Magic Madness™️

Chapter Seventeen: Taverns and Bards (There Is a Tavern in the Town)

    "Lute boy keeps looking at you," Joan nudged Elijah with his elbow.
    "What?" Elijah asked, blushing.
    "He keeps looking at you. He seems like he's your age. You should talk to him," Joan encouraged, sipping from...Elijah couldn't really tell what Joan was drinking.
    "That's weird. I can't just...go up and talk to him," Elijah shook his head.
    "Elijah, that's how socializing works," Joan said, nudging Elijah again.
    "Okay, fiiiiiiiine, I'm going," Elijah rolled his eyes, leaving the booth. He fixed his hair and smoothed his shirt, walking over to the table the lute player sat at. The lute player was currently looking down, plucking out a quiet tune.
    "Hey," Elijah said. He got no response. He repeated himself. Still no response. He tapped the boy on the shoulder. Quickly, the boy looked up. The boy smiled, blushed, and waved. Elijah awkwardly waved back.
    "Um, you sound good," Elijah said. The boy cringed. Elijah raised an eyebrow.
    'I'm deaf,' the boy signed. Elijah suddenly felt quite foolish.
    'Sorry! I didn't know. I said your music sounded good,' Elijah signed back. The boy's face lit up.
    'You know sign! My name is Darcy. It's nice to meet you!' Darcy signed excitedly.
    'It's nice to meet you, too!' Elijah grinned. But then...wait a minute... 'Sorry if this sounds disrespectful, I really don't want to offend you, but if you're deaf, how do you play?' Elijah gestured to the lute.
    'It's in my programming. I have someone else tune it for me, but all I have to do is learn how to play a chord or a song. I don't need to hear it to know that I'm doing it right,' Darcy explained. Elijah nodded.
    'That's super cool,' Elijah signed, sitting down next to him.
    'Thanks,' Darcy rubbed the back of his neck, 'Can I ask about the bird?'
    'Oh! Yeah, this is my...I guess she's my familiar. Her name is Penny,' Elijah signed, taking Penny off of his shoulder, letting her perch on his finger to give Darcy a closer look.
    'She's beautiful. That's really cool,' Darcy nodded. Elijah put Penny back on his shoulder.
    'So are you from around here?' Darcy asked.
    'No, I'm a traveler. I'm here with some friends. And actually, I should get going soon. But it was nice meeting you!' Elijah smiled wide.
    'You too! Good luck with your travels,' Darcy signed, looking slightly disappointed. Elijah wished he could give him something. A farewell gift or something.
    Wait! He could! He looked around to see if anyone was watching. No one seemed to be looking in their direction.
     Elijah quickly conjured a red carnation in his palm and plucked it, handing it to Darcy. Darcy took it with wide eyes.
     'You just...made this?' Darcy signed. Elijah nodded.
     'Doesn't that hurt?' Darcy asked.
     'Not at all. I hope you like it,' Elijah signed nervously.
     'I do! Thank you,' Darcy replied happily. He looked at Elijah for a moment as if trying to read him. Then, he leaned over and kissed Elijah's cheek. Elijah froze. How was he supposed to respond to that?
     'I'm sorry, I don't-' Elijah began belatedly, 'I'm not-'
     'I get it,' Darcy interrupted with a sad smile, 'You don't have to explain. Thank you for the flower. I wish you the safest of travels.'
     'Thank you. Have a nice night,' Elijah signed back. He quickly excused himself.

     "You told me you were taking American Sign Language courses in school, but I had no idea you were so proficient," Joan said, sounding almost impressed.
     "Neither did I," Elijah replied absently. Shortly after, Amber slid back into the booth, next to Joan.
     "The crowd here is a little...rowdy. And weird. Someone asked me how much money I'd take for one of my eyes," Amber said, a mild look of disgust on her face.
     "That's interesting. These people do seem to be...social. Evalyn has been talking with the singer boy for quite awhile now, Alejandro won't stop talking to that girl about her pocket watch, and Elijah got a kiss from the young man playing the lute," Joan said casually, sipping from his drink. Amber nearly choked on air.
     "You kissed the lute guy?!" Amber asked in a really loud whisper.
     "He kissed me!" Elijah whispered back just as loudly, face turning quite red.
     "What did you do?" Amber asked excitedly.
     "He made him a flower," Joan smirked with amusement.
     "I did that before he kissed me!" Elijah hissed.
     "Who kissed who?" Alex asked, sliding into the booth next to Elijah.
     "Elijah kissed the lute guy," Amber said, grinning from ear to ear. Elijah let his forehead fall to the table with a thunk.
     "Elijah, what?! I didn't even—you like guys?" Alex asked, completely astounded. He interrupted himself as if his mouth couldn't catch up with his brain.
     "I don't—no. He was the one who kissed me, and it was on the cheek, so calm down," Elijah said in a hushed tone, slowly lifting his head.
     "Oh, okay," Alex said slowly, "That makes a lot more sense."
     "Yeah it does, Amber," Elijah said, glaring at Amber from across the table.
     "You're no fun," Amber rolled her eyes.
     "So are we going to actually get rooms or are we just going to sleep at this table?" Evalyn laughed, "It's getting kinda late."
     "I'll go get us some rooms," Joan said, excusing himself from the table.

     "So was the singer guy nice?" Amber asked Evalyn, draping an arm around her shoulders.
     "Ooh, she's jealous," Alejandro teased.
     "What? No," Amber turned to Alex, "I was just asking. I trust Evalyn. I'm not stupid or controlling enough to think everyone she talks to is a threat."
     "I didn't mean it like that," Alex said quickly.
     "Then what did you mean?" Amber asked, tilting her head. Alex didn't have an answer.
     "That's what I thought," Amber dismissed.
     "To answer your question," Evalyn cut in, "He was very nice. And actually, he was kinda interested in Alex."
     "Me?" Alex asked incredulously.
     "You," Evalyn nodded.
     "Huh," Alex huffed, "That's a first."
     "You'd be surprised," Elijah blurted. Suddenly, all eyes were on him.
     "What?" Alex asked softly.
     "Uh Ethan. He hung out with us for a couple months in freshman year. He was super into you," Elijah elaborated, slouching a little. Elijah yelled at himself in his head- he knew about tons of people that had a crush on Alex at some point, why did he have to mention that one?!
     "Wait, seriously? Is that why he randomly left the friend group?" Alex asked, blinking harshly.
     "Yeah," Elijah shrugged. The following few seconds of silence were painfully awkward.

     "We only have two rooms. I asked for three, but they only had two left. Technically, though, I don't sleep, I just go into rest mode, so I will stay down here for the time being. Your rooms are up the stairs. Here are your keys. They have your room numbers on them," Joan said, handing one key to Elijah and the other to Amber.

     The rooms were almost barren. Each room had two very small straw beds with scratchy sheets, a small nightstand, and a dresser.

     "A bed!" Elijah exclaimed, happily falling face first onto the bed on the right side of the room. It wasn't extremely soft or comfortable, but it was better than camping on logs and twigs and leaves like they had been doing since they left Joan's house again. Alejandro sighed happily as he sat down on the other bed, letting his backpack slide off his shoulder and onto the floor. Elijah took his backpack off as well, and he fell asleep shortly after he laid back down.

     Tomorrow, they'd re-enter the fire territory.