Children of Fyre

Chapter Twenty

I was wrong. Mucking out a stall took a lot of energy, more energy than I thought I even had. By the time I finished the first stall, I was covered in muck, stunk, and I still had three more stalls to muck out. Finishing the last three stalls, I realized that I wouldn't have time to wash up before going to pick up the supplies at the apothecary. Damn Damien, giving me a messy, stinky task when he knew I wanted to see this girl again already. 

The sun was just setting in the distance when I finished the fourth stall. Luckily, the horses were in a different set of stalls, hopefully already cleaned, so I did not need to interact with them today. Today, at least. 

Running towards the inn, I did my best to quickly change my pants into something cleaner, wiped my face and hands down, then went back to the apothecary. Hoping I smelled okay, I walked inside. The supplies were all sitting on the counter, not a lot of things overall, and the girl was nowhere to be seen. I wondered where she was as I called out. 

"Hello?" I looked around and saw her bob out from the back. Good, she was still here. "Good evening," I say with a smile. 

"Good evening to you too, mister," she replied. "Your supplies are all here, it'll be one itra and your name." 

Was she interested in me as well? It seemed like it as I handed over the coin and replied. "Kaenas, my name is Kaenas," I responded. "What's your name?"

"Lyra," she replied smoothly. 

"Well, Lyra, do you think I'll get to see you again?"

"I sure hope so," she said with a smile. "Come back again. Anytime." 

I smiled happily, knowing her name and the chances of meeting again were high, I walked out of the apothecary. After a heartbeat, I realized this was stupid. Just stupid. No reason to be nervous, especially when it already appears she was also interested. I walked right back in and grabbed her hand lightly. I pulled her into a kiss, holding her close. I released her for a moment, but then she reached in and kissed me back. 

I held her closely, despite smelling like manure, and she didn't seem to mind. As we pulled away, I caressed her face, falling in love with her freckles already. Her smile was beautiful as she pulled back too. "How about we get out of here," she suggested. "I think I'm done here anyways."

I pulled her in for another kiss, then allowed her to lead me from the shop and led me to the inn I was staying at. "How about you go wash up really quick and I'll wait here," she offered. I nodded, intending on changing all of my clothes this time.

I was back quickly and Lyra was right where I left her. We headed to the beach together with some food from the inn, watching the sun finish setting over the horizon as we talked and got to know each other a bit. She was smart, very intelligent actually, and sweet, two characteristics I found to be important to me. She owned the apothecary because she was the last remaining member of her family. Her parents both passed away a few summers ago due to a bad sickness that ran through the town. Her grandparents, who traditionally would take in an orphaned young woman, were already deceased prior to the sickness rolling in. As dusk passed, she walked with me back to the inn and my room. 

We made it as far as the door before we were pressed against each other again, kissing hard. We managed to make it inside of my door before she started stripping clothes off me and I started doing the same with her clothes. We landed on my bed, now naked, still making out. We made love for a while until we both tired out and then fell asleep.

The next morning, we woke up around the same time, still naked from the night before. I smiled at Lyra and held her close. She kissed me and we made love again. Luckily, Damien did not come looking for me this morning and we stayed wrapped in the covers for most of the morning. Lyra made me so happy, happier than I thought possible, and it looked like she was just as happy. 

"You know," she said carefully. "Doing this means we have to marry now, right?"

Oh shit, she was right. I forgot about the tradition of waiting until marriage for women; it would be unfair, and very upsetting if I let her go. I didn't want to ever let her go. I had fallen for her from the moment I laid eyes on her. Fallen hard. 

"I would love to marry you," I replied with a smile, then kissed her again. "I don't have a ring for you though," I add a moment later, starting to look deflated. 

"No worries, I have the one my mom used to wear, we can use that." 

"Let's go do it," I said, smiling happily.