Ardent_Tears
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Chapter 6: Happiness
🕑 Added 2022-10-10 01:49:44 +0000 UTC“Love is an incredible feeling.” A simple conclusion that Rowan came to as she approached her destination, a secret rendezvous with Kiriin. Some would call it a date and Rowan was inclined to agree. It had only been a couple of weeks, so she was very much still riding that high; she planned to ride it forever.
Before long, Rowan’s eyes fell onto the lupine guardian statue that marked her meeting place with Kiriin, only to find her golden-haired partner in crime to be markedly absent. She sighed in relief. Leaving early had had the desired effect of not leaving Kiriin waiting. That would’ve been the absolute worst!
“Boo!”
Rowan practically leapt out of her skin at the sudden greeting, much to the alarm of everyone else waiting around the statue.
“Well hello to you, too,” Kiriin smiled as she leant in from behind Rowan.
“Where were—when did you?” Rowan spluttered.
Kiriin slid her arm into Rowan’s and laughed. “You really should have expected that I’d do something like that,” she said.
“That’s not fair!” Rowan complained back.
“Come on. Let’s go before we create too much of a scene.”
And just like that, Rowan was being swept away to their first destination, wherever that may be.
Kiriin led her towards the bustling centre of town where everyone was getting ready for the Solstice Festival, despite it being a Day of Rest. With there only being a day left until the festivities began, however, it was somewhat understandable.
Even Rowan was feeling the pressure. She had bought most of her gifts for everyone, but she still had to buy one last special gift for Kiriin. It was going to be a challenge to get it done in time with Kiriin being right there. Distracting her was not going to be easy. Well, distracting her and being free to do what needed to be done to be more precise. Whatever she ended up doing, she was determined to make a quick peck on the cheek part of the plan.
Alas, they reached the central market in a matter of what felt like seconds, and Rowan was forced to put on her improvising hat, which is to say, an absolutely adorable tam hat that she just had to try on.
Wait, why was she the one getting distracted? Things weren’t exactly going according to her nonexistent plan. Moving swiftly on…
And just like that, Rowan’s misdemeanour was quickly forgotten and the couple returned to the renowned pastime of window shopping. Rowan’s eyes darted around like a crazed berserker, trying to see anything and everything that would make for a good gift, whilst also trying to have fun with Kiriin and not let anything slip.
After what felt like hours, Rowan found her prize; a pair of twin crescent earrings. Kiriin had been wanting to get her ears pierced for ages and these in particular would look absolutely stunning on her. Now all that remained was buying them on the down low. Of course that was significantly easier said than done, especially without a distraction.
“Think, Rowan, think!” she muttered quietly to herself.
“Did you say something?” Kiriin asked with a delicate smile.
“Nope, no, nothing at all,” Rowan replied, perhaps a little too quickly.
However, rather than question her further, Kiriin just took hold of her hand again and ushered her away. Back to window shopping, they went. Rowan was left at a complete loss for what to do next. Kiriin wasn’t giving her an inch, let alone the mile she felt that she needed.
It was almost twenty minutes later when the natural flow of their meandering guided them toward the exit of the square. And just like that, it was behind them. Rowan had failed. That was the prevailing thought flying around her head at least.
Somewhat fortunately, however, she wasn’t given time to dwell on it as the sound of a crying child and crying wares reached her ears. Rowan and Kiriin were pushed aside from the path of an approaching wagon and ahead of them lay quite a commotion.
A young boy was strewn across the ground amidst a small smattering of crates that had fallen beside him. Rowan rushed to his side to see if he was okay with Kiriin in step right behind her.
“Sami!” she called out softly, crouching down beside the crying boy. He was clutching at his knee which appeared to be bleeding slightly. Rowan recognised him as the nephew of one of her father’s merchant friends. “Sami, look at me. Are you okay?”
The boy looked up hesitantly, his face caught in a slight grimace of pain hidden behind a look of faltering bravery. “R-rowan?” he sniffed.
“That’s me! Come on. Let me see that knee of yours.”
Sami slowly pulled his hands away to reveal the graze he was hiding. It was as Rowan suspected, not too bad, all things considered, likely due to his woollen leggings taking most of the beating. Still, the wound was covered in gravel and dirt. Fortunately, Rowan had a waterskin in her satchel along with a fresh handkerchief.
“Okay, Sami, here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to clean the cut on your knee. It’ll probably sting a wee bit, but it will help in the long run so you’ve got to be brave, okay?”
Sami gave her a wide-eyed look before nodding his assent. Rowan washed away the gravel as quickly as she could without causing Sami too much pain and distress, and like an absolute trooper, he held in his tears.
“There’s a good boy,” Rowan smiled. “You did great. Now, how should I reward such a brave boy? Oh, I know! Here’s a little something to treat yourself from the market.”
Sami looked at the coins Rowan pushed into his hands with surprise. “Isn’t this a bit mu…”
Rowan shushed him quietly and then leant in to whisper, “That’s because I need you to do something for me.” She went on to explain how she needed to buy the earrings without Kiriin noticing and asked if he could do it for her. He nodded enthusiastically and ran off like he’d never been injured in the first place.
At roughly the same time, Kiriin had finished helping the shopkeeper whose wares had been knocked over. “Nicely done,” she laughed with just a hint of mirth.
“Likewise,” Rowan returned in kind. “Shall we be off then?”
“No time like the present.”
*****
They were halfway to where they were planning to spend the rest of their date when Sami came running up to them with some winter fruits as a thank-you for cleaning up his knee. He did his best to surreptitiously hand over the earrings with the fruits.
“Smart lad,” Rowan thought to herself with a smile before handing a frostberry over to Kiriin. She then slid the earrings into her pockets as Kiriin chowed down. A few moments later they waved goodbye to Sami and made their way to the Lunar Hearth Cafe for a late lunch and some mulled cider.
It didn’t take too long to get there. Little more than ten minutes to be more exact. And they were greeted by a friendly server who took them to a small booth near the warm hearth for which the cafe was named. The scent of mulling spices filled the air as they approached and solstice decorations charmed the eyes.
Rowan slid into the soft velvety chair that presented itself before her with a sigh of pure bliss. They had been on their feet for an age, and whilst Rowan didn’t hate it, far from it in fact, nothing beat sitting down on a comfy chair after a busy day.
Kiriin was slightly more demure as she sat down across from Rowan, but her face spoke the same truth as Rowan’s sigh. Seeing that neither of them were ready to order or anything, the server left them to just sit there for a few minutes as they basked in the warm comfort and each other’s company.
After a short— potentially long— while, the server returned with some water and a few complimentary snacks to tide them over as they went through what was on the menu that day. Rowan eventually settled on the fish and root vegetable soup, whereas Kiriin went for the steak pie. Then to top off their orders, they both got a large cup of mulled cider, which is to say, the less alcoholic option. They weren’t allowed the stronger stuff until they turned seventeen at the earliest.
While they waited for their food and cider to arrive, Rowan slipped off her left sheepskin boot, wiggled her toes, and reached out to poke Kiriin’s leg. The reaction that followed was priceless. Kiriin practically jumped out of her chair; payback for earlier.
Alas, Rowan’s victory was short-lived as the return attack soon followed. Despite her best efforts, she started losing ground, and before long she could do little more than giggle.
“Kiriin, stop! That tickles!” she laughed.
When the tickling only continued, Rowan pulled her feet up and leant over to kiss a very distracted Kiriin. It would have been a masterful play, had it not been for the timing.
“Fish soup for the enthusiastic young lady,” the server announced as Rowan held the kiss.
In just mere seconds, Rowan’s face turned a brilliant crimson as she was frozen in that eternal moment of embarrassment until a similarly rosy Kiriin pulled away.
“And the steak pie for you, young miss,” the server then directed at Kiriin as Rowan finally fell back into her seat.
Rather than say "thank you" to the server, Kiriin articulated her gratitude through a series of awkward hand flailing and nonsensical sounds that were somewhat lacking in discernable vowels. Meanwhile, Rowan just sat there completely frozen. The server thankfully did not add any further to the awkwardness and promptly left the two of them to their food.
After a few moments alone together, Kiriin soon regained a semblance of composure. She looked across the table towards the still-blushing Rowan and smiled awkwardly at her.
“We should probably dig in before it gets cold,” she said, breaking the silence.
Rowan wordlessly nodded and fumbled for her spoon. When she finally took that first sip of the soup, all of the awkwardness that lingered in her bones slipped away and was quickly replaced with delicious glee and the biggest smile.
“Wow!” Rowan stated as she set her spoon back down.
“It certainly is something, isn’t it?” Kiriin replied.
She could say that again.
The two of them went on to savour their food and the mulled cider. Neither of them was willing to let a single drop or crumb go to waste. When they were finished, all they could do for the first few minutes was sigh in contentment.
The sighing couldn’t last forever, however, and this time, it was Rowan that broke the silence. “You know what,” she said, “if I could, I would reconfigure my dessert stomach so that I could eat another serving of that soup.”
“But what if dessert is just as good?” Kiriin wisely responded.
“You’ve got a point,” Rowan answered, now glancing towards the display of cakes and various other delectable treats. They might even have Alyren Raindrops on the menu.
“You’re drooling, Rowan,” Kiriin teased.
Rowan quickly wiped her mouth. “No, I’m not!” she protested.
“You totally were! Not that I can blame you; that Twilight Cake looks good enough to kill for.”
“Should we then?”
“We totally should.”
In an instant, dessert was ordered and Kiriin pulled something out of her bag.
“So Rowan, I know it’s a little early, but I got this for you.”
She handed over the loosely wrapped package to Rowan with a rosy-faced smile.
“You shouldn’t have,” Rowan responded as she gingerly accepted the gift with a blush of her own. Of course, her comment wasn’t going to stop her from opening it right then and there. The loose wrapping was soon off and Rowan’s jaw hit the table.
“Mother’s eyes, when did you?” Rowan’s question trailed off as she marvelled at the tam hat that had distracted her so easily little more than a couple of hours ago.
“Well, you know,” Kiriin replied, dancing around the question.
“Tell me!” Rowan pleaded.
“I will if you kiss me.”
“I am not going to tempt fate!”
“Then I guess you’ll never know.”
“Fine! But not here. I’ll give you lots of kisses later if you tell me now.”
“Easy, Rowan. I was just teasing you.”
“Oh.”
“It was while you were trying it on. It just looked too cute on you so I knew I had to get it for you.”
Rowan once again turned crimson. “Stop it!” she said bashfully.
“It’s true!”
“Yeah? Well, take this.” Rowan reached into her coat pocket to grab the earrings and thrust them into Kiriin’s hands. “These are for you.”
After the momentary surprise from Rowan’s sudden outburst faded, Kiriin unfolded the small tissue wrapping that hid the earrings from view.
Kiriin's face opened up brightly like the first blossoms of spring when she saw the earrings.
"They're beautiful, Rowan!"
To punctuate her appreciation, Kiriin practically leapt over the table to hug Rowan. Thankfully, this time the server didn't make an inopportune appearance, though the two of them did get a few looks from the other patrons.
When she returned to her chair, Kiriin held up one of the earrings to her ear. "How does it look?" she asked.
"Perfect," Rowan answered with a smile, though it soon turned into a frown. There was something off about Kiriin's tone. "You knew!" Rowan exclaimed suddenly, the accusation echoing slightly throughout the room.
"I did not!"
"Really?"
"Well, not exactly. I mean, I knew that you asked Sami to buy something, but I didn't know what."
"If you say so."
Kiriin nodded and shifted over to sit next to Rowan.
"I do say so," she whispered into Rowan's ear, "and I love them."
A chill went down Rowan's spine as she heard those words. She was drawn to them. So much so that she turned in to face Kiriin. They were so close that their noses were almost touching.
"Just kiss already!"
The girls almost jumped out of their seats at the sudden and somewhat assertive imperative. Kiriin twisted around and Rowan looked past her to spy the perpetrator. An elderly gentleman sat there staring at them with a lady of a similar age.
"Don't stop now dearies," the old woman added, "this is the most fun we've had all year."
In an awkward mix of embarrassment and incredulity, the two girls just started laughing into each other's shoulders. The result was a beyond strange set of emotions, quite a few of which were very much conflicting.
For Rowan, she actually kind of liked the attention. At the same time, she didn't appreciate being blindsided by voyeurs. Back to the positive side, the positive affirmation of her relationship with Kiriin made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Still, there was a time and a place, and this was not it. Thankfully, the server seemed to agree as they asked the couple to leave the girls alone as they brought over the desserts. For that, and the delicious desserts, Rowan considered them forgiven for their earlier indiscretion.
Following the server’s gentle scolding, the elderly couple left the two girls alone as they devoured their decadently moreish desserts. When nothing remained, they paid for their food and took their leave.
They were greeted by a somewhat melancholic breeze as they stepped outside; a sign that their date was coming to its natural end. Rather than part then and there, however, they meandered to the halfway point between their two homes.
Still, even with their maze-like path, they found themselves nearing the end of the road. Rowan squeezed Kiriin’s hand as they approached, not wanting to part with her. The feeling was so strong that she refused to take another step.
“Rowan?” Kiriin asked.
“I don’t wanna!”
Kiriin went on to question Rowan’s sudden protest when Rowan spied a familiar face in the distance. Through her burgeoning tears, she asked, “Is that K…?
Before she could finish the question, Kiriin pulled her out of sight and up against a wall. She fell in close to Rowan, practically face to face.
“Kyr doesn’t need to know about us,” Kiriin said, almost pleading with Rowan.
“Why not?”
Rather than answer Rowan’s question. Kiriin kissed her deeply. As Rowan’s gift activated in full force in the face of Kiriin’s passion, Rowan’s questions and worries slipped away. It didn’t matter that Kiriin wasn’t ready to tell Kyr. What mattered is that Kiriin loved her and that she loved Kiriin. That would remain true even if they weren’t physically together.
As Kiriin continued to kiss Rowan, Rowan returned the kiss in kind. The feeling of her lips lingered even as Kiriin pulled away and retreated into the street. It wasn’t the goodbye that Rowan expected, but it certainly left her satisfied.
*****
"Welcome back, dear,” Hæra greeted Rowan. “How was your date with Kiriin?”
Even the idea of forming a coherent sentence in light of such a question was lost to the wind. “M-ma-my what now?” was pretty much the limit of what Rowan could muster.
“Your date with Kiriin. It’s taken you long enough to get to this point and I want to hear all the juicy details.”
“You knew?”
“Of course, I knew, dear. I knew that you and Kiriin were a thing the moment you came home the other week with that massive grin on your face.”
“Wait, what?” Rowan tried to interject.
“I mean, it was only a matter of time with how hard Kiriin was crushing on you and you clearly just needed that little push.”
“How could you even know that?”
“Who do you think gave Kiriin advice on how to catch your eye? I was originally content to remain impartial on the matter, but she was so earnest in her request.”
“B-b-buh?”
“How about a cup of tea to help you regain your composure?”
Rowan just nodded in response and five minutes later, she was sitting in the living room with her mother and a nice hot fruit tea. After the first few tentative sips, Rowan looked up towards her mother. “You don’t think it’s weird?” she asked.
“Why would I think it’s weird?”
“Because most relationships are between people of opposing genders?”
“Oh, Rowan. That’s true, yes, but the inverse is far from unusual. From my experience, a significant number of people have some measure of attraction to people of the same gender. For some, it’s one gender or another. For others, it’s multiple, much like yourself. And for yet another group, it’s none at all.”
“Hang on a second!” Rowan wasn’t about to let that remark slide.
Rather than let herself get distracted, however, Hæra just continued. “As a matter of fact,” she went on to say, “before I met your father, I wasn’t against the occasional fling with a pretty lady.”
“Ma!”
“It’s true. There was this one time…”
“I don’t need to hear it!”
“Well, if you’re not going to tell me about your date…”
“Fine! I’ll tell you!”
*****
Love life interrogations aside, the rest of winter carried on with much of the same date-filled bliss. To make things even better, spring was soon approaching, which meant Rowan’s birthday was just around the corner. Well, not quite, but it was close enough for her to start getting excited.
This was especially true one particular afternoon as her father had made it clear that he had something to tell her when he got home from the shop. Rowan was of half a mind to go directly to him and get the information early, but she didn’t want to disturb him whilst he was working.
As such, she was forced to wait. To pass the time, she paced and danced around in the living room with Tehri curled up silently in the corner, doodling away. At first, Rowan considered chatting with her for a bit, but she seemed to be focused on her art.
When the door opened a while later, Rowan leapt with glee, only to be slightly disappointed to see her mother enter the room instead of her father, and then instantly feeling bad for it.
“Well, hello to you too, Rowan.” Hæra laughed. “And to you as well, my dear little Tehri.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to give you that look. I just…”
“No worries, dear. I know you’re excited about the news that your father has for you.”
The assurance made Rowan feel a little better. Good enough for her curiosity to return at the very least.
“Can’t you tell me?” she asked.
“I could, but it would be best coming from him. It’ll be worth the wait, I promise. If you still can’t wait, I’ve got some other super exciting news to tide you over.”
Rowan’s eyes brightened.
“Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!”
“I will if you stop jumping around like that.”
“Okay!”
As part of her immediate compliance, Rowan let herself drop straight to her knees from the middle of a jump. She was still squirming with excitement as Hæra gave her a heartwarming smile, however. There was a limit to how much energy she could contain. Still, it was enough to satisfy her mother.
“So, I was helping out at the temple and news came in from the capital that we’re going to be getting a total crimson eclipse this coming summer.”
That was indeed big news. Rowan had only ever been to one eclipse before and she could barely remember it. What she could remember, however, was that it was a magical experience. The fact that it was a crimson eclipse made it even more special, not least because her name shared a common root with Rowan’el, but also because of the supposed affinity her family had with the moon and her own future as an Ardent.
Alas, the excitement was quickly redirected as the door opened a second time and Gyren entered the room. With impressive feline grace, Rowan was back on her feet in an instant.
“Da! Tell me! Tell me!”
“Easy there, Rowan,” laughed Gyren, “let me sit down first.”
“Fine!”
Rather than sit straight down like Rowan had done just moments ago, Gyren took the time to give Hæra a kiss and to ruffle Tehri’s hair first. Rowan was not happy. Well, not exactly; she was ecstatic, but she was also growing ever more impatient.
After taking his time to sit down, Gyren started speaking in an overly relaxed tone that failed in every regard to convey the gravity of the situation. “It would seem that Rowan is in a rather enthusiastic mood, wouldn’t it, dear?” he said to Hæra.
“I just told her about the eclipse,” Hæra smiled back.
“Ah, yes. That must be it.”
“Da!”
“Yes, my sweet little princess?”
“You promised you’d tell me the thing when you got home!”
“I did?” Gyren teased. “Right, yes! That thing.”
Rather than continue, Gyren let silence fill the room.
“Da?”
This time, tears started to well up in Rowan’s eyes.
“Oh, dear,” Hæra said, stepping in to wipe away the tears. “I think that’s enough teasing for now, don’t you, Gyren?”
“Indeed,” Gyren replied, adopting a more serious tone. “I’m sorry, Rowan, I didn’t mean to make you upset or anything.”
Rowan just sniffed in response.
“I know it won’t make it up to you, but the thing that I wanted to tell you is that I have a business trip in Tærin City coming up before your birthday and I want to bring you with me. That way you can pick a present for yourself that you wouldn’t be able to get here. How does that sound?”
“Good,” admitted Rowan begrudgingly. She didn’t appreciate the teasing, but the promise of a trip away from Næmyris was not an opportunity that Rowan was willing to pass on. Such events were few and far between at the best of times and it was always with the whole family. This was practically a solo adventure; another sign that she was growing up.
Even between the occasional tear, life was good.
