“There’s a leather shop that rents the ground floor, so she’ll have an income. We thought that was a good idea, before we found out how much total money she’d have,” he spoke expansively between sips of his ale.
“The leather monger seems like a nice human, soft if you ask me, but that’s who her mother wants her to marry, it’s pretty clear,” he added disapprovingly.
“And you don’t think he’s good enough for her?” Alicia asked, watching him closely.
“No, of course not,” Kestrel agreed.
“Is she pretty?” Alicia asked, “For a human woman, I mean?”
“I think she is pretty. She’s not someone a man would drool over, but she’s got a wonderful smile and pretty hair, and you find out her figure is really much better than you realize when you see her undressed,” Kestrel answered. “Human women have a lot more curves and flesh than elven women, and there’s something to be said for that.
“Of course I saw you naked at the healing spring, and you’re good looking too,” he tried to be polite.
Alicia sat upright, and discreetly looked down at her own figure momentarily.
“Did you love her?” she asked.
“I did. I do. I’m not sure,” Kestrel started on the newest ale to arrive, slumping forward and struggling to drink it. “I knew I had to leave her, but I think we could have been happy together. She knew I was an elf, and it didn’t bother her. She’s got such a good heart. I could trust her,” he sighed deeply, then sat back and his head tilted backwards as he began to snore.
Alicia took several coins from her purse and placed them on the table, then came around the corner and lugged Kestrel’s arm up over her shoulder, and began to walk him out of the tavern, him dragging more than moving his legs. As soon as she reached the gate of the base a pair of guards came to relieve her, and took him to her designated surgery room.
Silvan was there waiting for her. “How’s our volunteer? Did he spend the afternoon cursing you? I’m sorry you had to put up with that,” the colonel comforted his wife as she began to tie the straps in place.
“No, he was well-behaved. We talked about male virility,” she looked up at Silvan. “He says he doesn’t have any problems.”
The colonel’s face colored faintly, but his wife continued. “He sold the yeti parts for one hundred twenty golds, and gave most of the proceeds to a pretty human widow. I’m fairly confident that if you ever couldn’t find your agent here, he’d be at a house over a leather goods shop.”
Alicia placed the blocks beside his head, and strapped his head rigidly in place, then opened a skin of the healing water and placed it within reach. “I’m going to start cutting now, so you might as well leave the room and let me concentrate on this now.”
Silvan obligingly departed from the room, and Alicia picked up one of the finely honed cutting knife. “Poor Kestrel,” she whispered. “So much confusion in that good heart of yours. I’m afraid things aren’t going to get any easier from here on out.”
And then she put her blade to work, reshaping his identity once again.
Chapter 28 — The Operation
When Kestrel awoke, Giardell was standing in the room keeping watch over him.
“Can you release me?” Kestrel asked, rattling the straps that held his wrists in place.
“I’ll go wake the doctor, and she can tell,” Giardell answered. He stepped out of the room and returned within two minutes, Alicia coming behind him and hurriedly wrapping a robe around herself as she arrived.
“How are you Kestrel?” she asked, as she started to unwrap his bandages.
“I’m thirsty, and my ears hurt,” he said.
She stopped working on the bandages and held a straw to his lips. “Here, drink slowly,” she instructed.
“Why do my ears hurt?” Kestrel asked.
“I didn’t use as much of the healing water this time,” Alicia explained as she finished taking the largest bandages away. “I got to thinking that it might contribute to the restoration of your elven features, so I really only used a light touch of the water this time to help you heal.”
Kestrel could suddenly see light as she removed the gauze from his eyes and begin to touch his eyebrows. “They’re still a little swollen, but within a couple of days they’ll be fine,” she spoke to herself.
“Can you unstrap my arms and legs?” Kestrel asked.
“Will you promise not to try to harm me?” Alicia asked, stepping back from him.
“I’ll promise, this time,” Kestrel agreed, making Giardell give a quick guffaw as he stood watch over the doctor and patient.
Alicia unbuckled the straps on his wrists and upper arms, then his ankles and legs. She returned to his head as he massaged his hands. After she had the blocks removed and the bandages off his ears, she picked up a small mirror.
“Sit up and take a look, Kestrel,” she told him.
He accepted the mirror and examined himself.
“They’re still a little swollen, but that’ll be gone before you get to Firheng. By the time you get back to Estone, Merilla will be ready to welcome you as a handsome human lover with open arms,” Alicia told him.
“But no elf maid would have me,” he retorted.
“You don’t know that,” Alicia snapped back.
“Go wake the colonel,” she told Giardell.
“Didn’t he wake when you woke up?” Kestrel asked as the guard left the room.
“We aren’t sleeping together,” she replied. “Tonight,” she added after a second’s thought. “I slept apart so that I could come see you if needed.”
They remained silent after that, as Alicia bent her face down close to Kestrel’s, peering closely at the relocated eyebrows, as his eyes examined her complexion and her features, noting the seeming perfection of her skin and her chin, on which he noticed a very slight cleft, and especially her lips. Her robe hung loose and gaped slightly, allowing his vision to follow her throat line down to her chest, and the slight swelling of her breasts, a clean smooth surface of flawless light skin.
“Well, how’s the subject?” Silvan asked as he entered the room.
“He’s in good shape,” Alicia responded. “There’s more swelling than last time, but I think that’s only because I used less of the healing water.
“I’ll fix some willow bark for you right now,” she looked down at Kestrel’s eyes as she stepped away from him.
“If you want me to hold him here, or if he wants to stay here for observation, we can plan to do that. Otherwise, I think your new human is ready to be sent up to Firheng and Estone; he knows the way pretty well by now, don’t you, Kestrel?” she continued.
“What would you like to do, Kestrel?” Silvan asked. “Leave once the sun is up, or stay for a day or two to be sure this is good?”
“I’m not a ‘new human,’” Kestrel said testily. “The ears don’t make me more human. I’ll trust her; I’ll be ready to go this morning. Will this be the real assignment, or just more practice and testing?” he asked.
“This will be the true assignment,” Silvan began.
“I’m sorry Kestrel; I didn’t mean to say it offensively,” Alicia interrupted, returning to hand her patient a small mug of painkiller.
“It’s okay,” he muttered in reply, then began to drink from the mug, and looked at Silvan for more information.
“We will assign you to travel up to Estone, to take a ship from there to the Great Sea, and then back through the Inland Seas to Graylee. We want you to learn what is happening in Graylee and Hydrotaz; they are the ones attacking us,” Silvan told Kestrel. “With the seasons starting to change, we’ll want to get you moving before the shipping lanes close down, and we’ll want to get you into Graylee in time to join their forces before they begin attacks next spring.
“I’ll write most of this up and send it with you in a messenger tube to Firheng. You can spend a few days there practicing your skills, while I put together more details and plans that I’ll send up to y
ou in the next few days,” Silvan explained.
Kestrel nodded his head as he finished sipping the bitter drink Alicia had prepared.
“Let’s let Kestrel get some sleep,” Alicia suggested. “We can send him on his way in the morning.”
Once they all departed, Kestrel lay back on the thin cushion of his cot and thought about his return to human form. He’d have to skulk along the roads for the next few days to get to Firheng, and he’d need to keep a hood up at all times, as well as sleep in trees, no matter what the weather. And he’d have to remember to take another skin of healing water back to Belinda, he decided, so that she could continue to treat her husband.
Amid those random thoughts, sleep overcame him. He awoke the next morning to the sight of Alicia, dressed and active, preparing another dose of willow bark for him to take. “And here are the powders for three more,” she gave him a small leather pouch.
“May I have a skin of healing water?” Kestrel asked.
“What for?” Alicia asked, examining him.
“There’s a woman who works at the base in Firheng. Her husband was badly hurt years ago, and I’ve been trying to give her some of the water every chance I can so that he can recuperate,” Kestrel answered.
Alicia bent under a cabinet, and rose holding a skin. “Here’s your skin for your friend; you’re the one who brought it all, so you ought to take what you want. Just be careful about exposing yourself to the water, you know.”
She quickly began to examine his ears and eyebrows again. “You’re cleared to go,” she told him. “Be careful Kestrel. I can’t do anything for you once you’re on your way, but I’ll think about you and pray for you.”
“Thank you, Alicia,” He said as he stood. “Do you have something with a hood I can wear to go see Silvan?” he asked, looking around.
“Of course! I didn’t even think about the fact that you look human again. Let me run and get something,” she exclaimed, and left the room for several minutes.
“I hope we part on better terms this time than we did last time,” she told him as she handed the cowl to him minutes later.
“We do. I understand better this time, and you didn’t try to trick me this time, I think,” he replied. He pulled the cowl around his shoulders and lifted the hood to cover and shade his face and head, then walked to the door and turned. “Farewell,” they each said at the same time, and smiled, before he left the building to return to his quarters and get his belongings.
Minutes later he was back in the building on the top floor, passing Giardell as the guard held Silvan’s door open for him.
“Here are your orders,” the colonel said as he held out a blue taped message tube. “Commander Casimo will put you to work fine-tuning your training and giving you more time to spend with horses; depending on what happens in Graylee, you could ride a horse quite a bit. They keep very large herds on the plains,” Silvan said. “I’ll send more information about your future within a week, so you won’t be trapped in Firheng too long before you can get to Estone and visit your human friend on your way to the docks,” he smiled gently.
Though Kestrel wasn’t sure what he would do or who he would see in Estone, he nodded politely. “I’ll do my best. I never thought I’d become a spy,” he said.
“None of us do, Kestrel. But I think you’re making the adjustment as well as can be expected. We wouldn’t want to have you as a spy if you were too interested in skullduggery and deceit,” Silvan replied. He rose and walked Kestrel to the door. “Put your hood up and have a good trip,” he said, then watched Kestrel leave, and went to the window to watch him walk away from the building, on his way to becoming a spy for the Elven nation.
Chapter 29 — The Gamble
Kestrel felt that he spent his entire journey to Firheng walking into a blustery autumn rainstorm. His journey started out in nice weather, but after half a day the clouds rolled in, and his first night in a tree was when the rain started. After that the rain continued for the next three days, so constant and cold that Kestrel decided to forego a tree one night and built an impromptu shelter in a small gulley, letting his hair dry that night out of the rain. Nothing else ever got dry for the rest of his trip, and he was exhausted by the time he arrived at the gates of Firheng at sunset of his fourth day on the road.
The woods had been crowded with elves all along the route of his journey, leaving him in constant fear of exposure to the workers among the trees. It was nut harvesting season, and every elf that could be spared in every small village throughout the Eastern Forest was at work, gathering bushels of nuts that would be roasted, ground, treated, baked, and used in every way possible. The elves loved the robust flavor of nuts, much preferred it to grain, as a source of food that could be shredded into flour or otherwise processed. Kestrel kept his hood tightly bound upon his head as he passed the forest workers who walked and bent over throughout the forest, who left great bushels filled with nuts along the roadside, waiting to be carried back to the silos and storehouses where they became the property of the elven people.
Upon his eventual arrival at Firheng Kestrel went to his usual room and undressed and unpacked, spreading items out to dry, as he found a few dry items in his things that been left behind in his fourth floor bedroom. After pulling those clothes on he went to the commissary and picked among the leftovers for dinner, then went back to his room and slept soundly through the night.
When daylight came he was glad to see that the rain had finally stopped. Kestrel picked up his messenger tube and the skin of healing water, then went to Casimo’s office. He arrived before either Belinda or the commander, and sat down on the floor outside the office door, awaiting the arrival of someone to receive him.
Belinda arrived first. She walked the dim corridor towards him, unable to tell who was at her office until she was close and he rose to stand. “Kestrel!” she greeted him with a friendly laugh and a hug.
“Here,” Kestrel told her, before she had even unlocked the door for their entry. “I brought you more water,” he held the skin before him.
She looked at him with grateful tears in her eyes. “Thank you Kestrel. He continues to regrow his hands and his eyes. I dream at night about maybe having a talk with my husband again someday, and when I wake up I think it could be possible.”
She stood for a moment, overcome with emotion. “Goodness! Here I am keeping you standing out in the hallway while my mind is a hundred trees away! Let’s go in the office,” she said as she juggled the items in her hands and brought out the keys that unlocked the door.
Within the office Kestrel took a seat and watched as Belinda bustled about, preparing the office and putting things in order for the day. “Was it worth it?” he suddenly asked as he watched her.
“Pardon me?” she asked.
“Was it worth marrying someone who hasn’t been a partner for so much of your marriage? If you had it to do over again, knowing that Ranor would be like this for so many years, would you still marry him?” he wanted to know. He wanted to know if a happy marriage with a partner for a short time was worth giving up so many other long years.
“Kestrel, I didn’t have just a few short years with him,” she replied, leaving off her tasks to come sit beside him. “Even when he’s been in a coma, I’ve had the memories and the knowledge of the love and the bliss of those years. They weren’t perfect by any means, but they were the best of my life, and I still feed off the love of them.”
She stood up. “I’m sure you’ll find that out for yourself someday, maybe someday soon.” She returned to her desk, and got there just as the door opened and Cosima and Gion entered the office.
“Well, look at who has come back again! He’s like that magpie you shoo away every morning, and every night he’s back to chatter and do mischief,” Cosima said. “Welcome back Kestrel. I see you’ve changed your looks once again. Are you going back out into the field?”
Kestrel held out his message tube and delivered it to the commander. “Hello Gion,”
he said in a friendly tone to the guard who stood nearby.
“Hello Kestrel. Good to see you again,” Gion said heartily.
“I’ll go take a look at this, and then we can talk, if you don’t mind,” Cosima said, holding the tube. “Just remain here and keep Belinda company, but don’t disrupt her routine!” He spoke over his shoulder as he headed into his office and pulled the door closed behind him.
Kestrel returned to his seat and watched Belinda, as he thought about her answer to his question. He was haunted by the thought that in a few days he would be passing back through Estone again, with another chance to see Merilla, much sooner than he had expected. Was she his chance to find happiness? They’d really only spent a few days together, he realized, but the days had been intensive, constant exposure to one another, day and night, through their most intimate moments, and he’d found nothing about her that worried him, other than the fact that the goddess had sent Dewberry to keep them apart one time.
“Kestrel,” Cosima called as he opened his door, interrupting Kestrel’s musing, “come in here and we’ll talk.”
When Kestrel was settled into a seat in the office, Cosima began talking. “According to Silvan, you’re going out on a mission, and we need to sharpen your skills before you go, especially with horses. So I’m going to send you out on a horse to Green Water. It’s a small human harbor on the North Sea, at the foot of the Water Mountains. They ship mining goods out of there.
“Ride your horse to Green Water. Find out anything you think is interesting, then ride back here. That should be eight or nine days each way — plenty of riding. That’ll give Silvan time to send another message with further instructions. Did you know about that?” Cosima asked.
“He told me about it,” Kestrel affirmed.
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