“Thank you Kai!!” she whispered, “Thank you.
“Here, put it back in the bag,” she told Kestrel, then hugged him tightly when her hands were free, and he felt her body shake, as she was overcome with emotion.
“Youkal would be so happy if he knew his boys were going to be raised so well,” she sobbed the words out. “Oh Kestrel, thank you, thank you so much.”
“Let’s go to a bank and put your money safely away,” he suggested when he felt the tremors begin to lessen.
They walked with their horse and the boys, all of them covered still in the dust of the roads they had traveled, and stepped into a nearby bank, the Estone Shippers Bank, where they shocked the teller with the request to open an account to save their exorbitant horde of cash, retaining only a few silvers and coppers of cash.
“We can afford to spend the night at an inn! We can sleep on mattresses!” Merilla said happily, her eyes asparkle in the realization of all that awaited.
They found a nice inn, one in which they could afford two rooms, then paid a portion of Merilla’s coins for the rooms and for a stall in the stable. Kestrel and the boys took the horse to the stable, while Merilla ordered a tub of hot water sent to their room for a soaking bath.
Kestrel arranged for a bucket of mash to treat the horse, then let the boys play in the stall while he brushed the animal thoroughly, taking his time both to pamper the animal, as well as to give Merilla the fullest amount of time possible to enjoy herself without any companions or interruptions as she bathed and rested. Eventually though, the boys were restless and the currying was accomplished, so they took a long, slow walk around the square, then returned to their inn and went upstairs to their two side-by-side rooms.
Kestrel opened one door and ushered the boys in. They were tired, and upon seeing the large bed they rushed to it, climbed up onto the top of the mattress, and announced they would take a nap. There was no tub in the room, leaving Kestrel concerned and confused. He saw the door to the adjoining room was slightly ajar, and he cautiously peaked through the gap. His limited field of view included the sight of half a large tub of water, sitting empty in the guestroom.
He cautiously pushed the door open and peaked further into the room, where he saw Merilla, undressed, her hair hanging damply down her back, as she stood in front of a mirror, critically examining her body, as she limply held a towel in one hand, away from her torso. He immediately withdrew his head back into the room with the boys, and leaned against a patch of wall next to the door frame. His eyes were closed, and his mind was filled with a surprisingly detailed memory of the human woman’s body he had observed. His imagination recalled Alicia’s elven frame, as he had seen it at the spring, and he compared and contrasted the slender, wiry woman of the elven race to the fuller, rounder body he had just peered upon, with the full breasts and the curving hips.
He found Merilla’s appearance erotic and desirable, and he silently asked himself if he was turning so human that he had come to share their sexual tastes and preferences, or if he had simply developed such a depth of affection for Merilla herself that he found her person attractive. He shouldn’t think of her as a mate, a physical partner, he knew; as a recent widow she was taboo to him with his elven sensibilities, though he didn’t know what human culture said about such customs.
“Kestrel?” Merilla’s voice whispered, virtually in his ear, making him jump in surprise.
He opened his eyes and turned to see her leaning through the doorway, wrapped in her towel from her armpits down to the top of her thighs.
“Are the boys asleep?” she asked.
He looked over at the two still bodies that lay on the bed. “I think so; they were worn out,” Kestrel whispered back.
“Come in here so we don’t wake them,” she tugged him through the doorway into the other room, then closed the door silently.
“That felt wonderful,” she said. “I’ll have to go wake them up soon so they can soak in the water while it’s still warm.”
“Where did you go? You were gone for a long time,” she said as she sat on the side of the bed, carefully crossing her legs. “I’m sorry, my clothes are all in the other room; I can’t get dressed for the moment.”
“We just took our time brushing the horse, and then we walked around the square. I thought you might appreciate some time alone to relax,” Kestrel answered, perched on the other side of the mattress, trying hard not to look at the large swathes of bare skin that Merilla displayed.
“I did, I did,” she agreed. “I just lay in the water until my fingers wrinkled, and I thought about what to do next. I think I’ll go visit my parents tomorrow. They need to meet their grandchildren, and now I know I can see them and I won’t be running back to them begging for money.”
“Merilla, about the money,” Kestrel began, realizing that he hadn’t told her yet about the prospect of more money to come from the planned auction.
“I want you to take half Kestrel, please,” she replied, interrupting him, leaning towards him earnestly, causing his eyes to stray to the cleavage that came into view.
“No, Merilla, it’s all yours,” he twisted his neck rapidly to force his eyes away from the compelling sight. “And there’s going to be more,” he added.
“More? How?” she asked, so he explained the plan for the Doge and the auction, and Castona’s expectations of raising more money within the week.
She listened quietly. “I can’t imagine,” she said simply, and grew quiet. “I better get dressed and get the boys,” she said as she stood. “We’ll be back in a few minutes,” she told him, then slipped away to the other room. Minutes later she returned, wearing her dress while her boys were naked, and she plopped them into the tub.
She and Kestrel watched the boys splash and play, and she brushed her hair. After several minutes, the boys unwillingly submitted to Merilla’s scrubbing as Kestrel noticed the sky growing darker outside the window while nightfall dropped over the city.
“Shall we go find some dinner?” Kestrel suggested.
In what seemed like just moments, the two boys were dried and dressed, and the four of them were walking down a neighborhood street, stopping at vendor’s carts to sample a variety of choice items, ending with candy that left the boys with sticky fingers. Back in the room their hands were washed, and they were put to bed on their mattress. Merilla re-entered Kestrel’s room moments after the boys were still.
“I am not ready to go to sleep with them yet,” she announced. “And I can’t leave them alone up here to go out. Would you like to go downstairs and buy a bottle of wine to bring back up here and share?” she asked.
“I’ve never had wine,” Kestrel replied. “At home the wine is either swill, or it’s really good and expensive, and I’ve had neither.”
“Well, you can ask the man at the counter for a decent bottle of wine and get something affordable and good,” Merilla assured him.
And so they drank a bottle of wine that night, lying atop Kestrel’s large bed, telling one another stories about their childhood experiences, then starting to talk about their futures.
“Are you going to stay in Estone long?” Merilla asked.
“Castona said that we could get to the auction and have it over with in less than a week,” Kestrel answered, as he felt the wine coursing through his brain.
“How much longer will you stay in Estone after that?” she persisted.
“I’ll probably go home right after that,” he answered. “I don’t know what they’ll do with me when I get back; I don’t know what I want them to do.
“I never imagined that I could be comfortable being a human, you know,” he turned on his side to face her. “But these past two weeks I’ve spent with you have felt like a normal life. I talk and think and even dream in the human language!”
“What does the Elvish language sound like?” Merilla asked as she rolled to face him, the gap between them narrowed. “I’ve never heard anyone speak in Elvish.”
“Merilla, if you were not a widow, and I did not remember Lucretia, I would be wooing you with all my heart,” Kestrel said impulsively in Elvish.
“That sounded so odd! But I watched your mouth move and I heard your voice, so it must have been you,” she gave a little giggle. “What did you say?”
“It was nothing really,” Kestrel grew shy.
“Really? Because I thought I heard my name at the beginning,” she reached over to touch his chest.
He closed his eyes. “I said that if you were not a widow, and I did not remember a girl who has died, I would want to court you,” he admitted.
There was a soft grin on her face. “If I were not a widow, or even a widow of such a good man, I would welcome your courting, Kestrel, my good friend.
“Who was Lucretia? I’ve heard you mention her name before. What happened to her?” she asked.
“She was someone I met at Center Trunk. I only knew her for one day, before we were separately assigned to go elsewhere. She was killed a few months ago,” his eyes grew teary. “She longed for adventure, and went out in search of adventure, and got into an adventure that overcame her.”
“I’m sorry Kestrel,” Merilla spoke. Her hand left his chest. “Will you come back to Estone after you visit the land of the elves?”
“I don’t know; I hope so,” he replied.
“I hope so,” she replied. “I want you to.” She leaned over towards him, and they began to kiss, a kiss that became passionate, before they both withdrew and stared at one another.
“If it makes any difference, I hope you’ll come back,” she whispered.
“If it makes any difference, I want to come back,” he replied.
They remained silent atop the bed, holding hands and looking at one another.
“If I’m going to see my parents tomorrow, I better get a little sleep tonight,” Merilla said at last. She pulled back the covers and climbed within. “Good night Kestrel,” she told him as she rolled to the bed’s other side.
“Good night, Merilla,” he answered softly, his hand reaching over to gently rub her back, before he too fell asleep.
Chapter 19 — The Doge’s Palace
When they awoke in the same bed the next morning, at the same time, they both felt uncomfortable. “We shouldn’t have done that last night,” Merilla said as she looked at Kestrel. “I feel bad; it was unfair to Youkal to say and do what we did last night.”
“It was,” Kestrel agreed, sitting up. “It was the wine,” he hesitated, then finished the old saying, “and our hearts. But we both know better in the morning.”
Merilla went to check on her boys, who could be heard rustling around in the other room, and led them back into the room where Kestrel was dressing, to tell him good morning.
“We will eat some breakfast, then buy some nice new clothes, and then we will go see my parents, and see if we can begin to start a family life here in the city,” she announced, before she led the two youngsters back to the other room, where the three of them prepared to go downstairs.
“Will you join us at breakfast?” she thrust her head into Kestrel’s room as she started to head to the dining room.
Kestrel followed them to a table in a sunny corner, and they all sat down to their meal. “What will you do today?” Merilla asked. “Would you like to come meet my family?” she asked hesitantly.
Kestrel thought about the nearly intimate evening they had shared, and the implications of meeting Merilla’s family upon her return to the city. He was determined, sitting in the morning daylight, to make his return to Firheng as quickly as possible. “No, I’ll go visit Castona again, and see what he wants me to do.”
Merilla accepted his declination, and Kestrel thought he saw relief in her eyes, relief that somehow obscurely hurt his feelings. They went their separate ways after the meal, and Kestrel was treated to a daylong experience with Castona. He still felt uncomfortable in the urban environment of the city, he realized as he strolled through the streets. When he showed up at the trader’s shop he was greeted as if he were royalty, known by all the staff members as the yeti-killer. He found that the yeti remains had been locked away and guarded overnight, due to their extreme value.
Castona took him out to select a fine suit of clothes, appropriate attire to wear for his audience with the Doge, and then they traveled to the old part of town to see the palace, in an area that had canals and bridges and ornate homes of the nobility and wealthy; it’s unusual features, on top of the city atmosphere, left him further disoriented, and he was pleased that he had Castona to serve him as a reliable guide. When the tour was over in late afternoon, Kestrel returned to the hotel on his own. He arrived before Merilla and her boys, and idly wondered how their visit with her family had turned out. The afternoon stretched into the evening, and at last Kestrel ate a simple meal at a food vendor’s cart and returned to the hotel, arriving back just as Merilla returned.
“I hope you ate without us!” she cried when she saw Kestrel. “Mother insisted that we eat dinner with the family, and I had no way to tell you. Then she tried to shame us into staying at home for the night, but I put my foot down and said that we’d already paid for our hotel room, and that I wanted to come see you.”
“People know about you Kestrel!” she announced to him as they climbed the stairs to their rooms on the upper floor.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well, they know that a yeti was killed, that someone fought it in person and stabbed it with a sword! No one believes that’s possible!” she held his arm with one of her hands, as she led the boys with her other. “My mother wants to meet you; they all do!”
Kestrel smiled at her gay spirits, pleased to see her so happy, glad to know that the visit with her parents had gone well. That night they drank another bottle of wine in the evening, but determinedly avoided any emotional conversations; Merilla recited the details of her visit, while Kestrel told her about his tour of the town, and his appointment to be presented to the Doge.
“The Doge? In person? Oh Kestrel, my mother will absolutely demand you come to visit us. You have to pay attention to details about him and the palace, so she’ll feel like she knows something no one else would know. You’ll come to dinner with us, won’t you?” Merilla insisted.
Kestrel made the promise to visit her family, as their evening wound down, and the two of them fell asleep, carefully staying on their own sides of their mattress.
The next morning, they again went their separate ways after breakfast. At Castona’s shop, Kestrel changed into the colorful clothes that the merchant had insisted were the fashion at the court, bright yellow and red and green pants and shirt and vest and jacket, along with boots and a wide-brimmed hat, all of which drew attention Kestrel did not want. “Now, sit down here,” Castona’s assistant had directed when Kestrel had everything in place. “The boss says to do this,” he held up a large roll of gauze, piquing Kestrel’s apprehension.
As the elf-spy sat in his seat, he felt the assistant place a hand on top of his head, then gauze began to wrap around his crown, round and round, for several minutes, growing thicker, warmer, and more uncomfortable as it was layered thickly. “I’m supposed to make sure I cover your ears,” the assistant explained as he worked.
“There,” the man said, stepping back. “Now, put your hat over that,” he instructed.
“It looks perfect; you don’t see anything with the hat on, but it will cover the ears when you take the hat off to meet the Doge,” Castona said as he stepped into the room. “Now, let’s get going,” he directed.
They spent a long time walking through the streets, then passing through the palace gates, and finally waiting with the many other subjects due to be recognized ceremonially by the chosen leader of the Estone nation.
“Here,” Castona said to Kestrel, shoving a clay vessel in his hands. “This is the sample of the yeti blood you need to give to the Doge. Wait until the herald finishes announcing you, then advance and hand it to t
he attendant who stands next to the Doge, not to the Doge himself, and humbly accept any token of appreciation they give you.
“The emphasis is on humble, Kestrel,” Castona told him, looking at him directly. “I don’t think it will be a problem for you, but don’t try to act like a fool or a hero. Just being here is all we need to raise the market’s interest in bidding in the auction.”
Minutes later they were separated, as Kestrel was led to the final waiting room with the others to be addressed by the Doge, while Castona went to stand with the nobles around the edge of the audience square. Kestrel stood uneasily in line with a dozen other minor dignitaries, mostly from the duchies and earldoms around Estone, their trip to the capital city a social highlight of the season for them. They all wore the same bright colors that Kestrel wore, but with finer and fuller materials, not suits like his that clung tightly to his figure, though Castona had insisted that the suit made him look more like a fighter.
One by one the minor dignitaries were called from the waiting room, and polite rounds of applause were heard upon their introductions. After each of the guests left the room, the others clustered closer together, other than Kestrel, who was excluded by the others, the country gentry who knew or knew of one another, but knew nothing of him.
For an hour, Kestrel waited and watched as the room slowly emptied out, until he was alone after the last daughter of a county earl was called to be recognized by the Doge. There was a tap on the door, and a court official beckoned him out. Kestrel followed the silent man down a short hall, then passed through a door into a vast room that was filled with a gallery of observers on one side.
Across from his entry door Kestrel spotted the others who had waited with him, standing apart from all others in a ribbon be-decked box. Around them, and on three sides of the room there stood a ring of observers, dressed in finery. But on the side of the room to his left, the side he was walking towards as he followed a narrow red carpet way, was a raised platform, and a large, heavyset man who sat upon an ornate throne, with various staff members hovering about.
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