“Have you ever met the wizard?”
We turn left at the next intersection where several kids chase after a ball that appears to be rolling uphill all by itself.
“No,” Remy tells me. “Everything I’ve heard about him, I’m not sure I’d like to.”
“What do you mean? Is he cruel like the Witch of the East?”
We follow the road as it slopes downward toward another intersection.
“Nothing like that. Nothing so blatant. I think he just… sucks up a lot of air in the room. If that makes sense. He’s supposed to be a man of the people, and yet he doesn’t permit anyone to look at him.”
“Oh. Well, that makes sense, I guess. But not everyoneloves attention. Some people are destined for it, despite not wanting it.”
Remy comes to a stop at an alcove where a double-arched doorway is painted gold. “True. But the wizard is not that.”
“How do you know?”
They reach out for the gold door handle. “Just a feeling.”
“That’s fair.”
Remy pulls the door outward, and the distinct chatter of a tavern filters out into the night.
“Oh, is this your inn?”
“It is. Welcome to the Red Wander.”
I step away from the alcove and back into the busy street to get a better look at it.
The inn wraps around the street corner, with the entrance itself on the corner, welcoming people in from the intersection it sits on.
The double front doors are hemmed in by two large windows, where light and shadows play inside. All the trim that surrounds the windows here and on the second and third floors is painted the same gold as the doors.
The rest of the building, constructed of brick, is painted red.
Glimming Hollow seems to love its color, but none of the other owners have committed to something as bold as bright red and gold.
It makes me appreciate Remy even more, even though we’ve just met.
“My aunt is an artist,” I say to Remy. “She’d love your inn.”
“Thank you. I had to fight the council to get approval for the color.”
The council in question, with Ana at the front, has gathered behind us.
“I appreciate color just as much as anyone,” Ana says, “but there are rules. Beyond natural stone and wood, building codes in the Hollow have approved emerald green and aubergine. Not poppy red.”
It’s a little refreshing that even here in this strange land, people are still fighting building codes. Henry wanted to add a second barn at one point in an effort to expand his capacity to process crop, but he was turned down by the county because there was a limit on accessory buildings.
It’s mundane tasks like that that have me doubting a life of domesticity.
I would never have the energy, nor the desire, to fight a council or county commission on exterior paint colors or the number of accessory buildings I’m allowed.
I want to do…more.
Not that I fault Remy or Henry for fighting for what they want, regardless of how big or small the goal.
“Well, it looks beautiful,” I tell Remy and Ana. “I’m glad it was approved.”
