The Count of Castle Rock

Chapter XX- Surreal Love

Thaddeus Hunt plays the final chords of a popular Grazing tune on his mother's lyre as Leesa and Nemu listen quietly on the couch in his room. He finishes with a flourish and takes an exaggerated bow. Leesa claps as Nemu jumps up and into the arms of the merchant's son. The two embrace, making Leesa feel warm and fuzzy inside. Seeing them together has given her conflicted feelings over the course of the past six months. They've been drawn to each other since Castle Black Roost, since Olivia.

The smile wilts around the edges as an image of the mad half-elf fills her head. That's what the books always labeled them, mad. Leesa never liked that terminology. Then she met Olivia... then she saw the truth.

"You okay over there?" Thaddeus asks. He gives her a knowing look that makes Leesa squirm.

"Just thinking."

"About Hans, I bet," Nemu chuckles. She's a quiet mousy thing outside, but alone with her friends she has come out of her shell.

"Is it Hans, Lee?" Thaddeus and Nemu join her on the couch. "How long has it been, a few months?"

"Six months and two weeks," Leesa blurts out. The amused looks of the couple makes her cheeks darken. "Not that I'm counting."

Neither Tad nor Nemu seem to believe her. After a long awkward silence, Thaddeus leans over to his coffee table and starts to pour fruit juice into wooden cups.

"We should finish this off, my mother bought it fresh this morning from Open Market." He hands a cup to each of the young women before sipping from his own cup. "There's nothing wrong with missing someone dear to you."

"Dear to me? He was merely my first friend here in Solomon, but now I have you two."

"Don't discount Hans," Nemu says. "I'm sure he misses you too."

"Don't be absurd. He's studying to become a great wizard who can wipe a person's mind with the wave of a wand... no, he's forgotten about me already."

"Not likely, Lee." Thaddeus says gulping down the contents of his cup. "The two of you were inseparable and when he wasn't with you he was shooing away any of the other boys who showed interest. One would have to be blind to not see how much he liked you... wait, have you been blind this whole time? What does that say about me for not seeing it?"

Leesa tries to hide her laughter by raising her cup to her lips. Nemu giggles and leans into her husky paramore.

Tad and Nemu lock eyes and Leesa tries to disappear in the depths of the couch. She doesn't always feel like the third wheel, but there are some moments when the two get lost in each other's eyes. In those moments it's as if she's an invader in their world, an outsider interrupting the magic that is their love. She's happy for them, but the thought of magic dampens that feeling.

Like Mary and Jesse, Thaddeus and Nemu have no memory of their brush with magic. Leesa has tried to jog their memories but nothing seems to work. Guilt is a little nagging thing at the back of her mind. After the gala at Castle Black Roost Leesa had thought to trigger Tad's memories with a contrived trip to Grazing and an innocent visit to the Taoko farm. The moment Nemu and Thaddeus set eyes on one another it was as if a switch was flipped. Love was instantly in the air. Leesa'd read about it enough to recognize it when she finally saw it in real life.

She catches Nemu watching from the corner of her eye and shakes off her dark thoughts. Tad and Nemu accept her as she is, unlike her peers back at the capital. He lends her books from his own collection and Nemu has picked up where Hans left off in teaching her about the Badlands. They've become her closest friends, but they aren't wrong, she misses Hans Heathson dearly.