The Black Shard (28 page)

Werrien opened his arms as well, and the two embraced. Even standing on the tips of her toes, her head only came up to Werrien's waist. She squeezed him so tightly that his face turned red. "So good to see you," she said again, with her eyes closed and her freckled cheeks glowing. When she finally let go of him, she turned to Kristina, who had been admiring the many brightly colored oil paintings hanging on the yellow stucco walls. "And you must be the very lovely Kristina."

"Thank you, yes, and you must be Zalya, the owner of the best restaurant in all of Ezeree," Kristina replied, returning a smile.

"I definitely am." Zalya's pointy ears beamed red. "Now, come here and let me give you a hug, girl."

Kristina embraced Zalya, and as Zalya squeezed what seemed like all the air out of her lungs, Kristina smiled curiously at Werrien.
Is she always this energetic?
Kristina wondered.

Zalya let go of Kristina and two dogs suddenly came barreling in through the entryway—a big, fat, white bulldog with black spots, and a shiny, sleek, chestnut-colored dachshund. While charging around the entryway corner, the bulldog lost his footing and slipped and fell on his side. After a bit of effort, he was back on his feet and running to catch up with the dachshund, who was already boinging up and down like a yo-yo at Werrien's feet.

"Dengi and Dozo! How are you guys?" Werrien said, bending down to pet them.

"Can you play? Can you play?" Dengi, the dachshund, said, vigorously scratching on Werrien's pant leg, like he was trying to dig a hole in them.

Dozo, the bulldog, out of breath, plopped down on his bottom at Werrien's feet and rubbed his slobbery mouth on Werrien's pants. "Did you bring treats?" Dozo asked in a voice that sounded deep and muffled.

With her hands on her hips, Zalya glared down at the dogs. "What did I tell you two?" she said with a comical frown on her face.

"To wait in the kitchen?" Dozo said, looking up at Zalya, his solicitous eyes shifting back and forth between the gnome and Kristina. With his tail between his legs, Dengi was already soundlessly slinking back to the kitchen.

"I think that you'd better get your tokus in gear as well, if you know what's good for ya!" Zalya said sternly to Dozo. Dozo gulped and licked his wrinkled jowls, then slowly waddled off behind Dengi. "All right then!" Zalya said, clapping her hands together loudly, making Kristina flinch. "Shall we go have some lunch?"

"Sounds like a plan!" Werrien said.

Zalya led the way, happily humming as she went along through her neat yet very cluttered house. As Werrien and Kristina followed the exuberant gnome, Werrien smiled warmly at Kristina. Once again, he melted the uncertainties and worries that seemed to swim continuously in her mind. Even so, there was still that little voice of opposition that never ceased to remind her, "
This friendship you have with him is only temporary, and it will soon be only a painful memory.
"

They entered the living room, where Kristina's melting pot of emotions instantly settled when her eyes scanned the four walls. They were covered in an unusual wall-to-wall climbing plant, with bright, peach-colored lilies dangling from it. Not only were the flowers beautiful, but their fragrance was utterly intoxicating. The plant's numerous vines wound around many oil paintings sporadically placed on the walls. Kristina was mesmerized by the unusual plant and its indescribable fragrance. She walked up to one of the lilies and stuck her nose in it and inhaled deeply. "What kind of a plant is this?" she asked Zalya.

Zalya tapped her purple-painted fingernail on her chin and thought deeply for a moment. Then her lively green eyes shifted to Werrien. "You know," she said to him, "that servant dwarf of yours told me the name of it when he gave it to me a couple years back." She shook her head, trying to remember. "It was just a wee bitty sprout back then." Her mouth twisted from side to side. "Hmm ... I do remember him saying that it was a rare plant and that he wanted me to take good care of it."

"Was it Elzwur who gave it to you?" Kristina asked flatly.

"Yeah, it was Elzwur," Zalya said with a smile. Kristina suddenly had no desire to hear anymore about the plant, and she was glad that the next thing Zalya said was, "If we stand around in here any longer, the food will certainly get cold."

The teens followed Zalya into her kitchen where the smell of spices lingered in the air. Kristina's stomach grumbled.

"Sounds like you have a wild beast inside you," Werrien teased her.

"And if I don't feed it soon, it'll attack all of you, including those two," Kristina whispered to Werrien, while glancing at Dengi and Dozo.

The dogs sat staring at the doorknob, like they were trying to will the door to open with their minds.

"You two head on out back, and I'll be along shortly," Zalya said to Werrien and Kristina.

As Werrien and Kristina headed for the back door, Dengi and Dozo grew very excited, panting and wiggling their rear ends.

"Going outside?" Dengi said anxiously. "Can you play?" he added, while boinging around in circles.

"Did you bring us treats?" Dozo asked Werrien again.

"You guys definitely need to learn to have patience as well as some manners," Werrien said to the dogs as he opened the door. They barreled out of the house past him and onto the meticulously manicured backyard lawn. Dengi ran as fast as his short little legs could carry him, directly to a small pond at the back of the yard, and when he reached it, he came to a jolting stop. At the top of his lungs, he began yelling at two teenage fairies who were lying on floating lily pads. The lily pads resembled air mattresses, as if they were lounging in a swimming pool.

"I told you before—get out of my yard! This is private property!" Dengi ranted.

The fairies, too far into the pond for Dengi to reach them, weren't in the least bit fazed by the brash dachshund.

"Blow it out your floppy ears," the boy fairy said. He was lying on his side with his head resting nonchalantly on his arm. The girl fairy was sitting cross-legged on her lily pad, seeming to be meditating. She opened her eyes, snickered, and blew raspberries at Dengi.

"You moths in fairy's clothing!" Dengi barked. He turned around, and dug vigorously in the ground—spraying dirt at them.

Dozo was busy sniffing under the picnic table in the back of the yard for any traces of food that might have been left from the last outdoor meal.

Werrien and Kristina headed for the picnic table as well and found it set with three fine dining plate settings. They sat down across from each other and they were very glad that the table was under a large willow tree that provided shade from the hot sun.

Outwardly, Kristina was trying her hardest to be in a good mood, but on the inside she was feeling quite the opposite. She stared down at her plate, which had a tropical fruit pattern circling its perimeter. She recognized the fruits to be the same as the ones that she and Werrien had picked for their lunch the day before on Finimus Island.

"That's a pretty nice plate, don't you agree?" Werrien said, noticing Kristina's uptight look. Werrien took hold of her hand and gently rubbed it with his thumb. His kindness helped her to relax and she looked coyly at him. "You just seemed so fascinated with the plate," he said. His eyes were staring into hers, and at the same time the corner of his mouth curved up into a smile.

Is he teasing me or being serious?
Kristina thought. Once again his confident demeanor made her feel shy and awkward, and she quickly pulled her hand away from his. She picked up the glass of water sitting next to her plate and took a sip from it. While doing so, Dozo suddenly and abruptly jumped up on her side and began licking her arm with his slobbery tongue.

"Ow!" Kristina said, almost choking on a mouthful of water. Dozo's tongue felt rough; it stung her arm. Hastily, she pulled her arm away from him and placed it in her lap.

"He just wants to show you a little affection," Werrien said teasingly.

"I think he needs to run some sandpaper over his tongue!"

Gloomily, Dozo waddled back under the picnic table, plopped his fat body down on the cool ground, and let out a guttural moan.

"Any changes with the necklace?" Werrien asked, his expression turning somber.

I guess this is as good a time as any to tell him that the necklace is broken,
Kristina thought. She drew in a deep breath and got ready to do just that.

K
ristina gazed into Werrien's eyes. Werrien's brow wrinkled, and he smiled inquisitively, wondering why she was acting so intense. Once again, he noticed that look in her eyes—it was the same look she had had behind the waterfall when she had told him she hadn't been honest with him.

"Werrien ..." she began.

He leaned in closer to her. "Yes?" he said, smiling and seeming not be taking her too seriously.

Kristina sighed. She wished that she could play along with his carefree demeanor, and more so, she wished she could tell him her true feelings for him. But her inner voice told her,
No! You must tell him what Hester did to the necklace.
"It's about the n—" But she couldn't finish her sentence because Dozo rose to his feet and, like a possessed bulldozer, began charging at full speed toward the back door of Zalya's house, knocking over a chair at the end of the picnic table on his way.

Kristina spun around on her seat to see what Dozo was after. As the dog ran, his skin rippled over his entire body, and his jowls flapped at the sides of his face.

About halfway to the door, Dengi joined him. "Oh goodie, hah-hah!" he panted. "A race! I'll beat you there." His long, svelte body stretched out like a ballpark hotdog as he bounded across the green grass.

The back door of the house swung open and as it did so, Werrien jumped to his feet and, quick as a flash, was on the lawn, whistling loudly to the dogs. If he hadn't, they would have jumped up on Zalya, who was just stepping out of the house carrying three very hot plates. The dogs came to a skidding halt at Zalya's sandaled feet, then turned and ran in the opposite direction toward Werrien.

Kristina's mouth was agape; she was amazed at how fast Werrien had reacted to the situation. Zalya, on the other hand, wasn't even aware that she had just been saved from having hot food spilled all over her. Happily, she made her way to the picnic table, smiling at Werrien for taking time to play with her babies.

"So, you do want to play?" Dengi yelped happily to Werrien.

"How about for treats?" Dozo yowled in his deeper voice.

"How about
not
for treats, seeing that you could afford to lose some weight, Dozo. You should definitely do it for the sheer fun of it," Werrien said as he grabbed a small ball from under a shrub. He threw it across the yard, and both dogs dashed after it like missiles set on course for a target. Dengi got to it first, scooped it up in his pointy snout, and then held it high as he proudly pranced back to Werrien, with Dozo trailing at his side, hoping maybe the other dog might drop the ball.

Zalya placed the three plates on the table. They were piled high with a type of wild rice and red lentils, topped with a scrumptious-smelling sauce and grated cheese and a side of salad with raspberry vinaigrette. Then she put her hands on her wide hips, sighed, and smiled at Kristina—she could tell her guest was enjoying the fragrances of the fresh cheese and raspberry dressing. Kristina's mouth watered and her stomach grumbled, loudly enough that even Zalya heard it.

"I'm sorry that I took so long," Zalya said as she sat down beside Kristina. "I had an unexpected visitor come to my door." Zalya leaned back on her chair to peer at Werrien, who was still playing with the dogs on the lawn. "You should come now and eat, before it gets cold," she called to him.

"Go ahead and start without me. I'm just going in to wash my hands," Werrien said as he headed for the house. When he reached to back porch, he turned suddenly and threw the ball one last time toward the back of the yard. Again the dogs charged after it, and again Dengi beat Dozo to it.

"It was Elzwur at my door," Zalya said as Kristina scooped some of her food onto her fork.

Kristina hesitated, her fork in hand. "Oh?" she said, and then put her fork in her mouth. The taste of the food was spicy, yet indescribably delicious, and she momentarily forgot about Elzwur.
Why can't food at home taste this good? And another thing—spice, lentils, and wild rice! At home, I'd most likely gag on food like this.

Zalya began eating as well, chewing loudly with her mouth open, the same way Leacha did when she ate.
Must be a gnome trait,
Kristina figured.

"He's always been an uptight dwarf, that Elzwur. It's like he's got a prickly pear stuck up his ... " Zalya paused briefly, looking wide-eyed at Kristina and then went on, "Well, I'm sure you can just imagine where he might have it stuck." Kristina snickered, nodding her head in agreement. "Anyhow, this time when he stopped by, he was worse than I've ever seen him, pacing back and forth in front of my door and sweating profusely.