Chapter 62 - Date Night II

The wind howled like grieving gods as Rose, pale and broken, gave up her breath.

Bjorn knelt beside her, no longer boy but not yet whole man.

She took his hand, called him bjartur - bright one - and spoke her last:

“Live well, and bury my ashes where sea meets sky.”

And then the light left her.

The Saga of Bjorn, Verse 11

=================

Erik smiled as Alexandria stepped out of her room, looking like a vision. Her hair was freed from its usual ponytail, cascading down her back like a waterfall of flame. Her sundress was a bright green that matched her eyes, and she’d clearly put a good amount of effort into her makeup. The incessant one-two-three-four his thoughts were in while he waited stopped, the metronome of his life paused.

He had a lot of thoughts about it, but kept them to himself for the moment. Instead, he offered her the red rose and his arm.

Alex suddenly got all sorts of shy, and Erik mentally berated himself for coming on too strongly. Dressing up nicely? Yes. No present? Also a good move. The rose though? Clearly, that had gone a little too far, even though everyone knew what a red rose symbolized.

Perhaps the setting was poor. They were inside the main spiral of Thunderbird house, the lightning crackling overhead. More importantly, everyone could see everyone else’s door, and while they didn’t have an audience, they didn’t have privacy either.

Then Vivian poked her head around the door.

“Hey, what’s the holdup- ooooh!” She gasped at Erik’s proffered rose. “How romantic. Alex! What are you doing? Go, go!” She gently but firmly pushed the other girl towards Erik.

“Thank you.” She whispered, then hesitated, clearly not knowing what to do with the rose.

“I’ll take that.” Vivian swooped in. “It’ll be on your bedside table when you get back. Now go!” She shooed the two of them off. Erik offered his arm again, and Alex eventually took it after studying it a moment.

“Shall we?” He said.

“Um, yes.” Alex hoarsely whispered. The two of them started to walk down the spiral ramp.

“I was thinking dinner first in Corwin, see if we want to do anything in town, then come back and practice magic in the Praetorian room.” Erik said. “I’m open to suggestions, but I figured this would ease us into things.”

Alexandria had been so focused on everything leading up to the date - and Vivian’s incessant fussing - she’d put no thought into what they’d actually do.

“Okay, sounds good.” She said, not having any better ideas. The idea of practicing magic as a date was… fun. Good.

Erik smiled.

“Excellent! I take it Vivian was helping you get ready?”

“What gave that away?” Alex whispered sarcastically. “The fact that she was in my room?”

“No, the fact that you’re sparkling.” He said.

“I’m what!?” Alex tried to shriek, but it came out like a deflating balloon with a smoking problem.

“Sparkling!” Erik was far too cheerful. Alex tried to storm right back up the stairs to give Vivian a piece of her mind. Erik clamped down a bit on her arm.

“Oi!” Alexandria hissed.

“If you want to murder Vivian, do it later. If you want to get de-sparkled, I imagine the hospital wing would be a much better place for it.” Erik dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper as he loosened his grip. “Plus, if we wait, it’ll be dark and I can help you hide the body.”

Alex barked a laugh at that.

“Alright, alright. Fine. Sparkling’s not the worst thing that’s happened to me on an outing.” She whispered.

Erik felt a stab in his heart at that.

“Do you want to talk about that more?” He asked. Alex kicked a non-existent rock as they exited the common room.

“No, not really.” She whispered.

The two of them awkwardly talked as they took the Argo down to Corwin, and went to a nearby midscale restaurant.

“I figured too fancy would just be offputting, and too casual wouldn’t be the right atmosphere.” Erik explained.

“I like it.” Alexandria whispered. They sat down in a corner booth, and a pair of menus magically appeared.

“I’ve got the bill, don’t worry about it.” Erik said. Alex glared at him.

“Why?” She hissed. “Because-”

“Because the Morsin family has way too much money.” Erik quickly interrupted. “My father pillaged, burned, and looted for years, and when property values went to shit, spent that money buying everything he could. I don’t want to rub it in that I’m rich or have money, but I suspect the ‘pocket change’ I was sent with far outstrips the rest of our classmates. I’m not going to be throwing it around or trying to buy favors or people, but it’s nothing for me to buy dinner when we’re all out in town. If anyone from the coven’s down at the bar? Yeah, I’m going to offer to buy them drinks, like I’m offering to buy you dinner.”

Alex frowned, then reluctantly nodded.

“Alright.” Her lips twisted into a rictus of a smile, the scars pulling her lips. “Can you imagine taking Felix or Hazel to the bar?” She whispered.

Erik laughed.

“Oh man, the two of them would freak!” He said. “Drinking starting at 21, can you believe it?” He said.

Alex chuckled and shook her head.

“No… but now I want to do that. How do we get that to happen?” She whispered.

“First major exam we do well on.” Erik replied, his mind turning over. “First stravolux game won, or when we form the coven. Basically, any party excuse, we drag them all down to the bar.”

“Pffft. You’re terrible.” Alex whispered with a smile.

“Still better than my dad!” Erik didn’t quite manage to put the right degree of levity into his voice.

Erik picked up his menu and looked at it. Alex followed a moment later.

“I like the look of the spaghetti and meatballs.” He said, then cleared his throat. “Number 27, please, and a glass of water.”

The requested items appeared in front of him.

“No wine?” Alex whispered.

“I need all my wits about me to deal with beautiful women.” Erik shamelessly flirted.

Alex snorted and rolled her eyes.

“Number 13, water.” She whispered, and nothing happened. Erik could see the girl rapidly growing red, angry, and frustrated, and quickly pushed his food to the side.

“Number 13, water.” He said. The food appeared in front of him - a delicious-smelling fish stew - and he pushed it over to Alex, before reclaiming his own dinner.

“The food here’s good.” Alex whispered, before ducking her head down and continuing eating.

“Want to address the dragon in the room?” Erik suggested.

“What’s that?” Alex whispered.

“The arranged marriage thing.” He said. It was a fairly safe topic. An area that had influenced almost their entire lives, to one degree or another. The entire reason they were here, now. They might have radically different thoughts on it, but either way, they had thoughts on it. Heck, the odds were pretty good that they wouldn’t even be having a conversation now without it!

“What about it?” Alexandria hissed. Erik reminded himself that Alexandria had lived with the spectre of the arranged marriage in a far more violent way. She’d been attacked because of it, permanently scarred. It wasn’t a far off concept, she lived with it in a way he didn’t.

Erik leaned back.

“Well. We didn’t really have a say in it, but I figure we should give it an honest shot. Like. Neither of us can really date other people, or explore, or any of that. But at the same time, we should put some effort into it. Like we’re doing tonight! How much would it suck for me to not romance you at all? To not try to woo you? To just go ‘eh, you, I’ll see you on my wedding night, cheers’, and let ourselves be complete strangers? To assume it was a done deal?”

Erik shook his head.

“No. Let’s assume the arranged marriage is going to happen, but let’s enjoy it. I chase you. You chase me. We do dumb stuff together. We have fun. And maybe, hopefully, we end up married together and want to be married together, and you don’t stab me with a steak knife three dozen times on our marriage night.”

Alexandria smirked.

“Like Sophia De Lys?” She whispered.

“Exactly like Sophia De Lys!” Erik said. “Or rather, not like Henri De Lys.”

Alex pointed her butter knife at Erik with a smirk.

“So behave, or stabby stabby?” She whispered.

“Well, it’s not quite that cold. But yes, I want to give this a fair chance. I’m not going to ignore you, chase around after other girls for a bunch of years, then finally settle down. It’d be nice,” He powered through Alex’s unamused look. “But it wouldn’t be kind, fair, or a good idea in the long run.” He glanced back at Alex.

“Look, be honest. If there wasn’t this whole arranged marriage thing, would you choose to be here? Would you choose to be engaged, locked down, here’s the one person? Or would you explore a bit? Date around, see who you like, what your type is? Would you even be interested in dating yet?”

Alex dropped her look and stared down into her soup, stirring it without taking a bite.

“No… no, that’s more Vivian’s thing. And she hasn’t even been on a date yet.” She whispered.

“Exactly!” Erik said. “What are your thoughts on the whole thing?”

Alex continued to stare at her soup and stir it.

“I don’t know anymore.” She eventually whispered. “At first, I hated you. Hated you. But I hated the idea of you. You’re not what I expected. You’re nice. I always focused on magic, and dealing with you. All that’s gone now, and I just don’t know what I’m going to do.”

She finished by taking a spoonful of her soup and swallowing it down.

“Well! How about I pitch an idea for what you’ll do, and you can tell me what you think.” Erik said.

“What’s that?” Alexandria whispered.

“Dessert! One of the upper years told me the brownies are very nice here. Help me eat one if it’s gigantic?”

Alex snorted.

“Sure. I can do that.” She whispered.

“What’s your favorite food?” Erik asked. Alex looked at him, puzzled.

“Why?” She whispered.

Erik shrugged.

“Well, we’re getting to know each other, yeah? Figure I should start learning the basics.”

“Only if you tell me your favorite color.” Alexandria whispered.

Erik laughed.

“Fair enough! Well, this is going to sound super cliche, and I don’t think I can be entirely responsible for my choice, but green. Specifically, the mossy-grassy green that the hills around Dublin get on a spring morning, when the dew catches the light just right. Alright, that’s me, now your turn.”

The two talked and chatted about nothing of consequence, slowly feeling each other out. Slowly learning about each other. Erik had a brownie, and Alexandria ordered herself a sundae. They split the desserts, agreeing that they were tastier mixed.

“Time for a walk? Anywhere around town you want to go?” Erik asked, offering his arm as they left.

Alex took his hand instead.

“Let’s just… explore.” She whispered.

“I can do exploring!” Erik said. “Did you know? There’s a house here that claims to be the one Morgana La Fey lived in when she spent time in Corwin. It’s probably closed by now, but we can take a look from the street. What do you say?”

Alex didn’t answer. She was already pulling Erik along.