The Black Shard (29 page)

Kristina's brow rose, and she looked curiously at Zalya. "Why do you think he was so stressed out?"

"Not sure," Zalya said, stuffing her mouth with salad. Then, chewing wildly, she continued, "I told him you two were here, but he didn't want to come in."

Good!
Kristina thought.

"All he wanted was a drink of iced tea. He usually stops by my restaurant and has one there, but since I took a day off today, he came here instead. Personally ..." She grinned and then whispered loudly, "I think that he's got a mad crush on me."

Kristina exploded in laughter, but it didn't come out as a laugh, because she simultaneously sucked a lentil down her throat and ended up coughing instead.

"Dear girl," Zalya said, looking concerned and rubbing Kristina's back to soothe her cough. "I realize that you're very hungry, but you might want to eat just a tad bit slower so you don't choke on your food and keel over before Werrien even has a chance to join us."

Kristina was glad that she had coughed instead of laughed.
How rude would that have been?
But she just couldn't help herself when she pictured the ever-so-prudish dwarf, Elzwur, flirting with the unrefined, carefree, flamboyant, gnome, Zalya.
Is it even right for the two different species to consider each other in that way? Though I must admit, there have been stranger situations—Hester and Heerzek, or even more weird, Davina and Sepel.
"Did you ask him what was the matter?"

"I did." Zalya sucked out the raspberry vinaigrette salad dressing that had welled inside of her purple fingernails.

I wonder if all gnomes have such poor dining etiquette?
Kristina thought, but she smiled and waited patiently for Zalya to reply.

"All he said, was that he lost something of great importance. I asked him what it was, but he said that he didn't have time to explain and that he needed to get back to the ship and search for it there again."

Kristina's stomach cramped up, for she now knew full well the reason for Elzwur's anguish.
That strange object in my pocket!
She ran her hand over the outside of her jean's front pocket and felt its shape.
It's safe,
she thought.
It won't hurt him to wait a little longer for it. I'll just put it back where I found it when I return to the ship; And besides, this will be my payback for how nasty he has been to me this whole trip.

Werrien approached the table. Kristina smiled at him, but he didn't smile back. "I see how it is," he said, his eyes narrowing as he sat down in the chair across from her and Zalya. "You would start without me," he added, staring abrasively at Kristina.

Kristina's eyes widened and her mouth fell open. She let go of her fork and it dropped into her food.

Chewing away, Zalya only shook her head and chortled softly. Then she gently elbowed Kristina. "One thing you still have to learn about this boy," she said, "he likes to get one's goat."

A roguish smile formed on Werrien's lips.

"What's so funny?" Kristina said, feeling a tad bit annoyed with his weirdness.

"I don't know. I just figured I'd spice things up a bit," Werrien said, digging his fork into his food. He took a bite. "
Whoa!
Actually, Zalya, this food is very spicy."

"Aw, come on," Zalya said brashly. "Last time you had it, you said it was your favorite. Now it's too spicy for ya! Make up your mind, boy!"

"No, no. It still my favorite," Werrien said cautiously. "It's just got a whole lot of zing to it." Zalya gave him a playful, evil eye, and he added, "And just how I like it."

It was obvious to Kristina why Werrien was so fond of Zalya. He could be himself around her—he could cut loose, and she was just as much of a jokester as he was.

As the lunch went on, the three of them did a whole lot of joking and laughing. Kristina laughed so hard that her sides began to ache. She even got up the courage to fling a lentil or two from her fork at Werrien, though he was quick enough to duck out of the way before they hit him.

Everyone had ate their fill, and Zalya, who was feeling very satisfied, leaned back in her chair to relax. Suddenly, she saw Dengi, prancing across the lawn toward the picnic table with something dangling out of his mouth.

Zalya leaped from her chair, seeming frantic. "Dengi!" she cried. "Put him back in the pond this instant!"

Werrien and Kristina quickly stood up to see what Dengi had captured. Kristina's hand flew to her mouth as she gasped—the boy fairy that had been in the pond earlier was lying face-up in Dengi's snout. His tiny hands were yanking at the dachshund's whiskers, and his feet, coming out under the dog's jowl, stretched Dengi's muzzle as far as his tippy-toes could possibly push it.

They quickly realized that the fairy probably had fallen asleep on his lily pad, and when the lily pad drifted close to the edge of the pond, Dengi took the opportunity to snatch the fairy up, and then pranced over to show Werrien his fine catch. When Zalya yelled, however, Dengi's ego was quickly deflated. He stopped suddenly, turned around, and with his tail between his little legs, he slinked back to the pound. Then, very gently, he dropped the fairy—not on his lily pad but directly into the pond. Infuriated, the fairy swam back to his lily pad, kicking the water up at Dengi as he went along.

Fearing that the fairy might have been hurt by her unruly dog, Zalya hurried to the pond, but before she reached it, the fairies were flying away. Zalya let out a sigh of relief. Werrien and Kristina quickly joined her.

"At least his wings aren't maimed," Zalya said.

"See? I knew not to bite into him," Dengi said, happily staring up at his master and wagging his tail.

With her table napkin, Zalya nervously wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead. She was so angry now that her ears were fire-engine red. She glared down at Dengi. "What in the world where you thinking?" she said to him. "If that fairy decides to tell the authorities, I'll be given a large fine." Dengi's tail stopped wagging, and he went to hide behind Werrien's leg. "Don't think Werrien's going to get you off the hook. No, siree!" Zalya said, bending down and swatting him on his backside. "Now get your skinny, little hiney in that house this instant, and don't plan on coming out to play for the rest of the week!"

Dozo, who had been busy sniffing the ground for any traces of lunch that might have fallen from the picnic table, now sat watching with a somber expression on his face as his little buddy slinked back to the house.

Werrien approached Zalya and gently put his arm around her shoulder. "Zalya," he said, "I'd like to thank you for the wonderful lunch."

"Yes! Thank you, Zalya," Kristina said, walking beside them. "It was very delicious."

Zalya turned to the teens. "Oh, yes, Werrien, of course you want to get on your way with your lovely friend, but I hope you wouldn't mind coming to my restaurant, only for a few minutes. There's someone there who wants to say hello before you leave."

"Lonkin will be meeting us out front of your restaurant with the horses, so that will work," Werrien said.

As the three headed for the back door of Zalya's house, Werrien tossed a dog cookie in the air toward Dozo. The bulldog's somber face suddenly lit up with enthusiasm, and he caught the cookie in his mouth. After gobbling it down in a split-second, he said, "I knew you wouldn't forget. You never have yet. Thanks for the treat, Your Highness."

B
ack inside the house, Zalya plucked a lily from her exotic vine and brought it to Kristina. "Hold out your hand, sweetie," Zalya said. Kristina did so, and Zalya placed the lily on Kristina's palm, saying, "Now close your hand and squish it up."

Kristina looked oddly at Zalya. "But it's so beautiful," she said. "Why would I want to do that?"

"Just do it, and you'll see," Zalya said eagerly.

As Kristina closed her hand and then squished up the lily, her hand filled with an incredible smelling aroma. It was the same indescribable scent that she had smelled the first time she came into the room, but this was more intense.

"Now open it," Zalya said.

Kristina did so and saw that the poor lily had been pulverized into a peach-colored lump. "So ... you had me do this because you wanted me to see how more intense it smells when it's crushed?" Kristina asked.

Zalya kept her gaze fixed on the crumpled lily as she held up her index finger. "Just give it a minute," she said. The words were no sooner out of her mouth than Kristina felt the lily move on her palm. It rocked back and forth, and then suddenly, it popped open and back into its original delicate shape, without as much as a wrinkle in its petals.

"Wow!" Kristina said, amazed at the sight of it.

"Indestructible," Zalya said proudly.

"How about the vine? Is it indestructible as well?" Werrien asked.

"Let me tell you something funny about this plant. When its vine was no more than a bitty sprout, it almost died on me several times," Zalya said.

"Why's that?" Kristina asked.

"Not sure; it was just a finicky little thing and thirstier than a drunken sailor! I'd pour water on its soil, and an hour later, it'd be dry as a bone."

"Does it still need as much water now?" Kristina asked.

"No, now that it's fully grown, it needs no water. Anyhow, you keep the lily. Think of it as souvenir from Tezerel."

"Where should I put it?" Kristina asked Werrien.

"How about in your pocket," Werrien suggested.

Of course. It doesn't matter if it gets crumpled,
Kristina thought, putting it in her back pocket.

"Follow me," Zalya said, leading the teens out of the living room toward the tiled entryway. As Werrien and Kristina followed, Dengi, who had been sitting quietly in his bed in the living room, got up and began tagging along, but he only took a few steps before Zalya's keen eyes saw him. "Back to your nest!" she commanded him. Dengi let out a sorrowful moan and crawled on his belly back to his comfy, fluffy blanket that was his bed.

Once in the entryway, Zalya took them through a door that led to the back entrance to her restaurant. They proceeded down a dark hall and then passed the noise-filled kitchen. A young gnome man was placing plates topped with steaming food on a narrow counter that separated the kitchen from the dining area.

"Order up!" the gnome man hollered, clanking a metal spoon on one of the plates.

A jovial gnome waitress, with dark brown hair done up in a bun on the very top of her head, was reaching for the plates when she noticed Werrien was standing with Zalya at the back end of the restaurant. Her face lit up, and she quickly went to greet him. "Werrien!" she said. "How nice to see you!"

"Hi, Bronya! How are you?" Werrien said. He turned to Kristina. "Kristina, Bronya and her sister Neela were the gnomes who crafted the chain-mail vests for us to wear on our journey to deliver the Magic Warble to the top of Mount Bernovem."

Kristina nodded and said, "I remember."

When Werrien said Kristina's name, Bronya put her hands up to her rosy-red cheeks, and her mouth fell open. "Oh, my gosh! Kristina! Our
chosen one.
I can hardly believe you're here in Ezeree!"

Zalya chuckled at Bronya's reaction to seeing Kristina.

Bronya was about to embrace Kristina, but a dwarf sitting at a nearby table said, "Hey! Bronya girl. Where's our food?"

"We can't sit here all day," another dwarf sitting across from him said. "Got ta get back to the fishin' boats so we can earn a livin'."

"Keep your pants on, Leri and Shin," Bronya said to the dwarfs. Then she turned to Werrien. "Can you hang out a little while?"

"Well, not too long but perhaps a few minutes," Werrien said.

Bronya went to the counter and took two of the five plates that were ready to go out.

Zalya grabbed the remaining three. "Are you short-handed today?" she asked Bronya.

"Yeah, I'm afraid so. Neela went home sick."

Zalya glanced around the restaurant. "Well, the only good thing about her not being here is that there are hardly any customers. Actually, this is really odd."

Bronya placed the plates in front of the two impatient dwarfs and then hurried over to Kristina, who was still standing with Werrien at the back of the dining area. At just that time, Werrien noticed a human girl, who looked to be about his age, sitting alone at one of the smaller tables at the front end of the restaurant. He smiled at her, and her almond-shaped, long-lashed, brown eyes lit up. Excited to see him, she waved to him, as well as smiled warmly. Even in the dimly lit room, Kristina couldn't help but notice how pretty the other girl was, with long, shiny, brown hair that hung in loose curls around her bare, tanned shoulders.
She's everything that I am not,
Kristina thought.

Bronya took Kristina's hands in hers, held them up, and eyed Kristina from head to toe.

"Excuse me for a minute," Werrien said to Kristina and Bronya, and he went to greet the other girl.

"Look at you!" Bronya said to Kristina. "You're absolutely beautiful!"

Kristina, who had been preoccupied with watching Werrien embrace the other girl, quickly brought her attention back to Bronya.