The Love and Death of Venus

Tired and Troublesome

The both of us sat there as the wilds of Nicheville passed beside us. Nichole refused to look or speak to me. All she did was stare at her right hand.

"Did the man manage to catch you?" I tried conversing.

"No." she said, facing the window while we spoke. That couldn't be it.

"What happened to your hand, then?"

"You sliced it when you stabbed Valencia." Her words dripped with venom in her exhale. Valencia? Was that her name?

It clicked. Her hand was on mine when I whipped the sword out. When she tried to stop me. The blade ran up her hand; sliced it down the palm.

I had to apologise, "I didn't realise-"

"Your expression says it all, it's fine." she chided. We sat there in awkward silence for the rest of the journey back to Morgaru.

***

The sun was beginning to rise in Morgaru. We had nothing but a prayer to the Wheel of Fortune to keep us going. Sphere of luck, deity of chance, let us live.

"We'd better get to Desdemona and collect our pay." Nichole finally spoke as if telepathic. Her tone made it clear she didn't want a response.

I should take some food from Ellie before we head out. Making our way back to his house, I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching me. It better not have been that Belleau woman from the other day. Nichole was in front of me, so it couldn't have been her. She wouldn't hold a grudge like that.

Right?

Despite sitting for the entire journey, my body was aching out on the walk over. A glimmer caught my eye around the corner from one of the buildings. I stopped.

I suddenly lost my ability to see straight. I should've slept on the carriage ride back. The fatigue must've caught up to me. What I could see was a young woman smiling at me.

Why is she smiling? She seemed closer to me. Did she need something? I couldn't focus on the sounds and reverberations. She had long, wavy black hair. Very wavy. And those eyes. What colour was that, brown? But it was bright brown? Maybe it wasn't brown at all, maybe it was every colour. The woman is leaning in. She smells nice, like freshly cut flowers on a cold day. A very cold day.

Whack!

I snapped out of the trance to see a woman running away. What in Caedes was that? Was that a Pyra? Nichole was next to me, holding a light green swirl in her hands.

"Thank you." I managed, dizzy out of my mind. "How did you get that woman away from me?"

The ball of magic dissipated when she faced me, "Protection spell. She looked like trouble. I figured it might drive her away. You alright now? You kind of spaced out there."

"I'm fine. Just some Pyra in search of an energy source without the money to do so." I shrugged the incident off. "I'm sure it's nothing."

No matter how bad I had it back home, the Pyra families always had it worse. It was hard to keep that in mind when it felt like she stole the very heat out of me. A teacher explained it to me as a similar need for energy they couldn't get through food. The sun provided a little, but never enough. If rumours were true, directly touching people experiencing strong emotions was the most fulfilling means of feeding oneself.

"If she just wanted a quick rush, why would she need to lure you out when a simple bump would do?" Nichole's eyes darted around the corners of the street as she spoke. I hope that awful woman was gone.

"The same question could be asked of why rich Pyra purchase Pelagus to drain in Pyraden when they already keep servants." At least that wasn't acceptable back home.