Activity

Avin

Two girls. They had appeared out of nowhere. Avin blinked. They were walking toward him, evidently bent on talking to him. Avin braced himself. Talking to strangers hadn’t gotten easier when he became a duke; only more common.

Suddenly the one with brown hair tripped. Avin took a step forward, but the blonde-haired, graceful one hauled her up. The other grinned, and started forward again, but didn’t get far before bumping into a chandelier that hung from the ceiling.  The chandelier fell with a crash, the sound of glass breaking and settling audible in the instant darkness.

It must have hurt. He started forward again, but stopped. He could sense unsteady footholds everywhere, and the girl was already up. He could tell by the noise in her direction. A smiles flickered across his mind. Old habits came back quick in the dark, apparently. On instinct, he reached for his tinder box, and cursed his duke’s clothes again. He could see the tinderbox in his mind’s eye, lying at home in his desk drawer.

Somebody off to the left struck a light. Avin blinked. The  clumsy girl was standing in front of him, her graceful friend glaring at her not far away.

“does this castle control chemicals?” She asked brightly.

“If there’s not any dratted Benevolents you’ll be fine,” answered her friend.

Avin blinked again. He was at a disadvantage.

“I’m afraid I can’t help you.” they knew it was a castle; that was more than he knew. He started cautiously. “What ‘Benevolents’ are you afraid of?”

The blonde-haired girl leaped across the rubble and stood next to her wide-eyed friend, glaring at Avin. He changed course: “I don’t recall having seen any here.” Not that I would know what I was looking at, even if I did.

The brunette grinned, but the blonde answered coldly, “Don’t get too excited.”

“Why shouldn’t I be excited?”

Internally, Avin groaned. The walls of the room were still obscured, there were people in the shadows he couldn’t see clearly, and there was the chandalier she broke all over the floor.

“It could still be dangerous, even without…Benevolents.” her grin faded, and her friend’s frown deepened.

Avin straightened himself up for the plunge. “I’m Avin. Who are you?”

Introductions had always been the worst part.

“I’m Rosemary, and I’m looking for chemicals,” bubbled the brunette.

The blonde-haired girl  was scrutinizing him, and  he was suddenly aware of the scars that fingered his cheek. He shook his head with a little tilt, an action he was so used to that he hardly noticed it. His hair flopped around his neck, covering the scars.

He looked back at the woman and met her gaze squarely.

“And your name, madam?”