Again not informative but at least an answer.
“Are we talking ‘many’ as in ‘more than ten’ or ‘many’ as in ‘more than five hundred’?” I attempted to clarify.
“Somewhere in between,” Frey clearly didn’t feel like clarifying.
I was not deterred
“So, are you often at sea?”
“Yes.”
“Are you going back soon?”
I asked this because I wanted to go with him when he went though I wasn’t going to tell him that then. I just wanted to know how much time I had to convince him to take me.
He didn’t know this and thus read my question wrong. I knew this not only from his next words but an arm that got very tight at my belly.
“I’m just home, wife, and you wish to be rid of me?”
“That’s not what I meant,” I kinda semi-wheezed, he heard it and his arm relaxed.
“If not, then tell me what you meant,” he ordered and I knew I couldn’t say I wanted to go with him, not yet.
So I said softly, “I’m just trying to get to know you, Frey. You aren’t a font of information, telling me your favorite color and pouring forth your heartfelt desires. I didn’t mean anything except to ask about you.”
“I don’t have a favorite color,” he replied, “and my desires, at the moment, though I would not describe them as heartfelt, but felt somewhere else, all revolve around what I shall do when I first bed my new wife. Would you like to talk about that?”
Ho boy.
“Um…” I swallowed, “no.”
He shifted then muttered over my head, “I did not think so.”
Okay, so, that went well. Kind of. I learned a few things about my husband. Since I did, I decided that I could take a break and stop talking to Frey.
We made it into town and I refused to think about the fact that the last time I was here I was carted out of a pub by my just returned from sea husband. Instead, I acted business as usual, smiling, waving and calling out greetings to people I knew. Luckily, they did the same (with glances at Frey, of course, who did not call out greetings, wave and, I couldn’t see him, but I was pretty certain he did not smile) and he stopped us outside the market.
He dismounted then, with hands at my waist, I came down too.
Then he did something sweet, something unexpected, something I didn’t think he had in him even after stoking the fire and saying he liked my pancakes.
His big hand enveloped mine and he walked me to the market while holding my hand.
Shit. I liked that. That was nice.
Hmm.
We walked in and I called out to Maria, “Hi Maria! It’s Finnie! I’ve come to get some groceries!”
She was in the back room and yelled in return, “Greetings, Princess Finnie! I’ll be out in two moments. We’ve had some green beans come in!”
Freaking cool!
Fresh veg, I had also learned in Lunwyn, was to be treasured.
Green beans just got jotted on the menu.
“I want some of those!” I yelled.