Emlyn & Elias | Early Evening | Town Circle
Elias, by contrast, had yet to dance with anyone. A few brave souls had dared attempt to be friendly, but had been roundly turned down, though not in quite the cruel way that Caden had been. A couple of cups of ale had taken the edge off his pain - it was a dull, persistent ache now, instead of the tearing, snarling thing it had been at the beginning of the day.
The village was more welcoming, now, under the cover of falling night. It only lifted Elias slightly out of his grey mood, where everything seemed dulled and insubstantial. The lights were starting to come on everywhere, and Elias briefly wondered how much of a fire hazard the whole festival was, but he soon forgot about that as more and more Aurellians gathered to join the communal dance in the middle of the Town Circle. It would have been nice to dance, but with just one person and away from the crowd.
Valéry would have indulged him---
Caden probably danced. He probably danced well, with the way he could move that body of his. Elias would have been kinder to him at this time, but even so, they would have been far from prying eyes, and the steps would be the courtly Clovennian waltz, old-fashioned though it was.
Elias blinked and turned when he heard footsteps approaching his spot near the bakery. The only reason his frown didn't deepen was because of the bright smile on the girl's face. Nothing was wrong, then. Though he did his best to separate the syllables of the words, the only word Elias caught in the stream of Aurellian was Marshal, Belmont, and drink. Fortunately, language wasn't just about the words, but context and other contextual cues.
"Good evening, Emmy." He stared down at her, his eyes a pale blue when the last light of day caught there, but they were soon dark and unfathomable when the light died around them. "It's kind of you to offer, but you should have the drink." He pushed the cup very lightly towards her, to help her understand. It was probably too complicated to explain his preference for stronger drink. "Thank you." He wondered briefly if he should ask her if she were lost, but that seemed too patronising, and who could be lost when there was so much noise coming from the Town Circle?