Under the Willow Root

Chapter 34

We leave through the Temple gardens to avoid any chance of running into--well, anyone. I saw Feli and Kana spying again through another window as we were talking before. If things get awkward and pathetic again, and I'm sure they will, I don't want to have an audience.

"I think I know what's wrong with you," Luca says as we make our way through the busy streets.

"You keep doing that," I say exasperatedly. I not sure if I'm annoyed or not. "Can't you just lie and say I look pretty?"

"You're beautiful," Luca protests. He grins at me conspiratorily. "But feeling miserable. Sharp pain in your head, rolling stomach, dull ache everywhere else. The smell of food makes you feel sick, but you're starving. Am I right?"

"Yes," I say, honestly surprised. "How did you know?"

Luca laughs. "It's not hard to tell. Was it wine or spirits?"

"Wine," I say glumly. I put my hands to my face. "I'm so embarrassed. I never drink wine or spirits but then last night...and you came and I was still in bed and Feli and Kana had to dress me like a baby to get me out there...I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," he says. He takes my hands away from my face and pulls one through his arm. "We'll get some food and take it somewhere quiet to eat and you'll feel better. Then you'll feel bad again, but I'll make sure you're home by the time it happens, I promise."

"That sounds perfect," I say heartily.

We buy kabobs of meat and vegetables as well as a stoppered jug of fruit juice and take it to the public gardens for an impromptu picnic. Now that I'm not trying to hide my hangover, we talk easily. As I feared, Luca does want to know all about where I come from and how I came to be in the City. I tell him the story that Sadra and I devised: I'm Sadra's cousin from a distant village, and my parents were killed by bandits. I even tell him an edited version of what happened to me, that my necklace was taken from me by the people who brought me to the City. I make it sound like they were supposed to help me but then betrayed me.

I turn the conversation away from dangerous subjects as soon as I can and ask about him. He tells me he breeds and trains the Prince's horses and hounds. Kirit, he explains, is one of the many foxes bred by his grandfather on their country estate.

"Foxes make wonderful hunters and ratters," he tells me eagerly. "Companion animals, too. My mother has three, and they're completely devoted to her."

"How do you tame them?" I ask curiously.

"They're not tamed," Luca corrects me. "They're domesticated. There's a difference, you know. We've been breeding them for--what is it--nearly eighty years, I think. My great-great grandfather originally bred them for their furs but then my great-grandfather thought they could be useful for more than their skins. By now the foxes we breed are as different from wild foxes as dogs are from wolves. Well, perhaps not that different, but they will be one day. How Kirit sees the world is nothing like how a wild fox sees it."

"That's amazing," I say wonderingly. "What about your father? Will he continue breeding them?"

"My...father died when I was young," Luca says without looking at me. "But I'll take over for my grandfather. We've given some of the foxes to our friends as gifts, and word has spread. It will be a very lucrative business one day."

"Your great-grandfather must have been a clever man," I comment, "to come up with something like that."

"Like a fox himself," Luca says with a grin. "That's what my grandfather says."

"Was he a Beastspeaker too?" I ask curiously.

"My grandfather is," Luca says. "His father wasn't. Grandfather says he doesn't think his father would have thought to start breeding only the friendly ones if he had been. Since he wouldn't have needed to, you see."

"Is Kirit especially friendly, or are all the foxes like him?" I ask, rubbing Kirit's belly.

"He's more outgoing, I suppose," Luca says. "They all have different personalities, just like anyone, but I wouldn't say he's unusually friendly. Unusually silly, more like, even for his age."

"I think he's wonderful," I declare.

"Of course he is," Luca agrees, and reaches over to grab Kirit's nose and plant a kiss on it. "I complain about him a lot, but I love him."

My heart melts. I spend several minutes petting Kirit and listening to Luca's stories about him. I don't want to say anything in case something embarrassing comes out. Having a cute guy sit there right in front of me saying cute things about a cute animal is lowering my IQ. I realize I'm staring at him and quickly look away.

"I'm trying to train him like our other foxes," Luca finishes. "But I think it's not going to work."

"Why not?" I ask. "I would have thought a Beastspeaker could train any animal."

"Not if you want the animal to be useful to anyone else. It's because I'm a Beastspeaker that it's not going well," Luca says, shaking his head. "He doesn't stand for the training because he knows he can just talk to me. Grandfather has to hire trainers for the same reason."

"But I thought you said you train hounds and horses for the Prince?" I say with a frown.

"I oversee their training," he amends. "Mostly I keep track of progress, make sure the animals aren't being mistreated, that kind of thing. The majority of my work is with the breeding program. How are you feeling? I've been babbling this whole time--do you need anything?"

"No, I'm fine," I say. "I'd like to see more of the gardens, though. I've only seen a little bit with Sadra."

"Of course," Luca says enthusiastically. "It's all amazing. People come from all over the Empire to see these gardens, you know. They've been cultivated by Greenloves for over two hundred years."

I nod appreciatively, though I'm not entirely sure whether Greenlove is a kind of gift or a family name. I'll have to ask Sadra later. I never like asking other people things if I can help it. I'm afraid I'll ask something that should be completely obvious or common knowledge and make people wonder about me.

I'm trying to learn the things that should be completely obvious or common knowledge, but the going is slow. Alesa has started teaching me how to read, at least. Apparently it's not that uncommon for poor little country maids like me to be illiterate, but it still makes me feel stupid. I hope I can learn enough before Luca notices.

"Are you still feeling alright?" Luca asks as we admire a display of roses. "You've been letting me talk about my new colt's conformation since we left the arbor."

"I'm fine," I assure him. "It's just a lot to take in. It's so beautiful."

"You're sure the wine isn't sneaking back to remind you of your sins?" Luca jokes.

"Maybe a little," I admit. "But maybe we can send it away again with more food?"

"They won't be expecting you back at the Temple?" Luca asks.

"I don't think so," I say uncertainly. "Except maybe Feli and Kana, but they can wait."

"Well, if that's so, there's an eating house nearby that has the most delicious lamb stew and an exquisite singer in residence," Luca says eagerly.

Aside from the lingering hangover, I have a wonderful time. It's not exactly how I imagined my first real date, but I love it. Luca is funny and attentive and smart, and he listens to what I say and asks intelligent questions even when I'm sure that nothing but stammered gibberish is coming out of my mouth. It makes me want to tell him more-- everything about myself that I can think of. But I know I can't. I can't tell him anything.