Chapter 3 by filly8
He looked at me. His body still tensed and held the knife in hand. He looked in a calm enough state, but his eyes spoke differently. After a few silent minutes, Kora finally broke the silence and cleared her throat.
"And this is Rosto the Piper," she said with a small smile. Kora glanced at Rosto then around the room and back in worry.
"Nice to meet ya! I am sure you're great if you are friends with Beka here," Nate said in a cheery voice. He accompanied it with a happy smile. He seemed pretty relaxed even with the look Rosto gave him. I was pretty impressed in fact. It can not be easy having The Rogue looking at you with those normally teasing now hard, cold eyes.
The tension broke with his lightheartedness. We all settled back down on my floor to finish breakfast after asking Nate to join us of course.
"It is obvious you knew each other. Well so how exactly did you meet?" Aniki asked after a few minutes of small talk.
"Umm… well it was in my bad time when Ma was not doing so well and I was learning the ways of-" I paused for a second embarrassed "of thieving. He and I sort of partnered up together while we learned. Then after the rushers and My Lord came, we just became friends until he moved out of Corus then… well I don't know what happened after that," I said while looking at him questioningly.
"Mmm… well after I moved away I took up learnin' how to bartend and cook in a small town up north. After about 4 years of learning and apprenticing, I wandered around just learning new recipes and workin' for people who needed me. Then I came here," he said looking at the room while speaking.
I noticed Aniki and Kora, whom a second ago were listening with rapt attention, now were nodding and 'hmming'. While Rosto just stood and also glanced around the room with hidden attention.
"So you gunna tell me why or how you ended up here?" I asked full of curiosity. "I mean not that you're not welcome and I am glad to see you. I am just curious..."
"Oh, umm, well I came after hearing…" He came to a stop, glancing around suddenly slightly nervous. "Well after hearing The Rogue is opening a new tavern. I figure it would be nice for the Rogue if his tavern with my knowin' all kinda of recipes and my making pretty nice ale. Oh! and of course I wanted to see you Beka..." He trailed off again waiting for a response.
The rest of us glanced at each other silently deciding who would tell him whom exactly Rosto was when Rosto spoke for the first time.
"I am sorry. I think I forgot to properly introduce myself. I am Rosto the Piper also known as The Rogue." The black eyed man said while looking straight at Nathan. Nate slowly lost all his color.
Disclaimer: I don't own Terrier, Bloodhound, or any of Tamora Pierce's characters. I don't even own this plot and some of the characters. It belongs to filly8 and them as in characters belong her as well.
A/N: I'm posting this chapter and the next chapter soon will be. After that, I will start writing the chapters. This week is finals. So I'm working on one story at a time. Right now that's Meant for You. When finals are done, I'll take on more. So be patience everyone. Thanks.
