In Exchange for Magic

"And she had really long black hair," he was telling me for the fiftieth time. "Blue eyes... Man, really blue eyes. I don't know where we were, but I wish I did."
"Enough!" I cried, throwing my hands up in the air. "I don't care what your mystery kiss looked like, what she was wearing, or the way she smelled!"

Ez hitched his pack up further on his back. He'd gotten much stronger with a night of rest, and he was able to walk now with a sure pace.

"Well, I think you're jealous!" he sniffed.
I snorted in a manner that could hardly be called ladylike.
"No, Ezekiel," I told him haughtily. "I'm just annoyed!"

"Jealous!" he sang.
"Ezekiel Jonas Sullivan, you are... You are..."
"Oh?" he gasped, fluttering his eyelashes. "Can it be? Rose Collins can't find a good insult!"
"Pointy eared freak!"

He folded his arms and opened his mouth to say something, but stopped.

"Look!" he shouted instead. "Rose, look!"

I followed the direction of his finger to see, distantly, a large city. Tiny houses stood in stately rows, and they all seemed to center around a market. I sucked in my breath. I could just make out a hazy outline that looked suspiciously like a large castle on top of a hill. Fog surrounded the village in the early morning light, making it seem foreign, but not eerie.

"Oh... Wow..." I breathed.

For the first time in months, I feasted my eyes on civilization.

"Ez, this is..." I began, but trailed off. "What are you doing?"

He was struggling to get his shirt off over his head, as he had some how gotten tangled up in one of the armholes.

"Need help?"
"No," he grunted. "I can do it."

He wrestled with his shirt for a few more seconds before tripping over his own feet, a rarity.

"Okay!" he called from the ground, with his head still caught in his shirt. "I give up."

With a sharp yank, I tugged Ez's shirt off and left him with severely mussed hair. He looked dazed for a second.

I laughed at him.
"What?" he demanded, pouting.
"Your hair!"
"What about it?"
"It looks like you've just been electrocuted!"

Embarrassed, he flattened his blonde hair back down and scowled jokingly at me.

"Is it fixed?"
"No," I sighed. "You're hopeless. Let me do it."

I stood over him and smoothed his hair properly.

"Thank you, Mommy," he said in a baby-voice.

I rolled my eyes as he yawned and lovingly touched the scars on his chest.

"So... Just felt like taking your shirt off, did you?" I asked teasingly.
"Yeah, I thought you needed a pick-me-up," he replied in the same manner.
"Ha. You're a riot."

He stretched slightly, maybe because he was tired, but probably because he wanted to show off his body. He got up off the ground and pointed to his pack.

"Toss me that, will you?"

I did so, and he proceeded to dig through it until he came upon a green, high collared shirt with a deep v-neck. He threw it on and continued rummaging. This time he produced a pair of knee-high black boots and black pants. He tossed the boots aside and wriggled out of his grey shorts.

"Hey! Warn me when you do that!" I shouted.
He shook his head and muttered something that sounded a lot like, "Humans!"

Once he had the pants on, he sat down and tucked the bottoms of the legs into the boots as he slipped them on his feet.

"There!" he announced, upon standing again.
"What was that for?" I asked.
He grinned. "I've got to pass myself off as a genuine elf if we're going to walk through the Royal City, don't I?"

I just laughed. "Ez, you think of everything! Where are my clothes, huh? Do I get to be an elf, too?"

He hesitated before producing my disguise.

"Don't get mad at me," he warned sheepishly.
"What?" I barked, uneasy. "What do I get to be?"
"You can't be an elf because your hair isn't blonde..."
"Okay... So what am I going to be, exactly?"
"Erm..."
"Ez!"
"Alright! Alright... You're going to be a-"
"Whore?" I finished for him, upon looking at what I'd be wearing.