Gift- Book 1

Chapter 3

The next day, Leiea's woken by Fleya, at first startling her with déjà vu from the night in the forest. This time, of course, she's not cut up and breathing heavy. In fact, all her scratches have healed nicely and without scars.

"Ready to go?" she whispers, "I finished the chores early so we can go. Sheyric just finished setting up the stall for the day."

Leiea blinked in agreeance and sat up to stretch. Fleya's dressed and waiting quietly on her bed. Leiea gets into another old, damaged tunic- this one not even as long as her hair. She pulls on her usual leather pants and boots, waving Fleya on to follow. Out of the door, they leisurely walk to the other edge of the village. It's nearly breakfast time and all the businesses are open and running. Most of the homes are closed and dark inside. Fleya half-skips along the shortest path, Leiea keeping up at a reasonable walking pace. The emerald bounds under her shirt, creating strange edges in the fabric with each step.

Soon, they reach the marketplace. Sheyric's there bent over the glass counter. He sees the girls and grins. Leiea grins back and quickens her stride.

Fleya reaches him first and she sees him ruffle her hair affectionately and asks a question. "I'm Fleya, her sister." Sheyric laughs, "Yet another good name! I suspect you told her of the emerald?" he asks Leiea.

"Of course. I'm only hiding it from the community. I trust you, not them as a whole." She gestures with her hands. Sheyric frowns and cocks his head. "How strange. They trust you and you don't do so back. Although, you do seem like the cautious type. It's better to pick who you trust then trust them all." He finishes speaking in that strange accent of his and dips his head to inspect his shirt.

He's wearing a long-sleeved shirt of royal purple, an expensive color. The dramatic collar cuts his face from view at perfect angles, as if the tailors made it to shape his face.

Leiea notices that the glass container on the display case has tiny varnished river pebbles in it instead of colorful geodes like yesterday. The pebbles look much more affordable. Maybe someone recently traded it to him.

She chuckles and says "Fleya wanted to come to ask you for her little trinket. She's very fond of the one you got me" Fleya nudged her to the side and laced her fingers behind her back. Sheyric laughs loudly, his pointed teeth catching the light. 

"Why not? How about this?" he turns around and grabs a small shiny locket from a barrel and hands it to Fleya. She takes it eagerly and opens it up. Two small slots for pictures, or possibly small objects, judging by the depth of the compartments. She beams and puts the locket around her neck. "I love it! Thank you!" She opens and closes the locket impulsively.

Sheyric smiles and rolls up his sleeves, revealing arms knotted with muscle.

"Of course. Remember, Leiea- is that the right pronunciation? Good, well, remember to take extra care of that emerald."

Over the next month, the school went back into session. For the soon-graduates, the work was minimal and Leiea had enough time to help Fleya with her work and visit Sheyric occasionally. Ryn was always there to talk with as well. He was equally fascinated with the emerald as Fleya.

The weather soon grew warmer and had more of the fresh spring feel in the air. More and more people went out into the fields to lay in the sun, and it became a common practice after the soon to be graduates were let out early from school.

A strange thing was, though, that more children at school liked Leiea. Possibly it was the emerald- she left it out of her shirt- or maybe it was from Lorietta and the other popular girls. As it turned out, the confrontation with Lorietta at the market frightened her, and whenever she feels an emotion, the other girl feels it too. They would bounce around the school in obnoxious skirts in groups of ten to torment the younger kids. That's one of the main reasons Leiea doesn't like school much. She doesn't mind the learning portion, since Ryn made studying and work rather fun and easy. He's bound to have a future in teaching.