After a couple days traversing through the forest, the two arrived at Amolo. Jyri and Faye walked through the crowded city, pushing through couples holding hands. As they walked along a decorative bridge, Faye peered over and spotted swans swimming in the pond below. Hopefully Holger wouldn't discover them. The estin was in an obedient mood, and Faye wanted him to stay that way.
"Welcome, to the city of love," Jyri said, his voice dead-pan.
"Really?"
"Oh yes. Couples from around the country come here."
"Why?" Faye asked.
"Good question. A better question is, where's an inn?"
Finding an inn didn't take long. After handing Holger over to the stableman, the two stepped inside the inn. It looked in better shape than all of the other inns they stayed at, with freshly painted walls, and carpet instead of floor boards. The innkeeper stood behind a counter, face buried in a newspaper. "One room, two beds," Faye said to him.
The innkeeper tossed his newspaper aside. He stared at her, then looked to Jyri. "That desperate?"
Jaw tightening, Faye leaned forward, hands gripping the edge of the counter. "One room. Two beds.
The innkeeper looked back at Faye. "Only available rooms have one bed."
Faye looked down at the granite counter. Or was it marble? Frowning, she glanced up, catching the innkeeper winking at Jyri. Her fists clenched.
Jyri raised his chin. "Two beds."
"I'm not lying. Our only vacant rooms have one bed."
"One bed's fine," Faye said, looking to Jyri, "if it's alright with you."
"One bed then." Jyri pulled out bills. The innkeeper took them, and handed him a key. "Second floor, to the right."
Their room was small, but comfortable. Dropping his knapsack, Jyri went straight to the one bed, and collapsed, face-down into the pillow.
Faye sat on the other side of it. It was smaller than she would have liked, but they'd fit comfortably in it. "I hate this city already."
"I knew I'd hate it when I first learned of it." Jyri turned to face her. "They told me I'd change my mind when I'm older, then said I'd change my mind if I ever came here, and now I'm here and I hate it more than ever before."
Faye spotted a lamp on the nightstand, and gestured towards it. "Looks like they have electricity." Jyri grunted in response. Her stomach rumbled, and she rubbed it. "How do you suppose the food is?"
"Gross, probably."
"Maybe to you. But I'm starving."
"There's food in my pack."
"But I want a proper meal."
"Then go get a proper meal."
"Are you coming?"
"I'm too tired. I'll find something later." Jyri flopped his head on the pillow, eyes closed. "Go have fun without me."
She found a pub down the street, and wolfed down a delicious meal of chicken and rice. But as she took her last bites, a gray-haired woman at the table next to hers gave her a look of pity. "Are you single?"
Swallowing, Faye smiled. "Yep."
The woman continued staring at her with a slack expression. "Must be hard, being in the city of love, all alone."
"Not really."
The woman shook her head, and went back to talking to the man next to her.
"Don't listen to her," a woman on her other side said. Faye turned to look at her. She appeared to be around her age, with dark, braided hair. Next to her sat a woman with blonde hair, and across from her, a brunette.
"We're all single too," the blonde said.
"And loving it," the brunette added. "I'm Aili."
"I'm Kaisa," said the blonde woman. "But you can call me Kai."
"Lia," said the woman with braids. "You can call me Lia."
"I'm Faye."
"Are you here alone?" Lia asked.
"No, I'm traveling with my friend. We stopped here."
Aili leaned forward, chin on hand. "Where's your friend?"
"He's back in our room," Faye said. "Are you traveling too?"
Aili shook her head. "We live here."
"Have you visited here before?" Lia asked.
"No."
The three women seemed to have lost interest in her after that, and chatted amongst themselves. Something involving musicians and dogs, from the snippets Faye heard. She paid her tab, and stood to leave, but Lia stopped her.
"Do you want to hang out with us?"
Faye stared. Was this a joke? Nobody ever asked to hang out with her.
"We were just doing some shopping," Aili said. "But you can come along if you want."
Faye continued staring. She'd never hung out with any girls her age. But girls her age never wanted to associate themselves with her. And who could blame them? It was a miracle Jyri hadn't abandoned her. The situation seemed suspicious.
"We understand if you can't," Kai said. "But it'll be fun."
Faye slipped her hand in her pocket, rubbing her thumb over her knife. Her mind wandered to Jyri, and she wondered if he was still in the room. He did tell her to have fun. And the girls seemed nice enough. She smiled. "Okay."
And they visited shops, and lots of them. Most of them were clothing stores, where the girls tried things on. Faye considered trying some shirts on, but she worried about her wings.
"You're not trying anything on?" Kai asked, as she returned a skirt to a rack.
"Nothing I like," Faye mumbled, eyes focused on a pile of shirts displayed on a table.
Lia picked up a ruffled shirt, and held it against Faye's chest. "This would look cute on you."
Cute? Faye nudged it aside, stepping backwards. "No, it... It wouldn't."
"You should try wearing tighter shirts," Kai said. "It'll show off your figure."
Faye's warm face grew hot. "I can't wear tight shirts. I... I..." She struggled to think of an excuse. "Medical condition." All three eyes landed on her wings, hidden under her shirt.
Lia narrowed her eyes at them, then smiled. She looked to the group. "I don't know about you, but I'm done here."
The other girls agreed, and they all left the store without buying anything.
"Do you ever wear make-up?" Aili asked on their way out.
"No," said Faye.
"Really?" Kai asked. Aili and Lia looked at her curiously. "Why not?"
"I'm not interested in boys."
All three girls stopped in their tracks to frown at her in unison. "What do boys have to do with anything?" Kai asked.
"Isn't that what it's for? To look good for boys?"
Kai and Aili laughed. Lia scrunched her nose. "Good Odis, no. You think they'd even notice?"
"We wear it for ourselves." Kai moved forward, and the group strolled on.
"Why?"
"We like how it looks." Aili's mouth broke into a grin, and she grabbed Kai's arm. "We should go to Mel's!"
"What's Mel's?"
"It's a make-up store," Lia explained. "And they give free makeovers."
"It'll be perfect for you!" Aili's brown eyes lit up.
Night had fallen, and Faye remembered Jyri, alone in their room. "I don't know. My friend is expecting me back."
And fate would have it, the four walked right past the window of a pub. Faye stopped in her tracks as something, someone, caught her eye.
"Why'd you stop?" Aili asked.
Ignoring her, Faye continued staring through the window, at Jyri. Jyri sat at a table, with a strange woman across from him. The woman leaned forward, and kissed him. Faye tore her gaze away, jaw clenched. So much for not being interested in girls.
Kai frowned. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I just... thought I saw someone I knew," Faye said, trying to shake the image away. But curiosity burned inside her. She'd have to ask him about it later. Then again, he'd probably deny it was him. But... was it really him? She looked back towards the window, but the man and woman were gone. She scratched at her neck. "Come to think of it, my friend said he planned on going out later, so he might not be waiting for me after all."
Lia grinned, hands clasped together. "You'll come with us then?"
A thought occurred to Faye. If they put stuff on her face, they might have to move her hair. And if they moved her hair, they might see her pointed ears. And if they saw her pointed ears... She swallowed. "What will they do to me?"
Kai laughed. "You make it sound like torture."
"They'll just put on eyeshadow and lipstick. Maybe a bit of blush." Aili resumed walking, and the others followed.
"They won't mess with my hair?"
"They shouldn't." Lia frowned over at her. "Why do you ask?"
Faye ran her hand along the top of her head. "I don't like my hair being touched, is all."
Lia nodded. "Understandable."
The four continued walking. Aili and Kai were in a deep conversation about medicinal effects of hodag fangs, but Faye caught Lia frowning at her back. Something settled in the bottom of her stomach. She knows.
They went to Mel's, and a woman got to work on Faye, keeping her hands away from her hair. As Faye looked at her reflection in a hand mirror, she understood what the girls meant. Her chapped lips were hidden behind a deep red paste. The woman had painted her eyes the same color, with a thin line of black swooping along the bottom of her top lids, and past the corners of her eyes. Like wings. It was a fun look, and the girls admired it. Something inside her chest swelled, and she held back a smile on the way out.
As they stepped outside, Aili looked up at the moon. "It's getting late. We should head home."
"You two can go," Lia said. "I'll walk Faye back."
After saying their goodbyes, Kai and Aili left. Shivering, Faye looked to Lia.
Lia smiled down at her. "There's one last store I want to take you to."
Faye's heart thumped, and she took a few steps back. "I really need to-"
"Don't worry, you can trust me."
Faye swallowed. "I never said I didn't."
"Then come on." Lia touched Faye's shoulder, a little too close to her wing, and led her a few shops down.
Faye stepped into a shop, filled with garments to be worn under clothes. Trying to look at anything other than the merchandise, she followed Lia past the slips, to an aisle of corsets.
Faye gave her a blank stare. "Why are you bringing me here?"
Lia returned her stare with a sad one. "I had a friend, part fairy. She had to hide who she was. But it was hard to wear anything without her wings bulging through. So she had an idea."
"And?"
Lia reached out, and picked up a beige corset. "She'd wrap her wings around her front, and put this on over them. It did a great job of hiding them, and she was able to wear anything over it."
"Really?" Faye imagined her wings pinned around herself, and winced. "Didn't it hurt?"
"It's not like she wore it all the time. Just when she was out." Lia held the corset up against Faye's chest. "I always thought it was a genius idea."
Faye took the corset from her, and examined it. "Am I able to try this on?"
Lia led her to the back of the store. Faye locked herself in a stall, and took off her shirt, then unbound her wings, and wrapped them around her stomach. Holding them still, she pulled the corset over herself. It squished her wings flat and, with a shirt over it, nobody could tell anything was odd about her. Aside from her eyes, anyway. She changed back, and left the stall.
"Well?" Lia asked, as Faye stepped out of the change stall.
Faye held the corset out. "It fits."
"Are you gonna buy it?"
"Do you think I should?" Faye checked the price tag, then winced. "This is expensive."
"They are, but they last years."
Faye pulled out her wallet, and thumbed through bills. After that dinner, she had just enough to pay for the corset, with a few loti leftover. "I can't. My friend will kill me."
"Why? It's your money."
Faye didn't correct her. "We need to save it. It's a long story."
Lia procured her wallet from her purse. "I'll pay some of it, but you're on your own for the rest."
"No, I can't-"
"I insist."
Faye bit her lip, looking down at the bills in Lia's hand. "Why are you helping me?"
"My friend, the half-fairy... She would've wanted this."
Faye didn't ask what happened to her friend, and instead thanked her. And after Lia walked her back to the inn, she took her corset, and said her goodbyes. As she walked up the stairs to the room, her mind drifted over to Jyri. Who was that girl? And was that guy really Jyri? She figured she'd find out soon enough.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
