Prelude 4- The Threshing Day Festival
"Please?"
Mischa's petulant whining floated down the hallway, through Xanos' closed door, through the pillow he had stuffed around his head. She had been arguing with Aurora the entire morning, and showed no sign of tiring soon. Grumbling, he grabbed another pillow and wrapped it around the first. It didn't help.
"Absolutely not," Aurora answered for the thousandth time. Judging by the blandness of her tone, she had tuned out the younger girl hours ago.
"But Aurora, I'm begging you!"
"Indeed."
"Then will you go?"
"No."
"Please?"
"Perhaps I should just smother the both of them," the half-orc growled, throwing his bedding to the floor. "Bah, if only Xanos knew how to cast 'silence!'"
Drogan and Dorna were both away for the rest of the day, most likely going over the finer points of petty thievery and whiling away the daylight in stony dwarven silence. Oh, how Xanos envied them! He stalked downstairs, his hands curled into fists. The bickering buzzed about his ear canals with the persistence of angry mosquitoes.
"Come on, Aurora! You'd have a wonderful time!"
"I can only imagine. Unfortunately, I had plans for tonight."
"You did? What plans?"
"The silverware has gotten a bit dingy. I thought I would give it a good polishing."
"Are you... Are you teasing me, Aurora?"
Xanos rounded a corner, bringing the combatants into view. Aurora was backed against the wall by the paladin-to-be, who was looking at her with pleading, watery eyes. Mischa had hold of the larger girl's hand and was wringing it like a piece of wet laundry. His arrival did nothing to halt the arguing. He could probably have walked into the room naked and wreathed in faery fire without catching their attention.
"Take a look in the silverware drawer, if you'd like, " Aurora said. "The forks in particular are- are you crying, Mischa? There's no need for it. If you want to go, you should go."
As Mischa dabbed daintily at her tears, she once more repeated the crux of her argument. "But Master Drogan said I couldn't go unless you escorted me! I can't just sneak out!"
"Such are the moral dilemmas of a paladin."
Just when Xanos was beginning to think that the finality of Aurora's words would put an end to the argument at last, Mischa sniffed tragically.
"But Aurora-"
"Shut up!" Xanos thundered."By the gods, Xanos will rip your tongues from your mouths and stuff the ragged wound with Drogan's dirty socks if you do not cease this ridiculous mewling!" Whatever Mischa was saying evaporated into stunned silence. She turned to gawk at Xanos, her mouth still open. There was no sound but the distant lowing of the cows in the barn.
Contrary to Mischa, Aurora actually seemed relieved by the interruption.
"I certainly don't want to invoke the fearsome barbarian rage of Xanos, Mischa." Aurora extricated her trapped hand with some difficulty. "It looks like this conversation has to end now."
Mischa's lower lip started to tremble.
"But- but Xanos, I can't go to the Threshing Day Festival unless Aurora goes with me." Fresh tears welled up in her bright blue eyes. "I've wanted to go so terribly..." The first tears spilled onto her smooth, pale cheeks. Xanos shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. "Xanos?" she whimpered, her voice cracking pitifully.
"Argh!" he shouted, throwing his hands into the air in defeat. "Aurora, just take her to the stupid dance!"
Xanos could almost read the word in Aurora's narrowed eyes: traitor.
"I'll do it," she said. "But only if Xanos agrees to come along as well."
Mischa's brilliant smile shamed the noon light streaming through the windows.
"Oh, thank you, Xanos!" she cried, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him exuberantly. "You'll come with us, won't you?"
"Yes, of course I will," he answered automatically. The world had gone fuzzy at the edges, and he was rather enjoying it.
Then he realized what he had just agreed to do. At precisely the same moment, Mischa realized whom she had just embraced. They both recoiled with similar expressions of disgust. The girl's dismay, at least, was short-lived.
"We'll have such a good time! Come on, Aurora, I'll let you borrow some of my clothes!" She took Aurora's hand once more, and Drogan's eldest student allowed herself to be dragged away, pausing only to give Xanos the slightest of smiles.
Xanos paced back and forth at the foot of the stairs, unwilling to risk rumpling his nicest set of clothes by sitting down. The two girls had disappeared into Mischa's room eons ago, apparently never to emerge. Xanos had no desire to attend the ridiculous event in the first place, but being forced to wait was making it worse. He was just on the edge of bolting for the safety of the woods when Mischa made her appearance at the top of the stairs.
She was a vision in pale blue, her gown tailored to perfectly suit her emerging figure. Her golden hair was pulled back in soft curls. She seemed to float down the stairs with a lilting, ethereal grace.
Trailing behind her was Aurora, looking uncharacteristically timid in her borrowed gown. It wasn't quite the right length for someone so tall, and the fabric dipped and sagged in search of curves she didn't own. Xanos looked from one blonde to the other and couldn't help but laugh.
"Mischa, be careful!" he called out. "Your reflection has somehow escaped from the carnival mirror, and it doesn't look very happy!"
He smirked, hoping for a heated retort from his fellow student. To his disappointment, Aurora only turned her head away as she walked past.
"Xanos, don't be so awful!" Mischa said disparagingly. She put her arm around Aurora's skinny shoulders. "I think you look perfectly lovely. And in any case-" she rose her voice and went on before Xanos could interrupt with another jibe, "-we'd better hurry, or we'll be late to the festival."
"By all means, let's hurry," Aurora said quietly. "Perhaps we'll get there in time to see the mayor vomit all over his expensive boots."
Mischa, obviously trying to decide if she were joking or not, settled for giggling uncomfortably as she pulled her skirts up off of the floor and strolled outside.
With widely varying degrees of enthusiasm, the three of them set off for Hilltop proper.
As they approached town hall, the sounds of the celebration carried to them through the clear evening air. Already, Xanos could hear the sounds of rampant instrument abuse. He grimaced, more sure that ever that he should not have agreed to go the Threshing Day Festival.
"Those dingy forks of yours are starting to sound preferable to this ninnyfest, Aurora."
She pointedly ignored him.
"Oh, I love dancing!" Mischa, ever fond of non sequiturs, exclaimed to anyone and no one. At least she wasn't in an inexplicably foul mood. "I hope that some of the gentlemen decide to invite me onto the floor."
"I am certain that there will be no short supply of bumbling simpletons vying for your hand, dear prudish one," Xanos said. Mischa halted mid-step.
"Oh no! What if you're right, Xanos?" Her hand flew to her mouth.
"Eh... what?"
"What if they think I'm a prude? They've most likely never encountered a paladin before. What if they assume I'm cold? What if they think I'm a-" she leaned closer, her voice dropping to a horrified whisper, "-a tease?"
"Xanos fails to see how that assertion would be incorrect," he offered, and was impressed when her eyes somehow manage to widen even farther. He entertained a brief hope that they would simply fall out of her skull and dangle down the neckline of her pretty frock.
"Aurora, you have to help me! Dance with me, please!" Mischa actually hopped in place in her urgency, skirts aflutter.
Aurora's bony fingers twitched at her sides, and Xanos imagined that she was just barely refraining from wrapping them around a certain pale, slender throat.
"I fail to see how that would help," she said evenly.
"Well," Mischa began, blushing, "Mother used to tell me that gentlemen would rather cut in than speak to a lady waiting on the sidelines." Aurora cocked her head to the side and stared, as if Mischa had suggested taking a stroll through a gelatinous cube.
Then, her shoulders slumped in defeat.
"As you wish," she said, then continued into the Hall with Mischa at her heels.
Stupid Mischa, Xanos thought. Why ask the scarecrow girl when Xanos himself is right here? Eh, perhaps she rightly fears my superior dancing prowess.
With a final longing thought about what wonderful hiding places cornfields made, Xanos entered the Hall.
There was little in the way of actual decoration, but there was alcohol and platters of freshly harvested fruits and vegetables, and the tables had been pushed away from the center of the building to create a makeshift dance floor.
Aurora was, Xanos had to admit, a decent enough dancer. Leading Mischa through both simple and complicated steps, she acquired the same strange gracefulness he had witnessed the times he had watched her practice her fighting skills. All of her awkward angles and too-long limbs somehow resolved into fluid movement. Mischa laughed and twirled and dipped along with her.
It was not long until a trio of young men approached them, just as Mischa had hoped. Xanos drifted close enough to overhear.
"-if you would grace me with a dance this night," Simpleton One finished. Xanos did not need to hear the first part of his proclamation to know it was as subtle as a lead brick in a glass chamber pot.
Simpleton Two made his own offer.
"If you find this fellow can't match your pace, I'd be happy to take his place."
A rhyme. How utterly insipid.
"My father owns the largest granary," Simpleton Three contributed. Obviously, he had an intricate understanding of how the female mind functioned. All three addressed Mischa alone.
Now obsolete, Aurora wandered away from the dance floor and disappeared amongst the revelers.
Xanos eventually grew tired of watching Mischa's adventures with the pathetically eager young men, and turned his gaze upon the rest of the crowd.
Mayor Veraunt was engaged in conversation with a local farmer, not looking nearly drunk enough to ruin his boots as Aurora had predicted. Most of the younger people of Hilltop had paired off, and were either dancing or searching for shadowy corners in which to better acquaint themselves. Small groups of farmers were discussing regional politics, figures of the most recent harvest, and the like. He caught sight of Aurora more than once, and each time she seemed to be either filling her mug or taking a drink from it.
Eventually, she ended up standing near Xanos. Her face was slightly flushed, and her eyes looked brighter than usual.
"You look like you're having fun," she said, searching the nearby tabletops. She snagged another mug of ale from a tray and leaned back against the wall. Xanos frowned.
"So, you are deigning to speak to Xanos again. What could I ever have done to deserve such an honor?"
"You're a complete ass with all the charm of a venereal infection," Aurora said between sips, "but at least you realize I exist."
Xanos could hardly believe his ears. Aurora had just said more than a handful of words to him of her own volition. And if he was not mistaken, they had been spoken with an unusual amount of vigor. Apparently, copious amounts of alcohol had succeeded where insults and teasing had failed. Not that that meant he should stop trying, of course.
"Oh, the heart of Xanos! How it warms! And all it took was the kind words of a beautiful woman." He leaned towards her, adopting the tone of a trusted confidante. "Next time you borrow a dress from Mischa, I advise you to borrow her figure as well." The way her face hardened let him know he had not troubled himself in vain.
"At least I can't help but look better standing next to you," she muttered. Xanos, expecting her to reply with something rude, was rather mollified.
"That is certainly true, Aurora. But do not expect to bask in the reflected social success of Xanos forever."
For some reason, this caused Aurora to choke on her mouthful of ale. When she was able to stop coughing, she pressed a second mug into his hand.
"A toast," she said, raising her mug, "to the astounding depths of your self delusion."
"Hmmph. You speak of my delusion even as you do your best to become intoxicated! Alcohol is the solace of the weak."
His masterfully executed snort of derision went unappreciated as a careless reveler bumped against Aurora's outstretched mug, spilling its contents all over the front of her dress. Thankfully, Xanos was standing far enough away to avoid being doused.
Aurora gasped loudly enough to draw the attention of several of the people standing nearby, including the young man who had jostled her drink. He was Ferran something-or-other, a quiet, polite youth with whom Xanos had rarely spoken.
"I'm sorry, Aurora! I didn't see you," he said earnestly. "Come with me, and we'll get you cleaned up."
"It's nothing, Ferran," Aurora said, picking at the wet fabric miserably.
"Nonsense!" He took her hand and started to lead her away. "We'll find you something nice and dry to wear."
"Well..." Aurora began, but Ferran was already dragging her out of the Hall.
"The youth of today!" Xanos exclaimed to no one in particular. "Can they not be bothered to give a simple 'good evening' to their betters?"
Sometime later, Ferran and Aurora appeared once more. She had changed into trousers and a shirt, and looked more comfortable than she had all night. To Xanos' surprise, the two of them did not part company. Instead, they joined a large group of local lads sitting in a circle in a quieter corner of the hall.
Having nothing better to do, Xanos decided to see what they were up to.
The group of young men turned out to be playing cards. Judging by the stacks of petty coin in the center of the circle, this was not just a friendly game of old maid.
"Ah, if it isn't Aurora! Come to join us, have you?" one of the boys asked, grinning. Of all the players, he had the largest stack of coins.
"I was just planning on watching, actually," Aurora said. "I'm not much for cards."
Ferran and the others looked disappointed.
"We'll play a low-stakes game at first. You'll pick up the rules soon enough!"
"I'm afraid I've no coin with me tonight. Unless Xanos would be kind enough to led me ten gold pieces for the night, I have nothing to bet."
Xanos was momentarily surprised at being spoken to, but he recovered quickly.
"Why would Xanos let you waste his precious wealth? Bah! If you promise to repay me fifteen when we return home, you may borrow ten now."
Aurora considered this, then nodded.
"I suppose that's alright. Are you going to play?"
Xanos laughed derisively.
"Never! Xanos knows better than to waste his time on this sort of foolishness!"
Aurora shrugged and joined the circle. The first hand was dealt, and she stared at her cards blankly.
"Would you mind going over the rules again?" she asked. They did. She stared at her cards a while longer, shrugged, and raised the bet by a ridiculous amount. Her hand, once revealed, was just short of awful. The boy who had been grinning earlier positively beamed.
Xanos shook his head in disgust as Aurora proceeded to quickly lose almost all of the money he had lent her. When he could bear to look no longer, he decided to take a walk around the Hall.
Mischa had tired of dancing and was now gossiping and giggling with the local girls. The farmers who had been discussing politics were now performing pitiful, drunken rendition of popular dance steps and guffawing. The mayor was asleep on the table. Still, no one bothered to speak with him.
He returned to the card game, where things looked to have changed little.
"What do you say we up the ante a bit now?" one of the boys suggested.
"You still have a small bit of coin, Aurora," Farren said kindly. "Why not play one last hand?"
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt," she answered. When it was her turn, she bet her final two pieces of gold.
The cards were turned up, and to the surprise of Xanos and the boys, Aurora's hand narrowly beat out the rest. She shored up her newly won gold without a twinge of emotion.
They continued to play, and more and more often Aurora ended up with the winning hand. By the end of an hour, some of the boys were borrowing from her just to be able to stay in the game. Soon after, there was a mutual decision to stop playing before they lost any more money.
"I can't believe it," one of the players muttered as he left. "She's a shark."
"How did you do that?" Xanos asked Aurora when she stood. "Surely you could not win so often by playing fairly!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said serenely. "But you should see what I can do when I'm dealing." She handed him a stack of coin. He counted it, and found 35 gold pieces. "As the one who funded me, you're entitled to half of my winnings," she said.
Xanos gave her a long, careful look, just to make sure that this was the same dull and quiet girl from Drogan's school. She had the hint of a smile in her eyes, and color in her cheeks from the ale. Together, this had the effect of softening her features in a way that was almost...
Xanos realized what he was thinking and shuddered. He squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed them roughly with his knuckles. When he opened them again, Aurora was once again nothing more than the bony, sharp-featured scarecrow girl.
"Ugh... Xanos had definitely been awake too long," he said to himself.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Nothing you need to hear." He waved her away. "Now run along. Surely you can find something better to do than irritate me."
"I'll let you get back to standing alone and talking to yourself, then." If there had been any sort of sparkle to her eyes, it was certainly gone now.
Aurora spoke no further to him that evening. For that matter, neither did anyone else. Eventually, the boredom proved too great and he returned to master Drogan's house alone.
He couldn't think of much to do there, either. He wandered the empty house aimlessly, until at last his eyes happened upon the chest that held the polishing cloths.
"Eh, why not," he said, taking one out and heading for the kitchen. After all, the forks were looking particularly dingy.
Next Chapter: 'Thievery and Sour Pickles' A chapter in which the word "pickle" is written nearly a dozen times. Also features the great and amazifying Drizzt! Kind of.