Just Blithe and Chris talking 'bout Brook:
Blithe slumped against a wall, breathing heavily as he tried to catch his breath. He could only imagine what he looked like, grinning with his face flushed from exertion, flopped against a wall.
āYou picked a good one,ā Chris said, sliding a cool drink into Blitheās hand. āSheās a b-bonnie lass if Iāve ever seen one, as they say.ā
Blithe quickly downed the sweet, tangy drink, realizing how thirsty he was after so much dancing. āYeah,ā he managed to gasp after gulping down the last of his drink, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
āThatās it? N-no pun or witty comment?ā
āHow about sheās breathtakingly beautiful?ā he panted, gesturing to his fatigued state.
āAccurate in more ways than one,ā Chris agreed.
Blithe leaned farther against the wall, letting his heels dig into the stone floor. To cool down, he held the now empty but still cool glass to his forehead, then rolled it around to his neck, then-
āWhat on the Giverās Green globe are you d-doing?ā Chris said suddenly.
Blithe paused with his hand, still clutching the cold glass, halfway down his shirt, then let out a bark of laughter as he realized what it looked like.
āRobbing the castle of its glasses, of course!ā He laughed and dropped the glass entirely down his shirt, the cold surface of the cup blessedly chilling him. āFigured if your physicians couldnāt cure me with their less-than-spectacular spectacles, Iād best try out all the glasses in the kingdom. Here,ā Blithe grabbed at Chris in an attempt to locate Chrisās cup, āLook away and let me steal yours, too.āĀ
Chris laughed and batted Blitheās hands away. āOr I could just give it to you? D-donate to the cause.ā
āNo, no. āFraid that would ruin the whole point of hiding glasses down my shirt. Besides, the Blind Bandit begs for no bounty, booty nor brize.ā
āYou canāt just put a ābā in front of āprizeā to make it fit your alliteration, Jester,ā Chris said, amused nonetheless.Ā
āNo matter,ā Blithe said dismissively, then suddenly, āWhatās that over there!ā He pointed at something just behind Chris, then felt at his friend until he finally located the glass and promptly snatched it, spilling some of its contents.Ā
āYou people really need to stop falling for that one.ā He said, downing the rest of Chrisās drink.
āI d-didnāt look,ā Chris insisted as he fussed over his suit where the drink spilled.
āSure you didnāt,ā Blithe said, fishing down his shirt to retrieve his own glass. He held the two glasses up to his eyes as if they were double spy glasses and squinted through them, then gasped.
āGood Giver,ā he breathed before handing the two glasses to Chris and gesturing for him to take a look.
āJester,ā Chris began, āYou donāt really expect me to b-believe-ā
Blithe shushed him, then pointed to the dance floor, āLook.āĀ
Chris sighed but accepted the glasses.Ā
āWell?ā Blithe whispered.
āI d-donāt even know what-ā
Blithe shushed him again. āDo you see him?ā
āThe idiot holding the two glasses up to his face!āĀ
Blitheās cackle turned into a cough as Chris elbowed him in the gut.
āJokes on you, Jester; These work surprisingly well. I can even see B-brook through them.ā Chris said smuggly.
āReally? Let me see,ā Blithe joked, and Chris gave a dry āhar harā before falling quiet. Blithe liked to imagine him still peering through the two glasses.
āDo you,ā Chris began slowly, āknow what she looks l-like? Tonight, I mean. All d-dress- dressed up and dancing.ā
āYeah...ā Blithe grinned, picturing the image sheād described for him that night. āHair in a āfloppyā braid, flower crown she hoped wouldnāt fall apart (which did), and a really āswooshyā dress sheās wanted to wear for weeks,ā he recited, proud heād remembered every detail.Ā
āāSwooshy?āā Chris said incredulously. āCall me Calandria, but āfloppy braid,ā āflower crown,ā and āswooshy dressā simply do not d-do her justice.āĀ
āIāll say. She looks like a sunset had a baby with a butterfly. But hey,ā Blithe shrugged, āher words, not mine.ā
āIsnāt she a storyteller? Arenāt d-descrip-descriptions her hobby?ā
āIronic, isnāt it? She can describe a desert in more detail than her dress.ā
āBut you can see her?ā
Blithe squinted at the brightly lit dance hall. He could make out smears of deeply colored ladies' gowns and splashes of men's suits glinting in the candlelight. Blithe was convinced the flashy jewelry and accessories the men of Corvidae favored over the rich colors of ladies' clothing were deliberately designed to catch the light as blindingly brightly as possible. Indeed, the light reflecting off the many bracelets, buttons, and bangles swimming through the room made it almost too bright for Blithe to see anything beyond the headache it caused. But the occasional brush stroke of sunset hues that streamed past his tunnel of vision made it worth the discomfort.
āBelieve it or not, compared to all the darker colors, her light orange dress stands out just enough for me to catch glimpses of her. See,ā He traced Brookās sweeping movements with his finger as she weaved through the forest of deep greens, blues, and purples. āI like to think she did it on purpose, standing out so I can see her.ā
āOr maybe she just liked the dress. You said sheād b-been anxious to wear it.ā
āShe was a little anxious itād be too loud,ā Blithe said, stroking his chin.
āThatās not what I meant by anxious-ā Chris said before Blithe cut him off.
āBut Iāll says to you what I says to her,ā he said, adopting a lower city dialect, āI says, āItās no loudaā than you. And if it were, well, peopleād go deaf jusā by lookinā at it.ā Anā easy as combing a crow, I convinced her to wear it anyway.ā
āHmm,ā Chris said, unconvinced but amused, āFrom the way sheās been twirling ab-bout in it tonight, I doubt anyone couldāve c-convinced her not to wear it.ā
Blithe closed his eyes to ease his persistent headache but kept the image of the brightly colored blob that was Brook bobbing in his mind's eye.
āHer d-dress isnāt orange, though,ā Chris said, āItās her hair.ā
Blithe cracked an eye open to give what he hoped was an incredulous side-eye.Ā
āHer dress is light green with pastel b-blue and pink highlights-ā
āTo crows with the dress! Her hair is orange???ā
āShe didnāt mention this?ā
āUm, no. I thought it was green!ā
āWell, it usually is. But itās been gradually changing color for a while n-now.ā
āAs a crow in a cornfield.ā
āTrue as a crowās knows?ā
āJester, no one actually says-ā
āSay it. So I know youāre not tugging my tail feathers.ā
āTugging your-?ā Chris sighed, then said, āTrue as a crowās kn-knows.ā
āYa donāt sayā¦ā Blithe said, trying and failing to picture Brook with brilliant orange hair.Ā
āI canāt see it,ā he said finally, shaking his head. āBrookās got green hair. Green like a tree. Ya know, 'cause sheās a tree. But orange? Orange like a⦠orange,ā Blithe finished lamely, unable to think of anything else orange in his shock. āThat just doesnāt make sense!ā
āWell, n-not completely orange. Not yet, at least. Itās more a yellowish-orange⦠and some red in there⦠and thereās still quite a bit of green left, too.ā
āArtfully said,ā Blithe sighed sarcastically, āYellowish-greenish-orangeish-red-ā
āThink leaves changing color in the fall.ā Chris interrupted. āActually, now that Iāve said it, that might be what it is. The seasons are changing, and she is a dryad.ā
That seemed to do the trick, and Blithe could imagine Brookās pale white skin brilliantly contrasted with vibrate fall colors cascading down her shoulders. āOh, huh. Who knew?ā
āFair.ā Blithe pushed himself away from the wall, found a chair to sit in, then crossed his legs and steapled his fingers. āBut seeing as Iām missing out on, well, seeing, mind filling me in, oh Articulate One? Whatās she look like?ā
Chris pulled a chair over and sat, āLike n-nothing youāve ever seen.ā
āThat, I donāt doubt,ā Blithe said, crossing his eyes and waving a hand before his face.
āItās an expression.ā
āAnd āquicker than counting a crowās quips,ā isnāt?ā Blithe challenged.
āItās honestly not. But thatās besides the point. Letās see⦠sheās got this hair-ā
āWhich weāve already established.ā
āRight. Oh, and these eyes-ā
āNo way? Sheās got eyes, too?ā Blithe said in mock surprise.
āI wasnāt finishedāā
āOh, my bad,ā Blithe teased, leaning back in his seat. āWere you going to mention two ears and a nose next?ā
āN-no, but I was gonna mention that her eyes change color too.ā
āDonāt tell me theyāre orange too, now.ā
āTheyāre not orange, no. But they flash a kind of translucent white when they move. Itās honestly a b-bit distracting. Light green one moment, then sud-ddenly white, then green again. Almost like a catās tapetum lucidum.āĀ
Blithe took on a stuffy royal dialect, āAh, yes. The toopy toom loosy doom. A fine word indeed. So fine, in fact, that no one knows what it means. Thatās how you know itās fancy. Tell me, how many other useless words do you know?ā
āWith Ed as my page b-boy and Calandria as my cousin, more than Iād like to admit.ā Chris copied Blithe's stuffy dialect, āI i-imagine I have one of the most sophisticated vernaculars i-in the kingdom, thanks to them.ā
āLot of good it does you when you canāt manage to say half of them.ā Blithe teased.
āI think I need an-nother drink.ā
āOh, come on!ā Blithe protested, hearing Chrisās jewelry clinking and clothes rustling as he got up to leave. āYou havenāt even described her smile yet.ā
āTwo lips and l-lots of teeth,ā Chris said, brushing out the wrinkles in his suit.
Blithe scrambled to his feet. āHey, no fair. I canāt even see it!ā He grabbed Chrisās elbow and followed him to the refreshments. āTake pity on a poor blind man.ā
āWhy?ā Chris asked, sliding a full glass into Blitheās free hand. āClearly, B-brook already has.ā
āShe has nice teeth.ā Both Chris and Blithe jumped as Calandria suddenly spoke, though Blithe hadnāt heard her approach, and judging by Chrisās curses over his spilled drink, he hadnāt seen her approach either.
āGood Giver, where did you come from?!ā Blithe gasped, his heart thumping.
āFrom over there,ā she replied, no doubt pointing to wherever sheād been.
āWhat w-was that about nice teeth?ā Chris asked, having recovered from his second spilled drink that night.
āBlithe asked after Brookās smile. She has nice teeth. But her teeth donāt smile nearly as much as her eyes and cheeks. Her eyes scrunch up, almost closed to make room for her smile. Even when her teeth arenāt smiling, her eyes are. Yes, she has nice teeth, but they are not what makes her smile bright.ā