The Curse of Arcadia

Why did I say that.

Ana kept her eyes fixed on the stars, grateful for the dark, because she was fairly sure her face was doing something embarrassing right now and the last thing she needed was Kaelid actually seeing it.

"I'm glad it was you." What was that. What was that supposed to even mean, said like that, in that voice—

She replayed it once, twice, cringing a little more each time. It wasn't untrue. That was the worst part. She was glad. She just hadn't meant to say it quite so plainly, quite so much like something a person says when they've stopped bothering to hide what they actually feel.

Beside her, Kaelid hadn't said anything else. Just held her gaze a beat too long before turning back to the sky, which somehow made it worse — like he'd heard exactly what she meant and decided, generously, not to make her sit with the consequences of it out loud.

Get it together, Ana.

She forced her attention back to the stars, tracing a constellation out of habit more than genuine interest, trying to let the familiar shape of it settle her the way it always used to. It wasn't working tonight. Nothing about tonight was working the way it usually did — the bridge, the shop, the slow unraveling of a city she'd thought she'd made peace with leaving behind.

This was supposed to be about Raichas. About figuring out how I feel being back here. Not about—

She didn't finish the thought. Some things were safer left unfinished, even in the privacy of her own head.

"I wouldn't have come here with anyone else." God, why had she added that part. As if the first sentence hadn't already said enough.

She glanced sideways, just for a second, checking whether he'd actually let it go the way his silence suggested. He was still looking up, expression unreadable in the dark, but there was something in the set of his shoulders — relaxed, easy, none of the awkward stiffness she half expected if he'd taken the comment the way she was suddenly terrified he had.

Maybe he didn't notice. Maybe it landed the way I meant it to. Just — gratitude. Friendship. Nothing more than that.

She almost believed it. Almost.

Then why does my heart feel like it's doing something it has no business doing right now.

The grass was cool beneath her, the night quiet the way only real distance from a city could manage, and Ana lay there turning the whole evening over in her head — the walk up the hill, the stars, the strange, unwelcome clarity of finally saying something true out loud instead of just carrying it around unspoken.

I need to be more careful, she thought, watching a star drift lazily across her vision, or maybe that was just her eyes losing focus from staring too long. Careful about what I say. Careful about what I let myself feel, out here where nobody's watching but him.

She wasn't sure, lying there under a sky full of more stars than she'd seen in months, whether that resolution was going to hold for very long at all.

They lay there a while longer, neither of them in any hurry to break the quiet, before Ana finally sat up, brushing grass from her sleeves with more focus than the task probably required.

"We should head back," she said. "Long day tomorrow, probably, whatever we end up doing."

"Yeah." Kaelid pushed himself up too, still turning her words over in his head — I'm glad it was you. Tonight, I mean. I wouldn't have come here with anyone else — words he hadn't let himself react to out loud, mostly because he wasn't sure what that would mean.

They walked back toward the city in comfortable quiet, the hill giving way to farmland, farmland giving way to the first scattered lanterns marking Raichas's eastern edge. Ana seemed lighter somehow, whatever weight she'd been carrying since the gates finally loosened enough to let her walk normally instead of like she was bracing for something.

Good, he thought, glancing at her profile in the dim light. Glad I could help with that, at least.

He kept circling back to the way she'd said it — not performed, not offered lightly the way she sometimes deflected with humor when things got too close to real. Just plain. Honest. The kind of thing you only say when you've stopped thinking carefully about what you're about to say.

She meant that.

He let it sit there, unresolved, keeping pace with her back toward the inn.

This story has been stolen from NovelPhoenix. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

They reached the inn a few minutes later, the common room mostly empty at this hour, just a lone lantern still burning near the stairs. Ana paused at the base of them, glancing back at him.

"Thanks," she said again, quieter this time. "For tonight. It was fun."

"I feel the same." He paused, voice dropping before he could think better of it. "We should do it again."

She smiled, already turning for the stairs — one foot on the first step when he spoke again, quieter this time.

"Sleep well, Anastasia."

Her name, the full version of it — rarely used — caught her off guard enough to show. A faint flush rose before she could stop it, visible even in the low lantern light.

"I—" She recovered quickly, or tried to, though the color hadn't fully left her face yet. "Goodnight, Kaelid."

She turned and headed up the stairs a little faster than necessary, and Kaelid stood there a moment longer at the bottom, replaying the sound of his own voice saying her full name, wondering what exactly had made him reach for it in the first place.

Anastasia. He turned the name over once more. Suits her. Her whole name, not just the short version.

He lingered there a while longer before finally heading up himself, something unresolved still sitting comfortably in his chest, the kind of feeling he suspected he'd be carrying with him a lot longer than just tonight.

Morning came slower than usual, nobody in any particular rush given the four unstructured days ahead of them. Kaelid woke to sunlight already well into the room, later than he'd managed in weeks, and took his time getting downstairs.

He found the party gathered loosely in the common room, breakfast already underway, Eric deep in conversation with the innkeeper about something that sounded suspiciously like old gossip.

"There he is," Aria said, spotting him. "Rough night? You're never usually the last one down."

"Slept well, actually." He grabbed a seat, deliberately not elaborating further, though he caught Ana's eyes flick toward him for just a second before she returned her attention to her own plate, something faintly self-conscious in the movement that he pretended not to notice.

"So what's the plan for today?" Tatsuya asked, already looking more awake than the rest of them combined, not waiting for an answer before pushing on. "I want to see the smithy. See how it compares to John's work."

"Of course you do," Eric said.

"I was thinking we could split up, actually," Ana said, glancing around the table. "Explore in smaller groups, see more of the city that way. Meet back here for dinner."

That got general agreement — Tatsuya immediately claiming he wanted to check out the local forge, Eric mentioning some old contacts he wanted to look up, Aria expressing mild interest in whatever passed for an archery supplier in a city this size.

"What about you two?" Eric asked, glancing between Kaelid and Ana.

"I still have a few places I want to show him," Ana said, easy and unbothered, though Kaelid caught the faintest hint of color still lingering at the edges of her expression from the night before. "If that's alright."

"Lead the way," Kaelid said, matching her tone, though he was already looking forward to another day with her, wandering wherever her memories decided to take them next.

The table broke apart shortly after, everyone scattering to their own version of the day ahead, and Kaelid found himself falling into step beside Ana once again as they left the inn — Raichas spread out before them in full daylight now, ready to be properly explored.

Ana led him through streets that looked entirely different in daylight — busier, warmer somehow, market stalls open and calling out prices, children weaving between adult legs on some errand or another, the whole city humming with the ordinary business of people going about their lives.

"This is the market district," she said, gesturing at the stalls around them. "Bigger than it looks from the edges. We used to come here for supplies most weeks."

"Smells incredible," Kaelid said, nose catching on something roasting a few stalls down.

"Wait until you try the meat pies. There's a stand near the fountain — if it's still there — that makes them better than anywhere else in the city." She scanned the crowd, something hopeful crossing her expression. "There. Come on."

She led him through the press of people with easy familiarity, weaving a path that clearly hadn't faded from memory despite months away, until they arrived at a small stand tucked between two larger stalls, steam rising off a tray of golden pastries.

The woman behind the counter looked up, and her whole face shifted from routine customer-service pleasantness into delighted surprise.

"Anastasia! Look at you, back in the flesh." She came around the counter fast for someone her age, pulling Ana into a hug that lifted her slightly off her feet. "I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon. Avalon didn't scare you off yet?"

"Not yet," Ana said, laughing as she was set back down. "We're passing through — escort job, believe it or not."

Marta held her at arm's length, studying her with the frank, appraising look of someone who'd always taken her wellbeing personally. "You look good. Healthy. Happy, even, which is more than I could say the week before you left." Her gaze slid past Ana to Kaelid, sharpening with obvious curiosity. "And who's this?"

"Kaelid. One of my party members."

"Mm-hm." Marta's eyes flicked between the two of them, something knowing tugging at the corner of her mouth. "So this is why you left."

"That's not—" Ana started, ears already going faintly pink. "He wasn't even part of the party yet when we decided to move. We met him and Aria after."

"Sure, sure." Marta clearly wasn't buying the timeline as any kind of defense. "Well. Whatever the reason, you're both getting pies. On the house, for the reunion." She was already wrapping two before either of them could protest. "And you," she added, pointing at Ana, "are telling me everything that's happened since you left, next time you're in town longer than an afternoon."

"Deal," Ana said, accepting the pie with genuine warmth, still a little pink around the ears, and a few minutes later, they continued on through the market, Kaelid wearing a grin he made no effort to hide, while Ana pointedly avoided meeting his eyes for the first several stalls.