Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Pretty Clothes and Petty Men

Adam bit into a rather sour apple as he leaned against the wall of one of the more permanent market stores. Most of the stalls were transient, little more than poles and cloth that could be set up at a moment’s notice and dismantled even quicker if the weather turned bad. However, there were a few who had the privilege of stone or brick buildings. They were little more than huts compared to the places people called home, but they could keep the water and wind out in case the products were more… delicate. They also offered some measure of security.

Adam knocked on the curtained window three times, and a tall dark-skinned woman opened the door with a cocked eyebrow. She grinned as she saw him, disappearing back inside but leaving the door open a crack. Adam slipped into the dark building, gently closing the door behind him.

The inside of the store was filled with racks of clothing, ranging from fine dresses to practical women’s work clothes. Adam felt distinctly out of place, like he was intruding somewhere he wasn’t allowed to be. Before he had taken more than a step, the woman pulled him into a tight embrace.

“Hello there, little brother, it’s been too long!” She said with a big warm grin while she reached up to ruffle his hair. Adam squawked with alarm, stepping backwards to prevent her from revealing what was under his cap.

“Please don’t touch my hair right now, Olivia. It’s complicated,” He paused before murmuring, “It has been too long. Sorry about that.”

Olivia, Matt and Adam had been good friends for most of their lives. She had something like a big-sister bond with the both of them and was one of the few women that Adam didn’t feel hopelessly awkward around. They hadn’t spoken in a while due to a simple lack of opportunities, and half the reason Adam had come down today was to catch up.

Olivia nodded, stepping back and circling the store, picking through the racks to prepare for the opening during the afternoon market.

“I get it, Adam; you’ve got magic to learn now, yeah? The forest must take up a fair bit of time,”

Adam sighed, picking through the dresses absentmindedly. He liked the feel of the fabrics and the pretty colours.

“Mhm. There’s a new batch of poachers this season. Experienced and professional, Da’s got his hands full. How goes the store?”

He attempted to switch subjects, not wanting to think about that morning. Olivia turned to him with a smug grin, crossing her arms.

“It’s going pretty bloody well if I say so myself. I’m learning how to adjust the clothing with my Da, and he’s saying that most of this is his best work yet. Oh! We also got a very good deal with the nearest city; a bulk order for the daughter of a noble. Da’s working overtime. Lots of red.”

Adam returned the smile, “Excellent! I’m so happy for you, Olivia. Last time we met, you said it was getting pretty rough?”

Olivia sighed, propping her chin up with one hand.

“Mhm. Most of the locals have stopped buying our stuff, so that’s why we’re looking towards the cities. Always told Da he shouldn’t have learned to tailor in a mining town.”

She peaked around the corner of the rack to where Adam was absentmindedly looking through the clothing, and she smiled slyly.

“Could always use more customers if you see anything that catches your eye, brother. I can think of a blue that would look perfect with your complexion~”

Adam went bright red, recoiling from the racks like they were made of hot metal.

“No, thank you, sister,” He said curtly before pausing, adding with a nervous smile, “I think I’d be far too tall for most of your father’s work regardless. Doubt the man has met a woman over six feet tall before.”

That got a snicker out of both of them despite Adam’s discomfort with the idea of wearing women’s clothing. That would be like appropriating something that wasn’t his! Much like his celestial traits, for that matter.

Olivia approached, reordering the racks for what must have been the third time.

“Well, enough about the store,” She waggled her eyebrows before turning back to the clothing, “How are things with Matt, hmm?”

Adam choked on his apple, spluttering into the crease of his elbow. Olivia was one of the few people who knew about their… relationship? He supposed he could call it that now. She found it delightful, if not a little amusing, due to the rather large difference in their personalities; Matt was boisterous and loud, while Adam tended to be soft-spoken and reserved. ‘Contrast is necessary,’ she’d said with a nod when she’d learned of what they were up to.

Unfortunately, Adam had, up until this point, managed not to think of Matt since the incident. Olivia mentioning him brought a deluge of feelings to rise to the surface of his mind, and he found himself sniffling, holding back tears. Him! Sniffling! Like some kind of schoolgirl. He cursed at himself audibly, slapping his cheeks lightly to try and stop his emotions from running so rampant. This caused Olivia to turn around and rush forwards with alarm, gently holding his hands.

“Hey hey hey!” She said, pulling out a square of cloth from somewhere within her clothing and wiping away his tears, “What happened? Are you alright? No need to hit yourself, brother.”

Her expression hardened, “Did Matt say something stupid? I’ll snap him like a twig for you, no problem. He needs a reminder sometimes.”

Adam panicked, shaking his head rapidly,

“No! No. He’s been lovely; I just… It’s complicated.”

Could he tell her about his condition? Would she understand? If there was anyone he could trust, it was Olivia. She watched with concerned eyes as Adam lowered his hands, sitting down on a stool and holding his head in his hands.

“We admitted that we were… More than friends yesterday,”

Olivia snorted, pulling up another stool to sit next to him, “About time, but I doubt that’s what’s up. Carry on, if you’re able,”

Adam nodded, taking a deep breath.

“We tried to do something intimate, but as soon as he touched me, I felt… Wrong. Ugly, repulsive. It felt like I couldn’t s-subject him to me – like it was m-morally incorrect, so I asked him to s-stop. We went back home, and I h-haven’t seen him since yesterday evening.”

Adam found himself blubbering. He felt humiliated, but he managed to hold back tears by forcing his words out one by one with clenched teeth. Curse these new emotions.

Olivia pulled him into a tight, warm hug.

“Oh, brother… I’m so sorry. Let me tell you; you’re not wrong. You’re a perfectly good-looking young man. Matt is lucky to have you. Our minds can be deceitful sometimes; trust me, I know.”

For some reason, that didn’t make him feel better. He appreciated the sentiment, however. Adam sniffed, reaching up to his cap.

“That’s not the entirety of it, though…”

He pulled the cap away, and white locks fell into his eyes. Olivia’s eyes widened with shock. Adam felt a rush of embarrassment, and he watched with a small amount of horror as the white of his hair bled to a light red. Olivia’s eyes grew to the size of saucers as his hair changed colours.

“Oh-” She managed to say as Adam’s face burned.

“Mhm.”

“But that’s like your-”

“My Ma, yes.”

She placed a finger to her lips thoughtfully, brows furrowed.

“So you’ve inherited her magic hair a little later, then? Why’s that a problem?”

Adam groaned, head falling back into his hands. He spoke between his fingers, voice muffled.

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“It’s one of her aasimar traits.”

Olivia gasped lightly, leaning forwards to look at his hair again,

“Oh. And that’s like… Only inherited by the women in your family, right? Cus your ancestor was a dumbass.”

Adam nodded, still unable to look her in the eyes.

“I even managed to manifest a halo. It’s somehow the real deal, and I don’t know why. I just needed to show someone; hiding it is driving me mad,”

He pressed his palms in his eyes, waiting for the reaction. Here it comes. The realisation that he had somehow stolen this power and the judgement that comes with it. This was likely the end of their friendship. Why had he shown her?

Olivia grinned, poking him lightly on the shoulder.

“Perhaps I should call you sister, then, eh?”

…

What?

Adam began to panic, breath quickening and heart racing. Nonononono. Why would she say that?

Well, a thought whispered from a forbidden corner of his mind.

That’s something you haven’t considered yet, have you? What if the celestial heritage, for some reason, thinks you’re a wom-

Adam cut off that train of thought with the force of a guillotine, gripping his face hard. Olivia reached forwards with alarm, gently pulling his hands away from his face before his nails began to dig into his skin.

“Oh gods, Adam, I meant it as a joke. That was in rather poor taste; I apologise, brother. Come here,”  She pulled him into another hug, and slowly his breathing returned to normal. He pressed his face into the shoulder of her work clothes, trying hard not to cry.

“I’m sorry, sister; I don’t know why that stirred me up so much. I-I think I need to go, I’ve got more things to get, but it was nice seeing you again. I won’t wait this long between visits again.”

He pulled away, and Olivia met his eyes with a look of concern, clapping him on the shoulder.

“Alright, brother, just… Don’t hurt yourself, ok? And send a letter to Matt. I imagine he’s worried.”

Adam nodded, emotions blank as he exited the store.

He had not made it two stalls before an all-to-familiar snide voice called out,

“Aha! Adam, come into town again, have you?”

Ah shit.

Just as Adam feared, Felix Ash was standing in the middle of the street with a smug sneer. Felix had been Adam’s ‘friend’ during a period of his life he wasn’t proud of. Adam had desperately wanted to appear proper and feared the only way to do it was to find the most masculine person he could, attach himself to their back like a barnacle, and hopefully learn some things.

Felix had certainly taught him things, many of which he was still unlearning. He was a manipulative and sour bastard who liked to crush others under his heel for entertainment. Matt had always hated him with a burning passion, and Adam’s attempt to join Felix’s side nearly broke their friendship. Felix had always treated Adam poorly, using him as the butt of a joke in most situations, but it was only when Adam had awoken to his sorcerer abilities and seemed to threaten Felix’s fragile ego that the antagonism became truly sadistic. Matt had saved him from one final disastrous and embarrassing situation, and Adam had refused to speak to Felix since.

Felix was one of the main reasons Matt came to visit Adam, not the other way around. Adam tried to move onwards, but a few recognisable cronies emerged from the crowd and bodily blocked his path. He felt an ember of anger begin to flare up in his stomach.

“Today is not the day to do this, Felix,” He growled, attempting to push past the thugs and getting thrown to the ground as a result. Mud stained his clothing as he squelched into a puddle. Just another straw on the camel’s back.

“Oh, you think this is something you can choose, Adam? Perhaps have certain days off? No. This is simply balance. You didn’t do anything to deserve your magic, so we’re here on the other end of the scale. You’re a cheat, sorcerer, and I’m the weight.”

Adam grimaced. Felix had tried multiple times to learn magic with little success. His rather rich parents had even gone to the lengths of hiring multiple tutors. Unfortunately, it turns out that Felix was simply an exceptionally difficult student to teach, namely because he was a rank piece of shit who would most likely find it impossible to listen to a teacher because he was so much better than them.

Or at least that was Adam’s educated guess.

Regardless, Adam gaining magic from his blood had been what had focused all of Felix’s attention on him in a mixture of jealousy and delusions about being some ‘balancing force’ to Adam’s ‘snobbery’. Adam had called that projection and had gotten a bleeding nose as thanks.

Two people picked him up by the arms, dragging him roughly to his feet. Adam was a sorcerer, which unfortunately didn’t require much in the way of muscle mass. He attempted to shake himself free, but his assailant’s hands may as well have been iron vices. In the scuffle, a few strands of white hair had fallen out of his cap and into his vision, though nobody else seemed to notice. Felix approached, and his smug sneer reminded Adam of the poachers that morning. He got angrier.

“Honestly, what work have you actually done to get where you are? You’re a parasite, Lane.”

Adam laughed, dry and humourless.

“Oh, very scathing coming from the boy that lives in a manor-”

He was cut off as Felix’s fist slammed into his stomach. Adam doubled over as all the oxygen left his lungs, dangling from the grip of the two cronies flanking him as he tried to remember how to breathe. Nobody in the crowd took notice, or if they did, they didn’t intervene. Felix’s parents had influence, after all. Felix gripped Adam’s coin purse, ripping it free from his belt and picking through it with a grimace.

“You get this much from the lord as what, a stipend? And for what? Have you ever worked a single day in the mines?”

“Have you?”

A knee this time, in the same spot as before, doubling the pain as Adam gasped for air.

It was not as if Adam and his father did not work for the town. They received their stipend so that they could afford to stay here in the country, and they were stowed away in case of emergencies as the only experienced users of magic in the greater vicinity. Adam had helped put out at least six fires since he had started using magic – Coal dust and other flammable materials were rampant – And his father had enough experience to help build up flood barriers and the like when the rain became truly vicious in the latter half of spring. Adam was proud to be able to help, but none of that mattered to Felix, of course.

Felix dropped Adam’s coin purse into the mud and ground it into the floor with his foot.

He was going to use that money to buy gifts – His father’s birthday was soon, it was the least he could do – and this… And this fucker-

Adam felt a now-familiar click as his anger rose into a furious swirling in his mind. The white hairs in his eyes bled to a black-brown, and the boys holding him yelped as Adam’s arms suddenly became cold, frost gathering on his eyelashes as he yanked himself free. Felix’s eyes went wide, and he stepped back, but Adam grabbed him by the wrist. He leaned in close, ice spreading from where his hand gripped Felix’s arm, expression twisted into a furious grimace.

“Never so much as touch me again, do you understand, Felix? Today was not the day to do this. I am not the little boy who attached himself to your coattails anymore, and I will do more than make you a little chilly if you try something like this again. You fucking toad.”

Adam spat out each word, yanking his coin purse from the street and storming away without looking back. Felix wasn’t worth his time. First, he checked to see if the figurine was still intact – He gave a sigh of relief to find it unharmed. Next, he looked into the purse and found it completely soiled. Adam would have to wash these out and reuse them tomorrow; he doubted any vendor would accept muddy coins, and he didn’t want to risk meeting a vengeful Felix again today.

He trudged home, grumbling as he deftly tucked the hairs back under his cap. He still had so much time left in the day; what would he even do?

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