“Aw, don't tease me, Miss Cassia. Hurts twice as much coming from someone sweet as you.”
“I'm not! Really! It's a good dream. So? What kind of house?”
“I have some thoughts, I guess.”
“Tell me.”
“Well… a big den, for sure, with a wood fireplace everyone can gather around in winter.” He'd never told anyone this. “And the main bedroom would have a view of the mountains and the sunrise.”
“Mm. That sounds nice.”
In the far distance a wild dragon called, the sound low and warbling. They sat in silence a long moment, listening as the call rose, then faded.
“It’s beautiful. What does he want, do you think?” Cassia asked, her voice breathy.
“What, the dragon call?” Aevrin gave her a surprised look. She nodded, staring out into the darkness as if hunting for the sound.
“She,” Aevrin told her. “That was a duck’s call. For, uh… well, mating.”
“Oh,” Cassia said, sounding a bit embarrassed. She bit her lip and quietly snorted.
Aevrin ground the ball of his foot against the porch.
“...Miss Cassia? If you were planning your dream home, what would you put in it?”
“That's a fun game,” she said. Cassia looking up at the porch ceiling. “Well… a front porch.”
“Oh, sure. You gotta have that.”
“And a really big kitchen with a lot of counters, but that's just me. Maybe you don't need one. And I've always loved those windows you can sit in. You know? The ones with the bench built in?”
He had no idea what she was talking about, but he nodded anyway.
“Yeah. Those are good,” Aevrin said.
“The first star's out,” she observed. Aevrin turned away from her. Straight ahead and a little above, against the navy blue-black, a speck of gold glimmered like a promise in the sky. “Make a wish,” Cassia told him.
“You wish on stars?” he asked with a note of surprise.
“Every night. Don't you?”
“Not for a while. What do you wish for?”
“You know I can't tell you that. It might not come true.”
The front door opened, an arrow of light streaming over the porch to their right.
“Miss Cassia?” Sorven said. “The hourglass ran out. Need me to do something?”
“Thanks, Sorven. I'll handle it,” she answered. Cassia stood from the rocking chair as Sorven trotted back inside. “The tarts are done,” she told Aevrin. “Are you coming?”
He spared a last glance at the star as he stood, his heart unaccountably racing. It couldn’t hurt to wish. Just like it couldn’t hurt to dream.
Cassia
Knowingshe’dbegonein the afternoon, Cassia baked crusty bread in the morning and started a stew, leaving it low in the oven over banked coals that would stay warm for hours.
Aevrin came back just after lunch to grab her. It was a cool day, after the heat of the last few. Larie had been right that just because the valley was often covered in small fires didn’t mean it stayed hot all the time.
