"These are parsnips if I'm not mistaken?"
I nod vigorously. "They should be ready for harvest soon."
Elliot straightens from his squat to investigate my sprouts and smiles warmly at me from his full godly height. "Your first harvest. You should be proud."
"I am," I admit with cheeks burning.
Jutting out an elegant arm, Elliot asks, "Shall we be off then? I don't want you to be late for your first Pelican Town Egg Festival."
"Oh," I laugh awkwardly and take his elbow. "Yes, of course."
The hand that wraps around Elliot's arm is still covered in bandages from the encounter with Sebastian. The wound is scabbing over and itchy. I figured keeping it covered would be the best way to prevent me from scratching and keep people from asking what happened.
"Did you knick yourself in the garden?" Elliot asks ironically against my thoughts.
"I was cleaning up glass," I answer feeling a lump form in my throat.
"Ah, I see. Will you join the egg hunt?" Elliot asks as we leave Lakewood's soft grass for the dirt road leading into town.
"What's that?"
"Hmm?"
"You said egg hunt. What is it?"
Elliot's eyebrows scrunch and he quirks one corner of his lips. "Did your family worship Yabba growing up?"
I shake my head.
"Ah," some of the confusion melts from the god's golden face. "It's tradition to celebrate the reincarnation of Yabba with an egg-themed holiday. According to myth, he sacrificed his immortal life to save his daughter, but the thought of living for eternity without him was so overwhelming that she ate his bones. However long it takes one to do so, she laid an egg, and poof! There was her father! ...Now, her son."
Giggles escaped me at the animated storytelling complete with gestures that rattled my upper body when he used both arms.
"And now you hunt eggs to celebrate?"
"Yes."
Elliot studies me again, and a tingle runs across my neck. I still can't shake the words he used last week. There is something unsettling about this man. Still, I smile wider.
"Say Junox, where did you go to school?" Elliot asks without missing a beat. "I was under the impression that most young children partake in classroom egg festivals even if they don't adhere to the religious practices."
"I was homeschooled," I say.
For once, this is not a half-lie, a partial truth, or even a lie by omission. I was tutored by carefully screened individuals on subjects that were pre-approved by my mother. In fact, I was nine years old before I knew that everyone else met together in a building. Mother wanted me to be fitted for a new dress, and the seamstress refused to do a house call last minute. The woman asked what kind of school allows children to leave for a new dress.
Much like the woman then, my answer satisfies Elliot now. "Ah, that explains a lot."
The dirt beneath us gives way to the grey brick streets of town. Colorful balloons and ribbons decorate buildings and line the sidewalks. Happy music plays from a set of massive speakers near the center of the festivities.
And eggs. There are eggs everywhere.
There are eggs painted with colorful patterns, egg-filled centerpieces on tables, egg-shaped costumes and cardboard cutouts.
As we walk into the clamor, eyes fix on every move Elliot and I make. My chest tightens in discomfort. This isn't like the stares I got on the runway at Josh's side. No, these eyes are not envious or approving. These are the eyes of intrigue and gossip.
I am the strange and lowly farmer caked in dirt and thread-worn clothes on the arm of an ancient and immortal wordsmith.
These things are not the same. They do not belong.
"Thank you for joining me today, Junox," Elliot whispers in my ear.
The proximity of his words sends every nerve in my left side sputtering. I nearly jump out of my skin at the sensation, and my cheeks heat in embarrassment.
"Oh—oh, uh of course," I mumble.
"You should sign up for the hunt," Elliot smiles as he speaks. "Consider it a right of passage."
"Passage into what?" I ask.
Elliot removes his arm from mine. "Why, your new life — here — in Pelican."
I blink and then nod.
With a gentle nudge from Elliot, I find myself in line behind Sam and a small boy with wild hair. He runs around Sam's feet talking animatedly about chocolate candy and a movie called Galaxy Battle. He has to be Sam's little brother; though, they don't look too much alike.
"Would you cut it—" Sam hisses as he wheels around to catch the small boy before he barrels into my shin. "Junox!"
We lock eyes, and I swallow.
"That's me," I laugh awkwardly.
"Have you met my little brother?" When I shake my head, Sam grabs the boy from under the armpits and holds him out to my eye level. "This is Vincent. Vincent, this is the new farmer, Junox."
Vincent offers me a hand. When I accept, he says bluntly, "You're not as pretty as Ms. Penny."
Embarrassed, Sam drops Vincent to his feet, and I jump back in fear that the boy will hurt himself. Vincent just rolls clumsily to his feet and sticks a tongue in Sam's direction. Sam returns in kind.
"Don't listen to him," Sam says in a low tone. "He's got a crush on Penny. No one can top her in his mind."
"A crush?" I ask, confused.
"Yeah, he should be too young for that sort of thing, but I was in love with Lady Mulk when I was a kid, green skin and all."
Feeling even more uncertain about what a "crush" is in this context and how it relates to green-skinned women, I smile and nod. A nervous glance over my shoulder tells me Elliot is watching me intently. Humor glints in his brown eyes.
Thankfully, it's Sam and Vincent's turn to sign the clipboard on the table. The little boy tugs at Sam's jeans insistently when his older brother takes longer than deemed acceptable. Even after dropping the pen back onto the table, Sam makes a point to linger.
"I'll, uh, see you at the starting line?" Sam grins his sunshine smile.
My cheeks turn warm in the glow.
"See you there," I say and watch Sam scurry after his little brother.
"Hey, Farmer June-pox, is competing in the hunt," says the brunette from behind the table.
I remember him as the guy who bumped into me in the street and gave me a nice scrape on the knee. His name evades me, though, and I try to keep smiling despite the once-over his eyes perform on my body.
"I-it's Junox."
If the boy heard me, he makes no indication or apology.
The girl beside the brunette I recognized as Haley. Her pink top and sparkling eyeshadow are unmistakable. Haley rolls her eyes and plants a polished hand on the shoulder of her companion. I'm reminded that they're one of the "flirtationships" Elliot claimed to be examining in the town.
Could he have sent me over just to observe?
"Did you at least wash your hands before coming?" Haley turns her nose up in disgust as I tried to write my name neatly on the line beneath Vincent's.
A confused sound escapes me as I look up, but any words I had planned are drowned out by the sound of someone scoffing behind me.
"Shove off, Haley. I'm in the mood to kick ass and you don't want to get your hair in knots."
When I cast a glance over my shoulder, a purple-haired warrior winks at me.
"Don't worry, farm girl, I'll go easy when I kick your ass in the egg hunt."
I'm so sorry this is late! I will be uploading a second chapter Sunday at the latest. Thank you for reading : )