Ignoring Variante awhile, Jewel went up to Slay and said, "Slay, behave yourself. You know you shouldn't bully novices in the first place. Nor should you be rude to my friends." To Variante's utmost surprise, Slay actually reddened and mumbled an apology to Jewel. He could see that the rest were as clueless as him at what was going on.
Now facing them, Jewel introduced the platinum-haired blacksmith. "Guys, I would like all of you to meet my younger brother, Slayer ClearSky." Astounded, Variante felt his jaw drop. Brother? He thought wildly.
Gaping herself, Silver suddenly noticed that the crowd hasn't dispersed themselves yet. Butting in, he said, "Umm, I hate to break up this little chit chat here, but can we please discuss about this elsewhere? We're attracting a crowd here."
Starting, Slayer glanced at Silver briefly before looking questioningly at his sister. Smiling and nodding her head, she said, "Okay, Silver. We'll head back inside."
As they began to move, Mika suddenly remembered the forgotten novice. "Yeah, hey! Are you alright?" she called out to him. The young novice was looking pretty miserable at being picked on so many times. Glancing at Mika, he smiled and nodded his head. "Thanks," he called out. Something stirred inside Mika as she watched the young novice sidle past.
"You guys go ahead, I'll catch up later," she called out to Tranquil as she dashed to the novice. She noticed that he was snuffling as he trudged along. Coming closer to him, she said gently, "Hey, do you need any help?"
Startled, he looked up at her with his tearstained face. "No, it's okay. I don't want to trouble anyone," he said. Smiling gently, she replied, "Yeah, but it looks like you're only troubling you. Come on, let's go and have a drink first."
Unwillingly, the novice followed her to a nearby inn. Mika ordered a couple glasses of wine and shooed him into a seat nearby. "Now, what seems to be the problem?" she asked as soon as they were seated. "Ah, before that, let me introduce myself. Really, my manners are getting from bad to worse!" she chided herself, not giving him any chance to answer her former question, "My name's Mika Ravenwolf. Just call me Mika."