The Black Shard (21 page)

"Don't tell us Werrien didn't get you something special," Hester said suspiciously.

Kristina's necklace was still covered by the orchid necklace, and she was definitely not in the mood to show it to Hester and Davina.
I won't be ridiculed about how much bigger, and nicer, my necklace is compared to their bracelets,
she thought. She envisioned Davina and Hester as cats, pouncing on a mouse—Kristina, of course, was the mouse.

Kristina thought quickly. "Hey! I have a great idea!" she said.

"Whatever," Hester said, rolling her eyes and chewing on her pinky nail. "I'm not sure if I want to hear it."

"I do," Davina said promptly.

Kristina turned to face Davina, and with her finger she brushed a strand of Davina's stringy black hair out of her eye.

"How about I do Davina's hair up?" Kristina said.

Hester made a strange kind of laughing sound with her mouth closed. Davina had initially smiled, but after hearing Hester, her smile turned into a frown. "No, thank you!" Davina said, backing away and crossing her arms tightly across her chest.

"Actually, Davina, you could really use it," Hester said between snickers.

"Oh, really! Well, so could you, Miss 'I think I'm all that'!" Davina mocked, wiggling her hips.

"Okay, it was probably a bad idea," Kristina said. "I just thought that ..." She paused, as if to think of something profound, and then said, "Oh, never mind."

Davina uncrossed her arms. "What do you mean, 'never mind'? If you're going to start saying something, then you'd darn well better finish it."

Hester grimaced. "Why?" she said sharply. "There's no universal rule that says one has to finish what they say."

"Hester, you can just go to—" Davina began.

"Stop, okay! I admit it was a bad idea," Kristina interrupted.

There was silence for a moment; Davina stared at the floor. "Why would it be a bad idea?" she asked.

"Because, you look great the way you are," Kristina said, not meaning it but trying to move things along a little faster so she could meet up with Werrien. She went to the door and opened it for Hester and Davina to leave. "So if you guys don't mind, I think I'd like to head out."

"Wait a minute!" Davina said quickly, her eyes shifting back and forth between Kristina and Hester. "Were you serious? Do you really think I should try wearing my hair up? I mean,"—she paused and then said, "would it make me look ... prettier?"

"Huh!" Hester said, flipping her hair off of her shoulder with the back of her hand. "I wouldn't go so far as to say that."

"Come on, Hester. Don't start it up again," Kristina said. Then she turned to Davina and tugged on one of her tightly crossed arms. Davina loosened her arms and let Kristina lead her to the vanity. Davina plopped down in front of it.

"Don't go overboard!" Davina said through clenched teeth.

"Did Davina get a dress to wear as well?" Kristina asked Hester.

"Yes, it's in our cabin, but she said she hates green," Hester said.

Davina stared at Hester's reflection in the mirror. "Yeah, no kidding, and you can add pineapples to that," she said. "I mean, come on—couldn't whoever provided the dress at least have picked a color I like? Like red, with perhaps a chilly pepper pattern on it, or metallic blue with tropical fish?"

Kristina rolled her eyes and shook her head. It was still so hard for her to fathom that Davina was seventeen. "Can you go and get the dress, Hester?" she said while toying with Davina's hair.

Surprisingly, without even so much as a complaint, Hester hastily left to get the dress, and when she returned with it, though reluctant to do so, Davina put it on.

The dress's color was a deep emerald green with a pattern of large light-orange pineapples, half the size of real ones, on it. Kristina was actually impressed with how it looked on Davina. Hester was, too, but of course wouldn't say so.

The girl's actually got some curves going on,
Kristina thought. For the first time in her life, Davina also saw herself as a feminine young lady, instead of a frumpy, tomboyish teenage girl.

"Okay, next, let's fix your hair," Kristina said.

Without taking her eyes off of her reflection in the mirror, Davina sat down at the vanity again. Kristina brushed and then pinned Davina's black hair into a stylish bun, leaving a few strands of her hair to hang down around her neck and face. Then she reached around Davina's face and removed her glasses.

"Hey! Put those back on me," Davina said, blinking excessively.

"Just open your eyes for one moment," Kristina pleaded.

Davina quit blinking and stared into the mirror.

"Wow! I don't think I've ever seen you without your glasses," Kristina said.

"Are you hinting that I look ugly in glasses?" Davina said.

"No, not at all. I've always actually wanted glasses, because I find them quite sophisticated. It's just that I've never seen you without them."

Davina's emerald-green eyes under her long black eyelashes matched the color of the green in her dress.

"What do you think Hester?" Kristina said.

"I guess she looks fine," Hester said, glancing at Davina for less than two seconds with a tepid expression on her face. "Can we go now?" she blurted impatiently. "Heerzek's waiting for me."

As Kristina was placing Davina's glasses back on her, Hester stood up and let out a disgruntled huff. "Maybe you'll see me on the main deck later—that is, if you ever decide to come up," Hester said and she stomped out of the cabin.

"Well, I guess we'd better head up as well. I'm getting kind of hungry," Kristina said, feeling her stomach growl.

Davina suddenly looked worried. "You don't think that they've already eaten without us, do you?" she said.

"I highly doubt it, but let's get going just in case."

Kristina headed for the door. Davina turned her head slightly sideways to admire her profile in the mirror one last time. Then she turned forward again and gasped—for a split-second, she could have sworn she saw a bullfrog wearing her dress and staring back at her.

A
s Kristina and Davina climbed the stairs up to the main deck, they could hear music playing. They stepped outside and stared up at the brilliant mother-of-pearl, full moon embedded in a blanket of indigo blue sky. Surrounding it were millions of tiny, twinkling stars.

The music was coming from the midsection of the ship, where Kurdy was playing his accordion. He was accompanied by a dwarf named Razkin, the royal family's tailor, who was playing a fiddle, and another deckhand gnome, Eemiel, playing a wooden whistle.

Sepel came from the bow of the ship, and when he laid eyes on Davina in her dress and black boots, his lively, soft-featured face lit up. "May I escort you to the food table to get something to eat?" he said with a smile, his eyes turning into half moons. He held out his elbow for Davina to link arms with him, and though nervous, she did so without a word, and the three of them headed to the bow of the ship.

The rest of the crew was already at the bow, sitting on the deck floor near the food table; some were resting, others were engaged in lively conversation or card playing.

Kristina's eyes searched through the crew for Werrien, but he wasn't sitting among them. Instead, she spotted him leaning against the side of the ship. He was wearing a baggy white shirt and dark pants. Smiling vibrantly, he went to greet Kristina. "I did get it right," he said, not once taking his eyes off of her.

"Get what right?" Kristina said, nervously eyeing her new white shoes.

"The color of the dress matches the color your eyes perfectly."

Kristina smiled modestly. "Thanks for everything," she said. "It was very nice of you to get this for me."

"I know it won't make up for the bad day you had today, but I hope it will make you feel a little better. Are you hungry? Want to get some dinner?"

"Yes, I'm real hungry, and I'd love to get some dinner."

They went to the food table, where Leacha was standing with a large spoon in hand by the cauldron.

"My, oh my, look at you in that dress," Leacha said to Kristina, smiling so hard that the red balls of her cheeks hit the bottom of her eyes. She winked at Werrien. "You've done well, my boy; you've done well," she crooned.

With a proud smile, Werrien handed Kristina a bowl. Then Leacha scooped seafood stew into their bowls. Then, like a flock of hungry seagulls, the rest of the crew made their way to the table and lined up to eat as well. Werrien and Kristina took some bread from a basket at the end of the table, and then headed to the midsection of the ship to watch the trio play.

Kurdy promptly laid down his accordion and went to get two wooden pails by one of the masts. He brought them close to where the trio was playing and set them upside down for the teens to sit on.

The trio's playing style reminded Kristina of Irish folk music. She found it to be happy and lively.

Soon after Werrien and Kristina were seated and enjoying their soup, the majority of the crew, including Sepel and Davina, came to watch the trio as well. Standing near the poop deck, keeping a keen eye on things, was Elzwur. When Werrien and Kristina had finished their soup, he promptly went to retrieve their empty bowls.

"Thank you," Kristina said to him, but he gave her no response, other than his usual miserly bow.

The trio began to play a lovely waltz, and through the corner of his eye, Werrien could see Kristina savoring the sweet melody. He stood up, faced her, and bowed. "Young lady," he said, trying to act sophisticated and at the same time trying not to laugh, "would you be as kind as to grant me a dance with you?"

Kristina suddenly felt prickles on her hands and feet. "I suppose that I would grant you a dance—that is, if I knew how to dance, but unfortunately, I don't. So I am afraid,
dear sir,
I must decline your request." She even surprised herself with this sophisticated response.

With a lively expression in his eyes, Werrien smiled becomingly. "Ah, but I am a great teacher of the waltz, my dear lady. May I have the honor of showing you a few steps?"

The crew, who had been standing nearby, watching the musical trio, now honed in on Werrien's and Kristina's conversation.

"Come on now!" one rough-looking, deckhand dwarf called out. "You're not going to make the lad beg, are ya?"

"Are you really going to make me beg?" Werrien whispered to Kristina, his mouth curving into a slight smile. "Because if I have to, I will."

Kristina actually would have loved to watch him beg her, but at the same time, she felt uneasy having two-thirds of the crew staring at them, waiting with bated breath for her response. Not saying another word, she held out her hand. Then, very charmingly, Werrien grinned and took it and gently kissed it. Bewildered, Kristina smiled and though very nervous, she tried hard not to show it. As soon as she stood up, the crew whooped, hollered, and cheered wildly. Even King Warren, who had come to join the festivities, clapped, though Werrien, who caught sight of his father, noticed he still had a troubled look in his eyes.

As the band continued playing the airy waltz, Werrien gently drew Kristina in toward him, and he began to dance slowly with her—even though Kristina, at times, unskillfully stepped on his feet. Each time she did so, he could feel her body tense up like steel against him. "It's okay," he whispered in her ear. "Just let the music take you away."

Kristina closed her eyes. The rhythm of his heartbeat was slow and steady against her chest, and she breathed in the clean scent of his freshly washed hair and white, linen shirt. His strong hand gripped tightly around hers, and she felt as if she was in heaven, dancing on a cloud with an angel. Then the song ended, and she opened her eyes to see the crowd cheering again. They began vigorously clapping their hands, encouraging the trio to pick up the tempo.

Werrien began to lead Kristina in a faster dance. He twirled her around, causing her dress to flare out. Davina was standing on the sidelines in her pineapple covered, green dress, clapping and swaying her hips awkwardly. She, too, was suddenly caught off guard and dragged onto the dance floor by Sepel. Davina quickly took the lead in the dance, marching Sepel straight through the other dancers in what seemed to be a tango. Their arms were stretched straight out in front of them and their hands were clasped tightly together. Why they were dancing the tango made no sense at all; it definitely didn't fit with the style of music being played.