Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Eight — Eating Out
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Eight — Eating Out I walked into the Rock Inn and Roll Inn with a bunch of friends at my heels. The only ones that stayed behind were Pierre and Rhawrexdee. The Ranger because he wanted to keep an eye on the dragon, the dragon because he couldn’t fit in the inn.“Julien!” I called to the big grenoil behind the counter. He looked up, and in an instant his expression shifted to a huge, welcoming grin. “Little Broccoli! It’s been days! And look at how many new customers you bring zis old frog.”I laughed and skipped over to the counter. “Hey, we’re all looking for some delicious lunch, and a place to eat it, preferably outside. Do you think we could order here and eat in your courtyard?”“Of course you can! I wouldn’t take away the sun from such a pretty young woman. You should be enjoying the last of the warm weather before ze winter hits.”Booksie stepped up next to me and curtsied a little. “Hello, sir,” she said.“Booksie! I zought you were off, what wiz, well, you know.”Booksie shook her head. “It’s all been handled. I made some very good friends who helped me out of my pinch.” She gestured my way with her ears. I was a little jealous of the control she had over them, mine tended to flop all over. “I see, zat’s wonderful!” “Ah, about my new friends. One of them has... an appetite. For meat. Lots of it.”The grenoil nodded. “I’m sure we can arrange that.”“No, no, I mean... lots of meat. A cartfull. Maybe two.”Julien blinked. “Zat’s a lot of meat.”“He’s a dragon,” Booksie said. The grenoil shifted to look out the window where, on turning to look myself, a large scaly flank was visible, gleaming a bright blue as it reflected the sun’s light. “Ah,” Julien said.“We don’t want to leave him out, that’s why I asked to eat outside,” I said.“I... of course. Well, ah, place your orders and I’ll get right to it?” he asked.I grinned. Knowing so many friendly people from all over was such a boon. “Thanks Julien!” Soon enough, all of us were gathering in the courtyard tucked into the large ‘C’ of the Inn. It was a nice spot, with a couple of little tables and a big old tree that cast green shadows across clean-cut grass. Amaryllis installed herself at the table so that she could write her letters and such while the rest of us mostly just flopped onto the grass. It was a nice day for enjoying the bit of birdsong and the soft murmur of voices, the distant whistle of steaming pipes and the rattle of carts over cobbled roads. Even Rhawrexdee seemed to appreciate the relaxation. He laid down on his side with a crash that made the ground bounce. For all that he was a dragon, I couldn’t help but imagine a big dog laying onto its side on the grass. Orange padded over to the dragon, then climbed up his side and flopped atop the huge creature to be in the position of maximum sun absorption.I pushed my cleaning aura out as far as I could, wiping away the stink that such a big city without modern plumbing produced. “Zat was a nice spell,” Arianne said.“Thanks!” I said. “Hey, do you guys think we could do a bit of sparring and training?”“Awa, I would love more help, Miss Arianne,” Awen said. “My glass magic is still not very good.”Emeric shrugged his shoulders. “Sure, why not? Broccoli, you’re a melee-focused fighter?”“I guess so? I do use some cleaning magic while fighting, and I really want to learn more magic, but so far it’s been slow going.”“She’s not that bad,” Amaryllis said from her seat. She didn’t look away from the page she was scribbling on. “She catches on quickly.”“Aww, thank you-”“I think,” Amaryllis continued. “It’s because her brain is so empty, that there’s a surplus of room for things to fit into.”I glared at my harpy friend.“Don’t pout at me like that,” she said. “It makes you look as dumb as you are.”“I wasn’t pouting, I was glaring!” She snorted, and then some of the others joined in the laughter.I slumped. Was it ‘make fun of Broc day?’Emeric gestured over to Arianne. “Can you get us a couple of poles?” he asked.The mage nodded and twisted a ring just like Amaryllis’ around. Some paper and a pen appeared and she wrote while pushing it up against her thigh. A moment later a pair of wooden staffs appeared on the soft grass before her. Emeric got to his feet, picked one up, and flung it my way. The other he tossed to Donat. “Right. Up and at zem. You two can wail at each ozer for our entertainment. Donat, do try not to hurt ze girl zat’s chummy wiz ze dragon.”“Um, alright,” the young grenoil said as he hopped to his feet. He twisted the staff around and held it by his side. I did the same. I was pretty sure my Makeshift Weapons Proficiency wouldn’t work on a staff since it was... weapon-y. But that didn’t mean that I wouldn’t do my best! “Oh, are you going to kill each other?” Rhawrexdee asked. “Nope! Just practice so that we can both get stronger!” I said.“Hrm. Not as entertaining. If you kill him by accident, I call dibs on the body.”“Uh. I don’t think it’ll come to that,” I said. “Just wait a little bit, lunch will be arriving soon enough!” I twirled the staff around, fumbled it, then hugged it close instead of dropping it on the ground. Flushing a bit, I held it properly. “I’m ready!” If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.“So, I’m curious,” Emeric asked. “Where and when, exactly, did you pick up draconic?”“Oh, I just kind of picked it up along the way,” I said.Donat asked me if I was ready, then came in swinging. We had a quick exchange filled with the clacks and thumps of staff hitting staff. Donat wasn’t quite as flexible as I was, but he hit harder and could lunge forwards really well, his extra reach helped too. I might have been spending too much time fighting thugs and such, because I was surprised by Donat’s technique more than once. Emeric kept an eye on the both of us, barking out advice about footwork, and ways to better hold the staffs to make use of their length. I would have been a sweaty, stinky mess by the time the food came around if it wasn’t for my cleaning aura whisking away the sweat.Julien delivered the food himself, with only one of the barmaids to help him, one of the tough-looking girls that only balked at the dragon in our group for a moment before pushing on.I found a spot to sit next to Amaryllis and was soon joined by Awen on my other side. “Are you guys having fun?” I asked.“Ahh, yes!” Awen said. “Miss Arianne is a very good teacher. I think I can get my Glass Magic Manipulation up to apprentice rank in a few days if I practice really hard. I’ll have to find some proper spells though.”“That sounds great!” I said.Awen nodded, looking quite pleased with herself. “Miss Arianne said that my natural mana aspect will begin to shift a little towards Glass. I, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to become a proper mage like that. Um, and I can still be a mechanic. Though I haven’t been using those skills much.”“Hmm,” I said. “Maybe we should find some small projects you can carry around? You could get some practice.”“There’s another opportunity,” Amaryllis said. She looked very serious as she placed a letter before me. “Read.”I pushed my lunch aside and picked up the letter, flattening it with my palm onto the table to remove the creases down its middle.Dear Amaryllis,I read your report. The timing was quite fortuitous as I was just arranging to send you a letter of my own. The events you’ve uncovered only scratch the surface of the troubles we’ve been having lately. It took a while before the number of coincidences started to add up towards something more than just unfortunately timed diplomatic incidents. Someone is playing silly buggers with more than one nation, and it’s beginning to be a serious problem. Which is why I wanted to contact you. The clan is sending a representative to the East to smooth over some of our difficulties. The diplomat is your cousin Fell. She’s competent enough, but I suspect that the news of our sending someone might be intercepted. That’s why I thought that, were you willing, you could act as a second, unannounced, diplomat. Your position in the family would remove any doubt as to your credibility.Please write back as soon as you can. Things are beginning to move at a pace that we’re not comfortable with, and time may be of the essence.Your mother.I finished reading the letter, a bit disappointed that there wasn’t more fluff and love in it and that it was all business, but then, it was a sort of business letter. “So, does this mean we’re going to the Nesting Kingdom next?” I asked.“I can hardly ask that you come with me,” Amaryllis said.I rolled my eyes, then leaned to the side until I was pressed up against Amaryllis. Then, for good measure, I pulled her into a hug. “As if I’d let you go alone,” I said.Amaryllis huffed her ‘I want to look as if I don’t like this, but I actually do’ huff. “If you don’t want to come, perhaps I could entice you by introducing you to my sisters. And as for you, Awen, my home has some of the best mechanics and engineers in the world. They could certainly teach you a thing or two.”Awen giggled a little lady-like giggle, then she pressed herself onto my other side and pulled Amaryllis even closer. “I think we would enjoy that,” Awen said. “But, but if Broccoli taught me anything, it’s that you should always look out for your friends.”“You’re both idiots,” Amaryllis said, but she was flushed as she said it, the silly bird.“I love you guys, you know that, right?” I asked, just to be sure.“Awa,” Awen said.“Don’t start, you moron. It’s too early for that kind of sickly sweet... stuff,” Amaryllis said. She was blushing a lot harder now. It was cute! I sat up taller, still grinning for all I was worth. “So, when do we leave?” “I think today is too soon,” Amaryllis said. “Booking a flight doesn’t sound feasible at this hour. But I think we could get one for tomorrow afternoon. Or we could teleport over.”“Teleport?” I repeated. My ears went ramrod straight above my head.Amaryllis rolled her eyes. “It’s far more expedient, and ruinously expensive. It’ll cost half a dozen gold to get us to Fort Sylphrot. But it would save us a day or two of travel time. And... I suppose I could defer the costs to the clan as a sort of expense.”“That sounds awesome!” I cheered.“We’ll see tomorrow,” Amaryllis said.I nodded, then slid out of my seat. “I’m going to go tell the others. Booksie will have to handle the dragon siblings all on her own.”“I suspect that she’ll manage just fine,” Amaryllis said. “That dragon will be whipped to shape in no time, I’m certain.”I shook my head. Amaryllis had weird ideas about relationships. “I’ll be right back!”
* * *
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Nine — Oblivious
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Nine — Oblivious I woke up to something very soft and warm rubbing against the underside of my nose. Some blinking of grubby eyes (and a small application of cleaning magic to ungrub them) and I found myself staring at the soft brown stalk of a big bun ear. Not one of mine, either. A glance to the side showed me Booksie sleeping across the bed, her limbs sprawled out every which way and her nightie exposing an amount of leg that would have been scandalous if the room had any boys in it. As it was, we had rented a large room for the night and I convinced the others to push its two beds together into one big bed. It was a bit of a mistake. Booksie took up enough room for three. Awen was cuddled up against my side, a leg over my tummy and one of my long ears in her mouth where she was nibbling cutely at it with little ‘aw aw aw,’ sounds.A glance towards my feet revealed where all the blankets had gone. Amaryllis had appropriated them and made a sort of twisted nest which she was balled up within, head tucked under a wing.I yawned, pulled a barely-responsive arm out from under Awen, and shifted a bit. I could have gotten up, but the effort involved was way too much. I did wiggle my ear until it slid out of Awen’s mouth and then I worked hard to ignore her sad ‘aww.’ The poor thing. I shifted on the bed a little, then slid back to sleep.When I woke up again it was to find the room bathed in blues and pinks. The floral-print curtains over the windows turned the soft morning light into a shifting gradient as a gentle breeze snuck past them.Booksie was awake, but she was still flopped on her back, arms and legs spread out and eyes blinking up to the ceiling. A glance to my side showed Awen looking at me with a strange expression. The shorter girl was sleeping high enough on the bed that it felt like she was a bit taller. She reached up a hand and carefully touched the tip of my nose. “It scrunches,” she said.I think her brain might still have been half asleep.I wiggled my nose under her finger, then grinned at the sleepy blinking she did. Things started to register in Awen’s head because her face started to glow a pretty red starting from her cheeks and racing all the way up to the tips of her ears. Reaching up, I poked her nose. “Boop to you too,” I said.“You’re all too loud,” Amaryllis said as she came out of her blanket nest like a chick looking for its mommy. Her head feathers were all pointing in different directions and she looked like a mess. “I’m taking a shower first,” she declared before stretching a long leg out and stepping off the bed.I stretched too, until my arms and legs wiggled with tension, then flopped back down. “Time to get up!” I declared.The next few moments were a flurry of activity as we got up, pushed the beds apart and started rooting around for clothes that had been flung to every corner of the room and over the backs of chairs and such. Then there was a rush for the bathroom and some grumbling as we all had to wait our turn for the shower. Sure, I could have blasted everyone with Cleaning magic, but there was a shower right there. An hour after waking up, we were gathering outside of the inn after saying good day to Julien the owner. Emeric and his crew from the Exploration Guild were all there too, having rented out a couple of rooms for themselves. The only person missing was Rhawrexdee, who had flown off to go sleep at his mom’s place. He did say he would be back though.“Ah, I guess this is goodbye again?” I wondered. Emeric grinned and nodded. “I suppose so. I expect we’ll meet again, or perhaps we’ll just hear of your many exploits. I’ve no doubt zat zere will be stories told about you.”“Yeah, stories about ze harbinger of doom,” Pierre said.I huffed at the ranger and shook my head. “I hope not. I just want to live a nice, quiet life with many friends,” I said. For some reason they thought that was funny.I turned to Booksie who also looked ready to set out. She, being quite a clever Bun, had brought some changes of clothes that had been left behind in her home, a smart pencil skirt and a nice blouse. She looked like a young librarian. I wondered how much of that was to appeal to Rhawrexdee. It didn’t matter, not really, and I wished her all the best. I extended my arms up towards her and waited for her to come into my hug. She didn’t disappoint, crashing into me with a giggle. “I’m gonna miss you,” I said.“And I’ll miss you,” Booksie said. “I have so many more things to teach you about being a bun, but I’m sure you’ll figure them out. You’re a natural bun.”I grinned huge. “Thanks! I’ll do my best.”We parted with a few more goodbyes and a bunch more hugs. Even Orange got some friendly goodbye pats on her noggin’. We started to make our way down the main streets of Port Royal. “Ah, it’s just the three of us again,” I said.“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Amaryllis said. “As much as one of us is an idiot, the others are at least dependable and intelligent.”I snorted and bumped my hip against Amaryllis. “Meanie,” I said. “We do make a pretty good team though. Plus we get to hang out some more, which is the best!”“A-aw yes, yes it is,” Awen agreed. “I’m very happy that you kidnapped me, Broccoli.”I nodded. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat!” I said. “We’re like the three musketeers, but without the muskets or the cool feathery hats.”“I-I could maybe make a musket for you,” Awen said. “If you want.”I imagined myself with a few pirate-y pistols and a tricorn. “I’ll think about it,” I said. I took in a deep breath and let myself idly follow Amaryllis’ lead as she guided us through the city. Our last little adventure had been quite the exciting thing. Fighting in a tournament, meeting a dragon, then meeting more dragons. Spending time making new friends from old acquaintances... it was a lot to take in, a lot of fighting and being afraid for my life and afraid for my friends.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.In the end, though, we had survived all of our challenges and persevered through it all. And now... how close were our bonds of friendship? Amaryllis was stomping ahead of us, looking serious and severe, but she had a little smile on and her eyes twinkled with mirth. She was happy.Next to me, Awen was walking so close that our shoulders bumped every few steps. Looking down at her made her look up to me, and she smiled demurely, her cheeks rosey and plump, just demanding to be pinched. Her life had been on track to become a miserable slog. Maybe she would have found some happiness along the way, but she was happy now. I think that I did the right thing. And then there was my own happiness, a gushing well in my chest that felt like one of those veins of oil that bust out of the ground. I could hardly contain most of it. Fortunately, excess happiness just made me want to dance and hug people. No bad side-effects! “Where’re we going now?” I asked a few minutes into our walk.“The guild. You do recall that flower gathering mission of yours? You can hand that in while I go secure some transportation for the three of us over to the Nesting Kingdom.”“We’re going to teleport after all?” I asked. That would be so cool! “We’ll certainly try. If we can’t then we’ll need to find a flight over, which would take a few days. Fort Sylphrot is geographically close, but practically far.”“Huh?” Amaryllis pointed to the side of the mountain Port Royal was perched onto. “The fort is about as far from here as Deepmarsh is. That’s a day’s flight at most, winds willing. The problem is all the mountains. The weather around them is treacherous at best. Most airships can’t get the altitude to hover over the peaks, and the engines and crew freeze up if they get too high.”“Ah, right, the air is thinner in the upper atmosphere, and a whole lot colder. I can see why that would be bad.”She eyed me for a moment, then nodded. “That’s right. So a ship heading over to Fort Sylphrot needs to take a curving path through Deepmarsh airspace, or a meandering path through the various mountains. One’s slower than the other, but the risk is lesser.”“So teleporting, then,” I said. “Why have airships if you can teleport anyway?”“Do you know how many mages able to teleport there are in a place like the Nesting Kingdom?” “Nope!” “A hundred, maybe two. Most of those of a high enough rank and level that giving them the menial task of teleporting bulk goods would be plainly insulting. Some will work for guilds and teleport things for a fee. A large fee. Most mages that can do it are at a level where a few hours of their time and some mana replenishing potions is worth more than the average person’s monthly wage.”“Yikes,” I said. “What about runes and such?” I gestured to a streetlamp that was glowing from within, a rune inscribed on a steel plate behind some glass providing the light. “Incredibly tricky, with nowhere near the precision of a mage with a Skill. The Snowlands are supposed to have a large teleportation network in place for inorganic goods. If an iron ingot comes out a little bent at the other end, no one will cry over it. The same can’t be said about a person. The systems most banks use are quite similar, though smaller in scale, and a little more accurate. Though they have people with very particular skills working for them.”“Very cool,” I said. Awen nodded. “We don’t really have much of that in Mattergrove. Maybe in the capitol? But I only went there a few times, and always by carriage.”“Wait, you travelled to the capitol?” I asked.Awen nodded. “A few times,” she said. “With my family, to meet some important people. I never liked doing that. There are a lot of rules to remember, about bowing and addressing people the right way.”Amaryllis hummed and slowed to a halt before the Mages Guild. “This is where I’ll leave you two.” She placed talons on hips and regarded me with narrowed eyes. “Though Awen does remind me. I’m going to need to give you a crash-course on proper harpy etiquette. I... don’t mind introducing you to my family and clan. You’re something of a friend, I suppose. But they might look down on you and your country bumpkin act.”“I can behave,” I said.“I doubt it.”I crossed my arms. I could totally behave in polite company. “I did well enough with Awen’s family, and they’re nobles,” I said.“You kidnapped their daughter.”My cheeks warmed up a little. “I won’t kidnap you?” I tried.Amaryllis seemed less than amused. “Idiot,” she said. “We’ll go over the very basics, like not talking while eating and not slouching so much. I don’t think there’s any chance that I’ll manage to teach you anything beyond that in however much time we have left here.”“I’m not that bad. Right Awen?”“Aw... Br-Broccoli is very enthusiastic and, ah, kind,” Awen said.“Wait. Neither of those things have to do with etiquette,” I said.Awen looked away. “She’s very nice. And, she’s polite?”“Eh? I’m not that bad, right? I can be diplomatic!”Amaryllis huffed. “Do you need a hug? The last thing I need is for you to make a scene.”“I don’t make scenes,” I said.“You orchestrated a date with a dragon in the middle of a small town the day after placing second in a combat tournament. Broccoli Bunch, you’re a walking scene-in-the-making.” She sighed. “I suppose it goes hand in hand with being a Riftwalker. We’ll handle it.”I pouted and accepted the hug.I wasn’t that bad, was I?
