Aunt Perta had pulled Afton away as soon as the song ended, which left Morna standing in the middle of the ballroom floor by herself, looking suddenly small and out-of-place. She hunched her shoulders and hurried to the safety of the far wall, flopping herself down on the chair next to Aunt Nora and Great Uncle Roma.
"You look as red as a fox, child," Aunt Nora remarked.
Morna's hand flew to her face to feel the warm skin of her cheeks. Knowing she was blushing only made it worse and she felt the heat rise. She ducked her head and shuffled her feet, trying to hide that tell-tale sign that marked her face.
"Perta, bring her something to drink!" Nora shouted. Aunt Perta, who now was alone, retrieved a glass from one of the tables and offered it to Morna.
"It's water," Morna said, eyeing the clear contents warily.
"About two mouthfuls," Aunt Perta said, sighing heavily. "Can you not handle even this small amount? Just drink it."
Morna accepted the glass, holding it warily in her lap. She took a sip but felt the hook in her stomach tighten as the water touched her lips. The most sensible thing to do would be to drink it all in one go, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to at this moment. The excitement of dancing, mixed with her unease over where Aunt Perta had taken Afton to, combined to lower her tolerance for the water. So she held it loosely on her lap and tried not to look at it as a vigorous dance started up on the ballroom floor.
The dancers were nearly halfway through with their frenzied twirling when Morna felt someone brush up next to her. She looked up to see Afton, breathless and his own shade of blushing red. He cleared his throat and motioned to the empty seat by her side.
"May I sit?" he asked. Morna nodded wordlessly. He flopped down, his hand running through his hair as he kept glancing toward the door that led into the small library. Morna tried to see what he was looking at, but he stole her attention away by grabbing her hands.
"Careful! You're about to spill," he said.
Morna looked down to see that she had dipped her fingers into her cup without realizing it, and that the water was dangerously close to the lip of the glass. She gasped and wrenched her fingers free, letting Afton take away the glass while she hurriedly wiped her hand dry on her skirts.
"I don't know what got into me," she murmured, sticking her offending hands under her and biting down hard on her tongue to keep a strange onset of frightened tears from appearing in her eyes.
"There's no harm done," Afton said. He bent to set the glass of water on the floor beneath his chair, and when he straightened back up his look of worry had disappeared from his face. She felt the weight in her own heart lift a little to see the usual look of good humor make the corners of his eyes turn up.
"Where did my aunt haul you off to?" she asked, making up her mind not to worry about his answer.
"Oh, just to see something that she apparently thought I might be interested in," he said, waving his hand in the air dismissively. "I wasn't, but I think perhaps I should steer clear of your aunts for a little bit."
He glanced meaningfully across her, and when she turned to follow his gaze she met the unexpectedly narrowed eyes of her aunts. When the aunts saw they were observed, they pretended to be talking to Great Uncle Roma, which made Morna stifle a laugh as she turned back to Afton.
"They're very stubborn," she explained. "If they like something, they think everyone will. Their displeasure in your unfortunate lack of good taste will pass in a few days. I think they're too impressed with your position to hold much of a grudge."
"Poor taste, hm?" he said, his mouth quirking up. Morna had the distinct feeling that she was missing some joke. She cocked her head and laughed nervously, but he didn't let her in on the secret. Instead, he offered her his arm and pulled her to her feet.
"Let's make a circuit," he said, tucking her fingers into the crook of his arm. She let him walk her along the edge of the room, going at a leisurely pace. Afton made sure not to look up from her face so that no one would try to step in and interrupt, and Morna found that she didn't mind his eyes staring into hers while he talked. She even stepped a little closer to his side.
"So what does a young woman do in Ittal?" he asked. "I've always thought of it as more of a place where the old come to rest after their days of working are over."
Morna nodded. "That's true. We're mostly a country of elders, but that also means that we're a kind and gentle country. There's no upheaval and everyone is content to sit and watched the grapes ripen."
"But don't you grow bored? Watching grapes is all fine and well, but once and a while don't you wish you could just ride out and see a grand city?"
"There's Piroga," she replied.
"Piroga is barely considered a city," he said, the corner of his mouth lifting. "I meant something like Whistler in Grella, or even Latterstill."
"Oh, Latterstill," Morna said, nodding sagely. "I see. You've come to try and sell your capital city to me, have you? Well, I'll let you know that insulting poor Ittal and hoisting Latterstill on me will do you no good. I'm quite content with sleepy fields and no crowds."
"I've offended you now. I'm a brute," he said, shaking his head. "I meant nothing by it. In fact, I've always rather longed to visit Ittal one day and explore the mountains. I'm only sad I won't get to see very much before we leave."
"At any rate, you've peeked my interest in Anjeluund. I've read about the White Bay and how it is practically filled with salt. I never quite believed it, but I guess it has to have some truth if the name has not been contested in all these years," she said, excited to finally be talking to someone who actually knew of the places that she could only read about in books. Her grip tightened on his arm just slightly and he adjusted his arm so that her knuckles brushed his chest.
"Yes, the White Bay has an unnatural amount of salt in it," Afton said. "There's an old myth about the ancient sea god, Pol, his daughter, and the great conqueror Nur. It's supposed to explain the amount of salt. I think it's really something to do with the rivers, though. I'll tell you the story sometime when we have. It's very interesting."
Morna nodded slowly, but her eyes settled on the brief glimpse of the lake she caught through the window. Her chest tightened and her mind flooded with the whispers of the water. Afton's arm on hers faded to nearly nothing, and she was set on the brink of finding some way to run straight to the blinking embrace of the cool water.
"Are you all right?" Afton asked, breaking into her drowning thoughts. Morna looked up sharply to see his concerned face. He glanced down at his arm and she followed his gaze. Her fingers were digging into his sleeve, sure to leave a bruise on his skin. She quickly released him and tried to pull away, but he caught her and held her still.
"Don't let go," he whispered. "You're fine."
"Let's talk of something else," she said.
They then steered toward more benign topics than giant bodies of water, most of which were about books that Afton had read while visiting the Grand Library of Whistler. Morna had heard a few, and even read one or two in her childhood. She was surprised that he had read them as well, as it was rare that she found someone who perused anything outside of correspondences. Morna tried to recall the tales that she remembered fondly, and related them back to Afton for him to correct with his fresher memory. It was if she'd discovered a treasure she thought long ago lost. A piece of that old life that she'd begun to doubt had ever really happened.
By the time they'd made it nearly back around the room again, the dances had stopped and the guests were milling as they sipped on wine and ate a few refreshments. It meant that Afton and Morna were concealed by the mass of bodies, hidden away in a crowd. Afton took her hand and pulled her to the wall, while Morna cast a worried glance to where Aunt Nora and Aunt Perta were sitting with sour expressions just a few yards away.
"My father is a little on edge lately," Afton said. "And I don't want him barging in when I ask if you want to come with us on a tour of the gardens tomorrow after the hunt."
Morna's heart picked up and she fought a sudden smile. Had he just asked her to accompany him somewhere, all on her own? While she wanted to jump at the chance to say yes and continue their conversations on books and whatever else they wanted, she also remembered the way her sister had looked at him. As far as Brenna was concerned, Afton was her property. And Morna felt a little like a thief.
"I don't know..." she said, turning to walk back to her group. Afton caught her hand.
"Please, at least think about it," he said.
Morna nodded. "I'll think about it."
Afton still didn't release her. "One more thing. I hope... well, I hope you don't find this too forward, but when I returned to Anjeluund after our last encounter, I saw this in a window and thought of you. I don't know why, but something about it seems to belong to you. Will you accept?" He pulled from his pocket a necklace made of irregular pearls and green sea-glass. It wasn't an expensive piece, or even particularly unique, but Morna gasped and took it gently from his hands.
"Thank you," she whispered, quickly hiding it under her fingers before anyone could see her taking gifts from a young man she barely knew. "I don't think it's appropriate to wear it, but I'll treasure it always."
Afton nodded and finally let go of her hand. She stayed for a moment longer as she thought of the way he must have been carrying that necklace around in the hopes he might be able to give it to her. He hadn't even known if he'd see her again when he bought it...
...Maybe if she were to invite Brenna along with her, then it wouldn't be such a bad idea to go to the gardens tomorrow. Afton couldn't object to her bring her own chaperone, and she knew his father certainly wouldn't object either.
"I'll come," she said. "Fetch me after the hunt and I'll go to the gardens."
Before the blush could redden her cheeks, she ducked into the crowd and rushed toward her aunts. She only risked one glance back, and saw Afton silently celebrating with a hilarious little dance in the corner. Morna turned away with a smile before he could catch her watching.