“Well, you can ask the man at the counter for a decent bottle of wine and get something affordable and good,” Merilla assured him.
And so they drank a bottle of wine that night, lying atop Kestrel’s large bed, telling one another stories about their childhood experiences, then starting to talk about their futures.
“Are you going to stay in Estone long?” Merilla asked.
“Castona said that we could get to the auction and have it over with in less than a week,” Kestrel answered, as he felt the wine coursing through his brain.
“How much longer will you stay in Estone after that?” she persisted.
“I’ll probably go home right after that,” he answered. “I don’t know what they’ll do with me when I get back; I don’t know what I want them to do.
“I never imagined that I could be comfortable being a human, you know,” he turned on his side to face her. “But these past two weeks I’ve spent with you have felt like a normal life. I talk and think and even dream in the human language!”
“What does the Elvish language sound like?” Merilla asked as she rolled to face him, the gap between them narrowed. “I’ve never heard anyone speak in Elvish.”
“Merilla, if you were not a widow, and I did not remember Lucretia, I would be wooing you with all my heart,” Kestrel said impulsively in Elvish.
“That sounded so odd! But I watched your mouth move and I heard your voice, so it must have been you,” she gave a little giggle. “What did you say?”
“It was nothing really,” Kestrel grew shy.
“Really? Because I thought I heard my name at the beginning,” she reached over to touch his chest.
He closed his eyes. “I said that if you were not a widow, and I did not remember a girl who has died, I would want to court you,” he admitted.
There was a soft grin on her face. “If I were not a widow, or even a widow of such a good man, I would welcome your courting, Kestrel, my good friend.
“Who was Lucretia? I’ve heard you mention her name before. What happened to her?” she asked.
“She was someone I met at Center Trunk. I only knew her for one day, before we were separately assigned to go elsewhere. She was killed a few months ago,” his eyes grew teary. “She longed for adventure, and went out in search of adventure, and got into an adventure that overcame her.”
“I’m sorry Kestrel,” Merilla spoke. Her hand left his chest. “Will you come back to Estone after you visit the land of the elves?”
“I don’t know; I hope so,” he replied.
“I hope so,” she replied. “I want you to.” She leaned over towards him, and they began to kiss, a kiss that became passionate, before they both withdrew and stared at one another.
“If it makes any difference, I hope you’ll come back,” she whispered.
“If it makes any difference, I want to come back,” he replied.
They remained silent atop the bed, holding hands and looking at one another.
“If I’m going to see my parents tomorrow, I better get a little sleep tonight,” Merilla said at last. She pulled back the covers and climbed within. “Good night Kestrel,” she told him as she rolled to the bed’s other side.
“Good night, Merilla,” he answered softly, his hand reaching over to gently rub her back, before he too fell asleep.
Chapter 19 — The Doge’s Palace
When they awoke in the same bed the next morning, at the same time, they both felt uncomfortable. “We shouldn’t have done that last night,” Merilla said as she looked at Kestrel. “I feel bad; it was unfair to Youkal to say and do what we did last night.”
“It was,” Kestrel agreed, sitting up. “It was the wine,” he hesitated, then finished the old saying, “and our hearts. But we both know better in the morning.”
Merilla went to check on her boys, who could be heard rustling around in the other room, and led them back into the room where Kestrel was dressing, to tell him good morning.
“We will eat some breakfast, then buy some nice new clothes, and then we will go see my parents, and see if we can begin to start a family life here in the city,” she announced, before she led the two youngsters back to the other room, where the three of them prepared to go downstairs.
“Will you join us at breakfast?” she thrust her head into Kestrel’s room as she started to head to the dining room.
Kestrel followed them to a table in a sunny corner, and they all sat down to their meal. “What will you do today?” Merilla asked. “Would you like to come meet my family?” she asked hesitantly.
Kestrel thought about the nearly intimate evening they had shared, and the implications of meeting Merilla’s family upon her return to the city. He was determined, sitting in the morning daylight, to make his return to Firheng as quickly as possible. “No, I’ll go visit Castona again, and see what he wants me to do.”
Merilla accepted his declination, and Kestrel thought he saw relief in her eyes, relief that somehow obscurely hurt his feelings. They went their separate ways after the meal, and Kestrel was treated to a daylong experience with Castona. He still felt uncomfortable in the urban environment of the city, he realized as he strolled through the streets. When he showed up at the trader’s shop he was greeted as if he were royalty, known by all the staff members as the yeti-killer. He found that the yeti remains had been locked away and guarded overnight, due to their extreme value.
Castona took him out to select a fine suit of clothes, appropriate attire to wear for his audience with the Doge, and then they traveled to the old part of town to see the palace, in an area that had canals and bridges and ornate homes of the nobility and wealthy; it’s unusual features, on top of the city atmosphere, left him further disoriented, and he was pleased that he had Castona to serve him as a reliable guide. When the tour was over in late afternoon, Kestrel returned to the hotel on his own. He arrived before Merilla and her boys, and idly wondered how their visit with her family had turned out. The afternoon stretched into the evening, and at last Kestrel ate a simple meal at a food vendor’s cart and returned to the hotel, arriving back just as Merilla returned.
“I hope you ate without us!” she cried when she saw Kestrel. “Mother insisted that we eat dinner with the family, and I had no way to tell you. Then she tried to shame us into staying at home for the night, but I put my foot down and said that we’d already paid for our hotel room, and that I wanted to come see you.”
“People know about you Kestrel!” she announced to him as they climbed the stairs to their rooms on the upper floor.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well, they know that a yeti was killed, that someone fought it in person and stabbed it with a sword! No one believes that’s possible!” she held his arm with one of her hands, as she led the boys with her other. “My mother wants to meet you; they all do!”
Kestrel smiled at her gay spirits, pleased to see her so happy, glad to know that the visit with her parents had gone well. That night they drank another bottle of wine in the evening, but determinedly avoided any emotional conversations; Merilla recited the details of her visit, while Kestrel told her about his tour of the town, and his appointment to be presented to the Doge.
“The Doge? In person? Oh Kestrel, my mother will absolutely demand you come to visit us. You have to pay attention to details about him and the palace, so she’ll feel like she knows something no one else would know. You’ll come to dinner with us, won’t you?” Merilla insisted.
Kestrel made the promise to visit her family, as their evening wound down, and the two of them fell asleep, carefully staying on their own sides of their mattress.
The next morning, they again went their separate ways after breakfast. At Castona’s shop, Kestrel changed into the colorful clothes that the merchant had insisted were the fashion at the court, bright yellow and red and green pants and shirt and vest and jacket, along with boots and a wide-brimmed hat, all of which drew attention Kestrel did not want. “Now, sit down here,” Castona’s assistant had directed when Kestrel had everything in place. “The boss says to do this,” he held up a large roll of gauze, piquing Kestrel’s apprehension.