24 Ashan 720
"Oh you're just afraid you try it! You'd enjoy it." Isabella insisted. She'd begun to steer them back towards the inn she was staying at.
"I think you'd enjoy it more than me." Balthazar said, casting a glance at Isabella's reaction. She smiled, but she didn't blush. "But I guess we can try it out when we get back." Balthazar gave in. "How does it work?"
"Well I'll lay it out first, then you take your tongue and-"
"Wait, do you hear that?" Balthazar interrupted Isabella as he heard a noise like... crying? Isabella tilted her head slightly, holding out her ear and a moment later a wave of disappointment washed over her.
"I do." She concurred. Balthazar unlinked his arm from Isabella and wandered a little ahead of her trying to follow crying. Isabella followed him. He turned into an alleyway between a tavern and a house and found a child- couldn't have been more than five or six- huddled against the steps to the back entrance of the tavern crying. Isabella gasped when she came around the corner in shock and then she rushed towards the child. Balthazar grabbed her arm stopping her before she reached the kid and she turned to him with a stunned expression, "Balthazar-"
"One trill." He said as he pulled Isabella behind him. "You! Child! Why are you crying!" Balthazar shouted to the child from his end of the alleyway. Well he didn't shout, but he projected his voice so it came off a little more stern than he might have meant it. He'd walked into too many traps to think a crying child wasn't some personal attack against the guy who'd worked two missing children cases. The child looked up at him- yeah it was definitely human, a little boy with shaggy brown hair and brown (wet) eyes. Frightened eyes. Balthazar stepped towards the child slowly, thinking he might have made a mistake by being so... demanding? The child rose in surprise and Balthazar held his hands out to the side as a gesture of peace. Isabella rolled her eyes but didn't interrupt Balthazar.
"I'm Balthazar, what's your name?" Balthazar said more gently than he'd demanded to know why the boy was crying.
"Cole."
"Well, Cole, what's wrong?"
"My dad left me here." The child replied nervously as he wiped his tears on the back of his arm. Cole was a small lad. Thin arms and a weak frame.
"On purpose?"
"Balthazar!" Isabella's voice was sharp like a disappointed teacher. Had she expected more of him? Balthazar never had a childhood. His real parents had been murdered by an angry mob and one of the farmers in that mob had taken him in as a servant. He was born a worker. He'd gone from working in a farm to working for a sorcerer. Then working for the common good. Then working for the Elements.
"I'm just trying to figure out what happened!" Balthazar turned towards Isabella for a second before turning back to the kid. "Do you know how to get back to your house?" Balthazar inquired as he crouched down to the child's level. The child shook his head and more tears began to bubble out of him. Balthazar's eyes widened. No! Stop crying! He didn't speak the words he was shouting in his mind. Balthazar held his hands out to try and calm the boy but seemed to scare him instead. The child retreated backwards towards the stairs he'd been huddled by before and Balthazar held his hands up in surrender. "Do you want to see a magic trick?" Balthazar asked the child. Children liked magic right? He had enjoyed magic in his youth.
Cole stopped crying for a beat and looked to Balthazar. "Magic?" He asked with wide eyes. Balthazar nodded and held out his palm so Cole could see.
"Watch this." Balthazar inhaled deeply and as he blew out through his mouth he manifested a small blue flame which danced around his palm like a fiery spirit. Cole's eyes widened in amazement and his sadness seemed to melt away under the flame for the bits he was mystified by the party trick. The flame began to spin in a circle, shifting slowly into a ring of fire which Balthazar moved over his head and widened before casting it down towards the floor and leaping through it. Cole continued to watch in awe as Balthazar began rotating his right and left hands in small circles in front of him, splitting the ring of fire apart into various smaller rings which danced around each other joyously for a few more trills before dissipating. "Oh no what happened?"
"The fire went out!" Cole replied quickly.
"Did you blow it out?" Balthazar asked, his tone softer and more friendly than a true interrogation would have been. Cole shook his head and pointed an accusing finger at Balthazar.
"You did!"
"I did not!" Balthazar protested as if the accusation had offended him. "It must have been Isabella!" Balthazar turned to Isabella who was watching in from the lip of the alleyway with a look on her face Balthazar hadn't seen in a long time. A look he hadn't seen since back in that village with the name he could never remember... a look he cherished. A look that faded as she snapped to attention and joined in their game. Isabella put her hands on her hips.
"I do apologize." Isabella said "I didn't mean to. Can you do it again?" Balthazar made a face.
"Can I do it again?" Balthazar looked at Cole. "I don't know, Cole, can I?" Cole nodded his head. "I'm gonna need a little help this time then. Here, bud, rub your hands together above my hand. Think warm thoughts." Balthazar instructed as he held his hands out to Cole. The young man seemed to have forgotten his despair entirely and reached his hands out over Balthazar. He began rubbing them together furiously like he was trying to start a fire between his palms because Balthazar had made him believe that was exactly what they were doing. "Careful." Balthazar said as smoke began to rise from his palm and eyes. Cole noticed his eyes this time and pointed at Balthazar's face. Mutation. Shit.
"I lit your face on fire!" Cole shouted victoriously.
Stupid. Balthazar thought before slapping his hands to his face. If the kid was going with it, Balthazar would keep playing. "Ahh! You got me! Isabella put it out!" And Balthazar turned to Isabella who'd crossed to them. She pulled his close and kissed him. He could hear Cole say "Ew" in the background but it was washed out by what Balthazar imagined a poet would describe as fireworks in his heart and mind. The smoke dissipated completely and Isabella pulled away.
"Did I get it?" Isabella asked innocently.
"You got it." Balthazar replied with a stupid smile on his face. He grinned at her and she grinned at him then they both turned to Cole who was just watching them. "What?" Balthazar said to Cole who just stared at him and Isabella.
"Do another one!" Cole exclaimed and Isabella let out a soft laugh.
"How about we head inside and see if we can't figure out where your father is?" Isabella asked the young boy, taking charge of the situation before it could spiral out of control or worse, back into tears. Cole seemed glad to go with Isabella as she lead him into the tavern. Isabella popped her head out to address Balthazar who was still standing where she'd kissed him. "Are you coming, Balthazar?" But the mage stood there thinking about how perfect that kiss had been and how he wanted to go back in time and be in those trills all over again. "Balthazar?"
"Yeah? Yeah!" Balthazar shook himself from his daze. "I'm on my way." And so they went into the bar. The bartender would be able to direct them to the home of a regular who seemed to loose his child at the bar at least once a season. Once they got there, Isabella would entertain Cole outside while Balthazar went in to have what he described to Cole as "a friendly discussion about bringing your child to the bar and leaving them there." Isabella found that she had to keep Cole entertained for about half a break before Balthazar emerged from the house to report that Cole could go in and see his father again.
Cole's childhood was either going to improve greatly, or Balthazar would be back.
