn’t belong to the inn. It’s a cute single-story cottage that’s small and cozy on the inside with a tiny fireplace roaring at the far end of the room. An older Discerni man greets me as we walk in, his features not as old as Margaret but with a slight sign of white hair gracing his temples. He smiles when I ask for the village’s amber ale and whatever he has cooking for the day, then saunters off without saying a word.
I take a seat in the corner of the room by the fireplace and let the flames warm my body, deciding to pull out the book given to me by Clair on the Ancient Ten. I need to refresh my knowledge on the four Ancients Holis and Mana spoke of earlier this morning, my curiosity piqued and wondering which brother or sister Hirovale will choose to wake first.
“Sianoa, Heysan, Nolan and Tomo…” I mumble, cracking open the spine. Golem takes a step closer at my back and looks over my shoulder, eyes landing on the text in my hand.
“Do you want to read, too?” I ask, angling the book so that we can both read. Golem nods just as the Discerni man sets down a mug and bowl of steaming soup.
“Okay. I’m thinking Nolan, first. I don’t recall much about him.”
I eat and read about the Ancient of Healing and Alleviation, all of the knowledge from my childhood rushing back only after a few paragraphs.
