NOVEL NEXT Interlude 3.1
Threindil maneuvered through the crowd, flowing through the throngs like a fish through a current. Scarcely anyone even saw him, let alone acknowledged his presence. This was both due to his maneuvering as well as the general bustle of the Durthangrim markets. Traffic was always packed shoulder-to-shoulder.
This made it a great place to disappear, but Threindil was accustomed to finding his quarry in these busy streets. She always managed to stand out. If Threindil was a fish swimming the current, Cassie was the rock it broke upon.
Sure enough, he saw her towering over the crowd of dwarves just a few strides away, likely thinking she was hidden at the mouth of an alley. Stealth and subtlety were never her strong suits—bless her.
Just as Threindil cleared the last of the traffic, stepping up to the alley entrance, Cassie turned around with a bewildered expression.
"How—" she started.
"Cassie, you realize most dwarves don't even clear your waist? You're not nearly as inconspicuous as you think," he said with both amusement and exasperation—this was not the first time they'd had this conversation.
Cassie simply sighed and shook her head. She backed further into the alley so that Threindil could step off the road, out of the way of foot traffic.
Standing next to Cassie were her three companions—her coconspirators, were Threindil to label them.
One was a dwarf with thick, hairy arms, sturdy legs, a beard down to his chest, and a maul strapped to his back. Another was a lithe man with long brown hair brushing his shoulders and cold green eyes peering over cloudy glasses.
The final was a graceful man of medium build, dressed sharply and standing like a lord at a banquet. Everything about him said "precision," from his neatly manicured nails to his perfectly-trimmed goatee. He stared at Threindil with a practiced neutrality that wouldn't have been out of place on the Council of the Society of Deep Design.
"Dunstraag, Gravin, Vinren," Threindil greeted the dwarf, thin man, and graceful man respectively.
Their eyes collectively widened, and Gravin even shuffled back a little. Dunstraag remained neutral, as he and Cassie had been friends for a long time.
"Don' be so surprised. Watches Cass like a hawk, he does. Probably knows where ya live, too," Dunstraag said. The remark didn't seem to comfort the other two.
"Well, we were just leaving regardless. We'll meet you later, Cass. Threin—uh, sir," Gravin stuttered, bowing his head toward Threindil and shuffling away.
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Vinren nodded at Cassie and followed behind, while Dunstraag waved at Cassie and Threindil both before marching off confidently. Threindil chuckled lightly at the differences in the manner of their departures.
"You're the only one who still calls me that, you know," Cassie said as they started back home.
"What, 'Cassie'? Well, I'm also the only one that changed your sheets after you p—" Threindil started, his nose in the air.
"STOP! I'm twenty-six! Surely you don't plan to hold that against me into my thirties and forties?" Cassie asked with exasperation.
"Elves are considered young even into their 80s, you know," he joked.
"Haa, whatever. You didn't stalk me just to walk me home and bully me, right?" Cassie questioned with a sigh.
"No, those are just perks," Threindil said with a smile. "I came to tell you that I'll be leaving for a few days. Got a job out of town."
Her eyes lit up before she schooled her reaction, but Threindil didn't miss it.
"Gotcha. I'll be fine on my own. I know you tend to forget, but I'm actually an adult. I appreciate you letting me know, but there's no need to worry about me. I can handle myself," she lectured.
"I know you can. That's not what I'm worried about," he said without looking.
Cassie turned to look at him.
"You don't—you know, you can…" Threindil stuttered, unsure how to proceed. He sighed, "Just promise me you'll be careful. I know you can handle yourself in combat, but there are situations where you need more than combat prowess. Just…be careful."
Cassie looked at him with evident confusion, but she promised nonetheless. She probably thought he was crazy—or just overly worried, the way elders tended to be. She didn't realize that he knew exactly what she and her friends were up to.
Truthfully, Threindil wasn't planning to be a parent—he had no idea how. Taking Cassie in had been…well, seeing such a tiny girl starving in the streets had really plucked his heartstrings. He once thought of it as a momentary lapse in judgment, but now he wouldn't trade it—wouldn't trade her—for the world.
The world.
That was actually the issue. He had a responsibility to the world and everyone in it, including Cassie. She was his whole world, so it was imperative that he complete his task—his purpose. It was no coincidence that he was here. It was his investigations that had led him to Durthangrim and the surrounding area in the first place.
But now, having to leave when he knew Cassie and her friends were planning something—that was stressful. She had a good heart, and she could handle herself in combat, but there were so many other situations she could get herself into. Those friends of hers probably thought their 'lair' was a secret—as if he didn't know they went down to the tunnels to conspire.
Cassie was right, though. She was a grown woman. He couldn't go storming down there and tell her to stop her plotting, and even more than that, they hadn't actually done anything yet. The best he could hope was that whatever they were planning would wait until he came back from his job. He was already cutting the investigation shorter than he would've liked.
Please, don't do anything reckless.
He would just have to hope he was wrong about the twinkle he'd seen in her eye.