Eight
"Do you hear music?"
Yes, it's coming from… the southeast. I was just in the sky, though, and there wasn't anything over there, just a wide, empty field that I felt should have been filled with crops or cattle. Everything else in this area is. It's the last swath of farmable land before the mountains. One moment.
Launching from Ninos's shoulder where he'd been accepting bits of roasted mushroom, he was quickly lost from sight.
Ninos finished cooking dinner, setting aside the remaining mushrooms for Sinn to eat when he got back. He'd just taken the soup off the fire to cool when Sinn came back. There is a circus in that field now. It was definitely not there before. Old magic pours off it, magic older than starlight.
"That sounds terrifying."
It's not dangerous, in fact I suspect it would not tolerate danger or violence or malice of any sort. Circuses are meant to be enjoyed, are they not? Have you ever been to one?
"Once, when I was sixteen? Seventeen? One came to town, it was a huge event, something that doesn't happen very often, maybe once a decade or so. Made myself sick on the food and rides. Won a little teddy bear that I lost on the Grand Wheel. I was devastated."
Would you like to go and try to win another?
"Really? You want to go? I thought you'd start ranting about staying away."
As I said, it is not dangerous, that goes against its nature. We should go.
"All right!" Ninos rushed to freshen up and put on his cleanest clothes. He'd just done laundry on their last stop, so thankfully they were freshly cleaned not simply 'mostly clean'. "Should I pack up everything? We can't leave it."
We can. Nobody will touch your stuff; the forest will see to that. Come on. He flapped up to land impatiently on Ninos's shoulder and directed him through the woods to the clearing, though it became easy pretty quickly to simply follow the music and, later, the scents. Roasted nuts, ice cream, popcorn, caramel, and so much more.
He suddenly, sharply and painfully, missed Kina. Well, the Kina he'd thought he'd known. They'd gone to the circus together, that once chance they'd had to do it, and had so much fun. He'd been certain they would be friends their whole lives.
Not once had he ever suspected that Kina was just using him, secretly hated him. He suspected that hurt would never entirely go away.
No, but you grow around it, and it becomes more bearable. No sad thoughts. You have me, and I'm a thousand times more entertaining than the water rat.
"Entertaining is one word."
Ha ha, Sinn replied, and nibbled at his ear.
"Stop that!" Ninos said without heat.
They broke through the trees a moment later, and his breath caught. This was not like the circus he'd visited before. This was bigger, louder, so much more colorful, bright and beautiful and enchanting . The centermost tent towered over all, red and white and gold, with slightly smaller tents circling it, like a grand castle that could be packed up and moved. Across the entrance was an archway that proclaimed Welcome Traveler.
At the entrance, a woman with vibrant red hair and more piercings than a lifelong pirate cheerfully said, "Ten pell per ticket." Ninos handed over the money and she gave him two red and gold tickets.
At the ticket gate, a man who looked like a younger version of the woman punched their tickets and let them in with a flamboyant, "Enjoy your stay!"
They'd just stepped past the official threshold when Sinn let out a strangled, gurgling noise before abruptly throwing himself off Ninos's shoulder—and then there was a cloud of glittering black smoke, the smell of rain lily and something else, something green he couldn't place, filling the air.
As the smoke drifted away, a figure was revealed: a tall, imposing man with brown skin so dark it was nearly black, eyes the color of fire-struck rubies, and short locs decorated with beads and rings. He was dressed in simple, but beautiful clothes, the kind that might be favored by a merchant who saw himself as conservative but only compared to other merchants, who wouldn't know subtle or conservative if they were paid, and merchants would do nearly anything for the right price.
"Who…"
The man smirked and somehow, somehow, he just knew .
"Sinn?"
Sweeping him an unfairly beautiful bow, Sinn replied, "At your service, little human." His voice was deep, smoky, as warm and pleasant as a crackling campfire after a hard day of travel. "Shall we go have fun?"
"How…"
Sinn grasped his right arm and reeled him in, hooked it through his own so Ninos reflexively grabbed hold. "I told you this place was its own special magic. I guess that magic decided I could look like this for the day. Do I need to prove myself?"
"No, no your smirk was all the proof I needed. Somehow, you look the same smirking whether human or bird. But if you eat a mouse in this form, I'm not talking to you the rest of the month."
That made Sinn laugh, a bright, beautiful sound that held Ninos captive. He smiled warmly. "Come along, little human. What would you like to see or do first?"
"Food," Ninos said immediately. "I want roasted nuts and buttery popcorn and caramels."
"Then you shall have it."
They found the roasted nuts first, some of them simply salted, but some covered in cinnamon and sugar, so luxurious he boggled at the cheap price. After that he bought a platter of roasted meat and bread to eat it with, then roasted vegetables on skewers dripping with butter and garlic. He'd never had such marvelous food, even at the other circus, not even in a town that prided itself on its food.
"Did you want to watch a show?" Sinn asked. "Acrobats, clowns…"
"I'd rather do ," Ninos said, finishing the last of the meat, tossing the leftover paper tray and washing his hands at a fountain made for that purpose. "Games or rides?"
"Oooh, games, most definitely games," Sinn said, looking very much like he'd just caught himself a plump mouse. "Let's go." He grabbed Ninos's hand and led him through the milling crowd to where the game booths were located.
Ninos was trying hard not to simply stare like a dazzled halfwit, but…but it was Sinn. As a person. A beautiful, captivating person. How was it possible? 'Special magic' didn't really seem sufficient explanation, but he knew from experience that Sinn would not provide more explanation that he wanted.
Don't nitpick a gift was something he'd heard a thousand times growing up, usually from teachers who thought the slightest lenience was akin to a gift from a god.
Their first stop was a ring toss, the box behind the counter filled with green glass bottles tightly packed. He handed over a pell, and the booth woman handed them five rings. Sinn took them up, winked at him, and tossed the rings with a weird flick of his wrist that sent them spinning as they flew—and one after the other, they landed on the bottles.
"How did you do that!" Ninos almost stamped his foot. "We tried at least ten times and could never get a single ring. You did all five like it was nothing."
Sinn flicked his nose with a grin. "Mischief is my game, and where mischief dwells, I will always succeed."
The booth woman shook her head. "Mischief or not, that was genuinely impressive. Only seen a handful of people land all five." She motioned to the wall behind her. "Pick your prize, then."
Unlike the prizes at the circus he'd visited before, these prizes seemed real. Beautiful, valuable, worth earning and keeping. "You won, you pick," he said when Sinn started to speak, knowing exactly what he was going to say. "I'll pick the next one." What could possibly compare to seeing Sinn this way? The idea would have never crossed his mind, not in a hundred years, but here he was, so beautiful that it hurt to look at him and hurt more to look away.
After staring at the options entirely too long, Sinn finally settled on a pair of earrings, small gold hoops with tiny, glittering rubies in them. Ninos had never seen such jewelry, save for standing outside the jewelry shops looking in. This was rich people jewelry. If he walked into his mother's house wearing something so frivolous, she'd slap him and drag him by his ear to sell them so they could put the money to proper use.
Removing the earrings from the case, Sinn put one in his own ear, then the other in Ninos's, though he was absolutely certain his ears were not pierced. He'd always wanted to pierce them but had never been able to justify such a frivolity.
He reached up to touch it, the weight strange, much like having a vine rooted in his arms, though far less shocking. The matching one in Sinn's ear captured him. "What will happen to it when—"
"Guess we'll see," Sinn replied with a crooked smile. "Come on, lots to do yet. What game shall we try next?"
Ninos looked around the game area, overwhelmed by options until he settled on another one he'd never been able to beat. "Darts."
As before, Sinn won the game with shocking ease, as though the darts wanted to obey his every whim. He was beautiful to watch—always had been, but in human form he was something else again. Something breathtaking and enchanting, mysterious and unreachable. Ninos half-expected him to be snatched away by the wind, or for this to all be a figment of his imagination.
"All right," Sinn said with relish. "Pick your prize, little human."
Huffing without any real vexation at the epithet—endearment? No, that was absurd—Ninos looked over his options.
Plants. Whatever he'd been expecting, it wasn't plants. They were tiny things, growing in pots that could fit in the palm of his hand with room to spare. Each had a single flower blooming, like miniature versions of larger blooms. "They're beautiful, and adorable. How do you care for them?"
"As you would their larger versions, though I think perhaps your choice will settle in an unusual way…" She looked pointedly at his arm.
Ninos flushed and curled his right hand around his left arm protectively. "What do you mean?"
"Pick one," Sinn said, smirking smirking.
Huffing, Ninos said, "fine" and chose the miniature moss begonia, so called because the petals were the very color of new moss with darker green streaks through them, and similar to velvet in texture. Except these petals weren't green, somehow.
The woman handed the pot over. "I hope you continue to enjoy your time at the circus!"
"Thank you."
Away from the booth he examined the flower more closely. It was the palest pink, almost translucent in its delicateness, still with the distinctive green streaks of a moss begonia. He watched as Sinn removed it from the pot, gingerly pried the roots from the soil, and washed it all off with water. Then he took gentle hold of Ninos's left arm and lifted it, settled the flower at a point on his wrist that branched to wrap up his arm in two opposing directions now, a significant development from the thin, weak single strand he'd started with.
He gasped as he felt the begonia immediately take to the ivy, sinking into it, binding, becoming one. The flower already looked right at home, like it had just been waiting for him to show up.
"I would wager in a couple of weeks at most you'll have flowers the length of the vines."
"Begonias aren't climbing flowers."
"I guess this one is now. You're a human trellis."
"Apparently." Ninos shook his head faintly. "You pick the next game."
Sinn took hold of his right hand and practically dragged him off through three more games: a shooting game with a ridiculously small bow and arrow; a fish catching game with fish that seemed to be made of crystal and magic; and a coin toss game. The prizes for those were as equally wondrous as the first two. He wound up with a gold locket that had a jeweled bouquet of wildflowers on the front, a little travel box of spices that he couldn't wait to try on his slowly improving cooking…and a sketchbook and pencil, flawlessly made, the kind he could only stare at wistfully in the paper goods shop. He'd always made do with the school issue ones, drawing plants and flowers and more with a cheap pencil that was always breaking, or bits of charcoal smuggled out of the art room.
The very first thing he was going to draw and make notes on were the ivy and begonia attached to him. He couldn't wait to draw a new, better image of his mourning rose when he was finally able to retrieve it.
He'd also draw Sinn, raven and human, though he doubted he'd able to do human Sinn any justice with just his memory to rely on, as he couldn't do it now while they were at the circus.
They stopped at a little shop selling all sorts of goods so he could buy a bag to carry the spices and sketchbook, along with food and other tokens they bought as they frolicked across every corner of the circus.
By the time he was wrung out and too full to keep eating, with enough snacks to make his next several meals far more enjoyable, he wanted to sleep but also never leave.
"How about a ride and then we can go back to camp?" Sinn asked softly, drawing him in and draping an arm around his shoulders. It shouldn't have felt so warm and comforting, so safe . But almost from the start, Sinn had made him feel safe as his whole world was yanked out from under him.
"What ride did you have in mind?"
"The Grand Wheel of course," Sinn replied, sweeping his free arm out flamboyantly. "You seemed fond of it when you mentioned it before, and you know how much I love being high in the air."
Ninos laughed. "Can't argue with that. To the Grand Wheel! Lead the way, mouse eater."
The Grand Wheel lived up to its name, so called for its magnificent size and the fact that it could so easily turn and turn and turn, bearing the weight of carriages that could hold two people each. He and Kina—
No, he wouldn't keep thinking of him and taint this night that he would always hold precious in his memories. Long after it was over, after Sinn was gone to where he should be, and probably would not spare Ninos further thought.
Even if he'd been so kind and engaging all night, even if his arm was so warm and heavy across his shoulders, and his smile was more beautiful than even the finest, most perfect rose.
More than all that, it was so much fun seeing Sinn with a wider range of expression. Laughing, smiling, waving his arms, bowing and twirling. In some of those movements, he could see evidence of the raven he usually was, the waving of his arms in the flap of his wings. The way he tilted his head, so much like when he was a raven. His light, easy step so reminiscent of his delicate hops.
And always that smirk, an air of that mischief he valued so fiercely. It was probably for the best he was only human for the night, because Ninos was already dangerously, stupidly fond of him and he could easily become addicted to this version.
The line for the Grand Wheel was long, but it moved surprisingly quickly, and in what seemed like only a few short minutes they were being waved into a carriage painted in vivid red and green stripes, trimmed in gold at the door and along the top.
Though he wasn't petrified of heights like many of his classmates, he was still nervous enough as they climbed higher and higher to move a little closer to Sinn, keep hold of his hand.
Beyond the confines of their carriage, paused at the top for the view, the stars were crystal clear, more colors than he would ever be able to count. Far below, visible as shadows of varying darkness, was the forest they'd walked through, and he thought he could just see the glint of the campfire he'd stupidly forgotten to put out.
Sinn let go of his hand, but before Ninos could be hurt or ask why, he'd draped his arm over Ninos's shoulders again, pulling him closer still. That scent was stronger than ever, rain lily and green, something familiar about it, but the memory slipped away before he could catch it.
"What do you think?" Sinn asked, voice a deep rumble in his ear, making Ninos shiver.
"I have no words. You get all of this every day?"
"From higher up, even. I admit the sight never grows old, though there are certainly benefits to this form. Sometimes, I—" He broke off, shook his head.
Though Ninos ached to know what he was going to say, he didn't push, only rested his head against Sinn's shoulder and enjoyed the view for as long as they had it.
When the ride finally came to an end, Ninos was left bereft. This was a night, a moment, he would never get again, a night he had never expected.
He also had a feeling he was growing entirely too fond of his familiar, in a way he wasn't supposed to, and even if it was permitted, he could not forget that Sinn wasn't meant for him. He was beautiful, witty, cunning, so wickedly smart. He should be perched on the shoulder of some great dark mage, not mucking about with wheat and flowers.
They walked arm in arm back through the circus, the crowd much smaller than it had been, many people headed the same way they were.
Dread and heartache filled Ninos as they reached the beautiful red, white, and gold archway. This side said Farewell Travelers and farewell was the very last thing he wanted to do now. He would take Sinn however he could have him, but seeing human, reachable and touchable, so big and vibrant, and knowing once he left, he would never have that again? Devastating. xv
They could not remain here hidden from the world forever, though, the same way he could not spend his entire life at school.
So onward they walked, until they reached the archway, where Sinn stopped him, resting a hand against his cheek. "This was a lovely evening, little human. Thank you."
Ninos nodded, not trusting himself to speak, all the words that might slip out.
Sinn lifted his hands and kissed the back of each one, and then tugged him through the archway back out into their world—and with a rush of magic and glittering smoke, he was once more a raven perched on Ninos's shoulder.
Around one leg was his earring, a tiny little bracelet now, the rubies the same beautiful red as his eyes.
Shoving down all the words and feelings that shouldn't be there, Ninos mustered up a smile. "Shall we return to camp? I think I left the campfire burning and that is the one thing you are not supposed to do."
Sinn flapped his wings and picked at his hair. It's fine. I told you the forest would let nothing happen. Let's go, little human. You need rest, because the journey is only going to get more difficult from here.