It was close enough to the stage to watch the performance, but also with more free s.p.a.ce around it compared to most seats.
Realizing her blunder, Kamila laughed the whole way while holding the bouquet.
"Sorry, I didn"t mean to be rude. Where should I put these flowers?"
Before she finished the phrase, a waiter brought a vase while another carried a third chair so the bouquet could spread its fragrance without standing between them. Kamila didn"t miss how the staff was too friendly and the table too good for two new customers.
Her mother"s words started echoing in her mind and made her face turn glum.
"Be honest. Do I really look like a mortician?" Lith mistook her expression for disapproval and cursed at himself for not following his sister"s advice about dressing in light colors.
"What? No. It looks good on you, but in your shoes, I would take off the jacket. You are a little overdressed." She said while smiling again at the odd question.
"How was your day?" Lith asked after noticing that something was off.
"It started pretty bad, but it"s getting better. What about you?"
"So far so good. At least today n.o.body tried to kill me." He said with a sigh while a waiter brought them the menus.
"Today? What about yesterday?" Lith told her about the Abomination in the Trawn woods using the same tone with which he placed their order.
"How can you be so calm? You almost died twice in as many days."
"I told you before. My life is pretty crazy. If you read my personal file, you know in what kind of mess you"re getting yourself into." He said with a sad smile as the band started playing what he considered nothing more than rhythmic noise.
"As you always say, let"s not talk about sad stuff. What do you think about the music?"
"They are good." Lith"s shocked expression at her answer made her laugh heartily. "Why that face? Don"t you like it?"
"Not much. The sound is good, but it has no soul."
When their plates arrived, they started talking about their respective plans for the future. Kamila"s goal was to rise up the army ranks. Becoming a Colonel was her dream, but she knew that unless she achieved something big it would come too late in her life to matter.
"If life was a fairy tale, I"d say I want to become the first magicless General of the Kingdom. Sadly, the rank of Colonel is the ceiling, even for geniuses."
Lith didn"t know how to answer. He had no big dreams or ambitions aside getting rid of his reincarnation problem. He longed for power and money, but only because they were the means to an end.
He would do anything to achieve his goal, yet he had never stopped considering what he would do if he ever managed to make it.
"I"d like to teach in an Academy." Was all he could think about. "First, there"s something I need to do, though. It"s the reason I became a Ranger. I need the army to obtain the means to cure a dear friend of mine."
Kamila didn"t buy the "friend" part for a second, but she didn"t press the matter any further. Meanwhile, the band was offering the customers the opportunity to take part in the performance.
"Why don"t you go up there and show them how it"s done?" She said it as a joke.
"As long as you promise me that whatever you hear and see, you will not laugh at me." He replied taking her by surprise and extending his hand to her.
"Deal."
Lith stepped on the stand among some mild applause and took the Mogar"s equivalent of a Spanish guitar from the hands of a musician. He asked the band to not accompany him and then he started playing.
Or better, he started cheating. Lith didn"t know how to sing or play, but he had learned from magical beasts how to use air magic to reproduce whatever sound he wanted.
It took him his full focus to perform a slightly modified version of "The Noise of Silence" by s.h.i.+mon and Carbuncle. It was one of his favorite songs from Earth. It required only a guitar to be played and it felt like it talked about him.
He didn"t look at Kamila not even once. He was too busy trying to pluck random strings while following the rhythm. When he finished, the lead of the band shook Lith"s hand and whispered:
"Hope your lady friend doesn"t play any instrument because whatever you did, you didn"t get a single string right. Good luck."
"I don"t need luck." Lith replied before going back to his table.
"Did you like it?" He asked with an expectant look.
"It"s beautiful but very sad. I would have never taken you for a poet and a musician." Her eyes were a little watery, she felt like the song talked about her too.
"I"m neither. Someone else wrote the lyrics." Lith chuckled and then explained to her the trick behind his performance.
"Well, you"ve got some nerve." She couldn"t help but laugh seeing how people had fallen for his deception and looked at Lith with admiration.
"There"s one thing I don"t understand. Why go through all this trouble and then tell me the truth about it?" No matter how flashy a magic trick was, once its secret was exposed it would lose its l.u.s.ter.
"Because I wanted to impress you." He replied with a warm smile. "Magic it"s not only about exploding stuff or healing people. The beauty of Mogar is that magic is everywhere. It plays a big part in my life. In a way, it defines who I am.
"That"s what I mean when I say that I wanted to impress you. Not through music or rhymes, that"s not me. I"m a mage, hence I used magic to share something I like. As for the truth, I learned from experience that starting a relations.h.i.+p on a lie never works."
They spent the rest of their dinner chatting, but this time Kamila called for the check the moment they were done eating. Lith took the box of sweets while she carried the flowers and accompanied her to the nearest Warp Gate.
She fiddled with the control panel for so long that Lith started to fear she was too drunk to remember her own address.
"Weird. We drank even less than the last time." He thought.
"It"s still early. Would you like to come to my place for a cup of tea and a snack?" She asked while pointing at the box.
"I would love to." Lith replied a bit too fast, realizing she was completely sober.
Kamila"s house was a two room flat. The kitchen and the living room shared the same s.p.a.ce. There were only two closed doors, which were likely to lead to the bathroom and the bedroom.
"Do you mind preparing the tea while I find a place for the flowers, oh great one? Everything you need is on sight."
Lith filled the teapot with water and put it on the stove. Everything worked with magic crystals, making it akin to a modern kitchen.
"Do you like your tea strong or light?" Lith asked while picking the amount of leaves and mint.
"Both are fine." She replied.
Lith turned around, discovering that she was standing right behind him. The first three b.u.t.tons of her s.h.i.+rt were undone, revealing a fair amount of her bosom.
"That"s at least a C cup…"
The moment Lith raised his eyes to meet Kamila"s, she took him in her arms. One hand behind his head and the other on his neck, she forced Lith to bend down and kissed him. Softly at first, like a schoolgirl at her first, clumsy attempt.
He didn"t let her go, drawing her closer to him while she kissed him with growing pa.s.sion until she clung to him as a lifeboat in the storm her life was. His mouth managed to part her frenzied lips at the first attempt, sending tremors along both their bodies.
And then, as suddenly as it had begun, she pulled away from him.
"Wait." Kamila said with a quivering voice.
"Too fast?" Lith asked without bothering to hide his disappointment.
"The bedroom is that way." She pointed at the second closed door as her legs wrapped around his waist, bringing their faces at the same level before starting to kiss Lith again.