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III. Hayride


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#1 Guest_Fantysm_*

Posted 18 November 2002 - 05:14 AM

As quickly as her astonishment had come, it was replaced by anger. "What do you think you're doing?!" she yelled at Tiiro. "It's not enough to stalk me during school, you have to do it at night, too?"

Tiiro opened his mouth to reply, but Aulava ranted on, cutting him off. "You illithid mongrel! Do you suck people's intelligence out because you need the brains, or because you think it tastes good?"

Tiiro sighed, shook his head, and grabbed her wrists. Aulava glared at him, but at least stopped shouting and struggling. They had been drawing attention from the few people around them, including a half-elven courtesan with strawberry-blonde hair who was talking to a three-quarters elven mage of some sort, as well as a blue-haired bard and a druid who was not paying attention in the least, his head flung towards the stars.

"What do you want, you orcish dungheap?!" she hissed as loud as she dared. "Are you going to rob me of the one bit of freedom I have?"

"No," Tiiro said. "No, because I know what it feels like to have only one escape."

Aulava stared at him, eyes narrowed. "You can't know. You're just a noble turned thief for the fun of it. I do it because . . . because . . ." Aulava faltered as she realized that was her reason.

Tiiro normally had much better control over his temper than she, but at these words, his face darkened considerably. "You know absolutely nothing about me, Starellon, and you think up these petty conclusions from your horrible mind. I wouldn't be surprised to find that a Cowled Wizard cast Horrid Wilting on you when you were a child. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going back home to see if my parents have stopped fighting yet. If worse comes to worst, my little brother will be black and blue, and my little sister will be hiding under my bed!" Tiiro was shaking with utter fury. He spun around and ran.

Aulava was shocked, and it took her a few seconds to realize that she was alone in the street.

---

A few days later, Aulava approached Tiiro after their classes had finished. "Tiiro?"

"Don't, Starellon. Just go away."

Aulava narrowed her eyes. "Now you know how I felt when you bothered me all the time. But really, I ---"

"Leave. Me. Be." Tiiro looked on the verge of exploding again, into shouting or into tears. Aulava couldn't tell.

"Fine," she said coldly. "I just wanted to, um . . . say I, uh, didn't mean . . . um . . ."

Tiiro's face had softened somewhat, and he was now looking at her, waiting for her to say whatever she was going to say. She cursed.

"Can you tell I've never apologized before?" she asked.

Tiiro nodded. "Yes. But thank you."

Aulava sighed inwardly in relief. "Good. See you later, then."

---

It was dark again, the home of shadows --- like Aulava. She shuddered as she passed the fish-seller's house in the Bridge District. She'd had nightmares of that incident ever since it had happened a week before. She stifled a scream as someone stepped out of the shade next to her. She felt like punching him when she found it was only Tiiro. He grinned.

"Come on," he said, and when she didn't at first, he grabbed her hand and pulled her along. They made their way towards an Amnish soldier, and at Tiiro's insistence, Aulava picked his pockets, coming up with a scroll, two gems, and some coins.

"Stand away, citizen! I command you give everything back to me and come quietly to the prison!"

"Let's go!" Aulava shouted, and ran with Tiiro at her side. The Amnish soldier, though in plate-mail armor, was very fast and was steadily catching them. Their only chance was an outside item that made them faster . . .

Such an opportunity presented itself when a hay-merchant climbed back up on his cart just as Aulava and Tiiro jumped in the back. "GO!" they both yelled at the merchant, who was so surprised that he did just as they asked. The two horses started to canter away, dragging the cart at high speed. Aulava and Tiiro rose into a sitting position, grinned and waved at the Amnish soldier, who had stopped and was staring at the departing cart in hopeless astonishment.

They collapsed, laughing, into the piles of straw, and amused themselves by throwing hay at each other. By the time the merchant stopped to bellow at them and chase them off, hay was sticking out of their hair and clothes. They looked like walking scarecrows, and they had to lean against each other every few steps to make sure they didn't fall over from laughter.

"That . . ." Aulava gasped. She had trouble regaining her breath. "That . . . was fun. I've . . . never . . . laughed . . . so much before."

Tiiro nodded in agreement and tried to get his breath back. "We should . . . do that again . . . sometime."

Aulava looked at him, and a wave of laughter overcame her again. When it subsided, she nodded and said, "I'd like that."




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