Spring 4989, 18 Buromoth
Lily examined every piece of jewelry on the open-air stall as carefully as if she were a jeweler herself. One, in particular, caught her attention, and held it for a full ten minutes. In the end, she didn't ask for any of the prices and merely sighed and smiled an apology to the merchant before turning away.
Velona had enough tact to wait until they were out of earshot before she asked her student, "None to your standards?"
Lily managed to paint on a beaming smile, "Oh, they were all lovely! He is a true artist. I won't be surprised if the next time we come through, he has his own building and a gaggle of apprentices."
The Monk scoffed, "You're not going to tell me -after a full year of buying a piece at every city and town large enough to have a jeweler- that you've actually completed your collection."
With a sad little giggle, Lily leaned over and bumped her Master with her hip as they walked, "Not a chance."
Velona didn't press the issue, and Lily didn't say anything more until they could see the Mages Guild towering above them in the near distance. "Shon graduates in less than a month..." Lily whispered. She fingered her belt pouch where she carried all of her belongings but thought only of the bundle of letters there.
They'd been halfway down the kingdom during Winter Solstice this year, and though Lily had enjoyed the festivities for the most part, her mind had been far away for the entire night. Back at Hamerfoss. Shon's following letter had been full of drawings of the celebration held there and even included a few pages just for that purpose. Though Lily had loved every one of them, she lamented that Shon never seemed to draw himself. He was the one she wanted to see.
Velona hummed, speaking casually but also clearly sarcastic in her words, "Really? I hadn't realized..." Lily rolled her eyes at the woman. Lily hadn't stopped talking about it since new years, the first day of spring, and knew that her single-minded obsession must have frustrated her Master.
Lily threw her hands into the air and spoke with a passion that hadn't faded at all in time, "He's finally going to achieve his dream! And if they let him travel like they did with Rasnah, then maybe -after we finish this pilgrimage- we can travel with him!" she shot a sideways glance at the ginning Velona and muttered, "Maybe Master Veon-Zih will come with us..."
"Sir Rasnah," Velona corrected Lily, tapping her sharply on the head with her staff, "And they won't give him clearance to travel for a few years yet. He will be stationed somewhere to head the defense of whatever town or village they put him in until he earns the right to put in a request to join a field team."
"Ugh," Lily moaned. Stupid Paladins and their stupid procedure and even stupider paperwork. But she shook her head a moment later and smiled again, "Either way, I'm going to finish this with you and find him. I made a promise."
Velona chuckled, "And you are nothing if not brutally honest and earnest."
Lily just nodded resolutely and started muttering calculations under her breath. Velona mimicked Lily's tilted head expression, but when she didn't glance over, the Monk tapped her again, "What're you mumbling about, my flower?"
Lily answered in a distracted whisper, "I have five hundred thirty-one gold, eight silver, and six copper... With all the hair I've saved up and a pint of blood a week, I still won't have enough... But if I grit my teeth and let them take a handful of scales all in one go, I should be able to make a round trip..."
"Or..." Velona interrupted Lily's mutters loudly, stopping in the middle of the street until Lily was forced to turn to look at her, "You could just ask." The Monk held up empty fingers, then, with a twist of her wrist and a bit of sleight of hand, held up two tokens.
Lily's jaw dropped at the small fortune worth of travel tokens in her Master's pinched fingers. She swallowed, blinking her eyes into focus on Velona's twinkling orbs, "You... Really Master Velona?"
She held the tokens out to Lily and explained, "We have enough time to reach the next town before you need to leave, and after that point, I will need you more than ever. I owe you my life a few times over this last year."
Lily shook her head to deny it. Her Master had been the one to help her, taught her not only the staff but also a level of self-control and mastery she didn't even know was possible, let alone necessary.
Velona continued unabated, "I should've known you'd have no trouble holding a torch for someone, even with only monthly letters to keep your affection sustained. And you know I would never stand in the way of such devotion. Take them, Lily. Go back to Hamerfoss and see Shon on this most important day of his life."
"I..." Lily had to blink back tears and -at a loss for words- did the only thing she could think of and hugged the woman who had become someone more important to her than anyone else had ever been. Only one other stirred her heart more, though in a very different way...
"Oh my flower," Velona pat Lily's head gently, letting the hot young woman hold on for as long as she needed, even if she started to sweat, "I see how you light up at the merest mention of your knight. Go to him... But come back to me... For just a little longer."
Lily pulled back, rubbing her eyes with her hands and sniffing the tears away as she smiled. She took the tokens carefully, as though they might crumble in her hands, and clenched them to her chest. She placed them just as carefully in her bag then gasped, making Velona jump in surprise.
"I'll be right back," Lily said, then started back the way they'd come at a carefully restrained run.
"Where are you going?!" Velona shouted after her.
Lily turned around to jog backward and call her answer between cupped hands, "I have five hundred thirty-one gold, eight silver, and six copper to spend."
***
