9 A Walk Around Town

Elya looked down at Nikolai's hand with a puzzled expression. She was still a little stunned that he would dash off like that and in the moment had been pulled along. With her abilities, she was able to move around obstacles without having to see them, sensing them in her mind, so the mad dash didn't bother her physically but the casual contact and the ease with which he'd moved came as a surprise.

Not the contact itself, but the exuberance the Count showed in taking her along. It was like a child about to share his toys with a friend. A strange feeling, to be coming from her fiancée, but at least he had divested some of his shyness.

"Niki, stop!" The soldier called from behind them, making her fiancée skitter to a halt, almost crashing into Elya, but she was well trained and slid around him in a practised movement.

"What's wrong Andrei?" he looked puzzled, waiting in front of the manor.

"Are you going out dressed like that?" the soldier asked, gesturing at the Count's attire.

Nikolai inspected his clothing and blushed at the gaudiness of it all. Calling a guard over he removed everything except for his robes and with a relieved smile he looked at her.

"Right, I think now we can go and get some volha-borsht."

"Is that really the first thing you should do with your fiancée?" The soldier let out a long-suffering sigh, it looked like this was normal behaviour for the Count. Elya exchanged a knowing look with Alexis at the interplay, there was a relaxed atmosphere between the two that implied a long association.

Picking up on Elya's signal Alexis cleared her throat to catch their attention and introduced herself. Nikolai nodded and the soldier who had been chastising him turned out to be Captain Chen Andreivich, a name she had heard of before. While not as famous as the Count, Elya knew that the Captain was one of the first commoners to rise to the rank in the Imperial Legions, taking command of a Division of infantry directly under the Emperor.

"I'm surprised by your presence." Elya said once they were acquainted and before the men could go back to their conversation.

"Andrei's on leave to help me with some of my experiments." Nikolai interjected. "But we can talk about that later." He was hopping in place, looking restless. "What should I have done then if not take her for volha-borsht?"

"Talk to her, Niki. Even now you're talking about her while the Lady's standing there." Chen looked away from them, embarrassed by his friend and Elya couldn't help but grin at the dumb expression on Nikolai's face.

"Uh, so Elya. What would you like to do?" he asked blushing a little at her grin.

"Anything you'd like Nikolai. I'm new here after all." She replied softly. He was surprisingly erratic, shifting moods so often.

"See Andrei, I was right." He declared proudly and led them into the main street.

Now that crowds weren't lining up to gaze at the bridal convoy, she could observe the town properly. They passed a small empty fountain, and Nikolai explained.

"We're doing some repair work to the channels underground, so we had to shut off the supply. It's actually quite pleasant to sit here in the evening." Catching sight of something he swerved and headed in a different direction. Elya had been caught by surprise, but the way Chen smoothly shadowed him meant that this was something Nikolai had done a lot.

"Here try some of this!" he called from a vendor, holding out a few skewers of some indeterminate meat.

The meat glistened with grease and Elya wanted to decline but seeing his sparkling eyes she took a small bite.

It was delicious.

In short order she'd gobbled it all down and peered at her empty skewer, contemplating if it would be unseemly to lick the juice off. Alexis had no such compunctions and had stuffed the little bamboo skewer into her mouth.

"You're not going to finish it?" Nikolai asked. He didn't seem too bothered, so she gave in to temptation and wiped the skewer clean. "Good right?" he grinned, satisfied with the snack.

"Very. What is it?" she slipped the skewer inside her bracer. A small memento of the first meal her fiancée treated her to.

"Who knows? It's part of the charm of this place. Isn't that right old man?"

"Milord jests, but I do indeed take great pains to ensure that my products are the finest." The old man bowed gracefully like they were in the Emperors palace and not on the streets of a small town.

"Why are you talking like that?" Nikolai gaped at the man, confused.

"Milord I doth protest thy accusations, verily I speaketh in the finest of tongues." Elya had heard many scholars in the past and this old man reminded her of them, but she was sure that there was something wrong with that sentence.

"Doth? Look, just tell me how much it is today." Nikolai eyed the man askance.

"One silver for each skewer you ate." The man dropped his affected speech once money came into play. "Here's a free one for each of the Ladies."

"Hey, you never give me anything free." The Count complained.

"When you're a beautiful woman, then I'll give you extra." That made Elya giggle in delight, but she tried to rein it in, she hated how she sounded when she giggled. It was like she was a brainless girl. Her efforts didn't succeed since the old man waggled his eyebrows at them, which broke all her restraint.

Grumbling Nikolai led them away, glancing at Elya chuckling and munching on her free food.

They ambled around town and Elya listened with rapt attention to Nikolai's anecdotes and descriptions of the various landmarks. Like a conductor would wave his empty skewer at them as he spoke. Occasionally Nikolai would be distracted and take them to a stall or hawker for a chat or quick purchase and that was how Elya found herself burdened with a strange assortment of trinkets. It was a fascinating glimpse into Konstanz, everyone seemed to recognise the Count, not coming to bother him, but once he approached, they were happy to strike up a conversation.

Chen cleared his throat and gestured meaningfully in her direction and Nikolai stuttered for a moment.

"Umm… so what kind of food do you like?" it looked like he wanted to learn more about her. After being prompted to ask of course.

"I'm not particularly picky. You?" She caught Chen gaping at the question. It seemed the Count had very little experience in talking with women, and she wasn't normal for a woman either.

"Pretty much anything with meat. Do you like eggs?"

"I guess I do." Why was he so fixated on food? Nikolai nodded as if he'd learned something important.

"Do you like magic?"

"I don't have much exposure to it."

"How about cooking?"

"Not really."

"History?" He was looking a little desperate.

"Yes, I enjoy reading about history." It was one of the few ways she was able to relax on her own. Unfortunately, historians were a dull, dry bunch that rarely came out from their libraries, so she had little interaction with people on the subject.

"Have you read Lubachek's treatise on the Reclamation?" Nikolai was excited all of a sudden, eyes sparkling as he moved closer.

"His arguments are intriguing, but the evidence was lacking." She responded, digging through her memories for the obscure reference.

"Well, if you check…"

What followed was an in-depth discussion on the Reclamation and Elya found herself relaxing around him. He didn't seem so scary after all, an excitable young man who wore his heart on his sleeve.

Their conversation was forced to a halt when they reached their destination, a small inn near the main gate that was filled with people.

Elya looked up and caught a glimpse of the signboard.

'Dragon King' was emblazoned on it, glowing and sparkling in a way that implied magic was at play.

"I made that." Nikolai declared proudly and led them in.