Somehow, Olivia's arm had ended up interlocked with Sir Aaron's by the time they had stepped out of the Keep's courtyard and onto the streets of the Noble District. It was weird, seeing it from the angle, seeing it again. It almost made her feel like a child, staring up at the smallest of things and believing they were huge. A few quiet steps ahead later, and Olivia got used to it. After Sir Aaron's teasing, Olivia had made it her mission to not speak to him, and instead take in the city around her.
The houses were quite tall, most of them being two stories high. They had wooden frames, and stone walls. A few of the homes had stained glass sat in their windows, candles glowing bright from the inside. A woman came out of one of the houses, dressed in a flowing green, satin gown. The belt wrapped across her waist was silver, and jewels dangled from chains that hooped around her body. The woman disappeared into the bustling town center. Olivia's eyes followed her, and then pulled from her to take in what seemed to be a festivity.
In the middle, the statue of Kim was covered in fairy lights and flowers. The fairy lights twisted around her body and into the middle of her cupped hands, where they pulled from her body and shot out into several different directions around the town center. As they stepped into the town center, Olivia noticed on her right a crowd of people dressed head to toe in fine garments were gathered around a mat where a woman was dancing. She wore a shirt that reached just above her stomach, and pants that, even when hanging low on her waist, only reached her knees. Either garment was a creamy tone, which heavily complimented the girl's brown skin.
She was holding a long stick, and on either end, fire was blazing. She was tossing it in the air, catching it, and rotating it around her body nimbly. In a quick turn, Olivia could make out the point of her ears. Olivia squinted, watching one last time to be sure she was correct in what she was seeing. The girl tossed her flaming stick up, jumped high into the air and caught it on her nose. She fell back down to the ground, sliding against her knees. When she got up to return to her mat, Olivia glanced at her ears. Pointed. Weren't elves extinct?
"She's a nymph." Sir Aaron said, "They are cousins to elves, but the pointed ears are where their similarities end." Olivia hummed. Standing against the mat was a small boy, he looked a lot like the girl, though his shade of brown was a little darker. He was banging against a drum in several different rhythmic beats. Olivia could see his ears clearly, as his hair was pulled up by some sort of hairband.
"She's a good dancer." Olivia said. Sir Aaron nodded and smiled.
"They learn from a young age, it's apart of their culture." He replied, shrugging his shoulders.
"Isn't using another's culture for entertainment wrong?" Olivia asked, looking away from the girl and boy to stare up at Sir Aaron.
"We don't force them here, they come here of their own volition." Sir Aaron replied, "It's a festivity made for showing off and appreciating the culture of the other races of our world, Yistirvin. If you'd look around, there are several areas set up for the different races to view and perform." Olivia followed his hand to another mat, though this one was circular, and the crowd stood a bit further away. There was another man and woman, their skin an ivory green. Their ears were also pointed, though riddled in piercings and hoops. Their bottom lips moved outward to allow two large, pointed teeth to grow upward against their upper lip. They were brawling, fighting against each other with their fists. They were pushing against each other, hands on both of their shoulders. They were smiling, and the woman laughed, then banged her head against the man's, knocking him back a tad. Using that advantage, the woman ran against him, using her shoulder to forcefully move him off of the mat. The man was stumbling back, punching the woman's face and attempting to kick her off of him. With one last push, the man stumbled and fell off of the mat into the crowd. The woman whipped around and threw her hands into the air, cheering along with the people surrounding her. There were nymphs, and some of the same race in that crowd. A few humans were in the crowd as well, though most of them were men.
"They're Orcs." Sir Aaron said, "I'm sure you can infer what they've been taught all their lives." Olivia smiled, she liked the way they fought. Another woman entered onto the mat, throwing up her fists as they circled each other. The woman had braids flowing down against her waist, and she looked stronger than the other woman who had won. Neither of them looked scared, both smiling freely as they waited for the other to attack. It was the smaller orc who did, running at the woman in braids, and wrapping her arms around her waist. She tried the same tactic that she had with the previous Orc, trying to use her weight to push her off of the mat. The taller Orc shot her knee upwards, hitting against the smaller Orc's jaw. The smaller Orc stumbled, loosening her grip around the other's waist. The other wrapped her arms around the smaller's waist, lifted her up, and slammed her down against the mat. She scurried on top of her, punching her when she tried to fight back and holding her down against the mat. The smaller Orc fought hard, squirming, before eventually tapping the larger's thigh twice. The larger got up immediately, helping the smaller to stand. They hugged, laughed and threw both of their hands up together, cheering with the crowd once more.
"I want to learn that." Olivia said, "To fight like they do." Sir Aaron laughed.
"Orc women are a lot stronger than you think." Sir Aaron explained, "Making fighting come as easily to them as it does to a man." Olivia huffed, and decided not to respond to him. She moved her eyes from the Orcs, and towards a booth. There were small men and women holding swords and hammers up to the crowd. They were showing them off, and looked to be explaining them to the people watching. A few of the Orcs had moved to this crowd, and Olivia could make out one buying a mace.
"I think I could learn with a weapon." Olivia said, pursing her lips impatiently to wait for Sir Aaron's snide remark to her incapabilities.
"Maybe." Sir Aaron said, "If you want to learn how to fight so bad, I could teach you. It might not be how Orcs fight, but I'll show you what I know. Maybe they'll take you under their wing if they see you know something about fighting, who knows?" Olivia smiled a little.
"Okay, deal." Olivia said, and added, "But go easy on me." Sir Aaron laughed, knocking his shoulder against hers playfully. She stumbled back and pouted.
"You want to fight like them, you have to learn to take a punch." Sir Aaron said. Olivia pursed her lips and nodded. There was one final booth, and two human merchants held tomes, silks, and jewels. They allowed Orcs and Nymphs to feel the silk, and stare at the jewels, though the smaller men were more interested in the books, flipping them open to read.
"What race are the smaller men?" Olivia asked. Sir Aaron chuckled.
"Dwarves," He replied, "and I wouldn't go around calling them 'smaller men'." Olivia let out a soft oh. They'd been standing in the middle of the town center for a while now, and Sir Aaron pulled her towards the fountain. She looked up at the statue of Kim, her mind wandering to the dream she had. She still hadn't told anyone about it, it felt secret to her. Like it was a moment only she was supposed to witness. Maybe she wasn't even supposed to have witnessed it at all.
"What are you thinking about?" Sir Aaron asked, nudging her with his elbow. She looked over at him, and shrugged.
"Just the dream I had, nothing important." She replied, looking away from him to stare down into the water. It was clear, and below it's surface she could see shining silver and gold. She stared into her reflection for a few seconds, humming approvingly at herself. One good thing to come out of being pampered and dressed for a "romantic" night was that she blended in with everyone else. Next to her reflection, she could see Sir Aaron's, staring at her and smiling. She pursed her lips and looked back up at him.
"What?" She asked. The knight said nothing, and instead curled his fingers around the back of her neck and pulled Olivia in for a kiss. Her eyes widened, and she moved her hands up to rest again his arms. Heat rushed up her throat, though she felt herself relaxing and moving her own lips against his. He pulled away and grinned.
"You're just really beautiful."