“I was hit by an arrow a couple of nights ago. That’s probably from the spot where the arrow bounced off,” Kestrel said.
“It protects you from arrows?” Silvan asked in astonishment.
“It cannot be penetrated,” Kestrel confirmed.
“Astonishing,” Alicia murmured.
“Do you want to go on this mission, the one we had planned for you, to go to the human nations and learn about their war plans against the elves?” Silvan asked.
“But not to do any harm to Estone’s people?” Kestrel clarified.
“Estone has done us no harm, so we have no intention for you to fight against them,” Silvan agreed.
“I accept the assignment,” Kestrel answered.
“Alicia, go prepare yourself,” Silvan said.
“Do you have any more of your healing water?” she asked Kestrel.
“No, not here with me,” he thought of the skin of water he had given to Belinda for her husband. “But I can go to the spring and get some more,” he added.
“How long will it take?” Silvan asked.
Kestrel wasn’t sure whether Dewberry would interrupt her honeymoon for him, although she had come to him once already when it suited her. “Possibly a couple of hours, possibly a couple of days,” he answered cautiously. “Give me some water skins and I’ll see what I can do.”
“Ah yes,” Silvan said as he realized Kestrel’s intent. “You do have some extraordinary resources to call upon, don’t you?
“Go get some skins and return here when you have the water. We’ll carry on from there,” Silvan decided. “You’re both dismissed,” he addressed both Kestrel and Alicia.
Stiffly, Kestrel left the office and went down the stairs, heading to the quartermaster’s depot to get his skins. “Kestrel, wait, please,” he heard Alicia’s voice behind him. He reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped without turning around.
“Will you ever forgive me?” she asked as she hurried down the stairs to catch up with him.
“No,” he said flatly.
“Kestrel, please try. Please find it in your heart. I really admire you. I want to be friends,” she told him.
“There can’t be friendship where there isn’t trust,” he answered. “Is that all?”
“Yes,” she conceded defeat. “Just let me know when you’re ready for the operation.”
He walked out the door without further comment, and went down the way to a large building that held the supplies the guardsmen needed. He walked out five minutes later with a half dozen empty water skins, and carried them up to his room.
Once the door was closed, he sat down on the mattress. “Dewberry?” he called. He reached out with his heart and mind, and repeated the call three times, then waited.
“Kestrel? What are you doing back here?” the sprite emerged from nothingness and promptly questioned him.
“I’m going to have my ears changed again, and I need more water from the healing spring. Would you and Jonson be willing to take me there?” he asked. The sprite was dressed in a bright red dress, one that was very short, and she was the most colorful being Kestrel had ever imagined seeing.
“Jonson can’t come. He’s busy working today on some project his father gave him,” Dewberry pouted. “But maybe I could take you myself!” she said brightly.
Kestrel looked at her doubtfully. “I don’t understand what you do or how you do it, but I have the impression I’m too big for one sprite to carry,” he said.
“Let me go see if my brother wants to help,” Dewberry said, and she disappeared. Kestrel waited patiently, and moments later two sprites appeared.
“He’s willing to go if we get to enjoy the water,” Dewberry told Kestrel.
“I have such wonderful dreams while I sleep there,” her brother explained brightly.
And within moments they were gone, away from the dull sleeping room and returned to the warm waters of the healing spring. The air was appreciably cooler than the air in Center Trunk, and tendrils of gentle steam rose from the surface of the water. Kestrel looked at the pool, mesmerized by the beauty of the sight, then turned to discover that both the sprites were sitting beside the water awaiting his attention.
In took little time to lay them on the shallow beach of the water that Kestrel relied on for resting sprites, and then he turned his attention to industriously dipping each of his skins into the pool, filling them methodically, until he had a pile of finished products and no more skins left to fill. He felt obligated to let the sprites have more time to soak in the warm waters and enjoy whatever dreamlike effects the water had on them, so he sat with his own feet dangling in the water while the rest of him remained in the cool air, and he thought about Cheryl, living in Elmheng without her father.
She had never answered any of his letters, and though that hurt his feelings, Kestrel still speculated about how she was doing, and wondered if he would ever see her again. It seemed unlikely; Firheng and Estone had quickly come to feel more like his home than Elmheng did.
A cloud moved in front of the sun, and Kestrel judged that it was time to awaken his sprite friends. He pulled each out of the water and waited for them to awaken, then received his trip back to Center Trunk.
“I’ll tell Jonson he missed a trip to the spring. He’ll be extremely jealous!” Dewberry triumphantly crowed. “Now, here’s my goodbye kiss,” she pecked his lips with hers, and then Kestrel was alone in his room.
He gathered up his bags of water and walked to the rooms where Alicia had operated on him before, and found her at a desk, talking to an attendant. “Here’s the water,” he placed the pile of skins on a table.
“That’s wonderful! We’ll be able to help so many patients with all of that,” she gushed appreciatively to Kestrel.
“Now what?” Kestrel asked.
“I need for you to get drunk and pass out,” Alicia said. “Same as last time.”
“Where’s the nearest tavern?” he asked.
“Let me take you there,” she said, standing up.
“Is there someone else who I could go with?” he asked stiffly.
“All you want to do is drink a lot of ale in a hurry. What’s the harm in doing it with me?” she asked plaintively.
“You’ll make it taste sour,” Kestrel said abruptly.
There was a long moment of silence, then they each said, “Alright, fine,” at the same time.
“Let’s go,” she said, removing the apron she had been wearing. “Gailer,” she called to a nearby assistant. “Would you tell my husband I’ve gone out for drinks with Kestrel, and we’ll be back soon? Thank you,” she said, then opened the door and motioned for Kestrel to lead the way out of the building.
The tavern wasn’t far from the base; it was nearly right across the street from the main gate. Because it was still only early afternoon the tavern had little business inside, and Alicia took Kestrel to a small table for two, set in a corner away from the other customers.
“Tell me about the yeti,” Alicia asked after the dispirited waiter had placed two mugs of ale before Kestrel and water in front of her.
Kestrel took a long drink from his ale first, then began to describe the battle.
“No, I meant carving it up. I heard that you sold parts in Estone,” Alicia said. “Was it bought for what I think it was bought for?”
“Virility?” Kestrel suggested.
“Exactly!” Alicia said triumphantly. “How much did the men of Estone pay to enhance their precious virility?”
“Well, it wasn’t just men from Estone, there was an auction with traders from other countries too, human countries,” Kestrel explained.
“Well of course, human countries; it doesn’t have an effect on elven men,” she told him.
“It doesn’t?” Kestrel asked, never having considered the difference.
“No. Why? Did you save a little for yourself?” Alicia asked archly.
Kestrel sputtered the ale he was swallowing. “No!” he answered indignantly. “I don’t have any need of it!”
“Well, and proud of it too, I see,” Alicia said simply. “So how much did the human men pay for their virility?”