Chapter 13

Their haste was not needed, for when the duo entered the Griffin's Nest, they found Ky'itae and the others all quite sober. The moon elf waved to them, motioning them over to the table.

"C'mon, I just ordered the local ale for us all." At Serosa'ruth glance, she added with an eye roll, "No, they're not strong."

Miri couldn't help but chuckle as she sat the food down before sitting herself down with a sigh, rubbing her lower back. She then grinned at Ky'itae. "Hey, you can't blame him for asking."

"Eh... true enough." The elf begrudgingly admitted. Serosa'ruth sat himself next to her, Faelar nudging himself in on Ky'itae's other side, between her and Saeola.

"Sooo... when do we eat?" The thief grinned, "Me stomach's itching fer food."

Saeola rolled her eyes and poked him in the forehead, pushing him backwards and over. "As soon as the drinks arrive. Just wait."

"'Ey, since when do you poke, dove? Dat's my job."

"I can do what I want," Saeola huffed.

"Fair 'nuff. Same goes for me, though. Doink." The rogue had already vanished before Saeola realized he'd once again poked her intentionally and blatantly too high.

Saeola's eye twitched dangerously and Miri, sitting near her, scooted back several inches, taking the ranger's bow and arrows with her. "Hey!" Saeola protested.

"We're in a small crowded area. Trust me," Miri replied with a nervous smile.

Celdern raised his thick eyebrows at the party's antics. Leaning over to Serosa'ruth, he whispered, "Does this happen often?"

"Why do you think I keep these stocked just in case?" The druid whispered back, holding up his new batch of cassil shrubs and nararoots, "They aren't for me." The bard wisely refrained from commenting.

Saeola was fighting with Miri for her weapon back when their drinks were delivered, earning the party as a whole weird looks from the other patrons.

Celdern coughed to gain the girls' attention, "Um... ladies..." He pointed behind them to the annoyed bartender.

"Hey! No naked weapons in the building!" The buff half-orc warned. "Keep yer bow an' arrows in yer room."

The shout distracted Miri, but not Saeola and she snatched them away quickly with a huff. "Oh, fine, fine..." She muttered, standing and moving away to place her weapons in her room.

Miri merely blushed in embarrassment. "M-My apologies."

"It's all right. I was more concerned about the crazy ranger." The bartender glanced back at Saeola before returning to his duties.

Miri bit her lip. "I hope she didn't hear that." There was a pause. When no arrows came, it was safe to assume she hadn't.

"'Ello." Faelar reappeared next to Ky'itae with a wave.

"Where'd you go to avoid Saeola?" Celdern asked, curious.

"Nowhere. I just ducked an' walked back a few steps. Invisibility spells are 'andy." The rogue grinned.

Miri couldn't help but giggle at Faelar's flirting antics. "What happens if she actually hits you one day? Not that that could probably happen... But let's pretend."

"Well, actually, she 'as managed to 'it me once... but that was a smack, not wit da arrows... Eh, if she eva did, I'd probably 'ave a potion ready ta 'eal meself an' I'd shout, 'Congrats dove! Ya won a cookie!'"

"...And then she'd hit you with another arrow, I think."

"Yeah, prolly. But I'd 'eal meself again, disappear, an' 'and 'er two cookies before I run off."

"I see. Like to play with fire, don't you?"

"Da hotta, da betta." Smirking, Faelar sipped his ale, leaving the others to figure out if his comment entailed more than one meaning or not.

Miri raised an eyebrow and coughed, sipping her own ale without a comment as Saeola returned.

Faelar waved at the fellow wild half-elf, "'Ello, dove."

Saeola glared at him, but did not reply and merely sipped her own drink calmly.

"Anyway..." Serosa'ruth sighed after a long moment of silence, "Everyone all right with getting up at the crack of dawn tomorrow?"

Saeola replied, "No" at the same time Miri replied, "Yes."

"I hate getting up early..." Saeola complained.

"We can beat the heat that way," Miri pointed out. "Get far before the afternoon sun cooks us."

"True."

"Also... Celdern, have any objections to rooming with Faelar and Saeola?" The bard raised his eyebrows.

"None, but... Why don't you just room by men and women?"

"Trust me... It's more amusing this way."

"For you!" Saeola screeched angrily, tempted to throw her drink at him but not wanting to waste good ale.

"Well... I am party leader..."

"...Screw you..." The ranger growled.

"No thanks, I'd prefer to keep my pants to myself right now." The druid retorted calmly.

Saeola's eye twitched, but she said nothing.

"...Well... er... oh, look! Food's here!" Celdern chuckled a bit nervously as the barmaid served them dinner.

Saeola suddenly slapped Celdern on the back as the food was set out in front of them. "Welcome to Hell!" She said cheerfully.

"Uh... Thanks?" The bard raised an eyebrow at the ranger.

"You're really fucking welcome." Saeola grinned.

Miri's eye twitched. "...Are you drunk?"

"On one glass of ale? C'mon!"

"Just checking..."

"Naw, she's jus' always like dis." Faelar chuckled, "Which reminds me, dove... soap?" He help up a plate with a bar of soap that seemed to come out of nowhere, "Yer mouth could use it."

"Fuck you."

Unable to resist, the rogue grinned widely and teasingly, "Really?"

"AAAARRRGGGGHHH!" Saeola screamed in rage.

"I knew that was coming," Miri sighed. Faelar suddenly got a face full of ale and Miri raised her dark eyebrows. "But I definitely didn't see that one coming."

Faelar spat the extra ale out of his mouth, then smiled again, "Completely an' entirely worth it."

Saeola gave him a steely glare. "I hate you..."

Faelar clutched his chest mockingly, as if actually struck by one of her arrows, "Aw, c'mon now, dove. Dat 'urt. It's only a li'l bit 'o fun."

"Feh."

"All right, enough. Eat you two." Serosa'ruth growled sternly, much like an irritated father berating his children.

Saeola stuck her tongue out at Faelar to mock the whole thing before eating as told.

Faelar returned the gesture with another smile and a wink before rapidly consuming his own meal. When they finished, Celdern bade his new party a good night, rising to perform for the tavern while the rest of them settled into their rooms for the night.

- - - - -

Saeola found herself awake well before anyone else. She didn't understand why. It was just... Suddenly she was awake and unable to sleep. But she didn't get up. She just lay there, arms folded underneath her pillow and chin resting on it, eyes staring out the window as the first rays of dawn finally began to peek through after an hour wait.

Suddenly, Faelar swooped into view, barely an inch away from her face as he hung upside-down from the ceiling rafters. "'Ello, dove! 'Ow're we dis mornin'?"

"GAH!" Saeola yelped, sitting bolt upright to first smash her head against his before tumbling over the edge, landing with a graceful thump! in a twist of blankets. "GODS-DAMMIT, FAELAR!"

Seemingly unaffected by the skull crash, Faelar rocked from side to side, almost monkeylike in movement, "Well, beautiful morn to ya too, dove."

Saeola, now clutching her head in pain, muttered every swear word in the book.

"...Wow, didn't know ya knew dwarven curses." Faelar, still upside-down, rubbed his goatee in thought, "Ya know, dove... ya look kinda pretty in dis light, even if ya are upside-down from dis view." Amused, the rogue noted how from his current position, her green eye appeared to be on her left side and her brown eye on her right. "Heheh... yer eyes switched places when I'm like dis."

She blinked at his comment and glanced up at him in slight surprise. No! I'm ANGRY at him! Evil bastard, scaring me half to death... I'm ANGRY! I will not blush! I will not... Gods-dammit. She glanced away when she felt her cheeks flush, now glaring angrily at the wall. "Shut up," She muttered. "Scare the frickin' daylight outta me... Then compliment me... What the hells is up with you...?"

"Gee... I dunno... One:" he held up his index finger, "I almost always greet ya like dis in da morn, dunno why it still startl's ya... Two:" He held up his middle finger with his index, "I speak me mind, an' Three... um, 'ello? Devotee o' Erevan Ilesere, elven god o' mischief an' chaos."

"One: It startles me because I'm always deep in thought when you do it!" Saeola snapped, still rubbing her throbbing forehead painfully. "Two and three: That's no fucking excuse."

"Who said I was makin' excuses? Dey're reasons, not excuses. Ya asked me a question, an' I answered. Con't ya take a compliment fer once?" Still dangling, Faelar stuck his tongue out at her.

"Oh, just shut up. My head hurts..." Saeola grumbled.

Faelar whistled lowly into his hand, and her headache vanished. "Dat betta?"

Saeola blinked in surprise and her hand fell away. "Ah... Y-Yes..."

"Well, good." Faelar clapped his hands together, smiling and turning his gaze to the snoozing Celdern. "Wow. 'E's a deep sleepin' bloke, eh?"

Saeola blinked and glanced over. She had forgotten about Celdern... "Yeah, he is. Usually my yelling can wake the entire hotel. Heh."

"You wanna wake 'im up, or should I? I don' doubt da Boss'll be in 'ere soon ta get us movin', anyway."

Saeola gave the other half-elf a flat glare. "You seem so good at waking people up, why don't you do it?"

"Eh, thought it'd be polite ta ask." The thief shrugged.

"Er... right. Well, I volunteer you. Go ahead and throw a pillow at him or something."

"Bah. You 'ave no imagination, dove. Watch me... if ya can." Faelar swung back and then used his momentum to fling himself back into the rafters, disappearing from view.

Saeola's eyes followed him as she fell silent, curious.

No noise or movement came from the rafters for some time, and then, suddenly, a long, thick black snake slithered down the rafters and the wall, onto Celdern's bed. Under the bard's covers it went, slithering up the human's leg.

Celdern muttered and stirred, slowly blinking his eyes open, looking down at himself in confusion. The snake hissed and snapped out, stopping just an inch from the man's face, fangs bared. Celdern screamed, his voice slightly higher than normal, scrambling out of bed and landing on the floor with a loud thud. The black snake slithered away to behind Saeola, hissing in what seemed to be a chuckle.

Saeola couldn't help it. She laughed, trying to smother it behind her hand but failing. She knelt down to offer the snake her arm to slither up, smirking over at Celdern. "Good morning."

"Damn half-elves." The bard growled, attempting to untangle his legs. The snake stopped a foot or two from Saeola and began to enlarge, limbs sprouting as it grew. Within a few moments, the snake had transformed back into Faelar, who shared Saeola's laugh.

"C'mon, bloke, I thought you bard types were cheery."

"Not this early in the morning, sorcerer, archdevils damn you."

Saeola smirked at Faelar and withdrew her arm, straightening as she chuckled at Celdern. "Now you know how I feel."

As Celdern cursed and rose, leaving the room to check on the others, Faelar grinned and tapped Saeola lightly with his knuckles on her bicep. "I love dat, ya know. Ya should do it more often. Ya've got a beautiful laugh." Before she could respond, the thief followed Celdern to see if the rest of the party was awake yet.

Saeola was thus left blushing in the room. She placed a hand to her face and half glared after him. That guy... What the hells...

Celdern returned a moment later, scratching his red hair in mild bemusement, "They were all already awake and fully dressed. Apparently Serosa'ruth woke the other women up half an hour ago. Does that guy ever sleep?" The bard grabbed his shirt and pulled it on, in the middle of buttoning it when he looked up at Saeola. "...Are you feeling okay? Your face is flushed."

Saeola blinked from her daze and waved her hand at him. "I-I'm fine..." She then went to gather her own things hastily.

Celdern raised a thick eyebrow, but didn't question her further. Instead, the human shrugged and pulled his vest on before searching for his boots. Faelar returned and picked up his pack, having already dressed before startling Saeola earlier. He glanced at the ranger and raised his own eyebrows, "...Ya got a fever or somethin', dove?" His tone gave no hint to whether he was teasing her or was truly ignorant of the source for her blush.

"I'm fine!" Saeola insisted, rubbing her face with one hand as she finished packing up. "Jeez..."

"...If ya say so, dove."

Saeola said nothing and left the room with a small huff.

"...You really love getting her in a fluster, don't you?" Celdern asked, shouldering his mandolin.

"'Ells yea. 'Tis most fun." Faelar grinned, insuring his blades were securely strapped to his belt.

- - - - -

Saeola met Miri downstairs. She gave the half-elf a hearty wave. "Morning! Hey, why is your face--"

"It's NOTHING, gods-dammit!" Miri raised her eyebrows, but said nothing.

"Faelar." Ky'itae stated simply, coming up behind Miri to answer her cut-off question.

"Ah. I should've known," Miri said matter-of-factly, nodding.

"... You all suck..." Saeola grumbled.

"...I could make a comment on that, but I won't cuz it's too early to completely set you off." Ky'itae grinned. "C'mon girl, let's just grab some food to go and get moving. Maybe you'll get to smash some orcs, eh? That might make you feel better."

"Yes, that'd make me feel much better," Saeola agreed. "I can pretend they're you." She stuck her tongue out at Ky'itae to let her know she was kidding.

The elf grinned and leaned up to ruffle the half-elf's hair lightly, "If it helps, go ahead." Saeola rolled her eyes and fixed her hair, though she smiled. The women seated themselves to eat, their male companions soon following suite. They chattered a bit, but mostly ate quickly, so as to move onwards before the sun rose too high.