Chapter 45: The Candles on the Cake, Part 3

Once they had Kiva, the first order of business was going clothes shopping. Valerie had been wearing the same sets of clothes she'd first arrived to Xykesh in, which were from Corsar, and made for travel. That was all fine and practical for their day to day lives, but List insisted she needed something nicer to wear, for tonight and just in general.

It was a bit of a back and forth. Valerie did think she could use clothes that blended a little better with the locals of Xykesh, but that still left a wide range of options, and Valerie's taste for fashion didn't quite line up with her friends'. Early on, she actually had to remind them that, unlike the both of them, she didn't have to worry about getting her clothes altered to accommodate a tail. 

Despite that, after Valerie had rejected a few suggestions—Kiva's for being too loose and heavy, List's for being too . . . forward—List zeroed in on Valerie's style remarkably quickly, and managed to marry List's criteria of "looking nice" with Valerie's more modest sensibilities.

The look they settled on was a white silk dress that came down to just above her knees, with lacing running down splits in the skirt and across its loose sleeves, paired with a gray corset, a set of belts, and a bright orange scarf to match her brooch. Her boots actually went nicely with the outfit already, and according to List, tonight wasn't the night to break in a new pair.

Kiva was the one to suggest the salon they went to afterward, as it was the only one in town she knew of that worked with both humans and dragonbloods. While Valerie and List had their hair, nails, and makeup done, Kiva had her talons buffed and cleaned, her scales scrubbed, and bright green patterns painted onto her face and neck.

By then, the late afternoon was closing in, which meant it was time for the main event. List had the idea the moment Arden had given them the day off, but she'd needed Kiva's help to turn it into a full blown plan. There were nineteen establishments in Shadefall that served alcohol, and since Valerie was turning nineteen, List's initial thought was to hit all of them.

Kiva had pointed out was a little unfeasible from a time perspective, liable to at least poison Valerie, and also some of those places just generally sucked, so she'd helped narrow the list down six places and a couple backups in case they needed to adjust their plans on the fly.

Valerie was relieved, having been a little worried List would have gone for something involving violence or exotic male dancers. Drinking, the huntress could handle. Enjoy, even.

They had a late lunch at a small shack of a restaurant named Carsoca's, which Valerie was delighted to learn was the place that made the samosas she'd had on King's Dawn, and washed it down with a bottle of spiced wine split between the three of them.

On the patio of a place known simply as The Rock, they had a trio of house specialty brews and entered an arm wrestling tournament, which Valerie was eliminated from fairly quickly and which ended with Kiva flinging a man a head taller than her out of his seat.

At the Drunk Gambler, what started as just a game of darts to pass the time turned into Valerie performing increasingly daring trickshots for all the patrons. She took longshots, shots with her back turned, and as an impromptu finale, List took the cherry out of her cocktail and tossed it into the air so Valerie could pin it to the bullseye. Well, close to the bullseye. It was their third stop of the night.

They had dinner at Dragon's Hearth, which Kiva reliably informed them was the restaurant of the best chef in Shadefall. The food did not disappoint, and neither did the Hearth's signature drink, which apparently had an egg combined with wine, cream, and nutmeg. Valerie had three, with List and Kiva cheering her on every time she ordered another.

That was also where a pair young of gentlemen sent their table a basket of fried cake straws. That got them the girls' notice, but it was who they were that bought them List's invitation to join their party: Daniel Shen, and his friend Thomas.

Daniel was looking much better than the last time List and Valerie had seen him. Actually, when he wasn't covered in blood and bugbear refuse, he cleaned up quite nicely. He was tall and muscular, with light skin and wavy, windswept dark hair. Thomas, was a lean, more boyishly handsome face with dark skin and a close shaved head. 

In between them giving their thanks, compliments, and birthday well wishes, Daniel and Thomas revealed they were getting dinner before their musical performance at the Night House later that evening. Understandably, Daniel's musical interests hadn't come up the last time Valerie had spoken with him, given the circumstances. When Valerie asked what kind of music they played—with just a dash more enthusiasm that she would have had sober—the pair invited the girls to come see for themselves.

List took a look at the pair, a look at the blush that had been progressively creeping up Valerie's face under their attention, and had immediately agreed.

The Night House, which Valerie was pretty sure was just a bar and brothel combination business, was full of people drinking, shouting, and laughing. Daniel and Thoas actually made use of recovered and restored Old World string instruments that produced metallic, warbling sound unlike anything any of them had ever heard, with a beat perfect for dancing to. Which was all to say it was List's favorite stop of the night. 

It wouldn't have been the kind of place Valerie ever would have chosen herself, but loosened up as she had been by the rest of the night, she found she actually enjoyed the sheer energy of it. She didn't quite hit List's level of "dancing on a table like she was flirting with the entire bar at once," but she did find herself letting her hair down and cutting loose on the floor with Kiva.

When Daniel and Thomas handed off the stage to the next act, List hopped down from her table and used Valerie's scarf to drag her over to Daniel before handing the reins over to him with a wink and a "Bring her back when you're done!"

Valerie was so flustered, the first seven syllables out of her mouth weren't actually words. Daniel just laughed it off, asked her to dance, and it got easier to think from there. 

Valerie was fairly sure she liked boys, though she'd never thoroughly tested that theory, nor felt all that much urgency to. She'd had a childhood crush when she was six, who had fled from her in panic when she'd kissed him on the cheek, and that was the sum total of her experience on the subject.

Daniel was good looking, charming, and more than friendly on account of Valerie having saved him from being eaten. She didn't have any intention of doing anything List was insinuating with her eyes, but didn't say no to a few songs of dancing with him while List and Kiva practically sandwiched Thomas between them.

When Daniel and Thomas were called back up to the stage for their next set, the girls waved them off, and all but collapsed into the closest empty chairs to catch their breath.

"So," List asked, "did Daniel get a chance to show his appreciation for saving you? Give you something nice your birthday?"

"Stop it," Valerie muttered. "It was just a dance."

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"Hm. If you say so."

"You know, I wouldn't do this to you on your birthday."

Through the fuzz of alcohol, Valerie almost missed the frown that clouded List's expression for a moment. The hellborn hid it as quick as she could, replacing it with a look of mock offense.

"Wouldn't do what? Set me up with a nice piece of arse? I thought we were friends." The playful tone in List's voice came out sounding forced.

"That's not what I . . ." Valerie drifted off, still trying to work out what had caused the shift in List's mood. Drunk as she was, it took her a second, but she got there. A pang of guilt rammed through her heart. "Oh, List, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."

"Thinking about what?" Kiva said.

Valerie gave List a questioning look, and the hellborn sighed before answering. "I don't know when my birthday is."

"What?"

"She lost her memory," Valerie cut in, hoping to spare List having to talk about it herself. "She doesn't remember anything going back further than two years, and she was on her own before us, so . . ."

"Oh," Kiva breathed. "That's . . . are you okay?"

List shrugged. "Been two years now. I'm basically used to it."

"Still. Not knowing your own birthday . . ." Kiva said. "What about the first day that you can remember? Couldn't you just use that as your birthday?"

"No idea what day it was then," List said. Her expression darkened. "And that's not really a day I'd want to celebrate anyway."

"Oh."

"Who knows? Maybe I can just stare at a calendar until it comes to me out of nowhere. Basically how I learned to do this."

List held out her had, her tattoos flashed red. The names on her arm, which had arranged to form the shape of a dragon with a whip curling around its serpentine body, rearranged to account for the whip's absence. In List's hand now rested a leather whip.

"A calendar told you how to make whips?" Kiva asked.

"No, not a calendar! I—ugh. Okay, so, sometimes, when I'm fighting or training, my powers just . . . react to something, and suddenly I remember how to do something with them I couldn't before. Just pops into my head. Of course, it's never anything about me, or who I used to be. Always just more powers."

In another flash of List's tattoos, the whip vanished, and the image on her arm again rearranged to incorporate the weapon into its design. Kiva gave an "ooh" of appreciation, which List accepted with a tipsy nod.

In that moment, they could have moved on from the topic, but Valerie couldn't get List's earlier expression out of her mind, and she spoke without thinking.

"It must be hard," Valerie said. "Not knowing who you are."

That froze List in place. Her body went rigid from head to tail, and she very deliberately averted her eyes from the rest of the table. 

"Yeah, well . . ." List shook her head. "Forget about it. Tonight's not about me, and we've still got some hours left in your birthday. Want to head back to the Maiden and raid the kitchen?"

"Sure," Valerie said, but though List tried her best to smile, it didn't still reach her tail. Valerie wished she could do something to help her friend. But she wasn't sure what.

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