Legon Ascension by Nicholas Taylor

glittered with a thousand tiny faceted jewels. Her hair shone, seemingly of its own accord, little crystals refracting the light in it. Her lips were a wet, glossy red and her eyelashes seemed to be longer and oiled. The skin on her face, exposed arms and shoulders looked soft and smooth even from a distance. Diamonds hung from her ears and another large diamond was displayed on a necklace. When he was next to her she smiled, and it went to her eyes as the little pink flecks glowed. He never before realized just how lovely she smelled. His heart kicked back into gear, pounding so hard that he actually felt the tug of energy from his silencing spell as it vainly tried to not give him away. He should say something… but what? You’re beautiful? No, that was a lie. She was far more than that…
    “I told you he would be speechless. You look lovely too, Sasha,” Sydin said, beaming at Sasha and glancing at Iselin.
    “You look good Legon, nice work Sash,” Iselin added, patting Sasha’s shoulder.
    “Thank you, and wow Ise, you look incredible. Did you put crystals in your hair? I can only see their light.”
    “Oh yes, I don’t do it most of the time because when I ascend they never look right when I come back down.” She frowned.
    The couple from the pier was on them now, and this time both stared.
    The woman spoke silently to her husband when they got closer, trying not to be heard, but it was still easy for his Elvin eyes. “Oh they’re Elves, well no wonder you were so taken dear, sorry I got mad with you. The men do look good too, now that I think about it. Hmmm, a treat for us both I guess.”
    “She thinks I’m an Elf?” Sasha asked, enjoying the link that allowed her to hear all that Legon did.
    Ise answered, “Of course they do dear. You are more one of us than you think.”
    “No, they were looking at you, I’m just guilty by association,” she said and winked at Iselin. “The way you look, I bet you took ten years off that poor man’s life.”
    Iselin laughed. “Sash, I wasn’t the one that he was looking at the most.” She looked confused. “But who then? Not Legon or Sydin!”
    Sydin hooked her arm in his, beginning to lead her away. “No dear, it was you. Humans find us attractive, but we aren’t their own—you are. And you can easily hold your own with any Elvin woman.”
    They left and Legon felt Sasha close her mind to him with an encouraging thought… she wasn’t going to help him tonight? He looked at his date, now almost regretting asking her. He could sense the five members of his guard that would be with them tonight, and decided he wanted privacy. A flick of his mind and they went to escort Sasha and Sydin. Not like they needed the protection… Sydin was a class seven and already had five members of the guard. No, it was to protect Legon and what little pride he had left.
    In the moment he did this he felt an unimaginably soft hand take his. “Privacy is good,” Iselin’s voice said closely, too closely.
    The spell she was using on her breath made it smell like strawberries—of course his favorite. That was Sasha if he ever saw it. He would get her back later, but for now he needed to concentrate on the present.
    “Ise, I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to Elvin courtship…” the words tumbled out of his mouth.
    She smiled. “I know. Well, you need to ask yourself, ‘Is this just a nice night out or do I think I might want something more?’”
    “Ok, then what?”
    “Well, what is your answer?”
    He thought it was a little early for this conversation, so he tried to dodge it. Don’t people, I don’t know, talk for a while before they decide that?”
    “Yes, but we know each other, so it’s different. You don’t have to decide now, nor do I. I don’t want this to be uncomfortable for you.” She sounded sincere.
    Once again, without thinking, he said, “No, I want to see where this goes.” What happened to that little filter in his head that kept