I wanted to let out my usual dismissive sigh and milk her very full coin pouch, but her smile had a way of drawing you in. It didn’t help that she looked a few years too young to be traveling. It made me want to pinch her cheeks instead of taking her coin.
Maybe she was one of those nice nobles that I keep hearing about but never meet. I returned the smile before leaning over to see who was keeping her alive and fed. I tilted my head slightly to see a gruff man standing behind her, just far enough to feign ignorance. He carried himself like a predator, scanning the area for threats. He wore a red hunting cap to block the sun, and a drab winter jacket that looked like it had seen better days. He was also armed to the teeth. I spotted at least two axes, a sword, and several guns at first glance. Didn’t help the intimidation factor that he casually carried two backpacks of gear. He looked old enough to be my dad too, if my dad had spent the next year buying guns and wrestling bears for a living. Had the same nice tan too.
“Of course we have rooms with two beds. How many nights?” I asked, but it was a formality.
She probably could afford any number of nights. As she looked up at me, I gasped. I could see her eyes now, and they were beyond words. Her eyes were a dazzling silver, otherworldly and ethereal.
I almost felt my jaw drop, taken aback by how beautiful they were. They were jeweled diamonds compared to regular eyes and surrounded by tiny motes of light. Each eye was a container for a single shimmering star, and they were looking right up at me.
Her soothing voice returned me to reality. “Hello? Are you all right?”
I quickly tore myself from her gaze. Oh, that would be the absolute worst conversation starter. Hi, I think your eyes are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Please let me stare into your eyeballs because I have no reference point for pretty things.
I felt my voice stuttering as I tried to get a grip. “Y-Yeah. It’ll be six gold a night unless you need something else.” She didn’t even seem to notice the accidental stutter, nor my flushed cheeks. It was better that way.
“Would we be able to get night service?”
“Nine gold a night.”
She reached into her coin pouch and placed nine gold coins in my hand. I could see the man behind her shaking his head in disappointment. I only gave a knowing smile, trying to placate him before returning to business. Three gold was murder for room service.
I reached behind me and grabbed key number seven and a copper bell, and placed them on the counter. We did overcharge for room service, but the only people who wanted room service were the fancy nobles. Just one of my mother’s many schemes.
“Rooms are up the stairs; yours is further down the hall to the left. Have a nice stay!” My smile came easy, but for her it was effortless.
She returned it with the tactical precision of a trained strategist, if one existed for happiness.
“Thank you!” Her joyous announcement brought my heart to a flutter as I did my best to ignore it. I’d have to try really hard to forget them. With that the two of them were off to their rooms.
I sighed as I slammed my head against the counter. She was going to be the most interesting thing to happen this entire month. Fun story too, though in three months they wouldn’t believe me. Some noble with silver eyes came over. Stayed at our place and made me blush by staring at me. They were just so pretty!
It was a bittersweet reminder that while being an innkeeper was exciting at times, most of it was dull and boring. My family owned the local inn; a mainstay of our little village. We had a restaurant downstairs for the fall season and rooms for the summer. Nobody went nor stayed in winter. Even we locked the place up and left.
Everything was worn down; we always had at least one cursed chair that never stopped creaking, and one floorboard that was booby-trapped. Luckily Dad was good at knowing what needed repairs and Mom was an impressive cook. That way it didn’t matter what was about to fall apart. Things always got fixed before they broke, and good food was always on the house.
At the moment, Mom and Dad were out grabbing groceries for later. Locals liked the restaurant, so we kept it open throughout the fall (even if it didn’t profit us much). Winter was coming fast, and soon the travelers would dry up. Hell, the travelers were already drying up. Rumor was that an early winter was coming, which would mean another year where we scraped by.
I stared into a small hand mirror and wondered. How should I introduce myself? With a simple ‘Hi, my name is Charlotte’ or with something more elegant? Does my fluffy dark-yellow ball of hair compare to hers? Should I wear a dress or my usual heavy fall wear? More importantly, why did I care so much?
I leaned against the table to glance deeper into the mirror, admiring my own bronzed physique. Definitely not a dress body, but maybe she’s got a thing for amber eyes?
Then I frowned. Nope, still looked like a monster. Stupid mirror was being stupid, but it wasn’t like there was anything else to do! I had at least three hours of bored waiting left.
There was a soft ringing of a bell from upstairs as I shot up in excitement. Yes! Stuff to do! I quickly placed a “Will be back” sign on the front counter and raced upstairs. To my surprise, I found the door to room number seven open. Guess they were still settling down?
I carefully tiptoed around the squeaky floorboards, hoping to not disturb anyone. The furniture consisted of a large wooden table we got for free from one of the carpenter’s kids, a smaller wooden table that we bought, a wardrobe that got stuck whenever it felt like it, and two beds. Apart from the furniture, there was still plenty of room. Oh, and a pair of decent chairs. “Decent” is the best kind of chair in this inn.
The girl was sitting on one of our decent chairs, overlooking a map while the man stood beside her, his arms crossed. He had his eyes closed; soft breaths as he waited for her to finish. Then the girl raised her head—gosh, her eyes looked even prettier without the hood—and a smile crept over her face. It made me feel like money, seeing her beam at my arrival.
“Question.” Her chirpy voice made everything she said sound like they were coming out of an excitable child.
“Do you know where we could find a local guide?”
I thought about what the rest of the day would look like. Waiting for my parents to get back. Being bored out of my mind. Staring all day into a mirror while polishing the wine glasses for the fifth time. Another half-assed conversation about how the winter chill was creeping in early this year. Being bored out of my mind.
“I can guide you two if you want. Inn’s pretty quiet right now,” I offered as the burly man opened his eyes.
The two of them exchanged looks for several tense seconds. When he finally agreed, she answered back with a delighted nod.
“Sure!”
* * * *
I locked up the inn and proceeded to give the two of them a tour of the town. The young noble introduced herself as Aria, and her bodyguard as Caen. Luckily, giving a guided tour meant that there were lots of opportunities to not stare longingly into Aria’s eyes and weird her out.
We held a number of festivals throughout the year, and we happened to stumble into one. Even though the Harvest Festival was the day before, most of the banners and colored hay were still lying there. While the scene was normal for me, I could see Aria’s white eyes shining with delight as she soaked in the sights. Her childlike wonder cheered me right up.
I took care to introduce each location and give it a little bit of context; everything from our haunted, abandoned apothecary to our grand town hall. Aria soaked up every little detail while Caen looked like he wanted to be anywhere else.
“Sorry to interrupt, but what festival occurred yesterday?” she wondered out loud as I paused in my introduction of our local church. I don’t think she noticed, but she had attracted a small following of village boys.
They clamored to see this exotic stranger with her white hair and sparkling eyes. Also, she was short and pretty. Any short and pretty girl got doted on here, especially if they were from out of town.
“Well, we had the Harvest Festival yesterday, though this year we had to have it a bit earlier. Normally it would be a week or two later.”
For the first time that day, I saw Aria frown. Her eyes were focused on the church, almost analyzing it’s architecture and design. It didn’t last long, though, as her expression brightened again when she noticed the church was empty. I’ve never seen someone smiling at our abandoned church before.
“It’s a shame that we missed the festival. Next time I’ll be sure to stop by earlier!” She seemed excited at the prospect, right before she spotted the growing crowd of admirers.
