Page 57 of Finding Her (Lore of the Fields #1)

Time dragged until Mitus waltzed through the door.

I did my best not to glower at him for leaving me high and dry this morning.

The lanky, pale gray Arielna had gotten on my nerves all last week, and this was the cherry on top.

I harbored no guilt about telling him I’d be taking my break for once. I’d earned it.

My thoughts raced as I tugged on my scarf, jacket, and gloves and hurried out the door.

I considered every implication of what this simple friendship could mean for my development as a person—something to brag to Graysen about later.

I wondered if he had met Cassius already during his shifts.

Theo had so far avoided scheduling Graysen and I together, murmuring something about not needing his patrons afraid to look in his staff’s direction.

Admittedly the catcalling could be obnoxious, and I suspected Graysen would have a low tolerance for it.

Due to the forced separation, I hardly knew who Graysen had established rapport with.

He seldom talked about his shifts, instead opting to teach me about Trebianna or listen to me drone on about whatever crossed my mind.

Snow flurries started falling from the sky.

The daytime stars hadn’t fully set, but were making their descent over the horizon.

The buildings and trees cast long shadows along the white landscape.

I saw the outline of a long, single-story building in the distance, a small pond just outside of its walls.

Based on the map Cassius drew for me, that was the schoolhouse.

Lights turned off one by one in the windows as the last of the construction team packed up their belongings.

Cassius waited at the bottom of the hill, waving boisterously in my direction and pointing to the skates sitting beside him.

With all his plasma markings covered in warm layers, and his black tongue and reptilian ear holes too small to make out from a distance, he looked incredibly human.

I made my way down a set of stone stairs quickly, holding the metal railing for support.

“You made it,” Cassius cheered, bending over to pick up two pairs of skates. “My sister lent me a couple of her old pairs for you to try.”

“Thanks.” I took both. “I didn’t realize you had a sister.”

“She’s sixteen, but pretty independent for her age,” he remarked, sitting on the edge of the ice to lace himself up. “I’m just keeping food in her stomach and a roof over her head until she can support herself.”

“Your folks?” The first pair of skates was too large, onto the second.

“Not cut out for parenthood,” he remarked casually, seeming content to leave that topic open-ended for now.

Thankfully, the other pair would work with the laces pulled tight.

I double knotted my bows and planted my palms into the snow, debating the best way to stand now that my feet were tottering on blades.

Rolling onto my hands and knees seemed like the only way.

I took a deep breath, and prepared to rock my body over.

“Allow me.” Cassius saved me the humiliation, standing with ease and holding out an arm.

“Thanks,” I blushed, grabbing on and yanking myself onto precarious feet.

I shuffled like a child learning how to walk, gripping his elbow like my life depended on it.

And it might. Within moments, I decided this was not fun at all and wondered why anybody bothered with it.

At least it was allowing me to try something new and form a connection, and that would be enough of a win…

as long as I left without mortal injury.

“It’s a quick learning curve,” Cassius assured brightly. “You’ll get the hang of it, I promise.”

“How are you so sturdy?” I laughed uncertainly, impressed I hadn’t pulled us both down with my newborn fawn legs.

“Just practice.” He used his free hand to pat my knuckles in affirmation.

His cheerfulness did wonders for relaxing me.

Although my movements gained no grace, we were cackling within minutes.

He pulled from my grip, and I glided with both feet firmly planted before he caught my arm again, praising me excessively for the progress.

Did he teach his little sister to ice skate too?

He had a knack for being patient, I understood why his dream job was teaching.

During my next attempt at autonomy, I managed to push myself a couple of steps forward before my knees buckled in on themselves and I fell onto my hands with a distinct “ thud ”.

“Shit,” I laughed in exasperation. “That hurt. Sorry.”

He chuckled. “Why are you apologizing? You’re doing great! I didn’t invite a novice out here expecting anything other than good vibes.”

Having been so focused on keeping my balance, I hadn’t noticed the shift from daytime starlight to the illumination of the nighttime galaxy reflecting off the crystal white snow.

The last worker disappeared in the distance from the lamp post he’d been working on.

It gleamed beside the large silver bell set in a brick arch that matched the school.

At least it did gleam, until unexpectedly turning off and hurling us into the evening darkness.

“Did the light bulb blow already?”

“What?” Cassius turned his head to look at the post I was staring at. “No, it would just be a waste of energy to leave on overnight if nobody is around. Electricity is pricey these days since it’s in such limited supply. Do you want me to get a lantern for us?”

“Actually, I think I need to get back to work,” I grimaced, realizing I hadn’t once considered a means of checking the time.

“Trust me, it’s going to stay dead all night,” he assured, making his way back to the perimeter where his bag rested. “Another pub down the street opened today, everyone will be there.”

I awkwardly shuffled to follow in his direction, fingers spread and ready to catch myself if I lost balance again. “Still, it’s not fair to Mitus.” I all but groaned at the irony of my words. “I’m having a lot of fun, though, and would love to do this again sometime.”

Cassius dug through his bag ahead of me, not noticing, or not caring about, my struggle to join him.

“Based on what I know about Mitus, you’re owed a bit of leeway.”

The dark was disorienting as I moved in his direction. Unsurprisingly, my feet slipped out from under me, and I fell back onto the ice. Ow . Cassius didn’t flinch, continuing to sort through deep pockets and setting objects I could faintly see into the snow beside himself.

“Cassius, can you help me up?” I asked, a little surprised he hadn’t acknowledged my fall and hurried over. Maybe Graysen had spoiled me, if that was the treatment I expected. “Cassius?”

“I thought I heard voices down there!” I looked up, and saw a large figure was making its way down the steps towards us, holding something halfway between a lantern and a flashlight. “Is that you, Faeryn?”

Recognition sparked when he said my name. There stood Ragen, Mykie’s coworker and host of the weekly card games.

“Hi, Ragen!” I greeted, feeling a little proud to show off my accomplishment of “ having multiple friends ” in front of each of them. That was quite the achievement for somebody who was adapting to an entirely different society from their homeland, not that they knew that.

“Isn’t it a little late for ice skating?” he teased with a raised eyebrow, heavy feet stomping their way across crunching snow.

“I was actually just leaving.”

“I can walk you back to work,” Cassius offered, zipping up his bag.

“I pass the pub on the way to Mykie’s place. I’d be happy to join. Just finished up my shift!” Ragen announced.

“That sounds great.” I looked at Cassius. “Is it the same direction you’re heading?”

He smiled politely. “It isn’t. You two go ahead, I have some stuff I can finish up in the school while I’m down here. Gotta earn that dream office.” He winked.

“Sure.” I replaced my skates with my boots quickly, my feet relaxing into the familiar shoe. “This was fun! Let’s do it again sometime,” I offered before we parted ways. Cassius walked towards the school, and Ragen and I were on our way.

“Who was that?” Ragen asked as we ascended the lengthy staircase.

“His name is Cassius. He’s a friend I made at work.” I was practically beaming with pride. What a fulfilling thing to be able to say. It sounded so incredibly normal . “You’re heading to Mykie’s house?”

“Yeah, I thought I’d stop by and say hi.” His words puffed out a thick fog of breath.

“Are you working on the school? I thought you did security?”

“Security for the school.” He shoved all four hands into deep pockets. “A lot of expensive materials go into creating something like that.”

Fair enough . “Does Mykie do security here too?”

“It’s not her main assignment,” he answered vaguely. “I suppose it’s not mine either. But I’m glad to run into you. Small world.”

I allowed myself the curiosity of staring up at Ragen for a moment, he had a roughness to him that reminded me of Theo.

His body was smattered with long-healed injuries, his facial hair clearly hiding some significant scarring on his face.

Come to think about it, everybody in Mykie’s group was pretty beat up.

I excused it as being a norm on Trebianna, primal interactions and all.

Even working as a bartender, Graysen had lost a chunk of his ear to a local.

Security here had to be pretty dangerous.

“What are you thinking about?” Ragen interrupted my musings. I nearly jumped, and hoped I hadn’t been staring.

“Nothing important. Do you and Mykie spend a lot of time together?” I deflected to an equally precarious topic. From physical scars to emotional ones.

“Not as much as I’d like, but as you know she’s a busy lady.” He shrugged casually.

I considered saying that I didn’t know because Mykie disliked discussing her career, but I moved on. “How long have you known each other?”

Ragen looked up to the sky, considering. “Since we were young teens. She’s been my girl for well over a decade.” He hummed. “Well, I guess I shouldn’t say that. I don’t think that female needs anybody trying to claim her.”

“How did you meet?” I was dying for more information. Did Graysen even know about their brief relationship?

“We went to school together.” He gazed at the increasingly overcast night sky. “She’s educated, you know. She was the top of our class. I always respected that about her. She actually used to tutor me.”

I tried to picture Mykie as a studious young academic.

Not easy, considering that my memories of her included a lot of drinking and battling her inner demons.

Something had gone wrong to take her from precocious to haunted, and I wondered if that was part of what connected her and Graysen.

Maybe they both felt like life had derailed.

“She wasn’t always like this,” he continued unprompted. “I’ve begged her to take it easy.”

“When did she get like this?” I asked gently.

“Some things just started taking a toll on her.” He seemed to be intentionally vague. “It was better for a while. It’s gotten worse recently.”

“How recently?” I pried, a pit forming in my stomach as I realized that I might know the answer. Graysen said her house fell to ruin since he checked on her last. When had he stopped dropping by? Probably once he had someone else to take care of. Me.

“Who knows?” Ragen said noncommittally.

You. You know. I could see it in his face. He maintained that neutral-leaning-positive expression, but his eyes had lost their shine. He knew exactly when she had begun relapsing. Did he know enough about me to connect the timelines?

I had effectively brought the conversation to a screeching halt.

Ragen’s silence was about as comfortable as a “ shouldn’t have said that ” regretful muteness could be.

After some time, he began softly humming.

His smooth rumble was soothing, and I couldn’t help but interpret it as intentional. Was he trying to ease my tension?

We reached the bar, which was visibly empty through the windows, just as Cassius predicted. “Thanks for walking with me.” Sorry I made it weird.

“It’s no problem. You’re good company,” he grinned genuinely. “Have a good night, and I’ll see you at cards in a few days.” He waved with an upper hand before turning on his heels and strolling into the empty streets.