‘So,’ she said.
‘Hmm,’ he said.
‘Is that it?’
‘Er… it must be the weather. It has been a bit cold.’
‘What has that got to do with it?’
He looked down at his sword. ‘It is a well-known fact that metal shrinks in cold weather.’
‘Really?’
He didn’t like the way she was looking at him. He shifted his feet and put his sword away. ‘I’ll be getting a bigger one soon,’ he said.
‘Oh, yes?’ She leant back against the low stone wall behind her, half-sitting on it and raised her leg to push herself onto the top of the wall. She sat on the wall with one foot resting up on it, her hands over her knee and her chin resting on the backs of her hands. ‘Do you wish you had a bigger one?’
‘Well,’ he could feel the heat in his neck spreading upwards. She was not looking at the size of his scabbard. He stopped himself turning away from her, or clasping his hands over his groin. ‘I have no complaints.’
‘But you do want a bigger one… need a bigger one?’
‘I….’ He looked around for some way out of this.
She laughed. ‘You’re new to the city aren’t you?’
‘Y… yes…. Is it that obvious?’
‘I’m afraid it is.’ She smiled, warmly this time and shifted her position, signalling for him to sit on the wall beside her.
He sat.
‘Where are you from?’
‘Just some village… days away.’
‘Oh, what was it called?’
‘What?’
‘Your village… what is its name?’
‘I don’t know… it was just home… the village. None of us ever thought of giving it a name.’ He sighed. ‘It was the only place I knew. I was happy there.’
‘So why did you leave?’
‘The foreigners… the invaders…. They came one day… and… well… the village is no longer there.’
She looked at him. ‘Come on,’ she said.
‘Where?’
‘I have a home… not much of one, but I’ll take you there.’
‘Why?’
She looked at him, head cocked to one side. ‘Let’s just say every sword needs a scabbard, shall we?’
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