Chapter Text
The next day, when the sun reached its highest point in the sky, Ruby found herself in a sensible pair of trousers and a shirt (she had wanted to wear one of her new dresses, but she decided this was probably not the correct occasion), standing on the edge of the crowds that thronged the market square.
Nobody paid the little tiefling any mind at all. It was what Ruby was best at after all, blending in, becoming invisible.
Everyone did, however, notice the tall, blue haired, blue skinned one wearing what was probably her plainest dress, but still outshone anyone who walked anywhere near her. Ruby thought she looked incredibly pretty.
She was followed by a tall elven man, blond haired, and blue eyed, who smiled at every person he walked past.
Amity seemed nervous. She held her head high, and smiled at the vendors in the stalls, and the customers on the street, but she fidgeted with the rings on her fingers too often for her to be comfortable.
“Hello there, Amity!”
The taller girl jumped at Ruby’s voice, but her shock quickly dissolved into laughter as Ruby curtseyed daintily, taking her hand and pressing her lips to her knuckles, in an elaborate gesture that had both of them blushing.
“Goodness, Ruby. You scared me for a moment there!”
Ruby beamed.
“Well, it’s one of my many talents, Amity.”
Still laughing, she shook her head.
“I know, I know. Have you seen anything that’s caught your eye yet?”
“You know,” Ruby grinned, gleeful. “It’s funny you should ask!”
She grabbed Amity’s hand, and hauled the blushing girl through the crowds, telling her about the dresses and knives she had eyed while waiting.
Ruby left the market with a beaming grin and an armful of dresses, and Amity left gingerly inspecting a knife that Ruby insisted she buy, with the promise to teach her how to use it.
“Are you sure that I, uh, need a weapon?” She had asked as Ruby haggled with the vendor.
“Yes.” Ruby told her firmly. “Everyone should be able to defend themselves, and princesses who live in castles are no different. You can’t always rely on elvish guys to scare off people who want to hurt you!”
She gestured to the elf standing in the shadows behind them, and he nodded at her with a vague look of respect on his face.
“I’m not a princess. And I don’t live in a castle!” Amity told her affronted, taking the knife.
Ruby just laughed at her.
The knife was a nice one. It was small enough, but the hilt of it was embedded with small red and blue stones, and although the vendor insisted they were rubies and sapphires, Ruby doubted their legitimacy. She had managed to get the price down to something reasonable, although it was still far more than she would ever consider spending on herself.
She’s starting to understand finally why people get so hung up on this whole ‘romance’ thing.
— — — — — —
Back at Amity’s house, she insisted on introducing Ruby to her parents, and after much wheedling on Amity’s part, she reluctantly agreed to it.
And it wasn’t as bad as she was expecting.
Amity’s father was an upbeat, cheerful man, despite his stern face. He shook Ruby’s hand with a jovial grin hidden beneath his, frankly impressive, moustache. He laughed loudly at her awkwardness, before leaving swiftly to ‘run some errands’.
Her mother was taller than he was, with long, cold, thin fingers, that held Ruby’s like they were blades. Her voice was fake, and her voice airy, and aloof, her eyes big and blue.
She scared Ruby.
In the privacy of Amity’s room, Ruby taught her the basics of knife duelling, how to disarm and how to hurt. She stood next to her for the duration of their lesson, and if she corrected her grip more times than needed, that was nobody's business but hers.
When Ruby had officially declared Amity ‘adequate’ at duelling, the two flopped across her bed, side by side, their knuckles brushing.
“Ruby?”
“Hm?”
“Do you, uhm.” Amity inhaled, before rushing out in one breath: “Do you ever think about romance? And, you know, marriage and stuff?”
Ruby froze.
“I—No. Not really. I’m not sure. I’ve never had time for it.”
“Oh.”
Silence fell upon the two, a little awkward, and Ruby’s throat felt dry. She swallowed and blurted out:
“But I’m not opposed to it or anything, see? I would love to experience it someday, maybe, but I have just never truly thought about it, and, I don’t—I don’t know.”
Amity laughed, high, strained and a little nervous.
“I understand that. My dad keeps pushing for me to find myself a ‘suitable partner’.”
She made air quotes with her fingers as she said the words, obvious disdain in her voice. She sounded more irritated than Ruby had ever heard her, and she wanted to reach out, and put a hand on her cheek and tell her everything would be okay. She didn’t though. She didn’t have the courage for that.
“And he thinks that a suitable partner is some blond haired pixie boy, or something, and I don’t know how to tell him that I think a suitable partner is a red haired tiefling girl, and—”
She cut herself off abruptly.
“Nevermind.”
Ruby took a moment to process Amity’s bitter rant before she opened her mouth and said:
“But I’m a red haired tiefling girl.”
Amity laughed again, more frantic this time.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to suggest that I, like, like you or anything. That would be stupid.”
Ruby rolled over onto her stomach and sat up on her elbows. Amity was blushing furiously, a deep blue colour staining her cheeks and neck. A small furrow had dug itself between her brows, and Ruby, without thinking, leaned over and rubbed it away gently with her thumb.
“Can I kiss you?”
Amit’s eyes widened, and her mouth parted, with nothing but a small squeak leaving it. After one, two, three seconds of silence, Ruby made an impatient noise and ducked down to press their lips firmly together.
And, oh Gods, she was kissing someone. Not only that, she was kissing Amity. Her stomach did that weird thing again, where it dipped and jumped at the same time, and she didn’t exhale or inhale, because she was afraid of making Amity uncomfortable.
Eventually, the lack of oxygen started to become an issue, so she separated herself from Amity, and sat up beside her.
It was probably a bad kiss, in retrospect. Ruby hasn’t had much experience. But sitting next to Amity, who has buried her blazing, grinning face into a pillow, the girl who Ruby had just kissed, Ruby can’t help but let herself be incredibly happy.