To Stand Beside Her (11 page)

“Does Nalick know where we are off too?” Macarius asked as they continued down the stairs
getting dressed along the way
.

“No, but I am sure Mauve will tell him soon like she came and told me
,
” Theo responded.
As they walked through the palace, not a single person turned to look at them as they passed.
Leila was happy.
Her disguise would work well in town if the people
of the palace
didn’t even recognize her.

Leila had not been in Lexia during the
open
market for a
while.
As they approached the city square, the crowd grew denser and the look on the two men’s faces turned to worry.
If this was where Leila wanted to
vanish
, it would work the best.
Theo and Macarius had no intension of disappointing Nalick, but
Leila
was an expert in disappearing.
Leila had no
plans
of leaving Lexia quite yet, so she turned and placed a hand th
r
o
ugh each m
a
n’s arm as not to lo
se them and began to walk to the first shop.

“I am not running off anywhere today,”
Leila
tried to reassure them, but neither
of them
seemed completely convinced.
Leila walked closer to the first booth.
Around her were people trying to sell every
type of item
imaginable from fresh vegetables to a cloth that could
supposedly
clean anything.
The bright colors of the nearest fruit stand caught Leila’s attention, so she stopped and let go of the men’s arms.
Macarius moved to the edge of the stand to keep watch while Theo followed closely behind Leila. She wandered through the rows of fruit.
She was amazed to see fruit that was not in season at home.

“Whatever you would like, I will pay for,” Theo offered as he saw Leila looking at the berries.

“Have you ever had these before?”
s
he asked Theo.

“No, miss,” Theo looked at the strange blue colored berries.

“They grow them back where I am from,”
Leila
explained as the stand owner came up behind them.

“My husband and I grow those,” the lady explained.
T
he woman
curiously
looked Leila over.
“It began as a hobby, but now it is full time job.
My husband helps with the harvest, but he has his own tent over there,” the lady pointed across the market.

Leila continued walking from one booth to the next. At each stop she found something that reminded her of her home and the owner there to explain everything to her. One stand had a necklace made from the blue stones found in the mountains near Leila’s home and at another were the style of baskets that her mother had tried in vain to teach her how to weave. Leila was comforted to know that even though she was far from home, there were still reminders right here at the market. And she was surrounded by good, nice people, unlike the nobles who already dismissed her.

“Want to show your alliance to a certain noble family?”
the next tent owner
asked.

“Too late,”
Leila
commented under her breath.
“I am not from around here,” she responded loud enough to be heard.

“In that case,
w
ould you sit a bit and keep an old man company?
Maybe a pretty girl like you would bring me more business,
”
the man
asked.

“Anything to help,” she replied sitting beside him. It was nice to finally get back to the people of Lior. She always felt more comfortable around the normal working people than the nobles of any country.

“Business has been slow the last two trips into town.
I guess I shouldn’t complain.
My son i
s
apprenticing here
.
L
ess work for me means more work for him.”
Leila remembered back to the other night.
After staring at t
he man a bit more she could see
the resemblance
between the man and the apprentice that did the lines on her arm and back
.
“Why are you here now?
If you are looking for a husband
,
I would not mind introducing you to my son.”

“Sorry to disappoint you
,
but I have already agreed to marry someone,”
Leila
replied.

“That’s too bad, my son could use a nice
,
pretty wife like you,” the man smiled. “I think your escorts are getting impatient.” Leila looked to the two men
and stood to join them
.

“Would you like anything to drink or eat?” offered Theo as they
began walking again
.
Leila nodded and they ushered her to a nearby table.

“So tell me,” she started
looking at Macarius
, “
w
hy do you dislike me so much.”

“Um...,” Macarius
stalled as he tried to think of how to respond.
“I don’t dislike you,” he tried to lie.

Macarius’ face turned bright red.
“Don’t worry.
I do not actually care if you like me or not, I am just curious as to why you would dislike me because as far as I know I have not done any
thing yet to earn your dislike,
”
Leila explained.
Macarius tried to think of an answer but could not.

“I don’t know,” he responded honestly as Theo approached with drinks
for
everyone
and they were then silent
.

Normal people
, Leila thought
watching people move from tent to tent
.
A
young boy dragged his father to a tent
where they were
selling toys while the mother stopped at the nearest tent selling clothing.
Over in the other direction Leila watched as a young man tried his best to catch
the attention of a girl near
by.

This is where I belong, not in a palace
, she told herself.
Can I really be happy being locked away from all this?
Leila smiled at the chaos of people around her.
S
he quietly sat and enjoyed her surroundings.
Behind
Leila
music begin to play.
She turned to watch as
the court yard
began to fill with people dancing.
Young and old,
the people happily dance around.
Leila turned to the men with her.

“Anyone up for a dance
?
”
Leila
asked.
Near them a young boy overheard and readily came up to Leila.

Bowing deeply
,
he asked, “
My Lady, may
I have this dance?”

The young boy was no more than twelve-years-old, but was trying his best to act older. He was tall for his age, but his youth was shown in his face. His dark hair barely covered his twinkling eyes as he waited for her response. He held out his hand for her.

“I would love to,” Leila replied taking his arm as he led them to the dance floor.
The music changed and Leila turned to the boy.
“I am not from around here, so you will have to teach me this one.”

The boy
smiled and said, “
N
o problem, even my little sister can dance to this one.”
He waved
at an even
younger light brown haired smiling
boy and
beautiful little
girl sitting next to one of the tents.

The song ended and the two children ran into the crowded dance area.

“’
L
ip ‘
L
ip,”
the little girl
called to him as her short light brown curls bounced as she ran.
The younger boy was close behind.

“This is my sister
Ruth
and my brother Tim.
I’m Phillip,” he said extending his hand to shake Leila’s
hand with a formal introduction
,
“
a
nd now we must be on our way.” He disappeared with his siblings into the crowd.

Knowing that the men escorting her were getting hungry, Leila made her way back to the south side of the market.
Leila
wandered
into a book tent as Theo stopped by the fruit tent from earlier.
She stopped near the wanted posters.
Leila
picked up the pile and paged through them.
She had seen most of the sheets before.
It was always best to know what everyone else already knew about you. Behind Leila a man approached her quietly.
Leila did not turn around as she addressed him.

“Done watching?”
Leila
asked Nalick.
She
had noticed him earlier when she was dancing with the young boy.
Nalick
was
also
wearing gloves and normal clothing to blend in.
No one except her had any idea who he was.

“You left me no choice but to watch,” he argued.
“You didn’t even invite me to come with,” he teased.

“I didn’t think mixing with common people was on your list of things to do for the day,”
Leila
responded
smiling at the bookseller as he returned
.

“
Interested in Mele?
Here you go,”
the bookseller
said handing Leila one book
he had been searching for
.
“You can learn both
Mele and Comamele
from the same book.
They are very similar.”

“So you are not leaving us so soon?”
Nalick
wondered
with her new interest in their religious and noble languages
.

“Not until you mess up your end of the deal,”
Leila
replied
nodding thanks to the man as Theo appeared beside her and paid for the book
.

“
W
e were just going to head back,” Leila explained as Theo and Macarius appeared surprised to see who was with Leila.

“Let’s just make one stop first,” Nalick suggested as he offered Leila his arm.
She cautiously took his arm as he led
her
through the crowd of people.
Nalick seemed more relaxed and happier than normal.
The person Leila was now walking with was not the
king
she
imagined
.
Nalick wanted to be free from the palace as much as
she
did.
Nalick led them away from the market and down several streets
to
an inn
.
Theo ran ahead and opened the door to the restaurant in front of the inn.
At the back of the
r
estaurant
was a bar that ran the length of the room.
Nal
ick and Leila followed behind
Theo
leading the way upstairs
.

Inside was a modestly furnished family room with a window that over looked the street below.
Near the window sat Theo’s son, Dimas, playing by himself.
Through the doorway to the left was a kitchen with a large table.
An old
er
woman was busy cooking while Theo’s wife Micaela was setting the table.

“Oh my, what a sight.
The three of you made your way here.”
Theo’s mother beamed at Theo, Macarius, and Nalick.
“And you must be the captive I have heard so much about.”
She took Leila by both hands and led her to a chair in the kitchen.
“Please sit down and relax dear.”
She then turned to Nalick
.
“Taking a pretty child captive is not a nice thing to do,” she scolded him.
Leila watched as the old woman gave each boy a hug.
“Better set the table for four more,” she said to Micaela.

“It has been quite a while since you boys have all been over here,”
a large man with an older face of Theo
commented
as he opened the back door
.
He started to continue talking, but stopped when he saw Leila.
“My, you are more beautiful than they said you were.”
Theo’s mother turned around and nodded in agreement.
“Now where did Nalick find such a girl as you?”