For the first time since I met him, he didn’t sound very keen at all on the proper thing to do.
“Only, do you think… would it be all right if we looked around first?” he asked, eyes wide and hopeful. “I’ve never been to a market.”
I smiled at his enthusiasm as I slung his pack over one shoulder and my own over the other and held out a hand. “That sounds like an excellent idea. Let’s go and find the food stalls first and see whatever else catches our eye on the way.”
Sparrow beamed and took my hand. His fingers tangled with mine, making butterflies appear in my stomach that had no right being there, and we set off to explore the markets.
CHAPTER 7
SPARROW
The Everend Markets were larger than the entirety of Hillstowe and so very, very busy. I was glad that Elowin was with me because I didn’t quite fear getting lost in the crowd when he was always right there. Not only did he seem to know exactly where he was going, but he moved with the kind of confidence and purpose that meant others stepped around him instead of knocking into him. If I’d been on my own, I would have been rattled around like a skittle, I was sure—mostly because I kept stopping to look at things and getting distracted.
Every stall we passed was new and exciting, even the food stalls! I wouldn’t have thought there was anything exotic at all about roasted chestnuts, but Elowin bought us a paper cone of the nuts and they were sprinkled with nutmeg and some sort of citrus zest and were nothing like the ones I’d had before at home.
I chewed slowly, savoring the taste as Elowin led me forward through the crowds. There was so much to see! We passed stalls offering mouthwatering charred meat onwooden skewers, some sort of fried dough, and ears of corn dripping in butter, and I had to force myself not to stop at every single vendor and empty my purse.
And the food wasn’t the only thing that caught my attention. In Hillstowe, the clothing was plain and serviceable. But here, elves dressed in a mix of different colors and eye-catching styles, from billowing shirts in purples and blues to fitted trousers with laces down the sides and no shirts at all and everything in between. A woman passed us wearing tight leggings. They were bright green apart from the places where there was no fabric at all, just white lace. A couple up ahead of us caught my eye, and I was sure I stared quite rudely, but I couldn’t stop looking. Both men wore caramel-colored leggings in a fabric that looked wonderfully soft, and it wrapped itself around their bottoms like a well-fitting glove. Not that I was looking at their bottoms, of course! Theirclothingfascinated me, that was all. Their shirts were linen and the color of cranberries. One of them wore a long sleeveless vest over the top in a fetching shade of forest green and the other a similar vest in a lighter shade. The combined effect was quite enchanting.
We made our way forward, and Elowin placed one hand on my shoulder and kept me close as he steered me along the narrow laneways between the stalls, his palm warm and comforting. I spent some time lingering around the tents where they were selling magic, fascinated by the array of enchantments on offer. As well as the more practical spells—therewasone to make chickens lay—there were plenty of items that seemed to exist purely for entertainment’s sake, like a kettle that whistled a different tune every time it boiled.
Eventually we made our way to the road that led to the inn where the prince would be staying, and I was secretly relieved to leave the market behind for now. I had never seenso many elves in one place before, and although the atmosphere was jovial enough, the press of bodies was overwhelming.
“Oh,” I said, looking around me at the park Elowin had led us into, a respite from the crowds. “Is that…”
The words, and my breath, trailed off in wonder.
It was a large stone shrine surrounded by beautifully kept trees and shrubs. It wasn’t exciting like the markets, or even as beautiful as the large pavilions—just a large stone shrine that was older than anything else around it. As old as the continent itself, perhaps. It commemorated the birthplace of the very first elves, and my breath caught in astonishment to see it in the flesh instead of just reading about it in books.
It took a moment to find my words again. “Is thattheshrine?”
Elowin nodded, a faint smile on his face as though my astonishment brought him happiness. As though he was pleased that he got to see my reaction. I was glad, once again, that he was here with me. “Do you want to have a closer look?”
“Oh no,” I said, suddenly conscious of my travel-stained clothes, my fingers sticky from the chestnuts, and my braided hair. The shrine wassacredand I was currently too grubby to approach it in good conscience. “That is, not today. Oh! And I need to brush my hair out before I meet the prince! And change my clothes!”
I paused and thought about the fashionable elves I’d seen earlier and the clothes I had packed. It was painfully clear to me now how outdated they were, and my heart sank at the thought of meeting my future husband looking like some relic from the past. But it couldn’t be helped. I could only trust that my impeccable manners and my magic would charm him enough that he would look past my attire.
“What’s wrong?” Elowin asked.
“My clothes,” I said. “They’re notright, are they?”
“Give me another look,” he said, taking my pack off. He set it on the ground and gestured to it.
I opened it with a growing sense of trepidation, first removing my books and then discovering my finest clothes underneath, slightly flattened but no worse for the journey. I pulled my shirt out first, and Elowin’s expression remained unchanged. Then the doublet followed, and he gave a slight wince.
“It’s velvet,” I said miserably, my fingertips brushing the fabric.
“It’s a lot,” he said, gesturing at the ruffles. There were a lot of ruffles, rows and rows of them. And somehow the contrasting orange and green panels didn’t look splendid like I’d thought back in Hillstowe. They looked rather garish instead.
“It’s not what genteel elves wear nowadays, is it?” I asked.
He winced again. “Let’s take a look at the leggings and—” He caught a glimpse of them. “No. No, it’s definitely not what any elves wear nowadays, but that doesn’t matter.”
I shoved the clothes back in the pack and blinked back sudden tears. “No, I know. The prince will look past that, and I do have the longest hair of anyone I’ve seen.”
Elowin let out a breath and held my gaze. “Sparrow, your hair doesn’t matter either. You areyou, and that is all that matters.”
Mien, manners, and magic.My parents, and Elowin, were right. Heartened, I refastened the straps on my pack and held it out to him. He took it with a smile and slung it over his shoulder.
