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Chapter 65

"Do you have the day off?" Iris asked as Char led her down the street with his irrepressible grin.

He shrugged. "I can fit in lunch, but I'll have to skip dinner with you tonight."

"What are you working on?" she continued curiously.

"You'll see," he replied, smirking down at her.

"When?"

"When I'm ready to show you. Have you ever eaten at a restaurant before?"

"Char. Really?"

He laughed. "Yeah, guess not."

Char led her to a building that was so covered in greenery she could hardly see any of the gray stone wall. Intricate carvings of trees and leaves covered the wooden door. He opened the door for her, and she stepped into the restaurant nervously.

"It's so dark," she whispered to him.

"That's because it's romantic," he replied, taking her arm and leading her to a podium where a man in a suit and tie waited patiently. "Table for two, please," Char told him. "In a quiet area."

"Very good, sir," the waiter replied, bowing and leading them deeper into the restaurant. Potted plants hung from the ceiling and decorated every corner, filling the air with the heavy scent of flowers in bloom. The bright colors popped in the dim lighting, illuminated by the warm glow of candlelight. Other couples sat at tables and booths strategically arranged to create an intimate atmosphere. Iris took everything in with wide eyes, not paying attention to where she was walking since Char was guiding her. She stopped when he did, and he pulled out a chair for her.

"This is really nice," she said, studying the table setting. A vase of red roses and a single candle graced the center of the table, one on the left, one on the right, so the eyeline between her and Char was unbroken. Napkins folded like flowers decorated the place their plates would soon occupy.

"Here are your menus," the waiter said, handing them each a sturdy but elegant piece of paper. "May I suggest..."

Iris stared at the menu while the waiter rattled off the drink and meal specials of the day. She wasn't familiar with any of the dishes listed. Char responded to the waiter, and then his laughter brought her attention back to him. She looked up at him. The waiter was gone.

"You're so cute right now," Char said, smirking.

She scowled petulantly at him. "You know very well that the inn was the closest thing to a restaurant in Little Rest, and it didn't have a menu or anything fancy like this."

"No, but it had the prettiest barmaid."

"You're impossible."

"I know," he said smugly.

It was getting harder for Iris to hold the fake scowl. She finally gave in and leaned forward, flipping the menu around to face him and tapping the page. "Why don't you make yourself useful and explain this menu to me?"

"Or I could just order for us."

"What if you order something I don't like?"

"Hm, we're getting married in three days, and I don't know what you do and don't like to eat."

"Lucky for you, being picky was never an option for me, so I'll eat just about anything. What about you?"

"Lucky for you, I'm used to Rath's cooking when we're out traveling, so I'll eat just about anything," he replied teasingly. "This place specializes in Elven cuisine," he continued in a more serious tone. "Elves don't eat meat, so most of the dishes are vegetable or fruit dishes. This one here..."

They both leaned in over the table while Char explained the menu to her. The waiter returned with two yellowish-orange drinks and asked if they were ready to order. Char looked at Iris questioningly, and she shrugged.

"I guess you can order for me."

She picked up the glass and sniffed the drink before taking a sip. It was sweet and refreshing, with a fruity flavor she'd never tasted before.

"Passionfruit juice," Char told her after the waiter left. "It's hard to get, but delicious."

"It really is," she agreed, taking another sip. "Now, what was Father Berk saying about your last time in church? Something about coming to a friend's wedding drunk?" she asked, smirking slyly behind the glass.

Char chuckled. "Thrak's wedding. Yeah, that was pretty interesting."

"Thrak is married?"

"No."

She raised an eyebrow. "You ruined his wedding?"

"Well, that wasn't necessarily what we set out to do..."

"What were you setting out to do?"

He sighed. "Well, it was like this. Thrak is generally a good guy, but sometimes, he's a real jerk to women. He'd been dating this girl on and off for a couple of years - dumping her when he got bored, coming back to her whenever he felt like it - and she really loved him, so she put up with it. Rath had a thing for her, so when Thrak finally proposed and invited us to the wedding, Rath got upset and stayed home to drink instead. So, I stayed with him, we both got drunk, and then Rath got the idea to crash the wedding and steal the bride."

"You didn't."

Char nodded. "We did. It made her pretty mad until we explained where we were coming from. We thought it would force Thrak to come chasing after her for once and prove he actually cared about her."

"But he never came," Iris said softly. "She must have been heartbroken."

"Yeah, and Rath got really angry about it. He went off on a tirade about how Thrak was mistreating her and how she needed to stand up for herself, and she ended up taking it to heart." Char smirked. "Which backfired on Rath, of course. He ended up dating her for a little while, but a couple of months ago, she caught him kissing another girl at a party and threw a drink in his face."

Iris giggled at that. "He deserved it."

"Yeah, he did. Speaking of parties, he got us invited to one this Friday, if you're feeling up for it."

Iris bit her lip nervously. "Elera did buy me another party dress..."

"If you're not comfortable with it, we don't have to go," Char said quickly.

"I...I'll have to think about it," Iris replied.

Char smirked and leaned across the table. "Even if we don't go to the party, would you wear that dress for a date?"

The dim candlelight couldn't hide her bright red cheeks.

"You don't even know what it looks like!"

"I know I'll like it on you."

The waiter returned with their food, and Char leaned back again, though his smirk remained. Iris decided to focus on the plate in front of her instead of the man across the table. His foot tapped hers, and she tapped it back, refusing to look up at him until the waiter was gone.

"You're trouble," she finally said, smiling up at him.

"And?" he asked teasingly.

"And...shouldn't we talk about Father Berk's other concern? The not so fun one?" she asked, her smile slipping.

Char's smile didn't falter. "That one's easy. I prayed for the first time in a long time when we were running from the cave-in and I didn't know if you were alive or dead. Your being alive is a miracle, and not just because of that. There have been way too many times in your life where you should have died, even before we met. Somebody's been watching out for you, and if it isn't God, I don't know who it is. So, we're going to church."

She smiled again. "I'm glad, because I really wasn't looking forward to going by myself."

"If I'm home, you're not going anywhere by yourself."

"That's a little excessive."

"Not from where I'm sitting."

The food was good, the conversation was good, and when they finished eating, Char leaned forward and beckoned her to do the same.

"Another nice thing about this restaurant," he said, his green eyes sparkling mischievously, "is the table size." He leaned in a little further and placed a peck on her lips. "Perfect for kissing."

"How many girls have you brought here?" she asked teasingly.

"Only one who matters."

She felt like she could fly by the time they were back on the street, walking to Elera's house. It felt so natural to walk hand-in-hand with Char, laughing and talking. She didn't even mind when he stole a quick kiss in the middle of the street, and she certainly didn't mind when he stopped them in Elera's entryway for a much longer, deeper kiss.

"You're so good at that," she gasped when it finally ended, gazing up at him dreamily, keeping her arms wrapped around his neck.

"I told you I wanted to take you someplace private to do more of that, but it'll have to wait," he murmured, holding her close with his arms around her waist.

"You're still not going to tell me what you're doing?"

"Nope." He leaned in and kissed her again, drawing it out as if he wanted to savor every moment as much as she did. "Wear that dress for me tomorrow night, okay?"

"Okay."

He kissed the tip of her nose and pulled back. "Tomorrow night."

"Goodbye, Char."

*****

Author's note: Hi! I don't normally do this, but since people are now reading this story, I think an explanation is in order. When I originally wrote this story, I stopped here, and I actually unpublished back to the point when Iris, Char, and Rath are in the capital city, before Iris gives them the slip. I had a couple of reasons for doing that.

1. I was considering switching to a tragic ending, so the story would end when they got into the castle. (Iris would beat Micah but be sucked into the crystal and entombed there forevermore. Maybe. Pending possible epilogue or sequel.)

2. Nobody was reading or giving me feedback, so I thought nobody liked it.

So, I unpublished back to the turning point where I had to choose which ending I wanted, but since I had no motivation to continue working on the story, I shelved it. I figured I'd leave it alone for a while and give myself time to decide. Eventually, I started leaning toward another option, which was a complete overhaul of the story.

Fortunately, somebody started reading. And liked it! (Everybody, thank AuthoressX57 right now.)

I talked to her about happy versus tragic ending, and although she prefers tragic endings, she thought a happy one would work best here. So, I republished everything I had, and this will get its happy ending. Plus a sequel, because I was setting myself up for that, too.

Eventually.

I'm currently working on a round of editing that turned into a massive rewrite for A Dove's Tale, but when I finish that, this is next on my to do list. In the meantime, I'm entering this in some awards, so I have more feedback to work with when I get back to it. So, I'm sorry to make you guys wait, but in 2025, I will finally finish this!

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