“Piss off!” Mack said as they rounded Kidd’s other side. They squared up with the young elf. “You’re not plucking feathers off friends of mine, Tally!”
“Whoops! Didn’t see you there, Mackerel,” the other elf said. Though Tally kept her smile, she backed away with genuine fear in her eyes. “Have a good day at the market!”
Clearly, Kidd had picked the right local elfling to be their guide if someone twice their age was running from even the notion of a conflict with them. Blaze pushed the priority of ensuring his boat could survive any Mack attack higher on his to-do list. He wasn’t planning on disrupting Mack’s gambling with his peers, but he wasn’t willing to risk a misunderstanding, either. His ship was too important.
“I don’t think there’s any chance of spotting him,” Blaze grumbled to Kidd. “And no one will want to talk about inventions here. I should go back?—”
Kidd caught his arm. “Ah, ah, ah. You’ve got all the brains, but I’ve got the smarts, and I’m telling you, you need to be here.”
“Kidd, everyone’s going to be drinking and?—”
“Schmoozing. And we are here for the schmooze. And to find your noble. Also for free food and beverage.” Kidd glanced at Mack. “It is free, right?”
“Completely. Anyone tries to charge you, tell ’em you’re my people, and they will back off,” Mack replied.
“What if they’re out-of-towners and don’t know you?” Blaze asked.
Mack snorted. “Like we let just anyone scam the tourists. Now, if I can find Blaze’s fancy noble, how much are you willing to give me?”
“A silver,” Kidd offered before Blaze could say anything.
“Three,” Mack said.
“Two and a copper,” Kidd countered.
“Two and a piece it is!” Mack disappeared into the crowd.
“Kidd, I don’t have much extra,” Blaze whispered.
“I’ve got it.”
“You didn’t need to hire them for that.” Blaze had to slip past a couple in order to keep up with Kidd. They made their way toward the open entrance to the pavilion.
“One, I want to keep Mack happy. Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they’re terrified when they’re pissed,” Kidd replied. “Two, Mack has been pilfering some prime gigs for us, so as much as you might worry that they’re fleecing me, we’re making way more than I anticipated. Three, your noble spotted a flaw in a complex cosmomancy equation. That doesn’t spring up out of nowhere. Chances are he’s connected to the kind of people we’re eager to meet. And four, if Mack can’t find Durae, it’ll be interesting to see what happens. They don’t seem the type to give up.”
“Now I’ve got images of them rounding up a dozen others like them and the group combing through the whole market one elf at a time.”
Kidd laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “That would be hilarious to see!”
They made progress through the crowd as a band on the far steps began to play. Only those intent on procuring food and drink remained within, while everyone else filtered out toward the dancing area or beyond onto the grassy park area to sit beneath the canopies.
Though they had blended in at the outskirts, Blaze couldn’t help feeling like more than a few elves in the pavilion found him and Kidd lacking. Everend Market was supposed to be a celebration of all elfkind. Nobles hadn’t been crafted by the gods. Their lineages might have been blessed by one, or even multiple, but the gods could just as easily gift a commoner.
This is why I hate rubbing elbows with the rich. Never feel like I belong.Blaze accepted a cold apple cider from a lovely elf at a drinks table. When Kidd headed for a buffet table covered in spiced meats and hand pies, Blaze fell in line behind him. What were they going to do once they had food and drink? Walk up to groups sitting under their canopies and small chat about the weather? Chat about how long the travel was? Kidd had claimed elves who wanted to conduct business would be at events, but how was Blaze supposed to know who was spouse-hunting and who wanted to invest in unknown inventors? Ask their astrological sign?
Blaze gulped down his cider before he laid his hand on any food. It wasn’t nearly alcoholic enough to give him the desire to schmooze. He grabbed a glass of something else—it was fizzy and released bubbles of multicolored light—and had it drunk before he and Kidd left the pavilion. The hand pie in his hand was a chunk of pastry he didn’t want to touch his lips.
“You’re far better with enchantments than people, aren’t you?” Kidd put his arm around Blaze’s shoulder. He pilfered his hand pie and started eating it. “Think of this like working with gears. One part will turn another, and it will do the thing you want.”
“I don’t know how to talk to people,” Blaze muttered. “Especially notthesepeople.”
“You’re overthinking it. They’ve all traveled from their various palaces and towers and homes because they wanted to meet someone new, experience something bigger thanthemselves, and to get lucky in love or money or both.” Kidd squeezed Blaze. “Same as us.”
“Same as us,” Blaze repeated. The words weren’t the rally cry Kidd made them sound like they could be.
“Should we try our luck with some Emberleigh folks? Or I think I spot one of the Gearwickian merchant houses—see that group with the golden cog entwined with the silver on their capes? They look classy.”
Blaze wished he’d grabbed another drink. Or three. “Those are House Stelen.”
