The Prince's Mark

Chapter Four

 Even after their meal silence reigned over Tracou and Pendaer. Making sure Pendaer had food to eat and a place to sleep had been relatively simple, but if he was going to amble away from him with no notice then Tracou was going to have to reevaluate how much effort he was putting into this. Pendaer was an adult, albeit one that was out of his element. Maybe he should let Pendaer do as he pleased. He might run into trouble, but that clearly didn't bother him as much as it bothered Tracou.

Pendaer was quiet, but he was jittery. Every so often, he would peek at Tracou and hurriedly adjust his gaze away from him if it seemed that he was going to notice. Doing that enough would alert anyone to it, though, so eventually Tracou openly stared at him.

When their eyes met, Pendaer winced.

"Tracou... Are you angry?"

Tracou sniffed. "I'm certainly not happy with you."

"Oh..." The elf deflated. "What do I do?"

"What do you mean?"

"To make you not angry. I'm not used to people being angry at me."

"No?" Tracou raised an eyebrow. "Is that an elf thing? Not getting angry, I mean."

"That's part of it."

Instead of offering more information, Pendaer appeared to be finished. Annoying. That left Tracou as the one to steer the conversation.

"If you don't want me to be angry, then tell me that if you see that other elf again that you'll tell me you're leaving."

"That's all?"

"Well, you could do more, but I'll accept that."

Pendaer nodded, a small smile on his face. "Okay."

"You know... if you'd rather we don't have to be together all the time. We can share a bed, but otherwise you can do what you want. "

"No."

The speed of Pendaer's response left Tracou unsure if he had heard him correctly. He eyed Pendaer, frowning.

"No?"

"No. I like you and I don't want to be alone anymore. Ah, that reminds me! I saw something earlier. I want to show you—will you come with me?"

"What is it?"

But Pendaer was already standing up. He held out a hand to Tracou, who considered taking it, but ultimately refused it and stood up by himself.

"You'll see when we get there."

"Is it far? I'm tired, Pendaer. I did more running around today than I normally do in months."

"It's not that far..." Pendaer looked Tracou over, considering something. He soon came to a conclusion. "I can carry you."

Tracou clicked his tongue. "I can walk."

As it turned out, not that far for Pendaer was a distance longer than Tracou would have agreed to had he known the exact measurement. Tracou was just about to launch into a series of complaints when Pendaer gestured toward the destination.

It was a big, empty field. Or so it seemed at first. On this field were some circular targets standing on one edge and a woman arranging a selection of bows and arrows on the other.

"Archery?" Tracou asked.

"I'm good at it. Will you watch me?"

Watching Pendaer practice archery wasn't Tracou's idea of a good time, but they were already here. It was well into the afternoon. Even if he wanted to, walking all the way back to the market and going through it would be too much for him. At least he could stay in place while Pendaer did his thing.