It was truly a boring day, as Elena looked out the window, as the sunset shone through, making her long red hair look like fire. The warmth of it warmed her tanned skin. She wished he were here, but their meeting was the next day. She thought about him, about Jake, about what adventures they were gonna have; she already had one in mind for him.
A ball, a dancing ball where nobles and the wealthy meet, a ball where he could easily hide in the crowd and be with her without anyone noticing, where they could have fun and excitement. But no, that was tomorrow, and she had to wait… she hated waiting.
Elena Falmil was heir to the Falmil house; her father was the current head of the Falmil house, one of the 7 major noble houses. Of course, there were more, but these 7 played a large part in the hierarchy of the Kingdom of Glatith.
"Your mind on him?" Lily asked as she opened the door.
Lily was her trusted servant and her best friend, who knew about Jake and Elena's relationship.
Lily was simple; she had clean servant clothing, black raven hair, and green eyes.
"I hate waiting… It's just so…" Elena drifted off to mouth, and her mind couldn't remember the damn word.
"Boring?" Lily chuckled as she started to do some stuff around Elena's bedroom.
"Yes! Boring," Elena exclaimed, for the life of her, she couldn't remember a simple word. But it happens to the best of people, even nobles.
"You just gotta be patient, he will come no matter what," Lily said, trying to comfort her friend, but Elena only made a sound of acknowledgment at her words.
Then Lily started to chuckle as she remembered a previous meeting that Elena and Jake had.
"Remember how, on his way here, he got sprayed by a skunk and still came? You practically kicked him out immediately due to the stank." She said.
Elena laughed, remembering the skunk incident and how, even for less than a minute, her room stank for a week, and Jake had to kill a skunk to place near her window, getting sprayed again to explain why her room stank, and after that, she couldn't go in her room for over a month.
"I remember the skunk incident, such an idiot he can be," Elena said with mirth in her voice, remembering the time.
"Poor man, " he said, he was nearly puking all the time due to his nose. I can't imagine getting sprayed by a skunk twice while also having a sense as sharp as his."Lily chuckled, remembering how Jake nearly seemed queasy at just mentioning the skunk incident.
Elena, still with a smile on her face, as her amber eyes looked out the window, he usually entered and looked at the forest at the edge of her mansion, wondering how many times he had just come here to see her and not interact. She knew that just seeing her brought a smile to his face, so how many times did he see her while not being able to see him?
"Also, Elena, dinner is ready in almost half an hour, sorry, forgot to mention it after we started to chat," Lily said as she snapped her fingers, drawing Elena's attention away from the window.
"Thank you, Lily, and don't be sorry," Elena said with a smile on her face.
Even if Lily was her servant, she was her friend, a friend who knew how to keep a secret, and that's what she liked about Lily the most: she was the only other one who knew about Jake and her relationship.
"Tell father I will be down in a moment. I need to get a change." Elena said.
As she looked at her clothes, they were a very fancy dress that was new, and she did like it, but she was only trying it on. Lily nodded as she exited Elena's chamber, and she changed.
The dress was surprisingly simple to put on and not one of those dresses where you needed 5 people to just put on, no, it had something called a "zipper" that was new and very resourceful.
Elena got dressed in a simpler dress, which was pinkish in color with ruffles at the end of her sleeves. She walked down the stairs and into the dining room, where her father sat at the end of the table and her mother sat next to his left side. On the right side was a dish waiting for her.
"Hello, father, mother, how is your evening?" Elena said in a polite voice.
Her mother looked at her with a warm smile, just as warm as her red hair, while her father's amber eyes and black hair seemed to be engrossed in a book on the table, reading and muttering to himself.
"I had a wonderful evening; you should have gone to the tea party with me, some young men were there." Her mother said as she teased Elena as she sat down at her dish.
But as the words of "young men" were spoken, her father finally looked up from his book. Elena wanted to roll her eyes. She saw the young men from the window, but none grabbed her attention, nor did she even remotely like meeting some of the men in the past.
"Ah, hello Elena, speaking of young men, I was talking to Halith Young about a potential planned marriage between you and his son, Forrest." Her father spoke.
Elena gave in, rolled her eyes, and shook her head. Another one? She will have to tell Jake to see if he has some dirt on the young family.
"Father, I am sorry, but no, I am not having a planned marriage. I don't want one, I know politics and everything, but I am my own person and your daughter. Which one would you like: a planned marriage where I am miserable or have a natural marriage where I am happy?" Elena's mother chuckled at her retort to her father as her father gave up the topic.
"I know, it's just to see you at a perfect age and not be with someone, I just want to help you and make you happy, but you're right, I am being too political right now. How about 20? If you are still single, will you accept a planned marriage?" Her father asked.
It seemed a reasonable deal, but… a feeling in her chest said no, she decided to follow Jake's footsteps, even though they were weird to follow her instincts, as she said.
"Maybe, we can discuss it later, but right now I am hungry and simply want to eat with my parents and chat." Her father nodded and agreed to her statement as they chatted about other stuff, like rumors or something funny that had happened that day.
Elena loved the simplicity of this, yet her heart ached for adventure, adventure with Jake.
"YOU DAMNED DOG!"
The drunken man shouted as he tried to throw a punch. Jake easily blocked it with a grin on his face, as he grabbed the man's arm and pulled him forward, and kneed him in the stomach. The man cried out in pain as he tried to stumble back, one hand clutching at his stomach, the other in Jake's iron grip as he jabbed at the drunken man's elbow, making a loud Snap.
The drunk cried out and fell to the floor. Jake was letting the man clutch his arm; his elbow was clearly broken. Jake just looked down on him with pity, his golden eyes then searched the room for anyone else who dared to fight with the Heir of the Crime family Lockvry.
"So no one else, eh?" Jake asked.
A grin as his black wolf tail swagged in excitement, but it was also held high and curled at the potential of another opponent. He scratched his already messy black hair, feeling his wolf ears twitching outwards at the murmuring in the bar.
"Got it, no one else, been fun uh… Huston, right?" Jake looked down at the man, whom he thought was named Huston, but the man just groaned in pain at his broken elbow.
He was pretty sure that the man was Huston, but he didn't care as he grabbed his heavy leather coat.
It was black leather and had multiple hidden pockets filled with all sorts of things: knives, smoke grenades, throwing cards, and more knives. It was truly heavy, but Jake picked it up and wore it with ease.
He looked around to see if anyone wanted a fight, but he was slightly disappointed when no one else stood up, and he sighed before leaving the bar, his tail behind him swaying slightly.
As Jake started to walk, he threw a pouch up and down, and each time he caught it, it clinked with the sounds of coins. "Poor Huston is always in debt in some way," he thought to himself. "I wonder what Elena is doing?" He imagined her in his head, that fiery hair and those amber eyes, her stupid smile she always had on when they were together.
Jake walked through the crowds, many of them darting off at the sight of him. The crowd practically split as he walked. He didn't mind and thought it was an efficient way to get around. Being a crime family heir means you aren't stuck behind slow walkers.
He looked up and saw the rocky ceiling; he missed the sun on his face and the warmth of it. His family was one of the 5 families that ruled the underground city beneath the capital Lator. The underground city didn't have a name, but some jokingly referred to it as the "Undies". Jake chuckled, even thinking of the name. Little potty humor never went too far right?
The streets were lit by lamps, and every building was made of stone, except in some richer areas of the city, where it was a mix of wood and stone. His eyes drifted from the ceiling to the pillars of stone, their imposing size holding up the rock ceiling looming over him in the distant shadows.
He shook his head as he walked into another bar to collect another debt. Sometimes this was boring; he rarely got into a fight, and once he did, the fights weren't even challenging due to his lycanthropian strength and agility. Not to mention his shadow teleportation spell.
He entered this bar, which actually had other lycanthropes; lycanthropes were not just half human and half wolf; no lycanthropes could be half cat half human, or even half rhino half human, although he hadn't seen a giraffe nor one as a lycanthrope. The descriptions of giraffes seemed horrifying, tall creatures with horns and the longest necks, and they use their necks as some sort of whip?
He didn't want to be anywhere near that. But he heard that they were in the south in the kingdom of Nalfor. But he shook his head to clear the thoughts of the strange creature as he went to another man in debt to collect his pay.
Elena awoke with a start. She had just woken up from a dream, and she couldn't remember the details of it as it had escaped her memory, like all dreams do. She could vividly remember something about a kiss.
But as the fog of sleep cleared, she realized today was the day that Jake and Elena finally got to have their meeting, and tonight they could go on an adventure.
©Shadow and Flame, Jack Lockson october 20, 2025