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The noise of the festival flooded the city streets. Most of the adventuring party was enjoying the festivities, but Gale was starting to feel a bit tired. He looked around to see if any of his comrades might also be ready to head back to the inn, and that was when he saw Addie, the party leader, the love of his life, with her hands clamped firmly over her pointed ears and her tail lashing wildly, repeatedly smacking her own legs.
“Are you all right?” Gale winced, realizing right as he spoke how stupid he’d just sounded. It was patently obvious at a glance that Addie was not all right. She was trying to put on a brave face, but if her lashing tail and hands over the ears weren’t making her distress obvious enough, the tears welling up in her magenta eyes definitely were.
Addie nodded, then shook her head.
“Why don’t we head back to the inn?” Gale offered.
Addie nodded. “I’ll go.” She wasn’t fully crying yet, but the waver in her voice showed that she was dangerously close to it. “You don’t have to come with me. I don’t want to ruin your night.”
“The only thing that would ruin my night would be to see you in distress and do nothing to help you,” Gale insisted. “I’m ready to retire for the evening anyway.”
“Okay.” Addie let Gale lead her back to the inn. Thankfully, no one bothered them as they made their way inside, up the steps, and into one of the two rooms the party had booked. (There simply wasn’t enough space to fit all of them in a single room, so they’d reluctantly paid for two. Addie had suggested they save themselves the money and just camp outside city limits rather than booking any rooms at all, but the rest of the party had thought she was joking.)
With the noise of the streets muffled by the inn’s walls, Addie finally removed her hands from her ears, kicked her boots off, and sat down hard on one of the beds. “I’m sorry,” she muttered, a few tears escaping from her eyes.
Gale removed his own boots and sat down next to her. “You have nothing to be sorry about,” he assured her. “If anything, I should be the one apologizing for not noticing that you were troubled sooner.”
Addie took a deep, shaky breath. “I just don’t like cities,” she admitted. “There’s too many people, and they all make so much noise at once. It’s like my ears are getting hit with every weapon at the same time.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I guess that’s part of why I became a ranger. Growing up in Baldur’s Gate, the noise was too much a lot of the time, so I’d wander outside the city and just get lost in the woods on purpose.” She managed a slight smile at the memory. “My parents used to freak out about it a lot, but eventually they figured out I could take care of myself out there, and I’d always make my way back home.”
Outside, someone started setting off fireworks, and the noise of the crowds grew even louder.
Addie winced. “Did I mention I hate cities?” Her voice began to waver again.
Gale wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Unless you can make this stupid festival quiet down, all you can really do is just be here, I guess.” Addie leaned gratefully into Gale’s side. “I don’t know if I can get any sleep at all with this cacophony outside, but I should probably try.”
“That is actually something I can help with.” Gale’s voice brightened. “I can’t stop the festivities, obviously, but I can at least prevent them from bothering us for now.” He spoke a quick incantation, and the room was silent.
“Thank you,” Addie mouthed as she lay down.
Gale smiled and lay down beside her. “Think nothing of it,” he mouthed. “I love you.”
Addie’s lip-reading skills weren’t exactly refined, but judging by her smile, she’d gotten the gist of it. “I love you,” she mouthed back, snuggling up to Gale.
Gale maintained concentration on his spell until he was sure Addie was asleep. She stirred slightly when he let the spell fade, but it wasn’t enough to wake her.
“Sweet dreams, Addie,” Gale whispered, letting himself gaze at her for a moment before he closed his own eyes and drifted off to sleep by her side.