The walk back to the castle was enjoyable as well. Elswyth still had a hold of his hand as they walked together. He didn't really mind. It was just something she did. He wasn't entirely sure why, maybe it was just the sort of person she was that she felt like she could keep a better eye on him that way.
He had decided against saying anything. Besides, though he tried not to think about it, he kinda liked holding a girl's hand that wasn't his sister's.
Not that he considered Elswyth really in that way. He wasn't really looking for a wife yet or anything. Of course he knew that someday he would have to find one, but… not yet.
He just sort of liked the feel of her hand in his. That's all. It certainly wasn't as soft as his sister's hand. It had callouses on the fingers from fingering her bow string. But it was smaller than his. Not by much, mostly just because his hands were not as big as some other men's hands. They were slenderer too, almost but not quite femininely so.
He had no idea what he was even thinking anymore.
It was silly really. He just about laughed at himself over how silly he was being.
They took a shortcut to get back to the castle, through one of the many alleys that crisscrossed the city. The alley was a bit narrow, but they could squeeze to still walk side by side. Though that had the consequence of brushing against each other.
Heron tried to be as polite as possible and did not say a word about it. But he really couldn't help noticing. It felt… nice.
Which embarrassed him that he found the sensation pleasant. It wasn't a very gentlemanly thought. He was a bit ashamed of himself.
So, he was somewhat relieved when he was distracted when some thief decided to try to rob them.
The thief was a lanky human male. He came out of the shadows and tried to get Heron's money pouch. The most surprising thing to Heron was that Elswyth was startled by it. He had always thought her as being alert.
He jumped back and a simple spell left his mouth. The man froze as the spell bound him in place.
Elswyth looked at him, then said, "Useful trick. Come on."
They left the man there. The spell would eventually wear off. Because thievery was not actually outlawed in Jarenkul they did not have to do anything else. Just simply guarding themselves was good enough.
Jarenkul was weird. Heron pressed his lips together. But he actually kinda liked how free everyone was.
"You really can cast spells easier now you have a familiar," Elswyth said as she took his hand again.
"Yep. Kimp makes it so much easier." Heron said, as he felt his snake slithering down his arm.
It peeked its head out of his sleeve and flicked its tongue towards the ranger girl. She just glanced at the snake a few inches from her hand.
"You'd better not bite me, Mr. Snake." She said. "Or, familiar or not, I'll let Sun eat you."
The snake just flicked its tongue at her before slithering to her wrist. It seemed faintly curios.
Then it slithered back to Heron's wrist and encircled his wrist, but it laid its head against the back of his hand as it continued tasting the air with its tongue.
"Did you really just threaten my familiar?" Heron asked Elswyth.
"I don't particularly want to deal with poison. And familiars are supposed to be smarter than the average animal, right?"
Heron just dropped it. But he hoped that Kimp would not bite her. Ever. For several reasons.
It didn't take much more time to get back to the palace, but it was supper time so they headed to the dining hall.
Serendiah and Kur were waiting for them, as they talked together. It was quite obvious just looking at the two just how close they were.
Heron chatted with his fellow wizard about books as they ate. He was very thankful they were becoming pretty good friends. He still felt closer to Elswyth of course, but at least he felt extremely comfortable with the wizard. And Kur was becoming more comfortable with him as well. (He still would sometimes lapse into an awkward silence but it was better now)