"Older once again, Nightingale," Endahren said. He smiled at the silver-haired man who had just arrived to his and Calvier's home. It was evening, and the three had plans to go out to celebrate the day.
"You know I never age," Nightingale responded calmly, and smiled back at him. "You should be careful of what you say, you old man."
"Me? Old? Never." Endahren laughed, and patted Nightingale on the head. "Anything you want to do today?"
"Not particularly. We'll see if something comes up later."
"If you come up with anything, tell me."
It would soon be a year since Endahren had moved to Bastok, chasing after Nightingale. Endahren didn't know if they had been happier back in San d'Oria, or now here in Bastok. He guessed it didn't matter. While the relationship between the two hadn't changed, there had been other trouble to Nightingale in San d'Oria. So now they were here. Eventually, Endahren knew he had to leave, but the time wasn't yet. And a lot could happen yet.
"I got a letter from Ellanore today." Ellanore, his fiancée. He wasn't quite certain how much of the situation she understood. Nightingale knew of her for sure.
"How is she?"
"She's...left. To go adventuring. I was pretty certain she was going to end up doing that, but it's still somewhat of a shock." Nightingale nodded silently. While he did know of her, Endahren had never quite managed to figure out how he felt about her and her relationship with him. They would marry eventually, that was something Endahren had no intention of changing if Ellanore herself didn't wish it. It had been settled a long, long time ago. He felt it wouldn't be right to break it now, not after all these years.
"I had that feeling too. Adventuring fits her, somehow." Nightingale looked thoughtful. Lately he'd been doing that a lot. Endahren was starting to suspect Nightingale wanted to go out himself, find some adventures. Sometimes, he could swear it was like an epidemic. Everyone he loved would eventually leave like that.
"Hullo. I thought I heard your voice." It was Calvier, walking out from his room. "Happy birthday and all." Nightingale thanked him. The two weren't especially close, but they got along well enough. Calvier sometimes joined Endahren and Nightingale when they went out in the evenings, although most of his spare time he spent with Irene, his fiancée. Irene was a nice enough girl too, Endahren thought, but she wasn't too enthusiastic about partying. Not that he really blamed her for not joining them, if you weren't interested you weren't interested.
"Shall we go then?" The three walked out, happy enough to forget all worries for the night.
Hi Ella!
Writing this in my lull time at the store, since it occurred to me it's been so long since I last wrote to you. Time has flown past here in Bastok, end the store itself is doing reasonably well by now. Calvier and his girl Irene - remember, I wrote to you about them the last time? - got engaged. A bit of a shocker, that. But I figure it's a good time for them, what with him expecting to take over the store pretty soon. Hopefully they'll find happiness.
Got a letter from Jenare a bit ago, says he's finally ditched his family and left to adventure. I thought you might be interested in hearing something like that, since you've always wanted to leave yourself. I don't really know what it is with all of you, sometimes it seems like all the people I get to know better want to leave everything behind for the uncertainty of fighting their way in the wilderness. I suppose it does have its own draw, though.
But my point was - it can be done. I know you're unhappy there.
Say my hellos to your family.
Endahren
Endahren leant against the counter and sighed. It was getting dark outside already.
It had been several days since he and Calvier Arandant had opened the Bastok branch of Merchell Daily. It had been a busy week, moving to Bastok and setting up the store, not to mention getting used to life in this place. The store had opened reasonably well, but there was much more work ahead of him now that people's first curiosity was filled. More fliers to be handed out, special offers to returning customers, generally spreading the word of this new place to buy your necessities from.
But he supposed he was getting used to this now, living in Bastok and taking care of the store. There were bound to be surprised in store yet, but the groundwork was done. That left him with more time to brood. He was in Bastok now, but what could he concretely do to help now that he was here?
His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. "Welcome! Welcome to Merch-" He stopped his words short when he saw the person who had entered. A short silver-haired elvaan, with a face pretty enough to be a girl's. It was Nightingale, the reason he had wanted to come to Bastok in the first place. He was looking around carefully, taking in the wares laid out around the shop.
"See anything you like?" Endahren asked in a low voice. Nightingale looked at him and gave a small smile.
"Maybe."
Endahren smiled back at him. He had been too busy to exchange more than a few words with Nightingale since he had moved in, mostly just to reconfirm that Nightingale knew where to find the shop. But he hadn't visited the place until now. Endahren hadn't been all too certain he would, before being taken here at least once. Nightingale was most careful about not infringing on what he saw the private life of people, and since Endahren lived right above the shop, he had been worried that this would count as too private.
He walked to where Nightingale was standing and hugged him. He had been worried what the other was doing, all by himself. The last time they had had the time to see each other properly, Nightingale had seemed quite down. Endahren's thoughts flew back to the day. It had been last month, he had come to Bastok to check out the building for the store and take care of preliminary business in the city.
"I've missed you." Endahren looked down at Nightingale, who looked back at him. That was right when it happened. Endahren had forgotten they weren't in a very private place. Calvier walked in.
When he saw the two embracing each other in the middle of the shop, gazing into each other's eyes, he stopped. "Ah..." There was a pause. Both Endahren and Nightingale turned to look at him. "Right! This must be Ellanore then? Your fiancée?" Endahren couldn't help it. He burst out laughing, holding on to Nightingale for dear life.
"...you find the situation amusing?" Nightingale asked him, annoyed. He looked affronted. Calvier blinked at his voice, which wasn't very low but still unmistakably male. Then he blushed.
"Oh...sorry. Misunderstanding." Endahren continued laughing.
"Wow, I'll never get used to these Bastokan buildings," Endahren remarked. His words echoed in the empty space of the slightly dome-shaped first floor of the building. It was a nicely sized two-floor building near the river in the port area of Bastok. You could see the river and the airship docks from the second floor balcony, neither was too far.
"You build differently in San d'Oria?" That was Calvier, Endahren's future orderling and apprentice. While he was an Elvaan, he was born and had always lived in Bastok. He was a nice enough red-hair, Endahren supposed,, although had no clue about life in San d'Oria. He would have to learn, the shop was going to sell San d'Orian specialties after all. Some customers were bound to ask about San d'Oria's food and customs besides just buying their food ingredients here.
"Most definitely. Buildings here don't seem to have any corners, for one." He eyed the circular space dubiously. How would he ever get used to living in such a place? How could any furniture be neatly arranged if most the walls in any space were rounded? "In San d'Oria, our houses are straight and sturdy. Now, I want to see the living quarters. Let's go upstairs."
"Of course. Right this way." Calvier led Endahren to the outside, where the stairs were located. The layout was quite inconvenient, Endahren thought. Even in the dead of winter - not that it ever really got very cold this far south - you would have to walk outside for a little before getting to the store. It couldn't be helped, though, they hadn't been able to secure a building with the stairs inside instead of outside. They existed, but in those the building's layout didn't give itself well for opening a store on the lower floor.
They walked in, and Endahren looked around. He supposed the place was nice enough, at least for temporarily living in. It would certainly be a change of pace. "And the furniture will arrive tomorrow?"
"Yes, if nothing goes wrong." Calvier had to check the papers he were carrying for that. Endahren thought he would have to make the boy exercise his memory a bit. Even if it was just because he was nervous, there was no excuse for not knowing such things without checking. It was fine with customers, customers appreciated if you could show black on white for what you said, but there was no need to put up a front now, not for him.
Endahren leaned on the wall next to the open balcony door and looked out. There was a lot to do in this place, hopefully enough to take his mind off of things. His treacherous mind flew back to San d'Oria and certain people in it for a moment, but he let the thoughts go immediately. For better or for worse, this would be his new home for the next year or so. Bastok had something much more important right now.
RSS Feed