“Oh, Miss Lynette!” the old man said.

It took a moment for Xyra to realize that he spoke to her. She wasn’t used to her human name, especially since Miss Vora refused to call her by it.

Xyra smiled as she looked over neatly packed vegetables, then frowned as she realized that she’d forgotten their names. Netti and Igna had told her, but that was within the calm of Miss Vora’s dining room. Here, among the noise of humans, her mind blanked.

The man shielded his eyes from the powerful midday sun as he leaned forward from his window. “Something wrong with them today, Miss?”

“Oh, no!” Xyra said quickly. “They look really good today! I don’t know what to buy, to be honest…”

“Take your time, please,” he said. “A pretty commoner such as yourself would draw eyes. And then they see the vegetables. And then I’ve got them.”

Xyra’s face became warm, aside from the sun. “Really…”

“Yep. Noblemen-and some women, too, I’d wager-aren’t all that picky. Why, just the other day, a Talows came by. He asked about that ‘pretty little woman, whose exposed back catches the light most strangely.’ I got him to buy a cabbage!”

“Talows…?” Xyra didn’t know what that was, but it sounded fancy, and pretty, like a bird.

“The youngest of them…Zevin, I believe? Fine, uh, fine young man. I guess. Yep. Wouldn’t be surprised if he-“

The old man stopped talking so quickly that Xyra looked up at him.

“To speak of things,” he said,“there’s the boy now, Miss Lynette.”

Before Xyra turned her head, she smelled a strong, pleasant scent. With every moment that passed it doubled in power.

“Oooooh, what a coincidence!”

The man that stood beside her was strange to look at, she thought. His hair was curved backwards and shiny, and his chin only had a small bit of it. His clothes were loud and expressive, blue and yellow, which she liked. But her nose was threatening to crawl into her face.

He wiped his forehead of sweat. “Vegetable seller. I owe you a purchase or two for your honesty. If not for you, I would have been stuck in this heat for considerably longer waiting for such beauty.”

A feeling welled in Xyra’s stomach, and she looked to the vegetable man. He simply nodded in his shaded hole. “Yep,” he said.

“Fine lady, if you do not already know who I am, I am Sir Zevin Talows-youngest of the Talows house and knight in full.”

Like Volsten? “Oh…I am Xy-er, Lynette.”

“Ah, Xy’er Lynette. Can’t say that I’ve heard of House Lynette before, but there are many minor nobles throughout the land. A beautiful name, nonetheless.”

“No, it’s just…Lynette, sir.”

“My mistake,” Zevin said, bowing low enough to cause her concern. “May I ask your house?”

Xyra stared at him. “House?”

Zevin laughed, but Xyra didn’t know what was funny. “I’m sorry, Lady Lynette, but are you not a noble?”

Oh no! Xyra clutched the empty sack she held-meant for her haul of vegetables-with dragon strength. Did I say something bad?

“She’s a servant girl for Lady Chamiret,” the old man said.

“Lady Chamiret, you say?” His eyes moved up and down her body. Despite the dress, Xyra felt naked. What if he saw through the ring?

“Y-yes…” Xyra said. Suddenly, the sun’s heat was intense. “She asked me to buy a few things for her. Fruits and vegetables, Sir.”

“Only beauty can serve beauty. It makes sense, if you think about it.” He turned again to the vegetable man, and Xyra was thankful for his absent gaze. “She pays not a single copper for any of this.”

“Who decided that?” the old man asked, incredulous. “I’m not a charity, even for such a nice young lady!”

“Worry not, I’ll pay. Go on, Lynette. Fill your bag until you are content!”

She grabbed vegetables until the cloth sack was near to bursting. The old man whistled something, and got louder with every one she picked.

“I think I have enough.” Xyra smiled at the man.

“That’ll be-“

Zevin dropped a handful of white coins on the man’s stall. Xyra had a few of those in the pouch Miss Vora gave her, but not that many. The old man’s brows raised, and his mouth made an ‘o’.

“That’s…huh,” the old man said, scratching at his silver-haired cheek.

“The Talows are benevolent and generous to those that are useful, vegetable man.”

The old man’s eyes closed for a moment. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it again. “Very well,” he said. “Miss Lynette, you’ve taken half of my cabbages.”

“Oh,” Xyra reached into the sack. “I-I can give some back-“

“No, no, it’s fine.” He laughed. “My wife is an alchemist-these things grow quicker than I can sell!”

“Thank you!” she said, hoisting the sack up. It was light, but so full and big that she couldn’t see over the top of it. She wobbled away from the vegetable seller, going slowly as to not spill cabbages over innocent people.

For a while Zevin’s scent was growing fainter among the crowd, but soon it was strong again, and he walked beside her.

“Allow me, Lynette,” he said as he reached for the sack.

Xyra jerked her head back as his arm came dangerously close to her hidden horns.

“It would be rude of a knight to-“ Zevin let out an awful grunt as the sack left her grasp “-to let such a small, small woman carry this.”

“Thank you, sir.”

He’s a lot nicer than Volsten, Xyra thought, as she steered them towards Miss Vora’s.

*

By the time they’d left the busier parts of Honor, Zevin was slick with sweat. They’d stopped so many times that the sun had shifted to cast small shadows on the blue stone. Unfortunately for Zevin, it was still just as hot.

Xyra had offered to take the vegetables back, but Zevin was determined to carry them. Because of that, they walked in silence. Silence of words, that was, because Zevin huffed and puffed with effort. Xyra just walked, hands clasped, unseen tail sweeping the stone.

Zevin dropped the sack again and bent forward, sucking in air, water dripping from his face. “You…you carried this like it was nothing…”

“I’ve always been strong for my size,” Xyra said. “And I didn’t carry it long. Only a few steps.”

“I…I guess you’re right.”

“It’s not much longer. Miss Vora will be very happy that you helped me-I know I am. Volsten never helped me do anything.”

“Volsten, of course!” Zevin spat. “You’re far too pretty to have not seen him. Though, a servant girl? He doesn’t care what or who he beds.”

Xyra’s head tilted. What is he talking about?

“Curse that bastard!” Zevin hoisted the sack with a loud grunt, and they were off again. Miss Vora’s place was only a few homes away now.

“Such…greed! Imagine…imagine having bedded half the nobility in this city, including Vora herself, and then going after poor servants!”

Zevin seemed more determined to talk than breathe, and try as she might, Xyra couldn’t grasp what he meant.

Miss Vora’s black gate appeared before them, and with it, Haron. He stood stall and rigid in his black uniform, sweating in the heat, but showing no discomfort on his face.

He looked towards them once, and then again.

“Hello, Haron!”

“Lynette,” he nodded. But his eyes weren’t on her.

“Right! This is Zevin.”

Haron sighed deep, and swung the gate open.

“Open the damn gate, Haron! I’m doing to drop!”

“It is open, sir,” Xyra said.

Zevin took a step forward.

“Hold it, Sir Talows,” Haron said. “I’ll take those from you. Lady Vora doesn’t wish for you to step foot on her estate.”

“Fine!” Zevin dropped the sack, and a few cabbages rolled through the gate to Haron’s feet. Xyra stooped to pick them up, giving Zevin a wide berth as to not accidentally bat him with wings and tail.

“You’ve no power to stop me from entering, know that guard!” Zevin said. Xyra looked up to see Zevin’s thin finger pointing sharply forward.

“I assure you that Lady Vora has given me supreme authority in this one instance. I’m just a commoner following orders.”

“And I am Zevin Talows!”

They don’t seem to like each other, Xyra thought, placing the last of the wayward cabbages in the sack.

Haron waited until she’d stepped away to grab it. “Of course.” Haron lifted the bag and slung it over his shoulder. He grunted with effort but looked to have a much easier time than Zevin did. “Goddess this is heavy!”

“Yes, I bet you wish for my help!” Zevin shouted.

“I can’t say that I do, Sir Talows,” Haron said. “Even if I did, well…orders, sir.”

“Fool doesn’t know his place. Say, Lynette.”

Xyra turned to her new friend. He was still sweating. A lot. “Yes?”

He took a step forward, and there was something strange about his face that Xyra could not place. “You may consider yourself ‘taken’, now that you’ve lain with a knight. But I can tell you that, as a long-time friend of his, Volsten doesn’t…appreciate women, as I do.”

His hand came forward. One of his fingers touched her temple, then slid down, just missing the patch of invisible scales on her cheek. “I…” She didn’t quite know what to say. This was new to her. No dragon was ever so forward.

“Your beauty would be wasted on him. And you’ve already admitted that my demeanor is saintly compared to his, in maybe less powerful terms.” His finger had found its way to the bottom of her throat, where it rested.

Why is he smiling like this? There was a moment, a voice, that told her to move his finger. But she didn’t. “Thank you.”

Zevin laughed, then pulled his finger away. “I think we should continue this some other time. It’s not often that I take an interest in servant girls, so you’re lucky. But Volsten has forced my hand.” Sometime during this, he had turned away from her.

“Thank you, again, Zevin,” Xyra said. She imagined herself next to Miss Vora, warm and safe. Safe. Safe from what? Zevin was nice and helpful, and he smelled nice too, if a little strong.

Still…

“Be sure to let Lady Chamiret know that I helped you. That’s the most important thing you’ll do today.”

Xyra nodded out of instinct. He couldn’t see her. “I will, thank you.”

Zevin went the way they came, leaving her alone in the courtyard.