Wicked As You Wish (A Hundred Names for Magic #1) - Rin Chupeco Page 0,97
so it shouldn’t be a surprise, I guess.”
Tala cupped her hands as one alighted on her palm, its lights dimming and fading as it came into contact with her skin. It didn’t seem to mind, but its glow took on a strange new reddish aura before taking flight again. The firebird snuck its head out of Alex’s pack and cooed, and for a few brief seconds its feathers flared too, as if mimicking the butterflies’ glow.
“Your Highness,” Ken complained. “Tell your firebird to stop its glowy thing. Weren’t we supposed to be keeping it hidden?”
“I don’t think it matters,” the prince said, gazing around. “If the priestess here’s as good as the Dame, then she’ll know about it, anyway.”
Tala looked up one last time as they approached the inn, saw the butterfly she had touched circle another, the latter soon acquiring that same rouge tinge.
The lodge was so small, it was barely that, but after their journey it looked warm and inviting from the outside. Ken wheeled his horse into the stables, and the rest followed closely after. A man stepped forward to meet them, ready to take the reins. He bowed low. “Your Highness. Welcome to our humble home.”
“News flies quickly here,” Alex noted.
“Words soar on swift wings in Ikpe. Sometimes that can be a matter of life and death,” said the innkeeper, as they were shown inside the inn. The accommodations were simple, constructed mostly from dark aged wood and bamboo, but felt luxurious to Tala given their last few days of travel. A large flat-screen television set was mounted on the wall. The innkeeper gazed at it with some melancholy. “My misfortune to have bought it two days before the frost arrived,” he said, with a sigh. “I had been looking forward to the FIFA Cup too. Our magic can only do so much. Tomorrow marks the last day of our priestess’s granddaughter’s fattening room, however, and our celebrations to commemorate its end begin tonight.”
“A what?” Tala spluttered. “Fattening like, to be eaten?”
The man roared in laughter “I understand it’s a misleading term. In the older days, when a woman is to be given in marriage, she spends at least six months in what we call our ‘fattening room,’ to be pampered and fed her favorite dishes. A healthy woman is the most beautiful woman. We no longer force our women if they do not want it, and so the six months are instead spent on the pampering more than the feeding, but the name for the practice still endures.”
“And it’s the priestess’s granddaughter that’s getting married?” Ken asked.
“Yes. She shall be very beautiful, decked out in our seamstress’s finest dress. Her mother insisted that she also wear a wedding veil in the customary Avalon tradition, and many of the girls have spent weeks weaving one from the finest silks.”
“I’m glad that the frost has not touched your village,” Zoe said. “But none of you seem surprised to find us here.”
“Our priestess knew. The date was wrong, but perhaps the frost can hinder even her magic. There is no need to hide your firebird, Your Highness. She foretold its coming too.”
The firebird hopped out of Alex’s bag, looking irate. You kept me hidden all this time for that? it seemed to complain, and kept up a steady stream of heated squawking that lasted until it started stuffing its face with some of the cooked greens on the table.
“I didn’t even know I was going to Invierno until last week.” Ken sighed.
“We are blessed to be led by a powerful priestess, one that even Avalon kings come to seek counsel with. Feel free to make use of these rooms for as long as you wish, milords, miladies, and…” The innkeeper paused, looking quizzically at Loki.
“Mi’enbys,” the young ranger supplied.
“Mi’enbys it is.” The man indicated a long hallway, where three doors stood side by side. “You are welcome to join our festivities. In the midst of death, we must celebrate life. We don’t have many visitors even in the best of times, but you folks must join the dancing, at least.”
“Dancing? We’re not going to miss it for the—ow!” Zoe had very calmly stepped on Ken’s toe.
“The girls have been practicing for weeks,” the man continued. “Almost as long as they’ve been making their bridal wreaths.”
“Bridal wreaths?” Ken sounded less sure of himself.
“The girls dance round the fires tonight to scout for husbands. It’s how the wife found me back then. Prettiest girl at the dance…” The innkeeper chuckled.