Dave waited patiently for Lily to rejoin him in the kitchen for their trip to the nearby village. He was actually a bit nervous about this trip; he had never walked into a village before. Whenever he needed something from one of the villages he just swooped in, took whatever he wanted and then either left or destroyed it. He had promised her that he would behave on this trip. Behave? Are you seriously going to let this woman change who you are? Yes. For this woman, he would. Dave knew his inner voice was right. He would change everything for her, for just the opportunity to again be with her. His attention was grabbed, as she walked down the stairs. He was right; she looked lovely in the pale blue dress he had chosen for her. For a moment he couldn't breathe watching her descend towards him. "You look beautiful, more beautiful than I could have imagined, Lily." Dave smiled at her.
"Thank you and you look very handsome as well." Lily smiled back at him. He was in a dark suit of the time period. "Shall we go?" Lily took his hand in hers and walked with him into the fresh air. It was a beautiful day, the sun was casting its golden rays onto the ground and the earth was in full bloom. Greens, reds and other vibrant hues filled the landscape surrounding the castle. She looked around; it was a startling difference from what the area of her village had looked like. It was much more colorful here, she liked it; it suited her. Lily saw the perfect place she would plant the garden. She started to walk down the path that she assumed would lead to the village, behind her a rumble of laughter.
"Do you intend to walk all the way to the village?" Dave chuckled. "It is a three day walk easily from here. It will be much faster if we fly there. I will make sure that I put us down just outside of the village so we can walk in and no one will spot us in the air, I promise." Dave motioned her to come back to him. He could tell that she wanted to argue with him about the flying, but he could not see any reason for them to make a three day journey when they could do it and get back in one. "Trust me Lilly. I will hold you tight, no chance of me dropping you." He pulled her close to his chest and let his black wings come out. In seconds, Lily realized they were in the air. She clutched him tighter, watching the scenery going past them below. As she looked in front of them, all she could see was blue sky and fluffy white clouds. She could only imagine what her father and the elders would have to say about a person flying in the air, none of it was good. It was freedom and exciting, but scary. If he dropped her, she would be dead as soon as she hit the ground. Do not worry yourself…he would plummet to the ground himself, before he ever dropped us. Especially after last night!" Lily smiled at Lilith's comments. She barely noticed that they were headed downward and landed a short walking distance from the village. He looked at her, "Are you alright, Lily? I did not hold you too tightly did I?"
"No. I am just fine. I just did not know what to expect. Your wings are…well…beautiful! So black! You were right, much faster than walking that distance." Lily said in amazement. She watched as he smiled gently at her and tucked his wings away. She smiled back and took his hand. "So I was thinking this morning about the things we should plant in the garden…it's going to be wonderful...Just wait and see!" Lily beamed. Dave could not help but get in the same spirit that she was in. She was so excited and her talk of being around to see it growing made him even happier. "We will plant by seasons...so that we always have fresh food! I can even teach you how to preserve them…Oh it will be wonderful! Perhaps we can even get some livestock so we can have fresh meat." Lily was so excited, it was a big undertaking, but the thought of setting up a completely new way of living in that castle was a challenge.
"I guess it is a good think I brought plenty of gold with me. I had forgotten what it was like to have a woman around to take care of the shopping. It all sounds wonderful, and the castle is yours to do as you wish to." Dave smiled. "We better get started, your list sounds quite long and it looks like we will have to make the journey home by foot, in order to get everything back". He put his arm and looped it through hers. "Let's see what we can come up with, shall we?" They walked into the village together and immediately people in the village took notice of the beautiful young woman and her tall, dark man. As they walked through, Lily made note of the different stores and what each of them was selling. One of the things that she had been allowed to do while growing up was to accompany her father to the markets. She had learned from those trips to not just enter the first store and buy, that often further down was a store who sold similar items at quite possibly a lower price. Satisfied with her options she directed Dave into a farmer's store. It was one of the smaller stores in the village, but Lily felt a certain draw to it. She dragged Dave from item to item, explaining what each was used for and how it could compliment something else. She smiled as he listened to her, she feared briefly that she might be boring him, but occasionally, he would ask her questions about what she was telling him. It was the first time in her life that anyone had truly listened to what she was saying, and respected her opinions. The shopkeeper, an elderly frail looking man approached them. "My lord, my lady…if I can assist you in anyway, please let me know."
"Actually, I believe I have found everything that we need. If I were to give you the list, would it be possible to come back later and get everything on the list, sir?" He nodded to her and took the list. His eyes grew wide; he scanned through the extensive list. He knew that this was a lot of business, more than he was use to getting in this tiny shop.
"My lady, I am honored! Of course, I will get everything on this list ready for you to pick up when you get back. I will personally see that it is all packaged for you." He beamed. Most people visiting the village chose the more expensive store down the road. He was amazed to get such a big order. "If there is anything else you ever need, I hope you will honor me again by contacting me. If I do not have it in my store, I will go out of my way to find it for you!" He went to work assembling the items on their list. Lily smiled widely watching him scurry around, she tapped on Dave's shoulder to indicate that they should go and let him do his work. He led them out of the tiny store and as they walked further down the road, he shot Lily a curious look.
"Why did you choose that store over the bigger one? It seemed that the other would have had a bigger selection to pick from." Dave looked down at her and the first thing he noticed was her brilliant smile. She stopped walking and turned towards him, pausing to kiss him lightly on the lips. The act was purely loving and took him by surprise.
"Did you not hear the overwhelming happiness and joy in his voice? In that one act, we most likely made his entire year! The fact that he offered to help us with future business says it all. If I had chosen the other store, they might have been less helpful. They expect the business they receive, we would have just have been another in a long line of customers to them…but this man, he will make sure we are taken care of, that we get the best of everything on that list, even if it is a loss for him. We made the best decision. Now, how about we see some livestock?" Lily walked a ways down the street and they spotted a place. "Would you like to give it a try, Dave," Lily putting trust in Dave to deal with the villager in a calm, non-gruff manner.
"You realize I do not normal deal with anyone right? It is usually me just taking what I want and leaving. I will give it a shot Lily, but I do not know how good I will do." Dave walked over the pen of livestock and approached the villager standing there. "I need some livestock...immediately! What do you have here?" Dave asked, much harsher than he had intended, looking over to Lily for help when the villager seemed to be taken aback. As she grew closer to him he whispered to her, "I do not think I did that well at all. Please help me." Lily placed her hand on his broad shoulder and smiled.
"I am sorry sir, what my lord wishes to know is what kind of livestock you are selling today. We recently suffered a horrible loss in our livestock, which as you can see has caused him to be quite upset." Lily's soft, melodic voice seemed to put the villager at ease and he explained that he had several cows to sell, as well as, some chickens. She turned to Dave, "Ask him how much he would like for chickens and two of the cows, and try to talk to him like you would speak to me."
"I am very sorry for my previous behavior. I would be interested in purchasing several chickens and two of your cows. How much would you ask for them?" Dave waited to see if the villager would respond more positively to him this time. It was easier for him to picture that he was speaking to Lily, as he could not picture ever speaking to her in a harsh manner. The gentleman quoted him a price, which he had no idea whether it was fair or not. He looked back at Lily, she nodded to him. "That sounds like a very good deal, sir. We will take the chickens and the two cows. If you should happen to get any pigs for sale, please keep us in mind. We live in the castle about three day's journey from here. I would be interested in buying if the price were as good." Dave passed him the gold for the livestock and made arrangements for them to be delivered to the castle. He grinned as they walked away from the merchant. "I did it, I remembered what you said and it worked!" Dave was very happy; Lily was beaming at him and seemed to be truly proud of him. Dave spotted an inn, "Are you hungry Lily? It might be a good time to have a nice meal before we set out for the walk back to the castle. I wish I could carry all of those supplies and you, and then we'd be back tonight."
"It is fine; I actually am looking forward to the walk. It has been a little while since I have had a chance to walk around and enjoy the surroundings." She smiled, but noticed him wince at her comment. "Dave, I understand why you did what you did. It may not have been the best way to deal with it, but you did save my life. That tree almost fell on me; I could have died with my family, but I am alive and that is because of you. I will say that the rope was a little tight." Lily gave him a sly smile. "I just meant I use to enjoy taking walks in the forest around our village. I am not angry with you…well...at least not anymore. Please do not be upset, I am fine...see? Perfectly fine! I am hungry though, so let us go into this inn and enjoy a nice dinner; together." She took his hand and led him into the tiny inn. She smiled at the lady who greeted them, "Yes, we were hoping we might get a bite to eat here in your lovely inn." The woman escorted them into a dining/bar area and sat them at a table.
"If I might be so bold as to say…you are a lovely couple!" The woman smiled at them before walking into the back. She brought out a bottle of wine and a plate of bread and cheese. "We have a very good piece of veal today, as well as some fresh beef. All of our greens are fresh and I would be happy to put together a collection of them for you to start with, if you wish." She smiled and waited for their decisions.
"I think I would like to try your veal and the greens sound just wonderful." Lily replied. Looking over at Dave, wondering what he was planning to try.
"I will have exactly what she is having. Oh, madam, thank you for your kindness." Dave gave her a quick smile before she left them to go into the kitchen of the inn. Returning his attention back to Lily, "Did I mention earlier how lovely you looked in that dress?" He poured two glasses of wine and placed one in front of her. Even as he took a sip of his wine, his eyes never lost connection with hers.
"Well, I would hope you liked it, since you obviously bought it for me." Lily smiled. "Thank you for the compliment." She sipped her wine, looking back at him. "Okay…now that we are not otherwise occupied, I have to ask; how is it that the designs on your skin do not come off?" She chuckled remembering the night before. Lily was truly curious about the designs, they were beautiful and like nothing she had ever seen on anyone else before. She watched as the smile came to his face and lit up his features; he looked far less fierce when he was smiling.
"They are called tattoos, Lily, and they do not come off because the ink is trapped inside the skin. I spent some time with a few tribes in the jungles, they use them to show status within the tribes. They were scared of me at first, I had raided a village not far from theirs, and they had spotted me flying. When passed by their village, they approached me. They were under the impression that I was a dragon, because I fly and I had set fire to the village. So when I decided to have them give me one, it made sense to me to put the dragon on my back. The others, I have picked up along the way. The sunburst you saw I received in honor of you. You were my sun before I lost you and now you are with me again." He leaned across the table and kissed her gently, only breaking the kiss when he saw the woman returning to their table with plates of food. The aroma of their meal filled the room, they both sat and enjoyed the food and continued their easy conversation. Soon they had finished and drank their glasses of wine. "Lily, we should go back to that store and get our supplies. We have quite a long journey back to the castle." When the lady returned, he requested the bill, paying her what they owed and a sizable amount more. "For your kindness and wonderful food, our thanks." He smiled at her and took Lily's hand .