“Yoo-hoooo! Celeste! Is that you?”
Celeste jumped, turning at the sound of the voice from behind her, which had cut through the air like a laser, breaking into the almost dreamlike state Hardwicke had found himself drifting into as he’d gazed into Celeste’s eyes, waiting with bated breath to find out what she was going to say. The voice had come like a slap across the cheek, and Hardwicke wasn’t sure he was able to keep the grimace of annoyance from his face, no matter how hard he tried.
“Oh, itisyou, Celeste! I thought so!”
Hardwicke blinked, struggling to keep his face neutral, as an older lady bustled up the street toward them, her steely gray hair wrapped in a colorful scarf, knitted gloves with cats’ faces on them covering her hands.
“Oh – Mrs. Shelby,” Celeste said, blinking, though her voice still had a slightly breathless edge to it. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.”
“Oh no, not to worry. And please, call me Darla!” Mrs. Shelby winked winsomely, a smile on her face. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
She darted a look up at Hardwicke, before raising her eyebrow at Celeste.
“No… no, it’s okay,” Celeste said, trying to gather herself. “I was just… um…”
“Celeste and I are old friends,” Hardwicke said, hoping he was coming to her rescue rather than making things worse. “We were just catching up.”
“Oh no, it seems Iaminterrupting something,” Mrs. Shelby said, shaking her head regretfully. “But youknowI wouldn’t dream of doing something so rude if it wasn’tveryimportant.”
Celeste opened her mouth, clearly about to ask if there was something wrong, but it seemed Mrs. Shelby was going to tell her whether she asked or not.
“Well, you know how I – well, actually you probablydon’t, given that you’re such areclusivetype – but anyway, I’ve been organizing a fundraiser this year for my nephew’s school over on the mainland. Every year we do it! It’s for funding to cover the students’ writing books for the year. But anyway, Celeste,thisyear I came up with theamazingidea of some of us here making hand-made clay mugs and things to auction off to the highest bidder. I know what you’re going to say –genius,isn’t it? But I have a problem. Ipromisedthat I’d provide twenty mugs for the auction But wouldn’t you know it, that Mrs. Taylor and her husband have left me high and dry! They pulled out at the last moment! Something about afamilything that had come up and having to leave town… oh, who remembers the details.Anyway,thepointis that I’m short two mugs. And I really need them done today so I have enough time to get them fired and sent off before Christmas! But just as I was beginning to getsoworried about what to do, here you are! So, what do you say?”
Mrs. Shelby seemed to be looking expectantly at Celeste at the end of her monologue, as if it should be extremely clear what, exactly, Celeste should have something to say about.
Hardwicke wondered if he, perhaps, might have missed something, but one glance at Celeste’s face told him she was just as confused as he was.
“Um. I’m sorry, Mrs. Shelby, but I don’t really understand what you’re getting at,” Celeste said, a little hesitantly.
Mrs. Shelby shook her head, stopping only just short of actually rolling her eyes.
“Why, making amugof course, silly!” she said, a little exasperated. “Really, I’m in a big hurry about it. But you have time to come to the pottery studio and throw a little something together, don’t you? Since you’re just standing here on the street?” Mrs. Shelby tutted Celeste into silence as soon as Celeste began to speak, rushing on: “Yes yes, Iknowyou said you were catching up with your friend, but as I said, I needtwomugs. So you can both make one each! Wouldn’t that befun.You can talk while you make them!”
Hardwicke could see the mortified blush that was creeping over Celeste’s face as she glanced up at him, apology in her eyes.
It’s okay,he tried to mentally reassure her. In fact, he didn’t have time at all to sit around making a clay mug, and he didn’t feel good about abandoning Celeste to Mrs. Shelby, but hedidneed to find a way to get away to find somewhere isolated to shift and begin his investigations –
“But of course. We would be most honored to provide a piece of claywork. It would be our privilege to assist in such a noble endeavor. Most especially if it is with Celeste.”
Hardwicke heard the words coming out of his own mouth, in his own voice, but they weren’t words that he would ever actuallysay– no, they were pure pegasus.Itwould never consider changing the way it spoke to make itself sound more like a normal human – as far as it was concerned, the way it spoke wasfine, and it was everyone else who was wrong.
“Oh… well, yes, I’mveryhappy to hear that,” Mrs. Shelby said, after a mildly awkward pause, during which Hardwicke had mentally berated his pegasus, which hadn’t cared at all what he had to say.
You would leave our mate to face this challenge alone?the pegasus demanded, somehow managing to look down its nose at him.And you think yourself worthy of her hand, her trust, her bond? How you can look at yourself in the mirror if you do not assist her now is quite certainly beyond me.
Gritting his teeth, Hardwicke had to admit the pegasus might have had a point. Celeste was too sweet for her own good, and he knew she’d never turn down Mrs. Shelby’s request – which, he assumed, meant spending a lot of time with Mrs. Shelby. Could he really abandon her tothatfate?
Duty was tugging at him, but he’d committed himself now – he knew if he tried to back out, regardless of how much he wanted to rescue Celeste from Mrs. Shelby’s company or simply spend time with her for its own sake, his pegasus would immediately take over his vocal cords again and allow no such thing.
So, he supposed, he’d just have to resign himself to his fate.
“Oh – Pierce, are you sure? Don’t you have any plans for the day – like sightseeing, or just relaxing?” Celeste asked, blinking up at him. “I mean, of course I’d love to have your company, but I couldn’t just ask you to drop everything and –”
“Now, now, Celeste, he’s already agreed,” trilled Mrs. Shelby, taking Celeste by the arm. “There’s no need to make things socomplicated.You’ll be done in a jiffy! They don’t need to be great works of art! They just need toexist. Now come along, both of you. Time’s a-wasting! Don’t forget I need thesetoday!”
Mrs. Shelby started off down the street, still chattering, tugging Celeste along by the arm. As Hardwicke began to follow, Celeste cast him a deeply apologetic look over her shoulder.
Hardwicke gave her a quick smile and shrug, hoping that he was effectively conveyingDon’t worry about it – it’s not your fault.
