12. Expectations
It was an early morning and most of the customers in the tavern were still sleeping in their rooms. There were only three people in the dining hall besides the waiter, Nadia. It was the regular set too. The one dwarf who drank all night and usually didn't make it into his room before passing out, but was too heavy and aggressive for any of the staff to carry upstairs. He was currently asleep under his usual table, with a blanket tossed over him to keep him warm. He paid well for his room and drinks, so this was tolerated.
Then there was that pair that was almost always up very early, despite Nadia's suspicion that they often stayed up late, doing who knows what who knew where. Probably things that were better left to the dark.
The short man and his drow companion.
Nadia was always on the morning shift and thus around when they descended the stairs, so she didn't even need to ask them what they wanted to drink while waiting for their breakfast to be made. Instead she just left her floor sweeping duty and briskly walked up to the liquor shelf to pour the drow a glass of wine and the man a pint of honey mead. Then she took a moment to just observe the two of them so she'd be adequately prepared to face them.
Today seemed to be a good day. The drow looked chipper and kept beaming at his companion, while the man looked slightly awkward but not hostile. That was actually a new expression on his face, the awkwardness. Had something happened between them?
Nadia walked up to their table with a smile on her face and the tray with their drinks in her hand.
"Ah, good morning, miss Nadia! You're looking positively radiant this fine day", the drow said and gave her a winsome smile. She giggled politely and set their drinks down.
"Good morning to you too. You're looking particularly cheerful", she replied and tucked the tray under her arm so that she could take out her notepad and pen from her apron pocket.
"It shows? You're most observant."
"In this job you have to be. What will you have today?" she asked.
The drow happily chattered away, letting her know his order, questioning her about the weather, joking about the sleeping dwarf, and even offering to braid her hair. She politely declined.
The man was silent as usual, speaking only enough to let her know what he wanted. He wasn't the type to waste his breath on small talk if he didn't want something out of the conversation. When the two of them had first arrived he had done most of the talking, presumably because he had had to explain away his peculiar company. Once the tavern staff had gotten used to the drow the roles had reversed; now the drow was always talking and the man was generally quiet.
Nadia left the two to their own devices and made her way to the kitchen to prepare their breakfast. The cook wasn't awake yet, but she could handle the tavern on her own at this hour; breakfast items were simple enough for her to make.
She made short work of cooking the food and carried the tray towards the dining hall, but abruptly stopped at the doorway.
The man was running his fingers against the drow's cheek, tracing the line of his eyepatch with an unreadable expression.
That was... unexpected.
The drow had been increasingly touchy-feely with his companion lately. The touching had initially seemed to irritate the man, but had since then become the norm. But Nadia hadn't seen that happen the other way around until now. Not in such an intimate manner at least.
If she hadn't seen the original dynamic between the two when they had arrived, she would think nothing of this. After all, a touch like that wouldn't be out of ordinary between another pair of people. If she hadn't seen the selfsame dynamic suddenly change like this, she wouldn't bat an eye.
But as it was, if the drow hadn't been flirting with her and every other woman in this tavern, she would certainly suspect that something was going on between those two.
She rubbed her eyes in disbelief, but when she looked at them again they were sitting on their own sides of the table, looking like nothing had happened at all.
Maybe... maybe she had just imagined it. Or it had been nothing more than the man fixing the angle of his companion's eyepatch for him. It wouldn't be out of place, under normal conditions.
Nadia was ready to admit to herself that she was seeing something that wasn't there at all when she delivered the tray of food to their table.
She would have, if it weren't for the fact that the drow was now practically radiating happiness.