So Close, And Yet, So Alone. Part 2

Continued from Part 1

Tinka and Nestor walked out of the forest together and back into North Pomme to the Conclave. Tinka noticed the uncomfortable eyes on her in her deer form as they walked through the city, same as the morning, at least no one threw rocks this time. When they were inside the gates of the Conclave, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"It really is that bad for you being a deer in the city, isn't it?"

"About as bad as it was for you when we were off the main path of the forest."

Nestor had a look of shocked understanding on his face, "It truly is like that."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry. I never truly understood how bad it was for you in your pelt."

"I appreciate that. But being out of my pelt is just as natural for me. I am connected to it. It's only unnatural when it's taken from me."

"Hence the eaten fingers to any trespassers."

They approached the garden shed where she kept her robe when she didn't wear her pelt. "Exactly." She unlocked the door with her enchantment and stepped inside. "I don't know about you, but I could go for a meal and another drink after all this today. How about you?"

Nestor was already looking back into his notes when the breeze kicked up and an important leaf blew out and across the garden. "Shit. Hold that thought Tink!" Nestor chased the trio of leaves on the breeze across the garden. He hopped over pots and knocked over a trellis keeping his eyes on his leaves. The breeze kicked them upwards, but Nestor was tall and quick, "No you don't," he jumped and caught them in the air, but tumbled to the ground with a hard landing on his back, leaves in hand "Ow." Eyes squeezed shut.

"'Ow?' You terrorize my garden and all you have to say is 'Ow?' If you have any luck at all, 'Ow' will be the least of your worries."

Nestor slowly opened one eye. Standing over him, holding and petting a half orange, half black cat was a woman with brown hair with red streaks and fair skin under a wide brimmed hat. She eclipsed the sun and from where Nestor lay; she seemed to glow. He was taken aback by the sight of her. "I was chasing my leaf."

"You were chasing a leaf? You're not a cat and leaves don't have legs."

"The one I met did." He started to get up.

"What?"

He put the leaf back in his book and looked at the mess he had made in her garden. He had knocked over multiple pots and trellises; a much larger mess than he thought he had made. He sighed at his wrongdoings and briefly held his head in shame and looked back at her. He got a better look at her, she was wearing a long grey draped dress with a blue bodice over it. She appeared to be older than Tinka and younger than him. She's stunning. "I'm sorry for what I've done. What can I do to make it right?"

She put her cat down and he nuzzled around Nestor's ankles. "I'll take that as a sign that you are not the worst person on the planet." She put her hands on her waist and looked over at her garden. "You know I just got everything the way I liked it for the day? Weeds pulled. Everything watered. And I just got myself cleaned up and smelling good."

This striking woman pulled something out of Nestor he never imagined he would say in a situation like this, "Can I smell?"

Her eyes grew wide with shock and taken aback by his question; they both were. She turned out the collar of her dress and leaned her collar bone towards him. Nestor leaned over and smelled the sweet perfume that wafted off her chest then stood up straight. "You see now why it's so inconvenient that you made such a mess?"

"I couldn't possibly let you ruin yourself after I ruined your garden. I would be glad to set everything back. Just tell me where."

She got a little smirk on her face. "I think I can work with that."

Nestor went and stood up a tall pot and put the soil back into it and evened out the plant in it. "That's kind of you."

She laughed and her voice was music to Nestor. "That's my name, Kind. Marie Kind."

He smiled as he stood up a trellis, "Nestor th-, you can call me Nestor."

"Nestor, huh?" She went over to a tool box and picked up a rubber mallet and walked back over to him. "You're going to need to secure that trellis a little better than that." She wrapped both of her hands around his placing the mallet in his hand. Nestor felt the warmth of her hand and the scent of her wafted off her in the process, and suddenly, he felt warm all over. He wasn't sure if it was the running, the garden work, or Marie, but his heart was pounding in his chest, and he couldn't help but grin wide as she stepped away from him. With her instructions, he finished cleaning up the mess he made quickly, but he took his time between tasks so he could talk to her. By the time they were done, they were on the far side of the of the garden near where the shed stood.

"Does that look like it did before I went for a run through it," Nestor asked.

"There's a rhubarb stalk or two that might not make it through the day, but otherwise, I think all is forgiven," Marie looked over the garden and back up to Nestor. She took the hand tools out of Nestor's hands; taking more than a moment to do so. In that moment, Tinka strolled out of the shed in her human form in her long, belted cloak.

Tinka yawned, "How long was I out? I took my skin off and you were running. I got cozy and fell asleep on the work bench."

Nestor peered into the shed seeing the hard, dirty bench. "You fell asleep on that?"

"You usually sleep out here," said Marie to Tinka. Marie looked to Nestor. "She's almost as good of a mouser as Fireside is."

Nestor looked to Tinka confused, "You eat mice too? What don't you eat?"

Tinka grinned and looked to Marie, "I don't know, Marie, what don't I eat?"

Marie laughed. "I'm not saying that!"

"Saying what?" Nestor looked back and forth between the two of them.

"She's a lady, she won't say it. Don't worry about it, brother." Tinka slapped the sore part of Nestor's arm. "You still up for the Hollow Hill Tavern?"

"Yeah, can you give me a chance to clean up first?" He held up his hands to show Tinka how dirty his hands were and he realized how sweaty he was.

"Sure. You can meet Marie and I there," Tinka said with a nod. She linked arms with Marie and began to walk out of the garden with her. "You smell nice today. Something new?"

"You could say that," Marie said with a giggle as the pair walked away. Nestor stood dumbfounded for a moment before sprinting up to his dorm to clean himself up.

Within the hour, Nestor was walking to The Hollow Hill Tavern to meet Tinka and Marie, and even though the late afternoon was cooling off, he felt himself getting sweaty again. When he walked in, he saw the pair of them sitting at the bar talking, laughing, drinking, and eating apples and chocolate chip cookies. Rima was making her way around the room starting to light the sconces for the evening. Various patrons were around the tavern eating and drinking. Metastar was at a table with his wife Layla sampling different ales. A pair of dwarves were challenging some gnomes to games of cards, and a quartet of musicians played music in the corner for tips. Several more people were around, but those were the ones that caught Nestor's eyes. He took a deep breath making his way over to Tinka and Marie and stood behind them. "Did I miss anything exciting while I was gone," Nestor asked.

Marie laughed and pointed across the room, "Those gentlemen sent us this food."

Nestor tried to remain casual as he glanced where Marie pointed. The two men were sitting in a booth, one was in his early to mid 50s, had black and grey hair, fine clothing, yet lacked dignity: he was licking every drop of red wine out of his glass. He appeared to be fairly muscular and strapping for an older man of means, yet little manners, which was an odd combination. The other man was younger, mid 30s, closer to Tinka's age, short brown hair, goatee with mustache, also muscular, like he worked a hard trade like smithing or fishing, and somewhat hairy. His clothes were not as refined as his companion's but they were clean. He talked more than his companion and had a boisterous laugh between sips of ale, and had better table manners. They were, objectively, handsome men. "Did they say anything?"

"To be fair," Tinka spoke. "The one with the brown hair sent it over and waved to me. The old guy just licked his own hand."

"To be fair, that 'old guy' is probably my age," Nestor retorted.

Tinka leaned back on her barstool and looked again. "I stand by my statement. I asked for a knife for the apples and showed him that we were not to be bucked with." Tinka stabbed one of the apple pieces she had cut up and ate it.

The quartet of musicians started a new song, one with a fast drum beat. "Ooh! I love this song!" Marie said. "I need to go dance." She shot out of the barstool and went to the open part of the floor and started doing specific dance moves to the rhythm and words of the song. It was a classic folk song that most people knew the words and dance steps to, including Tinka and Nestor.

Tinka saw the awe-struck look on Nestor's face, "You know I wasn't really napping earlier."

"What?" He shook his head out of his daze of watching Marie and looked back over to Tinka. "I could smell what you two were doing for each other clear across the garden. It's why I stayed in the shed for so long, I didn't want to interrupt." She held out her mug of cider to him. "You need a little liquid courage?"

"No." He took her mug anyways and finished it before handing it back to her and joining Marie on the dance floor. Tinka smiled as she watched Nestor and Marie do complimenting dance moves to the classic folk song.

Tinka signaled to one of the bartenders, "Another cider." She held up the empty mug. The bartender came over, took the mug and began to fill it from the cider barrel.

"Something's wrong with the tap," she said. "I was only able to fill it half way." She said setting the mug down in front of Tinka.

"It will do," Tinka accepted with a half-smile.

"Perhaps I can help with it? I've been a barkeep myself and I know a thing or two about fixing these kinds of things," Tinka looked to the side to see the brown-haired man with the goatee who sent the apples and chocolate chip cookies.

The bartender softly glared at him. "You know what, a busted tap makes no money. You get it going, your next round is on me. Worst case, it remains broken."

The man stepped behind the bar and examined the tap and the barrel. He said a basic incantation, twisted the tap, and kicked the barrel so hard the glasses on the bar rattled. He then took a clean glass, opened the tap, and cider poured at full force into the glass without any foam.

The bartender shook his hand. "My word is my bond. Another ale for you or a glass of wine for the doctor when he wakes up?"

Tinka looked over her shoulder to see that the man's associate, a doctor, had fallen asleep in the booth.

"I'll take another house ale...unless the lady here would like to be topped off," he said the second part cautiously.

"I'm fine for now," Tinka answered. "But I am curious how you fixed the barrel."

The bartender poured his ale and he sat down on the stool next to Tinka. "It's a low-level repair spell called a 'pixie boot.' I'm an intelligence manager for the North Pomme Count."

Tinka held her mug close and took a sip, "Is that how you afford to send strange women apples and cookies?"

"Not women, just you," he said.

"Hmmm."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I'm not sure what to think of you. I usually find most men repellent, you're not," she smiled then took a bite of a cookie.

He laughed. "My name is Noah, and I'm not like most men."

"How do you figure?"

"First of all, I wouldn't publicly tongue another woman on a dance floor if I were here with you."

Tinka spun on the barstool and sure enough, Marie and Nestor were kissing on the dance floor embraced in each other's arms. Tinka mashed a little smile on her face then turned back to Noah. "Truly, I'm happy for them. I know him well, they don't just need each other, they want each other. They're going to make each other happy."

"I'm not gonna lie, I have seen you around with him, I thought you two were...paired." He awkwardly gestured with his hand.

"Then why did you send the food over if you thought I was paired?"

Nestor breathlessly approached, "Tink, Tink!" He looked at Noah, "Hi there." He was giddy. "Tink, um, Marie and I are gonna leave, if you don't mind."

She grew a big smile for him. She looked past him and saw Marie checking her reflection in one of the sconce mirrors. "You go get her. You show her what it is to be Cruel in Kind."

"Gross, but hopefully accurate. Oh, and what was the thing that she wouldn't say earlier? That thing you said you wouldn't eat?" Tinka had Nestor lean over and she whispered in his ear and he laughed. "Funny, I'm hoping to do the opposite tonight."

Tinka nodded and smiled knowingly, "I know, that's why I asked her to join us tonight. I could smell it on you two. It was going to happen. Now buck off."

Nestor gave Tinka a big hug. "Thank you. You're great!" He looked at Noah. "She's great." He hugged Noah and he was taken aback. "Everything's great!" Nestor practically skipped to the door to join Marie hand in hand as they left the tavern. Tinka let out some breathy laughs at the site of them.

"Your friend is...expressive," Noah said.

"He's not my friend, he's my brother. It's a long story."

"But he's human," Noah said confused.

Tinka's eyes grew large in shock and confusion; Noah's phrasing implied he knew she was not entirely human. She picked her words carefully, "What do you mean by that?"

"Tinka," Noah shrugged and looked at her with an implied understanding. She shook her head, not getting his message, or at least, pretended not to. "Your hand, may I?" He held out his hand palm up; she placed her hand in his. He pulled her hand close to his face, closed his eyes and took a deep inhale, "Apples and cookies, obviously. But before that, oak, lots of oak and lilacs in the second bloom."

Tinka's eyes remained wide and she understood what Noah was telling her. Everything became quiet and dark outside of Noah and her. It was as if they were alone in a bubble together. She pulled his hand over to her face and smelled, "Ale, parchment, oak...lilacs in the second bloom." Her voice was hardly more than a whisper. "Nestor just called me 'Tink.' He's the only one who calls me 'Tink.' You called me Tinka."

"Because when he called for you today in the forest. That's what he yelled."

She squeezed his hand a little and felt him squeeze her back. "Because yours was the scent I chased to the lilacs." She stroked her thumb against the back of his hand. "There are so many people, drinks, and foods in here, I couldn't tell it was you."

"I can't say I blame you. It's a...stew of smells in here."

Tinka smiled. "You have quite the choice way with words."

"It happens when you work for the government."

"Would you tell me more about it," Tinka asked.

An elf bumped passed Noah and they looked around and realized how full the tavern had become. Their bubble was gone. The doctor had been awakened by a dwarf and was being pressured to leave the booth. "If we get the doctor some fresh air, then to his home, I'll tell you whatever you want to know." They pulled some coins out of their pockets and paid their tabs. "Doctor Sapersteino. Let's go for a walk."

"A walk?!" The doctor made a flying leap out of the booth and bounded to Noah's side. "I would like that Noah. I would like that very much."

Tinka could smell the wine on his breath and could see the stains of it on his upper lip, teeth, and tongue. "Dr. Sapersteino, this is Tinka, she's going to walk with us."

"As long as there are walkies, I am a happy man." He looked to Noah. "She's pretty. I like her."

"I can't tell if your friend has great taste or terrible taste," Tinka said. "And he's a doctor?" She began to stand and the doctor began to tumble, they caught him on either side of him.

"Jonathan is a PHD, not an MD. He works for the Count too."

"I'm a good doctor. Everyone says so. And so handsome. Ladies love me," Dr. Sapersteino said.

They hauled him outside of the Hollow Hill Tavern. "He seems humble."

"He's actually a great friend. Keeps the Count in line. The Doctor bit him a couple times. Can't say he didn't deserve it."

Dr. Sapersteino took a deep breath of the evening air and stood up straight. "I feel great." The doctor wrangled out of their grip and took off down the street. "I'm going home!"

"Wow, he's fast," Tinka said, watching him disappear from sight around a corner.

"Yeah. He can almost keep up with me when I'm in my skin. You think you can keep up with me?" Noah looked Tinka up and down. Outside in the evening air, away from other people she could smell his intentions and she knew he could smell hers. Before she could respond, Noah took off running and laughing to the city gates and Tinka ran after him.

It was mid-day the next day when Tinka strolled into the Hollow Hill Tavern. She spotted Nestor sitting at the bar eating a meal. She walked in and sat down on the stool beside him. She glanced over at the dazed smile on his face as he chewed his sandwich. He put his hand out to her, Tinka took it, and shook it with the same smile on her face.

"Your surcoat is covered in cat hair," Tinka said.

"Fireside slept on it. You have lilac blossoms in your hair," Nestor said.

"I slept on lilac blossoms."

"The man I hugged?"

"The buck-selkie you hugged is an intelligence manager for the Count."

"You bucked an I.T. Man'?" He teased.

"You hammered Marie's garden?" She teased back.

Nestor and Tinka looked at each other. "You gotta be cruel to be kind," Nestor said.

"In the right measure, brother." Tinka called to Thomas at the other end of the bar. "You got any fresh cats cooking today?"

Nestor coughed on his sandwich and opened it to check the meat inside.

"Oh relax Nestor. Based on the smell of your surcoat, the sandwich, and the kitchen; Fireside is alive and well, your sandwich is pork, and there isn't any cat cooking."

He chased his cough with his ale. "Oh good."

"Besides. We already established: I'm willing to eat cats, not pussy. You're the opposite."

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Some weeks later...