A few days passed at Herbal Grace keep, remaining relatively uneventful as Stella started feeling better. She was sitting in the living room when April ran into the room, her footsteps stopping in front of Stella.
"I know just the thing for you-" April began, paper crinkling before a note rested in Stella's hands. Stella held the note, looking up to where she heard April breathing heavily from running.
"You do know blind people can't read, right?" Stella grinned, holding up the paper.
"What's going on in here?" Hunter walked into the room, the metal clanging he was making telling he was back in his armor.
"April is trying to get me to do something again." Stella smiled when April scoffed.
"This isn't just 'something'- not like a trip to the lake." April said defensively.
Stella couldn't help but snicker at the water magi. Ever since she had found out that the first time Stella had seen anything outside of the sorcerer's tower was only a few weeks ago, she had been having Stella trying all sorts of new experiences. New foods, introducing her to different creatures…
"Alright, well what is it?" Hunter asked skeptically, walking over and sitting on the arm rest of Stella's chair, making her blush at his sudden nearness.
"It's a faire in a nearby town- I think it'd be great if Stella could go and have fun! They have all sorts of games there, dancing, and I could finally get her a new dress." Yellow said the last part wryly.
Stella blushed again, feeling the worn cloth that covered her. She had been wearing the same dress for years- though she didn't know what it looked like. Did it really look that bad?
"You don't look bad." Hunter said, making her look up in surprise. "It just has a few holes in it- a new dress will probably warm you up some."
Stella nodded, looking back to April. "I'll probably have to walk around, right…? Is Hunter going?"
"Well duh. I'm not letting you go anywhere alone." Hunter said defensively.
"It's settled then, we'll leave tomorrow morning." April said in excitement.
Stella heard Hunter grumble beside her and looked up at him curiously. "What's your problem?"
"She seems like she's having too much fun… and I'm not very good at dancing."
Stella stared at him with raised eyebrows. "Alright, well at least you can look at your feet while you dance."
Hunter laughed in amusement. "Alright, that's true. Sorry. You'll have fun- the last time I went to a faire I never wanted to leave." Hunter stood up from the chair, stretching with a groan as bones cracked. "Alright- I'll be outside doing sparring moves. I'm getting stiff." He said. "Just call if you need anything."
Hunter dismounted from Blitzen, taking Stella off as well and setting her on the ground. Stella wanted to cover her ears at the amount of talking going on around them- there must be hundreds of people here!
"What should we do first? There's food… and games… let's try the koi game- maybe she'll win one." April said, walking forward.
Hunter chuckled at her enthusiasm and took Stella's hand, resting it in the curve of his arm. "Stick by me, okay? I don't want you getting lost in the crowd."
Stella nodded, her hand tightening on his arm as he started walking forward slowly.
"Step right up- come and fish for koi- catch a koi and keep it, all for only 10 gold!" The man at the stall shouted as they walked up.
"Want to take a shot at it, little lady?" The man said from a distance, making April chuckle.
"Oh no, not me- her." She corrected.
The man hesitated for a minute. "But… She's…"
"Use your time stop thing on the koi." Hunter whispered into her ear. "Surprise him a little- he probably won't notice."
Stella smiled in amusement and nodded, wobbling forward on the uneven ground. "I'll take a try, please."
"Miss… I don't think…" The man said in concern as she felt for the side of the large tank, hearing splashing below. She reached out her hand for the fishing poll, someone handing it into her palm.
She closed her eyes, opening them again as the world flashed brilliantly into colors. She looked down into the thank and saw several small blue splotches in the water's depths, swimming around each other and occasionally flipping against the surface of the water. She felt for the poll in her hand, judging how long it was before feeling what she was catching the koi with at the end. Good, it wasn't anything sharp- just a small worm wound around a stone of some sort.
She stuck the poll in the water in front of one of the fish, who stopped and stared at the worm in interest before biting down on it. Stella raised the poll and flinched when water was flung onto her as the fish flapped out of water.
"Well I'll be… Alright miss, the koi is yours. Enjoy." The man said, taking the koi off the end of the string. Stella watched as the koi floated through darkness toward her, swimming in quick circles in midair. She reached out and felt a strange pouch that the koi was in, water filling the pouch to the top. She let her magic fade, the world becoming dark again as the koi splashed again against the surface, sending water flying around. Stella giggled as water splashed her in the face, small hands taking the pouch away as April laughed.
"I'll hold the koi for you. Let's get something to eat, and then we'll pick out a dress for you." April said happily.
Hunter laughed at the magi before taking Stella's hand again, guiding her forward to catch up with April.
Hunter waited outside the shop, holding the koi in his hands as it tried to splash him in the face again. His hair still already wet from the last attempt. He glared down at the fish as it blew bubbles in the water, swimming around in a circle. Darn, it was a cute little thing though- and he normally wasn't into water creatures.
He heard laughing from inside the shop and sighed in frustration, rolling his eyes. Apparently a man going into a dress shop wasn't acceptable- he'd had to wait outside while Stella and April picked out a good dress.
The koi splashed him in the face again and he was still sputtering, wiping water off his face when Stella and April came back out, April leading Stella toward him.
"Well, what do you think?" April asked, leading Stella in front of him. He took his hand off his face from wiping water away, his green eyes wide with surprise when he stared at Stella.
She was wearing a black dress with white floral patterns all over it- her black rainbow-shining hair fell behind the dress, casting small lights of color on it as she smiled.
"Does he like it?" She said, looking to April with her white eyes.
"I think so- his jaw's about down to the floor." April said in amusement.
Hunter closed his mouth and muttered under his breath, still watching Stella. He didn't really know what to say… he had never been around a girl that look as pretty as she was… suddenly he felt nervous.
"Yes, you do look very…" He looked at her soft smile as she waited. "Beautiful."
Stella smiled happily, twisting her hips to feel the soft fabric twirl around her legs. "It definitely feels better than my other dress. What fabric was this, again?"
"Satin." April said with a wry smile as she watched Hunter. She formed a heart with her hands, then pointed to Stella, her eyebrows raised in question.
Hunter blinked in shock, his cheeks flushing as he shook his head. He couldn't be in love with her- he'd only met her two weeks ago!
April rolled her eyes in dismay, turning back to Stella.
"Alright, now we should put that dress to the test- do you want to try dancing?"
Stella suddenly looked nervous. "What if I trip? I don't want to fall in front of everyone."
"Hunter won't let you trip, will you big guy?" April grinned to Hunter teasingly, whose blush deepened. What was she trying to do?
"No, I won't." He muttered in embarrassment. He looked over to where people were dancing on a raised stage, feeling a shove from behind him as April pushed him closer to Stella. He glared at the magi behind him and took Stella's hand, leading her over to where the others were.
"Um… I'm not very good at this." Hunter muttered as Stella stood on the stage in front of him, holding onto his hands to keep steady as the other people twirled around them.
"That's alright, I'm not either." Stella giggled as he chuckled and moved closer to her.
"Alright, I took a class on this when I was a teenager at the keep- so we should be okay." Hunter muttered, setting his hand on her hip, his other hand holding her wrist as he stood against her.
"How do we move around? Which way will we go?" She whispered nervously.
"Don't worry- just try to follow the best that you can. I'll catch you if you trip." Hunter said, pulling her with him as he started moving in circles. Stella followed after him, her feet shuffling against his at first before coordinating better, moving with him around the dance floor.
"See? It's not so bad." He said, his voice rumbling through his chest as she followed after him. She blushed and nodded as he held her tightly against him to keep her from falling, her arms wrapped around his chest because she didn't know what else to do.
"Here- wrap them around my shoulder." He said, taking her arms and lifting them higher until they were wrapped around his neck. She looked up at him in surprise, her white eyes blinking.
"So… what's the purpose of dancing like this?" She asked, trying to ignore the warmth of his body against hers.
"Purpose? It's for people to be together and have fun." He shrugged, making her arms move with his shoulders. "People like to be close to one another."
Stella nodded, secretly feeling relieved that feelings like this were apparently normal. She set her forehead against his chest, feeling his muscles tense against her.
"Are you alright?" He asked, his hand moving from her hip to the small of her back to keep her supported in case she fell.
"Yeah, just enjoying the moment for a bit." She whispered, hearing his strong heartbeat as they spun again.
Hunter cleared his throat uneasily, still tense beneath her.
"Thank you for taking me- I've had the best day of my life." She said softly against him.
Hunter chuckled and nodded, his hand holding the back of her head, his fingers running through her hair
"No problem, Stella. I'm glad you had fun." He said as the music stopped, both of them stopping and moving apart from each other.
"We should probably get going guys, we need to get back to Herbal Grace by nightfall." April shouted from off the stage.
"Are you feeling better?" Hunter asked, jumping off the stage before helping Stella down as well.
"Yeah." She said happily, smiling when April handed her the pouch with the koi in it.
"Alright, we should probably head to The Keep tomorrow." Hunter said as they walked over to Blitzen.
"Well at least you had fun today, right?" April asked, setting a hand on Stella's shoulder to tell her she was talking to her.
"Yeah. Thanks." Stella sighed, hoping The Keep wouldn't be too… intimidating.