Tale of Four

Looking around at the people walking past, Alice looked down at her and Chesh’s robes and shook her head. Grabbing Chesh’s hand, she dragged her down an alleyway. Out of sight, she ran a hand down her robes, reshaping them. What was once dirty green cotton robes changed to become a cotton green dress. Unlike the rest of the people in Lasting Feast, hers was frilly. Touching her forehead, Alice frowned, realising that she didn’t have an ornate headpiece nor the materials to make one.

”It’s fine,” Chesh said softly and clapped her hands, and her black robes changed. In place of the plain cotton, a sleek gown replaced it, cut at the shoulders. It was black, looking to be made of the finest silk that could be woven, and when catching the light, had a metallic purple gleam that didn’t make sense. Along the right side, a red pattern ran around her stomach and back: red flowers with green trimming.

Looking down at herself, Alice sighed, realising how much better Chesh looked in her dress compared to her, unsure why there was such a difference. They did the same thing, just reshaping the material to suit their desire. But unlike her, Chesh seemed to have also been able to change the material her dress was made of, whereas Alice was stuck with what she had. It was a feat that should have been impossible, needing a person to change the cotton robe into something else using just the cotton.

A warm hand grabbed her chin and lifted it back up, and with a chuckle, she grabbed Alice’s hand and dragged her away, following the scent of food, trying to discern it from the feast on the senses to find the best smell.

”We should get a headpiece first, Chesh,” Alice said, feeling jealous that everyone else could wear one but her. Nodding, Chesh looked around and pulled Alice towards a building that was clearly a blacksmith and threw the door open.

”HELLO!” Alice shouted, looking at the large man sitting before a table, measuring out metal, cutting a small marker occasionally. Looking up, he grabbed a dirty rag from the side and wiped his large, calloused hands before cleaning his face of the numerous stains on it, failing to remove most of them.

”Your dress is wrong.” The man said, not to be insulting but as a matter of observation. ”It’s too frilly.” Shrugging, he looked back at the metal. ”But I guess you probably don’t know. What brings you from the south anyway? I doubt our festival is that famous.”

”You know I’m from the south?” Alice tilted her head, making the man burst into laughter.

”Girl, you look nothing like me or the others of this land. For one, you have vibrant hair and eyes, and your skin is darker than mine, even if it looks like you don’t go outside much.” The blacksmith shrugged. ”Don’t worry too much about the dress; no one will really care.” Making another mark on the metal, he turned to look back at Alice. ”You want a headpiece, I assume?”

”Yeah.” With a nod, the man got up and pulled open a drawer.

”I can’t give you anything fancy; I’m not a jeweller.” Rummaging around, the man pulled out a thin chain of metal and held it up. It was basic, lacking the jewel in the centre that the other had. ”This was a failed one, but it should be fine if you want it. I was going to melt it down eventually, but you can have it if you want. It would give much back anyway.”

Alice nodded, and the man got up, walking over to Alice. Placing the chains atop her head, he slipped the segments under both her ears before straightening the segment over her eyes. ”Wait.” Walking off, he came back a few seconds later holding a small mirror. Handing it to Alcie, she stared at herself and smiled brightly. The chain, much like he said, was plain, lacking any of the fanciness others had and had a noticeable missing segment at the centre of her forehead where a gem should have been.

But beyond that, she felt the chains suited her slightly, wrapping down her cheek under her eyes, before following the outline of her nose to connect at the centre of her forehead, creating a small circle pattern with nothing inside. Extending acorss her head, around the ears, the chain finally sat atop her head, over her red hair, mixing with it.

”Thank you.” The blacksmith opened his mouth but closed it and sighed, shrugging and shooing Alice off, sitting back at his table to work. Stepping out, Alice took a deep sniff of the air.

”You’re really pretty,” Chesh said with a kind voice. Looking towards her, she had found a chain for herself to wear, but unlike Alice’s own, it looked to be crafted solely for her; anyone else wearing it would only ruin it. The chains were white, adding a touch of colour to her black and purple hair; each chain had a small carving in it that created depth along its entire length. Unlike everyone else, who only connected to a single gem at the centre of the forehead, Chesh’s didn’t extend so low; instead, they connected to a large gem at the bottom of her head, a white gem better than any diamond. From it, a smaller chain connected to two smaller gems underneath, one black and purple like her, the other a red gem like Alice’s hair.

”Wow.” The words escaped Alice’s lips before she even realised, and circling Chesh, she couldn’t help but touch her own head and sadly lower her head. ”Why is yours so much better?”

Looking up, Chesh smiled and flicked her forehead, shaking her head. ”You’re being stupid, Alice. I have to do so much to look like this, while you need to do nothing and are already pretty.” Grabbing Alice’s hand, she turned and began to run, dragging Alice behind her. ”Come, it smells really good this way.”

Laughing, Alice happily followed, incited by a smell that cut through the assault on the senses. The crowd broke apart to let her through, seeing she wouldn’t come to a stop for them and in a minute they arrived at a small stand, selling large skewers filled with three different meats and vegetables. The meats were blue in colour, only discernible by the different shades they were, whilst the vegetables were a mix of three different ones: red, yellow and green in colour.

Staring at the man running the stand, Alice reached out to the man, who handed her one with a kind smile. ”Don’t eat it all at once. Start from the top and work down.” With the way to eat it, Alice started at the top, the blue meat melting in her mouth, filling it with a mixture of blood and herbs, combining into one. It was an incredibly overwhelming but tasty experience, and biting into the vegetable underneath, she understood why the order mattered.

Despite being cooked, the vegetable released cold liquid that was like a refreshing beverage that cleared the mouth, making someone wish to eat more; the taste was sweet, but not so sweet that it ruined the taste of the meat before. Moaning in delight and resisting the urge to greedily devour it and have more, she took her time, savouring each bite, looking at Chesh as she did the same, the two sharing wide grins.

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”Magi.” Hearing no rpely once again, Randolf sighed and threw the door open. Freezing, seeing an empty room and an open window. ”fuck.” Stepping in and looking through any hiding spot he could see, hoping it was a joke Alice was playing, he ran a hand over his face, realising she had run off.

”ELVA!” Crying out, he heard the hurried footsteps from the corridor before they came to a halt, followed by a sharp breath. ”She’s gone.” Running towards the window, Elva looked out, hoping she could see Alice, but she couldn’t.

”God, I hate that girl,” Leva said, her hand tightening around the window seal. A deep growl mixed with the sound of glass shattering escaped her throat as she spun. ”We need to go now. She could be anywhere, Randolf.”

Staring out the window, Randolf narrowed his eyes. ”I don’t think she left the settlement.”

”You don’t know that,” Elva said in panic, but Randolf shook his head.

”I noticed on our travels. The only thing that is normal about him is he loves food. She always wants to eat more than she is allowed. It’s not out of hunger either, just a love of taste.” Looking at Elva, he sighed, ”Think about the smells when we arrived. Do you think a foodie could ignore it?”

With a twitching lip, Elva clicked her tongue and wlaked off, ”You better be right.” Her voice echoed down the hall, and Randolf followed behind. ”We better tell Lord Halls, however.”

”Of course. I had already planned to.”