Faces of Man

6

Vivienne sat down with a sigh, stretching her aching legs. She still wore the soot and coal-dust stained dress she had worn this morning in Millwall Iron Works; her face smeared with dark streaks of ash. Sunny sat beside her, equally exhausted, his feet dangling a good few inches above the floor.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

The boy nodded. "I'm fine. Not the first body I saw."

"But this was different ...," she trailed off.

"Yeah. How to you catch harpies?"

Vivienne shrugged. "I don't know. Never tried."

"What can I do for you?" interrupted Missy.

The Scales was crammed shut, nearly every table and every booth taken. Vivienne goblins and dwarves, gnomes and fairies, Lloyd was already playing chess against Norg again. She spied Dri through the with a female minotaur; he caught her gaze and winked a nervous greeting.

"Pale ale, please," said Vivienne, sliding down on her chair.

"Busy day?" Missy mustered her with a smile playing around her lips. "What's for you?"

Sunny just stared at her.

"Don't stare!" hissed Vivienne.

"It's all right," Missy smiled. "He'll get used to it. One doesn't see many of us outside the South End. I'll just get you an Elderberry Cordial. I'll be right back." Vivienne could her Missy muttering under her breath, "Where's this damned ape again?"

She slapped Sunny lightly on the shoulder. "Don't stare at her. That's not very polite!"

"I'm sorry." Sunny awoke from a trance, his eyes glazed. "It's just ... I've never seen one like her," he whispered so that Missy wouldn't hear them – quite unnecessary with the clamour inside the vaulted bar. "It's ... Does she ...," stammered Sunny. "Does she really have snakes as hair?" Missy had a scarf wrapped around her head as always.

Vivienne laughed. "No, I don't think so."

"What is it?" Missy was back, placing the ale and the cordial on the table between them.

"Nothing. Sunny just wanted to know whether you got snakes under that scarf of yours or real hair."

Sunny blushed a deep red as Missy began to chuckle. She placed the tray on the table beside the drinks and undid the scarf. Long, brown hair fell over her shoulders. "I've got enough to do with my kids; if my hair would want me to feed it too, I'd be ruined!" She laughed heartily and clasped the tray under her arm. She caressed Sunny's cheek and was off to the bar again, her hair flowing freely now.

"Why'd you do that!" Sunny still had the colour of a ripe tomato.

"Because you were nosey."

"No, I wasn't."

"Yes, you were!"

He folded his arms in front of his chest, staring peeved at the Cordial.

Two new guests sat down at the only empty table. Vivienne sipped her beer but placed it back down quickly.

"These are the detectives that should investigate Yasmin's murder!"

Sunny glared at them, he was still pissed at Vivienne for embarrassing him in front of Missy.

"Do you think they saw the attic?"