The flute and the bard part 9

a continuation of part 8

Kiria drank some water, laid on her side and fell asleep. She woke up when the wagon was moving and Erika was gone. Sitting up, Kiria saw Morgan and Erika sitting at the Helm as she rubbed her head, groaning, the hang-over hitting her like a train. Her ears fell flat on her head as she soothed her headache and reached for a bottle of water.

"Hey there sleepy head," Erika said, turning to snicker at her friend. 

"You were out for two days straight," Morgan chimed in.

 "Does anyone have a comb?" Kiria asks as Erika reaches into the bag and hands her one, saying nothing and keeping silent. As Kiria takes the comb, sparks flickered between them and Erika winced while Kiria jumped back with fear filled eyes and ears suddenly at high alert and pointed up. 

"Hey, you okay, Kit?” Erika asks, looking worried while her concerned voice begins to ease Kiria down.
"K-Kit? Where did that name come from?" Erika smirked as they both calmed down.

"It just felt right," Erika got up and walked to Kiria at the back of the wagon and reached out to move a piece of hair out her face as Kiria blushed.

"Wait, what are you-" Before Kiria could finish Erika clips a cute hair clip made by her and clips the side of Kiria's hair. The hair clip had a kitsune aesthetic with 9 tiny tails and a mask holding the tails to the clip with a Yellow flower painted on the top left of the mask, the shade being the same shade of yellow as Erika's hair

“Your eyes are beautiful… so please don't hide from showing them" Erika whispered with a genuine tone in her voice, and looked Kiria in the eyes. Kiria turned away flustered and rubbed her cheeks trying to suppress these feelings of interest. 

“Also, quit keeping your head down, your face is pretty enough to meet the sun” Erika said poetically as Morgan smirked, eavesdropping on them. Kiria tried to speak

“Uh… I-I”

“Hey love birds!” Morgan shouted from the helm. “We’re almost in the next town.” Kira lowered her head again, as a pink hue covered her face. Erika came closer and gently lifted her chin up as the sun’s rays shined down on both of them. Erika gently smiled and admired Kiria in the sunlight, Kiria pulled away and hugged Erika as they stood in silent bliss in one another's arms under the sun as Morgan pulled into the new town. 

Morgan pulled into the town and headed to an inn. Once there, she exited the wagon to check on the horse as Erika and Kiria stepped out shortly after to see the bustling crowds. 

“We’re gonna explore, okay?!” Erika yelled back to Morgan as she walked off and Kiria ran to catch up. 

“More like a date you mean…” Morgan muttered to herself as she brought their horse to the barn next to the inn and went to go check in a room for them.

“So, where are we?” Kiria asked like an unknown child.

“Oh, we’re in Hail-Fall, a neighboring town to the one we were just at,” Erika explained proudly like a knowing tour guide. Kiria nodded and walked with Erika.

“So you've been here before?” Kira asked as they walked as Erika nodded proudly

“Mhm!”  Erika led Kira to the harbor where many traders, and vendors rested and treated.

“Have you ever fought?”  Erika asked while resting her head on her arms she held behind her head.

“What, no…” Kiria denied as Erika pushed.

“Yeah huh, I can tell.” 

“Hey, you big meanie! What do you mean “I can tell”?! What are you trying to say?!” Kiria asked back, getting worked up over the remark. Erika shrugged as the hairs in Kira's ears stuck up as she sped walked past Erika to a weapons vendor. As Erika caught up she looked down to the many weapon selections.

The vendor smirked, unbeknownst to either of the girls planning a scam but unknowing to him he held a priceless fortune. Kiria reached for a pair of dull looking twin daggers and asked calmly,

“How much?” The vendor grunted in annoyance hoping Kiria would have chosen a more lavish looking blade, but the vendor demands 2 small gold coins with a cunning grin, planning to make some profit.

“Are you kidding me, that’s such a scam! This guy isn’t fooling anybody!” Erika argues. To no avail, Kiria handed the 2 golden coins in a blink of an eye and walked away humming with a smile on her face as Erika scolded her pointlessly.

“What the hell Kit, you so got ripped off.  Those dull pieces of scrap are not worth it, do you know how many better things you could have bought with two coins?”

Kiria smirked and held the blade covered by in her hands, pulling a secret handle to expose the true blade.

“A blade freshly generated from a dungeon” Kiria said smugly and did the same to the other dagger to show off both blades of the daggers.

“You cheeky little… you’re so lucky,” Erika scoffed and chuckled while walking. “So why did you pick up a pair of daggers?” Kira shrugged and stuffed them into her bag

“Just felt like they were calling me”

Kiria walked ahead looking and turning around as Erika followed close behind, admiring her.

“So Kiria, have you umm…” Erika started while Kiria looked back puzzled. 

“What?” Kiria walked slowly backwards while looking at Erika

“Love” Erika said as Kiria accidentally walked into a woman in the crowd. A box of fragile glass dropped and the woman processed what happened. As Kiria turned around and apologized profusely, the woman's eyes filled with rage as she glared directly at Kiria.

“Y- you little… Do you know how much that cost me!?” Kiria profusely apologized, but the woman gritted and demanded compensation.

“You’re going to pay me back, damn it you little-”

“But I don't have anything!” Kiria countered. The woman back handed Kiria across the cheek as Kiria dropped clutching her stinging cheek. Erika reached back for her harp as Kiria held out an arm to get Erika to back down.

“You have to believe me miss, I-I really don't have anything that’s of value,” Kiria whined. The woman snatched Kiria’s flute from her back.

“You sure about that sweetheart?” The woman smirked with greed “Pretty nice instrument you have here hun” 

“No! Y-you can’t!” Kiria said as Erika watched with gritted teeth.

Author's Note

major shout out to my editor jewels, also sorry for my hiatus

Reviews

[Lilith]

This is so good, I'm sad I'm already caught up 😭!! I can't wait for more in the future! :) (from someone you totally don't know muehehe)

[Marie Kinnett]

this was really good and welcome back.