"Lapis? Are you okay?"

The nasally voice of Dave the Skull snapped Lapis out of her daydream, and her mind returned to the entranceway of Angel Haus. The tavern was closed for the weekend, providing Agatha and Lapis a short reprieve from their daily work. Agatha had gone to meet with her produce supplier, and Lapis had been tasked with tidying the place while she was away. She had spent the chilly morning outside, pruning the window boxes and sweeping fallen leaves off from the tavern’s stoop. However, as she swept, she kept glancing up the road toward market street—where she had seen the strange glowing man the night before.

She hadn't told anyone about her rooftop escapades, but the vision of him was stuck firmly in her mind, and her eyes were repeatedly drawn toward the small slice of the main road visible between buildings, hoping to catch sight of him again. She had brought Dave outside to keep her company while she cleaned, but apparently he had noticed how distracted she was.

“I’m… fine. Sorry,” she replied, returning to her sweeping.

The fanged skull sitting on the window ledge didn’t seem convinced.

Dave was a bizarre little creature—most people would be long dead by the time only their bones remained, but he was the victim of an unfortunate curse that kept him "alive" long after his body had given out. He had come into Lapis's care when she had seen him on display in a traveling oddities show that had passed through Emerald Cove some months ago. Most people had simply walked past the pitiful sight, or assumed some kind of illusion magic was letting him "speak", but Lapis found herself taking pity on him. She went to visit him again the next day, and the next, and on the last night before the oddities show was set to pack up its caravan and head to the next town over, Lapis snuck in and stole him away. She had expected it to be more difficult, but his cage hadn't even been locked.

Ever since then, he'd occupied a space on her bedside table, the bar counter of the tavern, or on a windowsill when the weather was nice. On some days, Lapis would even carry him along with her on errands, tucked into a small shoulder bag. Odd as he was, Lapis liked having him to talk to, even though he was a captive audience. It wasn't like he could get up and leave.

“Are you expecting someone?” Dave asked. He had no mouth to speak through, or even a lower jaw, but somehow the words projected themselves out of his “body” regardless. “Agatha said she wouldn't be back until evening.”

“I know, it’s not… about her,” Lapis said.

“Hmm?”

Dave hummed a curious little noise, just like he always did when Agatha hinted at having a new piece of gossip, and Lapis hesitated. She wondered if she should tell him what she had seen the night before, and if he would think she was strange, telling tales of some mysterious glowing man.

Then again, Dave was a talking skull. No matter what she did, he’d always have her beat in the “strange” department.

”It’s… well,” Lapis stammered, “I may have… seen something, last night.”

“Ohh?” Dave replied with an upward lilt of interest.

“When I was up on the roof fixing the sunflower, I saw… A man.”

“There was a man on the roof?”

“No, I was on the roof. He was walking down the main street, over there,” Lapis said, pointing toward it.

“Okay.”

“And, well… he was glowing.”

“Oh," Dave said, a twinge of disappointment in his voice. "…Is that all?”

“I—What do you mean ‘is that all’?!” Lapis blurted out, louder than she intended. Though the street was empty aside from them, she looked around before lowering her voice to a whisper. “His whole body was glowing! It was this weird outline of blueish light. It may have just been a spell, but-“

“I mean, it probably was-“

“But that’s the thing!” Lapis exclaimed, again forcing herself to lower her voice as she kept going. “I don’t think anyone else could see it. I watched the people he walked past, and none of them reacted at all. If it was some kind of spell, surely other people would have at least glanced at him, right? It wasn’t exactly subtle.”

“Hmm…”

Lapis looked up the road again, fidgeting with her pendant. “I just… keep thinking about it, and how odd it was. I wasn't able to get a closer look yesterday, but maybe if he walks past again..."

“Ooh, I see,” Dave hummed.

Lapis turned back to him, raising an eyebrow. “See what?”

“You like him, don’t you?” Dave’s bony form wasn’t capable of emoting, but Lapis swore she saw the ridges above his eye sockets wiggle playfully.

Her face burned. “Ugh, what? Don't be ridiculous. I could barely even see what he looked like. And even if I could… I don’t know. I just wonder what that glow was about. It felt… strange, seeing it.”

“Hrm. Well, he might still be in town. Maybe you could go find him and ask?”

“Maybe. Or he could have just been passing through and I'll never see him again,” Lapis replied, looking down and swiping at fallen leaves with her broom. The thought depressed her; it had been months since anything had excited her as much as the mysterious glowing man. If he had already left town, she’d be stuck wondering about him forever, the answers eternally out of her reach.

A disappointment she was already intimately familiar with.

Dave paused for a moment, considering. “Well, Agatha said you could do whatever you liked after you finished cleaning out here, right?”

“I…” Lapis mumbled. Her eyes lingered on the few leaves she had yet to sweep away. "Yes, she did."

"And you're already almost done with your work for the day."

"…That I am," she replied matter-of-factly. She felt that spark of curiosity again. If the man was still in town, then maybe...

The two of them shared a knowing glance—eyes meeting eye sockets—before Lapis hurriedly swept the rest of the fallen leaves away from the tavern’s doorway. Her tasks for the day suddenly complete, she felt her heart fluttering with familiar excitement. Setting down her broom, she snatched Dave off the window sill, tucked him into her shoulder bag, locked the tavern doors, and ventured out into the village.