My Priority

"Sorry about all of this," I said as Trevor handed me the tart.

"Thanks for being there, it made the experience bearable," he said, then fished for a tiny coin purse within his dress pocket and handed me several gold pieces. "This should cover for any expenses on my side for now; I'll get you the rest after payday."

Mild confusion swept me as I had felt Trevor owed me nothing; but he placed it into my hands and closed his around my fingers; so I accepted it without complaint.

"You are welcome, Trevor," I said as he held my hands tight.

Small, pretty dice sat on the table near the snacks along with a dainty notebook that contained elegant hand writing paired with squiggles and arrows leading to different paragraphs.

"What are you doing with the dice?" I asked.

"Oh, I created a game that involves the dice, squares, and math! I'm trying to figure out what I want the game board to look like and which rules should start the game," he said, then giggled and bit his lip. "It's a bit too complicated right now but I still think it's at it's most fun. Go ahead, roll the dice!"

His excitement goaded me to grab the shiny pieces and lightly toss them onto the table. There was a four, ten, two, and seventeen on the one with twenty sides.

"Ah, a seventeen paired with a ten; you get to multiply only those two numbers, roll again, and subtract the two next numbers that show on the dice; but only if one of them is a three," he said with excitement.

"Wait, what if it's not a three; what happens then?" I asked, almost not wanting the answer.

"Oh, in that case, the next two numbers need to be divided and that result goes to your point pool, but you have to complete that before the other person calculates their roll or you only get half of those points," he said before grabbing the dice and quickly rolling them, figuring out the number in his head, re-rolling only one of those dice this time, and quickly writing down the result. "See, I would get full points because I completed it before you! If we had a board, I would get to move forwards two squares unless I ran into a re-roll action."

I stared, wondering how he found that concept even remotely fun. "I could balance the finances of this whole place just fine, but that's a bit much for me."

"It's a work in progress," he said with a shrug. "Once I get all of the rules down, it will be super easy to remember."

"Right..." I said. "I got Candy Trains, want to play that tonight?"

"Of course!" he stated enthusiastically. "Never got to play that one with another person."

"I don't know how you would manage to play it without another person," I said, almost feeling bad for him.

"Oh, it involves adding more rules," he stated with a sheepish smile.

"I think we'll play the original," I replied. "Anyway, are you ready for breakfast before work? You got the early shift today."

---

The concept that Trevor wanted to spend time with me invaded my head more than once while working and the one most distracted about it all was me. Trevor worked fluidly throughout his shift, asking questions and learning more from Lorelei when she came in. She was solidly the best at baking pies, always removing them from the oven at the perfect time.

"So, how's the couple's life?" she asked me later, noticing that Trevor retired to my apartment after his shift.

"We actually have not talked about that since Trevor's roommate kicked him out; but he gives the place a little more life," I answered.

"You seem happier lately, so I sort of figured," she said.

"I'm no different than usual; you and Mom focus too much on that," I chuckled.

"So you say," she slyly said with a grin before resuming her work in the kitchen.

---

"Hi," Trevor lightly greeted me as I entered the apartment after closing the bar. "I hope you do not mind, but I noticed that you had quite a few books on myths and legends and started reading them."

He was in a flowy pink dress with wispy fabric that only dipped slightly below the knees and it was the most casual I have ever seen him in; him usually wearing a outfit that paired with a corset or a dress with thick linen for work. The deep oranges of the hearth seemingly danced all over the soft dress.

"That's pretty awesome; they have not gotten any attention for months, so it's nice that someone's reading them," I said with a grin.

"So are these your preferred stories?" he asked, clearly prying for more information about me.

"Heh, yes, actually," I said with a little blush. "I like the usual fiction from time to time but these stories are fascinating and you never know where they are going to take you. Different lands, different times, different worlds; and all of them contain a sense of reality and whimsy simultaneously."

Trevor smiled as I sat on the plush rug with him to grab one of the thicker books. He shifted his weight and leaned against me, his head on my shoulder and eyes showing interest.

I continued. "It's sort of like that one guy that kept disappearing behind his house in order to work on a garden none of his neighbors could find, or the women that walked along the planet's rings after she fell asleep in a forest she's never been to before; these could all be real events or entirely made up by the person that wrote them...we would never know. But the gods and demigods have been proven to mess with people, so who's to say that these experiences were nothing but dreams? People even speculate that some of them were written by a god; which would be amazing if actually true."

"You mentioned at the festival that you have never met a god but Boss did; did you travel much when you were a kid?" he asked.

"Nope, Mom did all of that in her youth. She even crossed an ocean on a steam liner to get to this land; which is weird since I never seen an ocean before," I stated. "We traveled quite a long way by train a few times, some to go to swordsmanship contests, a huge meeting of merchants, or to see a few of the carved mountains. But I've mostly been here."

"Did you ever feel the need to be anywhere else; a wanderlust maybe?" he asked lightly.

"Wanderlust," I whispered as Trevor laid his head down on my lap.

I let myself lean back until I was lying on the floor, Trevor adjusting to firmly set his head onto my stomach. He took my hand into his and awaited my answer.

"At one point, I had mistaken my search for my identity as wanderlust. Mom had me train in swordsmanship since I was a kid, back when she and Dad ran the lodge. I had regular school with regular peers, but the rest of it was honing sword and bow skills; Mom even took me to contests and always told me how great I was doing! So I thought that defined me; it was what I would do," I said with a light shrug. "But I later found that it lead to knighthood in a kingdom far away from here, policing, or even running towards contests...for forever. There were a few hobbies I had hoped would bring me something, but the lodge was more than acceptable in the end. It was, well...home."

"Hm, that sounds nice," he said with a warm smile.

"Come on, be honest; it sounds completely boring! Who want's to hear about a women that took over a family business? I love those stories but honestly would never want to be the protagonist. To look a god or demigod in the eyes is not my idea of a good vacation," I said with a wink as Trevor giggled at me.

"So what's your favorite story?" he asked with a little pout.

"Oh, since I have never been to any oceans, I would marvel at paintings or stories of them, and I liked the one where a merfolk fell..." but my excitement quelled as I thought about it, me feeling suddenly bad for talking of merfolk stories with my merfolk girlfriend.

Trevor let out a little giggle and gave me a playful grin. "Don't feel bad about liking stories of merfolk; history or not, they are what they are. My favorite ones involve merfolk becoming travelers."

"The old stories are rather mean to merfolk; they are always depicted as hungry monsters. But I guess demigods are as well, and usually much worse," I said with a smile as Trevor giggled. "And I've never heard a good story about airels; they always take from you and fly away."

"Elves are always stuck up in the old tales that I have read, but none of them depict people like Boss," he said with a grin.

"Haha, she's a terrible example, though. She said that even her old group thought she was too adventurous to be an elf; said she lacked dedication to anything. She has traveled enough to make even demigods question her motives; it's nuts!" I said with a laugh. "She really can't be compared to anyone."

"And that's the point," Trevor grinned. "But seriously, you sketched merfolk in your books next to the stories; which one is your favorite?"

"Do I have to? It's bad enough you seen the drawings," I jokingly whined.

"Yes, because I promise to tell you one you never have heard if you are honest," he giddily stated.

"Only if you promise! Hm, well, my favorite is one of the dumb ones, then," I said with a smile as Trevor squeezed my middle. "The girl falls in love but does not have enough power to fully shape shift; so she takes just enough life force from that person to change every day. She succeeds and they are married. Years later, she has to leave because she realizes she can't keep it up, but he finds out and loves her anyway. Heh, unfortunately, he follows her to the shore, but her sisters become angry that he took her away and they ate him right in front of her. It's a really messed up story, but I liked how the girl described the ocean and how in love with both the guy and the land she was. Before the tragic end, it was sweet."

"I read a few like that with a different ending; one where she drowned because she was no longer a merfolk," Trevor said with a coo.

"See, demigods messing with people and being jerks," I said before we both chuckled at the absurdity.

"I like your sketches of the merfolk girls," he said.

"Thanks; most of those are old," I said with a blush.

"Old, as in, only a few months ago?" he grinned.

"Not fair that you saw those," I replied with smirk, readjusting to sit up against the front of the couch.

"Aw, don't be like that; I still liked them," he said, giggling all too gleefully.

"So, you promised me a story, hm?" I said with a challenging tone.

"You will like this one," he said with a warm smile, readjusting to set his head on my leg. "A young merfolk was once drowned by wanderlust and finally left his providence to face the dangers of the world alone. He had always studied and drawn the stars, which got him by but never enough to earn respect at home. He met many people; people that he expected would dismiss or scorn him - people that quickly became his friends instead. They loved his star charts and would purchase them or have long conversations about them with him."

He took my hand and set it upon his forehead as he closed his eyes.

He continued. "They were always sad when he would leave, and the thing is, he always had to leave. Some even begged him to stay, wondering why their friend could never feel at home, or even worse, believing that he did not care. But he did care; he loved all of his friends! But he could not shake the wanderlust; it was so heavy in his heart that it hurt with every day that he held back," he paused and peered at me with those striking hazel eyes.

"So he always left," I said. "That's a little sad."

"It gets better for him," he said with a smile. "He always left, always continued, and was very lucky to make more friends. He rode trains, boats, and even balloons to wherever he could go but finding a place to call home felt nearly impossible to him; even good friends or the greatest of observatories could not keep him. Inevitably, he had accepted loneliness, knowing that it was all self imposed. One day, he made a mistake and crossed the path of a demigod; the creature's large eyes taking place of what he had mistaken for a mountain."

Trevor rolled forward and suddenly shot upwards to stand nearly on his toes; which made me giggle because he was still short. He twirled for a moment and grabbed a large green gem that sat on my mantle, putting it up to his face to stare at me through it.

"The demigod peered at him and said, 'Who are you to cross this place? You must trade or I eat you whole!' For once, the traveler was terrified, for his inability to call somewhere home had finally wore down his luck."

"It's really always eating with demigods," I said with a wink.

"With no extra charts left, the merfolk traded his personal set; the ones that he had been working on with the whole journey. It was pages and pages of stars, and even continued in a book that was at one time, entirely blank. The demigod was so impressed that he had begun to ask many questions; so many that they talked for days and days. The demigod provided so much food that they never had to move. Eventually, the demigod had mentioned he had gotten lost, but wandering for a hundred years did him no good. Instead, he fell asleep and became the mountain. But with the star chart, he could finally find his way back."

Trevor beamed a smile at me and lowered the large gem from his face. He quickly walked over to set it lightly back onto the mantle then stepped to me and plopped into my lap. His soft hands grabbed for mine, only to wrap them tightly around his shoulders. I stayed quiet, listening to him intently, my thumb caressing his arm.

"Before abandoning the merfolk, the demigod had asked him why he had journeyed to such great lengths. The merfolk found no reason to keep his sadness from his new friend and told everything. He said to him, 'Young one, we both suffer from being lost; but you are lost to yourself. Once you love yourself, your luck will get you home.' The merfolk did not understand; he begged for directions, begged to be given anything else."

"However, the demigod sighed and decided it was best to give more; for they were never to meet after this. He raised his mighty claw and plucked a tiny bit of the light from the sky, it briefly going dim around them. He opened the book, tapped it, and ripped out a page to hand it to the confused merfolk. He added, 'you will find home at this location, but only after you learn to love yourself and appreciate your work'. With that, the demigod was gone, and the merfolk had a map that glowed with light of it's own."

"It took five years to find where the map had even started, and by then, he was sure to appreciate so many of the things that he did; all of the effort he put into his star charts and new hobbies. So when he set foot in the town; he felt more at home than any place in the whole world. It was a place that he had been before, in another lifetime, and he could see so much of himself everywhere he looked. He cared so much for all of the friends he had met on the way, but the town was going to forever be his home; and he had to love himself before he could love the place. The End!"

My mouth opened, I thought for a moment, then stared at the ceiling. "Trevor, that ending needs a little bit of work."

"Hey, don't be mean!" he said before giggling at me.

"No, the story was really good; but ending is too vague! What did he do when he got there? Did he create star charts for forever, join a band, or at least find someone to love? I just want to know what kind of life he made for himself after taking so long to get there," I said, unable to hide my disappointment.

"Some stories end that way," he sang all too happily.

"Yeah, you are right. Where did you hear that one anyway? It would be awesome to see it in tale form, but even better to see it in a fully realized within a novel," I said.

"You ask so many questions! Haha, I heard it on my way here, while I was on a train," he said happily.

I grinned and squeezed Trevor just a bit. "Well, thanks for telling it; I still liked it even though it messes with my curiosity."

"You are welcome," he said.

The warmth of the hearth threatened to make us sweat, and Trevor shifted lightly and exhaled.

"Hey, um, I actually have a day off tomorrow," I said with a bit too much hesitation.

"Really, now? I was under the impression that you worked every day of the week with only few exceptions," he teased.

"Heh, it's mostly true. I usually get a day off a week; I don't take more than that even though I know I probably should but the difficult one is taking the same time off as everyone else, so what happened at the festival is incredibly rare for me," I said.

"I'm glad we got to spend time together at the festival; it was the most fun I had in a long time," he said.

"The outcome could have been less eventful; but I loved it as well," I said.

"The outcome was weird; really wish she would have given me more time, I was in the process of finding another place," he said.

"I know, some people are really strange," I stated. "Why did she dislike you so much?"

"Well, we were kind of friends at one point, even came to this town together on a train. But she met someone and became increasingly irritated with me because the place had suddenly felt so cramped. It got bad enough to where she started accusing me of everything, including stealing a golden watch from her boyfriend, so I had planned to leave. I was saving money; but you know how that went," he said, sticking out his tongue and smiling. "Bad luck, right?"

"That's not fair, Trevor," I said a little solemnly. "You only had this job for a week before then; she expected too much of you."

"I know, but it really does not bother me," he said. "I got lucky to have met you, and I can move out when I finally save up enough!"

Was it so wrong for me to dislike that; was it wrong to hope that my little girlfriend would want to stick around? Our young relationship was just that, but in a few short days, his company was most adored. However, I did understand, and I squeezed him and told him that I hoped he would find the very best place that would make him happy.

He briefly got up, exiting my lap and turning around to peer at me. I followed his movements, embraced him, and finally returned to my previous idea. "Trevor, would you go on a date with me tomorrow? Just the two of us?"

"Yes, I like this idea very much!" he said enthusiastically. "Just the two of us."

"Just the two of us," I repeated.

"Is it OK if I take us to one of my favorite locations?" he asked.

"Uh, sure, that would be amazing," I said.

"So," he said with a breathy voice. "What is it that you would like to do next?"

There were a great many things that I wanted to do next, one of which was to kiss him as my hands danced around his dress like the light from the heath did.

"Because, you know," he added, "You said we would play Candy Train with me, and it's been for forever since I played it as it's intended."

I wanted to grin and tell him he knew exactly what he was doing to me, but I bit my lip, hugged him tight, and turned to grab the board game from one of my large bookcases.

"You are such a little tease," I stated as I set up the game pieces.

---

The game certainly wasn't hard and took luck rather than skills in order to win. Trevor drew his next card and shuffled his game piece to a train car with the next corresponding color.

"It's funny that you chose to play the train piece; so you are a train riding a train," he giggled as I took my turn.

"And I was derailed and sent back five cars. Bad luck," I stated, wishing I had shuffled the cards better.

"When was the last time you had played this game?" Trevor asked, noting how worn the cards were.

"I think, six months ago? Maybe. Mom and I played it on the bar counter on a week that we had a late beer shipment. As you could imagine, the bar was nearly empty without it, so we listened to minstrels and played some these games," I said. "A few guests came in to eat or drink whine, but that was pretty much it."