Sparks by Independence1776

First Meetings

Narmincë and Makalaurë meet for the first time. Rated General.

Betaed by the wonderful Elleth!

Narmincë set her notebooks on the table, and reached down to pull the basic astronomy text out of her bag. She hurriedly straightened when an opportunistic seagull dove for her peach pastry resting on the saucer of her cup of lemon verbena and elderflower tea. It squawked at her and returned to soaring over the square to look elsewhere. She sighed, dropped her book on the white stone table in front of her, and rubbed her temples.

It was a beautiful day, with a hint of a breeze and only scattered high clouds in the sky. Choosing a table on the café's patio was simple. But it meant she had to deal with the confounded birds she'd hoped had remained by the shore instead of being here in Tirion. She took a bite of her pastry before flipping open the textbook to the practise problems at the end of the chapter, opened one of her notebooks, and rummaged through her case to find a pencil. Time to study.

She made it through three questions before the girls sitting behind her suddenly started giggling. Narmincë rolled her eyes and then looked up when a shadow crossed her page. She blinked at the dark-haired man in a green tunic and black pants standing next to her table. Oh. That explained the giggling.

Prince Makalaurë smiled shyly. “Narmincë, would you mind if I joined you?”

Narmincë glanced at the astronomy textbook under his arm. Did he just want to study? But why with her? “Prince--”

“Just Makalaurë, please.”

Narmincë raised her eyebrows and said, “No, I wouldn't.”

He sat down opposite her and spread out his belongings before disappearing inside the café. He came out with a blackberry scone and a mug of hot chocolate. After he’d resettled himself, she couldn't help but ask the question she'd been wondering for three weeks. “Why are you even taking this class? I thought you're studying music.”

Makalaurë shrugged one shoulder. “Knowing the basics will only help my lyric writing.”

Ah. Narmincë went back to her homework. Makalaurë didn't interrupt her until he had a question-- and then he went right back to studying. By the time she had to leave, they'd exchanged only a handful more of sentences unrelated to astronomy. But when she stood up, Makalaurë gave her another shy smile. “Would you mind if I met you here again?”

Narmincë froze. If she said no, what would the political repercussions be? But everyone knew he wasn't one to use them (being far more concerned with his music than politics) and he'd done nothing more than ask for her help.

His eyes widened fractionally. “No, no. It's fine if you don't want me to. I just enjoyed studying with you, that's all. Some of this is frankly over my head, and it's your focus.”

Narmincë relaxed and then nodded. “Same time every week then, until the end of the semester?”

Makalaurë grinned. “I'll see you in class tomorrow.”

She smiled and walked away, dodging around the tables and other patrons to return her empty cup and saucer to the café's employees. A study partner, then. And it didn't hurt that he was attractive.