The White Dragon touched down at the port in Mitaka after a long and somewhat argument-filled flight. By then, everyone was cranky and exhausted. "Okay, so we're here. Now what do we do?"
Kalas glanced around the city as if he expected to magically find an answer. Of course, none came.
"How about eating?" Gibari suggested the first thing that came to mind, which in his case happened to be the thing most often on his mind anyway.
"Let me guess? You're so hungry, you could eat a Pow?" Lyude grinned.
"How'd you know I was going to say that?"
"You always say that."
Kalas was beginning to lose patience. "The more you talk, the more time you waste when we could be eating. Where in this city can we get food? Alfard hasn't developed some fancy technological substitute for food yet, right?" Kalas wondered if that was even possible.
Lyude took this as a personal insult against his people. "Of course we eat food here! What do you think we are, machines?"
"Everything else here is a machine, so why not the people?" Kalas smirked. Annoying Lyude was too much fun. "In fact, I think this machine here is malfunctioning. It's not supposed to make this much noise." He poked Lyude's shoulder. "Nope. Not working at all. What do you think we should do, guys? Send it to the junkyard?"
Lyude gave him an irritated look. "You're not funny. Anyway, I know of a place where we can get something to eat. It's not too far from here."
"What about over there?" Xelha suggested, pointing to a nearby building. "That looks like a restaurant of some kind."
"That's a tavern," Savyna stated.
"Who cares?" Kalas demanded. "Taverns serve food, right? I don't care where we go as long as we get food."
"She's right. Not that place; it's not a good idea," Lyude agreed."
"Doesn't look like there's anything wrong with it to me," Gibari said.
"The Great Mizuti be hungry!"
"No!" Xelha cried. "We can't take Mizuti to a bar! I don't drink anyway. Let's find another place."
Lyude nodded in agreement. "I'm not going in there, either. That place is a hangout for Imperial soldiers. I don't want to run into anyone I know. If we go in there, we'll be asking for trouble."
"Fine then. You two can go somewhere else and meet us back here." Gibari headed toward the door. "You two coming?"
Kalas followed behind him. "I'm hungry. I don't care who's in there. Savyna?"
"Fine," she sighed. "I may as well come to make sure you two stay out of trouble. Personally, I think Lyude and Xelha made the wiser choice. Oh, and Kalas, don't let on that you're underage. As long as you look old enough to drink, they won't ask questions in here." The three older members of the group entered the bar.
Lyude shook his head. "I have a bad feeling they're going to regret this."
The bar was dimly lit and rather noisy. It seemed that since Geldoblame's death, most of the remaining soldiers had nothing better to do than sit around drinking and wondering what they were going to do next. Kalas immediately spotted two familiar faces at a table near the bar.
"Whoo-hoo, look at me!" Folon shouted, jumping on the table and dumping a mug of beer on his head. "I'm making it rain!"
His companion, Ayme, smacked him on the back of the head, making a loud thumping sound. "Idiot!" she snapped. "Why do you always do things like this? You make both of us look like fools!" Sighing disgustedly, she sank down in her chair, face buried in her hands. It was evident she didn't want to be seen with her insane friend.
"Is he drunk?" Kalas whispered to Savyna. "With him, it's a little hard to tell."
"He always looks drunk, even when he isn't," Savyna replied, taking a seat at a table near the door. "But this time, I'd say he actually is drunk."
"We have plenty of time to watch Folon act stupid," Gibari insisted. "Let's get our food first. Kalas, if you want beer, I'll order it for you. You heard what Savyna said-they won't ask questions here.
"
They didn't have to wait long. A serving girl had seen them enter and approached them only seconds after they took their seats. "Hi. What can I get for you this evening?" She giggled like an idiot and batted her eyelashes at Kalas. "Will you start with drinks?"
Not one to waste words, Savyna said simply, "Three beers, please."
"Okay," the girl giggled again. "Are you sure I can't interest you in Desert Fire? It's our specialty."
"What's 'Desert Fire'?" Kalas whispered.
"It's Mintaka whiskey," Savyna answered. "It's really strong. I don't recommend you..."
Kalas interrupted her. "What the hell, I'm feeling brave today. Give me a shot of that."
"Will that be all?"
Savyna paused for a moment. "You'd better add three bowls of stew to that order. If my friends here don't get food soon, I'm afraid things could get ugly."
The serving girl giggled again. She was really starting to get annoying. "Of course. The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Isn't that right?" She winked at Kalas and left to get the food.
At that point, Folon had jumped back on the table and was now doing the "Funky Chicken" while cackling maniacally. Ayme looked like she was ready to die of embarrassment...or kill him, one or the other.
When the girl arrived with the drinks, Kalas eagerly grabbed his shot glass. "Well, here goes!" he announced, pouring it down his throat. "Whoah, this is some strong stuff!"
"I warned you..." Savyna began, but Kalas interrupted.
"Waitress! Another shot!" he yelled.
"Of course, cutie, coming right up!" she smiled flirtatiously at him.
"Kalas, be careful," Savyna urged. "More than a couple of shots of that will get you wasted."
Kalas grinned. "Exactly."
Gibari groaned. "Oh, no. He's gonna get smashed, then we'll have to babysit him when he's too drunk to walk straight."
"Oh come on, I'm not going to get that drunk," Kalas insisted. "Just a couple of shots."
"A couple of shots of Desert Fire is enough to get you that drunk!" Savyna glared at him. "I really wouldn't advise..."
By that time, the serving girl had come back with a second shot. Kalas gulped it down and was asking for a third before she even left the table.
"Careful, hon. This stuff is really strong. You don't want to drink too much."
Three shots of Desert Fire later, Kalas was feeling lightheaded, but also bolder than usual. He looked around the room. Folon was sitting on the bar (much to the annoyance of the bartender) singing in a loud, off-key voice, but Kalas wasn't paying attention to that. He noticed a young woman in an officer's uniform sitting by herself in a far corner of the room. He brushed off his shirt, put on his most suave (or at least in his mind) smile, and approached her.
"Hey, miss. Why's a pretty girl like you sitting alone?" He flashed an idiotic grin.
"That's none of your business," she replied shortly. "Please don't bother me."
Ignoring her request, he continued. "Can I buy you a drink? You're not here with anyone, are you?"
"No, and no, but I thought I just said to leave me alone."
"Bartender!" Kalas hollered. "A drink for the lady here!"
The bartender brought the drink himself, and Kalas handed it to the woman. "Here. Take this as a token of my friendship...and who knows, maybe it could become more."
She glared at him. "I said, I don't want a drink! Now please go away." She looked really irritated by now, but Kalas was too drunk to notice.
"Come on. A sexy lady like you doesn't need to be lonely. So, what brings you here? Trouble in your life?" He put and arm around her shoulder, but she shoved it away.
"If I tell you, will you go away? I'm here because I have nothing better to do. Now get out of my sight!"
Kalas smirked. "No sight, huh? What about touch?"
The woman looked ready to explode. "Look, you creep, I don't know who you are or what you want, but I've had about enough of you. I grew up fighting with my brothers and beating the living daylights out of them, so don't think I can't do the same to you." She clenched and unclenched her fists, trying to hold back her anger.
"Ooh, I like my women feisty," Kalas grinned.
The female officer had finally had enough. WHACK! She punched Kalas as hard as she could, connecting with his nose. Immediately, blood began to drip from both nostrils.
"YEEEOW! My nose! I think it's broken!" Kalas howled. Gibari and Savyna had been enjoying their meal peacefully and only just now noticed what their drunken friend was doing.
"Kalas, what the hell did you do?" Gibari shouted.
"We'd best get him out of here before he does anything stupider," Savyna agreed. Together they managed to drag Kalas out of the bar and onto the street, his nose still bleeding.
A moment later, Folon went flying past them. It seemed the bartender had had enough of his drunken antics and physically thrown him out the door. Ayme followed closely, grumbling something that sounded like "You moron."
When Lyude, Xelha, and Mizuti returned, they found Kalas sitting on bench, head titled back and holding a cloth to his nose.
"Kalas!" Xelha cried. "What happened? Are you hurt?"
"It looks like Kalas's nose be bleeding," Mizuti observed. "What did Kalas do to his nose?"
"It's a long story," Gibari grumbled.
"Basically, he got drunk and started flirting with the wrong woman," Savyna explained, sighing.
"Yeah," Kalas agreed. "She was mean! Some red-headed bitch with a nasty left hook."
"She punched you?" Xelha looked concerned. "Why?"
"Didn't you hear Savyna?" Gibari asked. "He was hitting on an Imperial officer, she got pissed off at him, so she slugged him."
Lyude muttered half to the others and half to himself, "Red-haired female officer with a nasty punch...I have a bad feeling about this." He poked his head inside the tavern door, then withdrew it after a quick glance. "I was afraid of this. I wish I had been here. I could have told Kalas hitting on my sister was a bad idea."
