The Shadows of the Four Realms [BOOK TWO]

CHAPTER 5 - Of Tomatoes and Beers

No. No. No.

Ralph crouched down on the ground and looked at the yellowing leaves of the tomato sapling. Fertile soil, check. Sufficient water, check. Pulling the weeds around, check. Sunlight - he looked up at the brightness, with one eye squinted - big bloody check.

What went wrong then?

Dejected, he walked inside his house barefoot, climbing the small stony steps. "You see that?" he spoke aloud into the quaint drawing room, "Not even one thing wants to stay in this house."

A grunt came in response.

Ralph scoffed, "I mean, what have I done so wrong? Those books are clearly ridiculous. They say gardening makes one feel calm and here I am enraged beyond my wits."

This time a cooing echoed, of understanding or maybe of... mockery.

"Now, now, Ruby. Be nice. You are on my side, aren't you?"

His little Phoenix was standing still with her head tucked in front of her head, her beautiful red feathers puffed out. Shaking his head, Ralph walked to her bird stand, placed in front of a large window. He whispered, bending to her height, "Of course, you don't care about any of that. Baby girl just wants to be scratched." He tickled under her neck, "Right here."

Ralph heard her laugh, or something like a sigh and his face broke into a dimpled-smile, as he petted her some more.

At least I have you, Ruby.

When he bought this house, after being dethroned as the King of the Summer Realm, on the outskirts of a small village in Arien, the one thing he had made sure was to keep iron objects away - the only fatality for Phoenixes. Being a baby, whom he had himself fascinatingly seen rise up from ashes, five years back... Ralph always worried for her. But smart as a whip, this girl was already like a teenager - fussy and demanding. He fished out bunch of cloves from his tunic's pocket, which he always kept handy and spread them over her velvety stand; she got to munching in a jiffy.

Ralph swept a glance all over the drawing room, stretching his body lazily, the dead knots and muscles cracking all at once.

In the center of the room, two wide settees faced each other, with a glass table between them, where he'd fall asleep burning the midnight oil over correspondences. An armchair near the wide window beside Ruby's bird-stand, yet another place to fall asleep while reading a book, which he'd pick from the bookshelf carved in the wall separating the drawing room and the kitchen. From the domed red-tiled ceiling, a small chandelier with an orange fire orb fixed inside to lighten up the room at night-a gift from one of his new neighbors-hung low. A small staircase opened up to three more rooms upstairs, which he knew not the purpose of, for he only ever used one of them.

Warm breezes ruffled his lengthened blonde hair from the wide-open entrance, as he debated whether he should get on with cleaning. Reluctantly, he picked up the dishes from last night which had then made him yawn. A dirty boot lay in a corner on the marble floor, its better half missing. The butter-yellow curtains swayed back and forth in all the three windows of the drawing room, while the lilt of the flowing stream in the backyard mingled with Ruby's coos.

After four chilly months in the Ice Realm, the warmth of his Fire Realm was like a salve on almost all his wounds. It would take him a year at the most to get used to the fact that he was... on his own. He hadn't asked for servants and guards and boy, did he wish his pride weren't as huge as the volcanoes of his Realm.

"Ralph!" A familiar kiddish voice called from the doorway.

"Again, huh?" he asked even without turning, putting the dishes back where they were, glad for the reprieve.