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Posted on June 12, 2016 at 05:17:39 AM by tahl & ihintza
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I’d had enough of watching from the sidelines. Do you ever wonder what a familiar is before it’s a familiar? I don’t think Tahl ever did, judging by his surprise when I finally lost my cool, angered myself into existence, got in his face and said, listen, mate, you need to get your life together. He jumped a mile. I guess you don’t expect a genet to appear out of nowhere and start telling you off. Tahl wasn’t that impressed at the idea of having a familiar. I wasn’t all that impressed with him as a fairy either, if I’m being honest. It’s one thing to turn to thievery because you’re impoverished and lack opportunity. It’s another to pilfer from the royal grain stores simply because you’d rather take a nap than go and get a job. The king can afford it, Tahl would say with a shrug when I pointed this out. Go to the academy, I said. Learn a trade, I said. Do something with your life, kid, anything! I said. I want it on record, by the way, that I was the voice of reason in all of this. I said all along that stealing would get us into trouble. Even I couldn’t have predicted how efficiently the king’s men could act when they realised there was a problem. A poor harvest and hard winter made for more careful rationing. Tahl knew that, but overconfidence clouded his cleverness, and he woke up from his nap one day with a spear pointing in his face. Familiars of convicted criminals are a grey area. We’re allowed to join our fairies in their cells if the cell is big enough to hold us, but not all of us do. There’s a special court which deals with the familiars who claim innocence. I’m still not sure what I’d’ve done if I’d been given that choice; I refused to talk to Tahl the whole time we were in custody and sat with my back to him, facing the wall. He called me childish. I would have called him something much worse if I’d trusted myself to open my mouth. Fortunately, the crown knows what to do with idlers like my fairy. Tahl was sentenced to six months of hard work, mostly on the castle grounds. The first day on the job he was mucking out the stables. The guard who was assigned to show him around did a double take when she first saw him, peering into his face. “Are you the guy who was done for stealing?” She asked. “Yes,” my fairy replied defensively, folding his arms over his chest. The guard doubled over, clutching her sides in mirth. Tahl and I glanced at each other. He usually gets quite a different reaction when people see his face, my fairy - the girls often start giggling and poking one another. Once when a middle-aged lady caught him stealing from the village granaries, he smiled at her and she stopped mid-scolding to smile back at him in spite of herself. Looking into Tahl’s face, you’d barely notice the square jaw, straight nose and the slight dimple in his chin (which he hates) – the eye is drawn to his. Predominantly black, the pupil is rimmed with gold, and streaks of that same colour extend outwards like the rays of light in a sunset. His left eye is sometimes partly covered by his black hair, which flops over his face. He says he can’t be bothered to go and get it cut, but I think he quite likes sweeping it away with a flick of his hand. The girls at the beach certainly enjoy it. Still, there was nothing about his face which could be considered humorous. He raised an eyebrow at me and turned back to the guard just as she dropped the bombshell. “Like father, like son, eh?” She chuckled. “Come on, handsome.” Tahl’s inhaled sharply, his posture stiffening. The guard didn’t notice, fortunately; she’d already turned and started walking away. My skin tingled and I became acutely aware of my heartbeat, which was thudding a little louder and quicker than it had before. Tahl recovered quickly. He jogged to catch up with the guard, his lips tight. “We don’t talk about my father,” he told her flatly. “Poor you,” she replied cheerily. “Best gossip in the castle.” She handed him a pitchfork, pointed him in the direction of the stables which needed mucking out and strolled away, whistling. I glanced at my fairy, who was staring with a rigid expression at the stable block. After a moment he shook his head and strode through the door. I sat down in the sun, still watching the empty doorway. I’d come along because I thought Tahl might need the encouragement (read: prodding) to get on with some work, but somehow I didn’t think he’d want me around right now. He’d never spoken to me before about either of his parents… or any family, really. Or any friends. I always had the impression he never wanted any, since he had no problems socialising when he wanted to. Evidently he wasn’t as traumatised by the mention of his father as I’d thought, because he reappeared in the doorway a moment later, twiddling his pitchfork. “Are you coming or not?” He asked nonchalantly. I narrowed my eyes and flicked my tail, but subsequently stood up and followed him inside. The overpowering pong of soiled bedding almost made my eyes water. Tahl simply stood gazing at it, still twirling the pitchfork between his fingers, his expression slack. “Stick fork in straw, throw into barrow, repeat.” I told him stiffly. Now it was his turn to narrow his eyes at me. Owing to the need to get my poor nose further away from the ground, I leapt up onto a narrow shelf littered with grooming tools and did my best to find a comfortable-ish spot to snooze in. I had a feeling like the novelty of watching my fairy do something other than sleep, pilfer grain and run his fingers through his hair would wear off pretty fast. |
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