The Most Beautiful Thing Ever
We picked a place near the middle of market and I ordered the best they offered – grilled leg of boar, meat trano and greens included. I also let everyone order what they fancied in addition to what I picked.
Best meant most expensive, not necessarily tasty. From my experience in Osea, only the expensive courses get extra care and is prepared only when ordered. Ordering the best course also meant extra attention the waiters gave our table. Because the main dish took longer to serve, this worked to our advantage. Our mugs never ran empty. At four esterises, the lunch was surprisingly decent for its price.
We exited the place sometime after noon. As Lenra went to get our wagon from behind the establishment, I noticed a crowd forming at a junction leading to the town plaza with a man in the middle. By the time Lenra arrived with the wagon, a rider dressed in white emerged from the junction and positioned herself in the middle of the street. It was a crier.
The crowd’s reaction to the news was somewhat uniform, the only difference being in the choice of deity they invoked. Most called on the female god while some, curiously, called on Annun. I found that odd. The male deity was only mentioned when one thinks everything was going the way it should be or when things go right. Everything else was the domain of the female god.
I swept the crowd of onlookers as we listened to the rehearsed lines. The made-up version drew a predictably sorrowful but touching reaction. I wondered then about two things – how different would it have been if the truth was told, and how many were going home this day with noticeably lighter purses, the news making them feel unusually romantic?
As I turned my head to my right to look at the mixed expressions the gathering crowd sported, I saw, without exaggeration, the best damn sight I have ever seen in this world. And Hanni was glaring at it.
Her. Hanni was glaring at her. Her back was to us, talking to two men. There was a kind of gracefulness about her that I do not recall seeing in anyone. It was in the way her shoulders seemed to wave as she gestured with one hand then the other. It was in the way her neck tensed and relax, in sync with the rising and falling of her arms. It was in the motion of her delicate hands as she waved the men off, long fingers appearing like after images as they moved in the empty air.
I have not believe I would ever find anyone as pale as I was after all the time I’ve spent in Silaron. There were people of fair complexions, but none came close to how pale my skin was. But there she was.
And yet, even her paleness exuded something otherworldly. She was almost white. I must have been seeing things because I believed the skin in her exposed clavicles glinted in the afternoon sun as she turned to regard the crowd of people listening to the crier’s second recital of the news.
Her hair was the fiercest shade of red I have seen in person. It flowed lightly as her head turned and fell neatly, reaching the middle of her back. It was another thing I did not expect to see. Flowing, straight hair. She turned her gaze around, just like I did and when it passed where I stood, I stiffened involuntarily.
Those big eyes must have met Hanni’s for that is the only explanation I have why she smiled, there was no one else beside me or Hanni. And what a captivating and disarming smile she had. When her gaze reversed course and settled on me, my heart skipped a beat. I started to become aware that my throat was slowly going dry.
I swallowed when she took a step. Everything around me started to fade into the background, reduced to mere blurs. Even the crier’s high-pitched voice started to sound muffled. By the second step, I had become mesmerized. She sashayed as she weaved her way to me. Far from that of models in catwalks, this one was different. Her hips spoke of power. Power held back, kept in check. As if unleashing it would end existence. I was hypnotized. I slowly turned my gaze up as I realized she was already standing right in front of me, our eyes at the same level.
“My, aren’t you a tall one?” She cooed. “I am called Zil. What are you called?”
Her voice was like sad notes played on a violin, the string of words a short-lived sonata. It felt like aching, like longing, as the sound reached my ears.
“Ru… Ruben.” I stammered.
Her green, deep set eyes bore through me. The slightly darker areas around it made them pop. They matched the green of her dress. If I thought, moments before, that her face was a ten, the addition of freckles on her nose and under her eyes made it a twelve. She turned her gaze towards Hanni and I reluctantly followed it.
Hanni’s glare was now directed at me, brows dangerously close to being permanently fused.
“Is he yours, stiuri? Your new,” she turned to me again, “toy?”
“He is not mine nor I, his. And neither is he yours. State your business, crone.” Hanni demanded sternly.
“Oh you and your famous temper. Business this business that. So… boring. Can’t one just have a little… fun sometimes?” Said the redhead, caressing me with her eyes from top to bottom. She spoke again without waiting for Hanni’s reply. “Listen stiuri, I am the owner of that place over there. I will be here for two, maybe three shifts more. Should you find your present company… lacking, promise you’ll come and find me?”
The word was out before I could think.
“Yes.”
“San… San.” She cooed once more, lengthening the syllable while running a finger from my navel to my cheek. “I’ll hold you to that. I’ll hold you… to that.”
She held my eyes once more before slowly turning and walking away. In her wake, I felt my senses come back as the distance between us increased. I was left blinking rapidly and breathing deep when she finally disappeared into the establishment she was pointing to just moments before. It was the largest place with two storeys I’ve seen on the market. It was a pleasure house.
“We best go now Jorj, the roads are going to be full.” Said Hanni matter-of-factly, as if that whole scene didn’t just happen.
As I helped Jibel climb the wagon, my head started to fill with questions.
What the hell just happened? Who the fuck was that?