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The lace curtains flowed in the cool, salt-scented Nicodrani breeze. From his room at the Lavish Chateau, Caleb couldn’t see the ocean (unless he leaned out the window really far and looked to the left, which frankly was a bit dangerous), but the smell of water and seaweed and the feel of salt on the air was ever-present.
They had come for a bit of downtime after completing a somewhat shady job for the Gentleman in Zadash, where it had rained the entire two weeks. The Mighty Nein all jumped at the chance to enjoy some seaside sun after all the damp. And they had nothing pressing to attend to at the moment.
Caleb wasn’t sure exactly where his friends were. Fjord had said something about a fishing excursion, Beau and Yasha were probably canoodling somewhere… but Caleb had shut himself up with two new spells to transcribe into his book.
There was a knock at the door, an insistent pounding that let him know who it was instantly. A small smile pulled up his mouth even as he rolled his eyes at the interruption. “Ja, Jester, come in,”
She bounced into the room, horn jewelry tinkling. “Hallooooo Caaaaleb!” Her joy at being home in Nicodranas was infectious. Jester fit in so well in the coastal city. Caleb could not imagine her living anywhere else and being half so happy.
He turned and greeted her properly. “Hallo yourself, Jester. Is that a new dress?”
She spun in a happy circle, showing off her new clothes. “Of course you would notice, Caleb! The best part about being in Nicodranas is that they have the best shopping. Also Mama lives here. And the beach is great too. But also! Are you busy right now? I have somewhere I want to show you! You are going to love it, I saw it and I thought to myself, I have to bring Caleb here, he would be so excited!”
Caleb blinked at the onslaught of words. “Um, I am a little bit busy, I am working on this transcription, but if it’s important, then-“
“Oh no, Caleb! I can wait!” She sat down on his bed and started making herself comfortable.
“Ah, well, it will take me a few more hours, these are pretty complex. But I should be finished with these by tomorrow.” He coughed nervously, trying to will his face to stay calm. “How about we, ah, make it a date?”
As soon as the words were out of his mouth he regretted them. Sure, maybe he had been wanting to ask her, and maybe he had selfishly and stupidly hoped that maybe she would say yes. But Gods, a date, he hadn’t been on a real date in almost twenty years.
However, the way her whole being lit up when he asked her… He was reminded of a night on the Balleater when on a late watch, he had laid on his back on the deck and watched the stars roll by, seemingly close enough to run his fingers through the glittering expanse.
“Yes, yes, let’s make it a date! I am so excited!” She bounced up from the bed, grinning widely. “You better treat me right, Caleb, it’s my first date! Well my sort of first date. First official date!”
And she exited the room before he could respond.
—
“Come on, Caleb, come on!”
Jester pulled Caleb’s hand forward, urging him to move faster. He wasn’t deliberately going slow, certainly not, he was merely trying to enjoy the walk. It had nothing to do with getting her to give him that exasperated, fond smile. She had tentatively placed her fingers into his a while earlier, and he admitted to himself that he rather liked holding her hand.
They were on a date, after all. Isn’t this what people did on dates? Hold hands?
You bring flowers to a date, that much he remembered. And so, before they had left, he had presented her a small bunch of flowers, vibrant red and orange ranunculus he had found in the hills just outside of town. She had spent a happy few minutes twining them into her hair before they left the Chateau. The blooms were now caught in her braids around her head like a fiery crown.
Caleb was definitely not allowing himself to dwell on how nicely the colors of the flowers complemented her dark blue hair and skin.
“Here it is!” Jester proclaimed. She pointed to a small building, between a millinery on one side and a sewing goods store on the other. A large sign read:
The Dancing Cat
There was a painting of a black cat wearing a jaunty top hat on the door, which was closed. The wide windows on either side of the door showed that there were only a couple other patrons inside. But what caught Caleb’s attention the most were the two calico cats sunning themselves in the window. And as he looked, there seemed to be more cats inside.
“It’s called a cat cafe! You can get tea and snacks and play with kitties! And they adopt the cats out, too, which is pretty cool. I thought you would like it because, well, cats are your favorite animal, so…” she trailed off, blushing.
Caleb squeezed her hand a little. “This looks wonderful, Jester. Shall we go inside?”
The inside was warm and bright. There was a small counter at the back where a humanoid woman wearing a headband with cat ears on it was preparing drinks and snacks. There were small round tables, soft armchairs, colorful cushions, and on the walls were a maze of shelves for the cats to climb on.
Caleb left Jester at the counter to order for them, where an older tabby cat with white toes and a white chest presided with a dignified air.
He wandered to the end of the room, and sat down on a cushion to allow a round gray cat to sniff his knuckle. He was so busy with the owl-faced feline that he didn’t realize that Jester had reappeared until he heard a small giggle.
“I didn’t realize that you already had a date for today, Caleb, do I need to be jealous of her?”
“Well,” he replied, still scratching the cat’s chin, “first I think this is a little boy cat, but also he and I are just friends, so.” Jester held out a mug of steamy tea, which Caleb took with his unoccupied hand.
“So are you implying that we are more than just friends?” Her eyebrows waggled. Caleb choked on his tea and Jester laughed. “I’m teasing! I’m just teasing! But was this a good idea? Isn’t this place great?”
Still red-faced and spluttering, he managed to say, “It was an excellent idea, danke.”
They stayed for another hour or so, playing with the cats. At one point, Jester found a large black and white cat chasing after the ribbon tied around her own tail, which got a laugh out of Caleb. He wished he could draw as well as she did, just so he could capture the look on her face when the cat first batted at her tail.
The end of their visit found them sitting close to each other on two cushions on the floor. A very small gray cat was curled up on Jester’s lap, and one of the calicos from the window had claimed Caleb’s. He had a soft smile on his face as he gently stroked her fur.
Jester very slowly lowered her head so it was resting on Caleb’s shoulder. It was a very soft touch. Caleb stiffened momentarily. Even after so long, physical touch was still hard for him both to accept and to give. And from Jester… well.
He took a long breath in through his nose and focused on scratching the calico’s spine. After a moment, he relaxed into her touch and she hummed softly, allowing her head to rest more heavily on his shoulder and snuggling a little closer to him. Honestly it was nice having her there. It was comfortable. Gentle. They stayed for a long moment like that.
“I like this little cat,” remarked Jester. “I should adopt her. She could live in my hood with Sprinkle, what do you think?”
“I think Sprinkle would not like the competition,” responded Caleb. “And there might not be enough room for both of them.”
Jester sighed. “Yeah, that is a good point, I suppose. But we should probably be getting back soon, I know everyone wanted to meet for lunch today. And we should probably change out of these clothes or else Fjord will literally die from all this cat fur.”
Caleb didn’t want to leave. This date was like a dream, like reading a chapter of a book, like living someone else’s life. It was like a shard of timeline seen when he looked at the Beacon. He was surrounded by cats and sunshine. He was on an actual date with the woman he loved. And the curve of her head fit so nicely on his shoulder.
As he shifted to start getting up, the cat turned her head and glared at him with glass-green eyes. “Verzeihung, schönes katze,” he told it. “We have to go now, though. Will you get off my lap?”
Jester had already thrown a cloth toy mouse for her friend to chase, and another cat joined in the attack over the toy. “Oh. My. Gosh. I just had the funniest idea, Caleb. What if I polymorphed right now into a cat, the cats would freak out, it would be hilarious!
Chuckling at the thought, Caleb pointed at a sign on the wall that read, “Absolutely NO Polymorph Allowed!”
“Oh man! That’s no fun.” Jester pouted a little as she helped Caleb up from the floor.
“It would have been very funny, though, you are right.”
“Next time we should bring Caduceus, he can talk to animals, kind of! And Yasha would have a lot of fun too I think!”
They left the cafe, making sure to pay their respects to the tabby on the counter. Out in the fresh air, Caleb reached for Jester’s hand. “We should… ah… we should do this again, maybe.”
“What? Come back to the cat cafe?” She batted her eyelashes over wide eyes. Caleb had the distinct feeling that she was playing dumb. Her mother was the top courtesan in all Wildemount, surely she knew what he was asking. Was she really going to make him say it? Out loud? On this busy street?
“Oh, maybe, or, um, you know. Somewhere else. Just, ah… another date. I’d like to take you on another date. If you want to.”
He could feel his face turning red down into his collar. Gods, why was this so embarrassing? She was going to turn him down, here it comes. Ich denke, wir sollten nur Freunde sein. Oh no.
His heart skipped a beat, or two or three, when Jester squeezed his hand and stood on tiptoe to plant a small kiss on his cheek. “I’d like that. I’d like that a lot. You plan the next one, though!”