Chapter 63
Alistar couldn’t help but laugh, not because he found anything funny, but because he was happy. Aside from Anice, he now had two friends, and he was hopeful that he would soon have many more.
"I’ll see you guys tomorrow after supper. Goodnight!"
With that, Alistar ran off and began to make his way home, first through the thick copse of trees that surrounded The Spot and across an open field, then towards the road that led into the southern district of Mayhaven. Following South Street up to the marketplace, he noticed that there were far less people around than he ever remembered, likely because he had never been out so late before. He ran home under the supervision of lingering daylight, which finally dimmed as he arrived at the eastern gate of Caedmon’s estate. Here, he was lightly chastised by Harold and Rayson, who joked that he was lucky the lord of the house had yet to return.
"We won’t say anything," assured Rayson, who was tugging at his tangled beard in an absentminded manner. "But don’t get your hopes up. You know how the women are."
"Aye, that," said Harold. "Likely, he won’t even have his coat off before they go and fill his ear about it."
"It’ll be fine," Alistar smiled. "Thank you, both. I’ll be off now!"
Once inside, he sought out Anice for a time before having the sense to focus on his magical awareness, which told him that she had already retired to her room for the night. Mrs. Dawn was in the dining hall going over some papers with an exasperated expression, Madeline and Patricia relaxing at the main table while sipping some tea. Their eyes lit up as soon as they saw him, and as expected, they both gave him an earful on the importance of returning home before sunset, to which he held back a reply that technically the sun was still setting but was simply blocked from view by the surrounding mountains.
"Yes, I’m sorry. I was just having so much fun that I lost track of time."
"Oh?" said Patricia, her dark eyes containing a happy glint. "Were you with that friend of yours?"
He nodded. "I was with Zech and Jaden. We were fishing by the river."
"And how did that go?" asked Madeline. "Did you catch any?"