A/N: ... Don't look at me.

Chapter Thirteen: At the Sigh of the Ripe Tomato

Despite the tavern's weathered appearance, it was well lit and clean on the inside, and the air was rich with baking bread and stewing meat. Most of the tables and stools at the bar were full with townspeople chattering away good-naturedly. Vash, Alfred, and Lily shuffled through the tables to several free places at the counter. When they had settled, a handsome barkeeper approached. He was tall, with brown hair, kind eyes, and dark olive skin. From his darker skin and slightly accented voice, it was apparent that he was originally from the southern part of the world. Nevertheless, his smile was quick and he moved with ease amongst the patrons.

"Hello," he said, smiling. "Haven't seen you around here before. Are you new to Albion?"

Alfred and Vash just nodded, while Lily spoke up. "Yes, we just got in today. My brother's looking for work, and our friend Alfred just showed up too, though he hasn't told us why yet." She grinned conspiratorially at the barkeeper. "Though it's supposedly quite a story."

"Glad to hear it," he said. "I'm Antonio, and this is my tavern. Can I get you anything to drink until we can get some food for you?"

"Ale. Biggest flask you've got," Vash muttered.

Lily gave him a short glare then with a sigh said, "Just some barley water for me."

The barkeep looked at Alfred expectantly. He had no idea what he was supposed to do, so he just stared at Antonio. With a raised eyebrow, he laughed.

"Barley water for you too, I think is best," he said. "I'll send Feliciano out with those in just a moment."

He turned away and disappeared back into the kitchen.

"So," Lily said. "You need to tell us about why you're stranded here. I mean, the pass to Aenea is unpleasant any time of year, but it wouldn't kill you."

"What?" Alfred asked blankly.

Lily curled her feet under the stool and rested her chin on her hand.

"Are you on the run or something?" she pressed, eyes growing wide. "Is there some reason you're not allowed back in Aenea?"

"Why would I want to go back to Aenea?" Alfred asked.

A man—Feliciano—shorter than the barkeep and with auburn hair, left the kitchen and brought them their drinks.

As he placed the barely waters in front of Alfred, Lily said, "You live there, don't you?"

"Oh, no. I never lived there," Alfred said, shaking his head. "I lived in Caelei."

The man carrying their drinks tripped and spilled the water and ale everywhere.

"You lived in Caelei?" he sputtered. "The god realm?"

"Er, yes," Alfred said. He took in the dripping wet tavern hand. His brown eyes glittered and an odd little curl on the side his head bobbed in excitement.

"Then you must have been the human the Lady Arlya took in!" the odd man said. He grabbed Alfred's hand and shook his entire arm. "I'm so excited to meet you. I have so many questions!"

At that moment, Antonio returned. He gave an amused sigh.

"Feliciano! Look at this disaster," he said. With a start, Feliciano seemed to notice the mess he had made. With a swift apology, he ran back into kitchen to get fresh drinks and some rags to clean up the spill.

"You'll have to excuse him—he's easily excited," Antonio said with an amused shake of his head. "Feliciano always been fascinated by religion—in fact he's a bit of a scholar when it comes to that subject," He continued. "Though I fear beyond that..." he trailed off and shrugged.

Alfred nodded along, though he had never really thought about people studying the gods. They were the people he lived with, and he had never considered them to be all that different from the humans he had met.

Feliciano returned, accompanied by a grumbling man that could only be his brother. He was carrying some bowls of steaming stew while Feliciano carried fresh drinks.

Alfred didn't speak much as he devoured his meal. His mind was distracted: he had no food, no money, no place to stay. It was the middle of summer, so sleeping outside wouldn't be that bad now, but if the year wore on and he couldn't return to Caelei, he would have a problem.

His worry must have shown on his face, for after their plates were cleared away, Lily nudged his shoulder.

"Hello, Alfred?" she said. "YI thought you had a story to tell."

"Yes. Right. It's complicated. I have no idea where to even begin," he said.

"Seems simple enough to me," Vash said. "You said that you're stuck here so you must have done something to get yourself kicked out of Caelei. Must have been something foolish."

Lily frowned at her brother, then began to apologize for his behavior. Alfred interrupted her. They were paying for his meal, he might as well humor them.

"You're right, actually," he said. "It was incredibly foolish. How much do you know about the war?"

"Gods tend to pay better than daemons," Vash said.

Lily look at Alfred expectantly. Alfred took a sip of his water and began telling the tale of Drachma, the battle there, and how he had committed treason to save Arthur.

When he had finished, the pub had grown quiet, and most of the patrons were listening to Alfred's story, including the serving boy, Feliciano, who took his evening break close to them.

Alfred looked around the quiet room, uncomfortable with the attention. Finally, Antonio broke the silence. His voice was still cheerful, but Alfred noticed a slight tremor in it his voice.

"You wouldn't happen to know where the fighting took place in? In Drachma?" he said.

Alfred thought for a moment. "I couldn't see all of it, but the city was in turmoil all over."

Antonio's face paled a little under his olive complexion. Feliciano's brother glared at Alfred and elbowed the tavern keeper.

"They're fine, asshole," he said quietly to Antonio. "Now go stir the soup. I won't explain to customers why their food is burned."

Antonio gave a small nod and did as he was told. The man continued to glare at Alfred.

"So according to you, you could be the reason we haven't heard from anyone in weeks. It's summer. The passes are open," Lovino

"Well," Feliciano said placatingly, "also according to him Elizaveta was there. She'd look after us."

"The anima is only one being," Lovino said, but backed down. He turned and followed Antonio into the tavern's kitchen.

"Lovino…" Feliciano said. "He's been acting like this since we left Dracma."

Alfred leaned closer, curiosity piqued. "You're from Drachma?"

"Oh, yes!" Feliciano said. "Born and raised in East Water. We came here about five years ago."

"Was that before or after Aenea started its occupation?" Alfred asked.

"After, I think, technically. Aenea has been in Drachma for almost twenty years now, but it wasn't really noticeable until the war restarted. Mostly bigger parties around the solstices."

"So if you left before that, what made you leave?"

Feliciano rubbed the back of his neck and reddened a little.

"That was because of me. I'm a bit of a religious scholar, and so I spent a lot of time in Drachma's library for a time. I was even allowed to make a trip twice a year to visit the Great Holy Library in Aenea!"

"So it sounds like you wouldn't mind the occupation, if you worked for the gods," Alfred said, a little confused.

"Oh," Feliciano laughed, "Not particularly. You see, it was more the idea of them I liked. My family follows Elizaveta, a daemon."

"And so you did something stupid," Vash said.

"So Lovino tells me," Feliciano said with a smile.

"You're not really in a position to judge other people upsetting the disciples," Lily said pointedly to her brother.

Alfred looked around at them all. They were relaxed, body positions loose as they sipped at drinks and picked at the remains of dinner. It was a picture completely alien to him, but he found himself liking it anyways.

"So what happened?" Alfred asked.

Feliciano leaned forward. His eyes were wide and excited. He whispered to them, "Have you ever heard of the being the gods call, 'She Who Sleeps Below'? I found mention of her a couple of times. She sounded interesting so I kept an eye out for her. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find anything about her. I think in all of the library she only came up that once."

Alfred frowned. As Feliciano continued recounting his examination of the library, Alfred thought about the neame. He swore he had never heard that name before, but nevertheless Alfred felt the hairs on his arms prickle.

"She sounds creepy," he said, when Feliciano had paused for a moment.

Feliciano frowned. "I don't know about that," he said defensively, then he paused, and thought for a second. "Though I suppose a being even the gods fear is probably scary—"

Alfred interrupted him. "The gods don't fear anything," he insisted, "not even daemons."

"Everyone gets scared," Feliciano said matter-of-factly. "Anyway, since there was nothing more in Drachma, I asked myself, 'Feliciano, where could you find more books?' and I realized that the library in Aenea has even more books than Drachma! So they must have more on She Who Sleeps Below!"

By this time, most of the bar had gone back to their business, apparently having heard the story many times before.

"That seems an odd place to look," Alfred said. He took a sip of his drink. "Why would you look in the Holy Library for something the gods fear?"

Vash rolled his eyes. "No it's no. If the gods have something they don't want anyone to know about, it's one of the best possible places to keep records of it."

Alfred stared at him, very confused. Feliciano mirrored his expression. Vash sighed and continued, "Knowledge is power, and so it's in the gods' best interest to keep a close hold on anything that could threaten them."

"That doesn't make sense," Alfred said. "Why don't they just destroy it?"

"Two reasons," said Vash, holding up two fingers. "One, anything stored in the library is not in the hands of people who could use it against them. Two, if you know what your enemy knows, you are at an advantage. Basic tactics."

"Fine," Alfred said, nodding. He looked at Feliciano. "So you went to Aenea…"

"Yes, and in searching around the deep levels of the library I turned up a little more. But then, when I began requesting access to some of the restricted archives, the First Librarian threw me out and banned me from the premises. Of course, first she interrogated me and then I swore never to reveal what I knew. It was only a little while later that the library in Drachma was sacked," he said sadly. "And then my brother made us come north as refugees. When we got here, we met up with Antonio, a family friend, who was looking for help with his new tavern. He hired us and we started-"

Lily interrupted him. "You said you swore secrecy?" she asked. "You just told the entire tavern!"

Feliciano's eyes widened and his face fell. "I did it again, didn't I?"

Just then, Lovino emerged from the kitchen. He took one look at Feliciano and started turning red. "You told them, didn't you? You told yet another group of total strangers how you betrayed the gods? We have a life here, brother, do you want to ruin it?"

Feliciano's eyes blurred with tears. "Of course not, Lovino. I… I just forgot."

"You idiot," Lovino said, swatting Feliciano with a dishrag. "One day, if you don't keep your damned mouth shut, a disciple will hear you and have you hanged for treason against the gods." Despite his harsh words, Lovino seemed more exasperated and worried than truly angry. "Antonio and I can only cover you so much, Brother."

"I'm sorry, Lovino," Feliciano mumbled. "It won't happen again."

He flinched as Lovino whacked him with the dishrag once more and stormed off.

The group gathered around sat in an awkward silence, which Vash finally broke.

"So, Feliciano, do you have rooms?"

Feliciano perked back up. "Of course we do! The finest rooms you'll find in all the North." He continued on, listing the prices of the rooms at the inn. Vash and Lily took up one of the nicer rooms, and Feliciano went back to get Antonio to get them settled. When he returned he looked expectantly at Alfred.

"Which room do you want?" Feliciano asked.

The back of Alfred's neck heated. He didn't actually have any money.

"Er," he said, shuffling in his chair, "I don't actually have anything to pay with."

"Oh," Feliciano said, frowning.

"I don't suppose…?" Alfred hedged.

Feliciano shook his head. "We can't just give out rooms. But you are the ward of Arlya, and you have so much you can tell me. I'll speak to Antonio. Perhaps we can figure something out," he said hopefully.

In a few moments, Antonio returned and Feliciano waved him over.

"We have a bit of a problem," Feliciano said, and explained Alfred's predicament to him. Antonio thought for a while, looking intently at Alfred.

"I can't let you have a room for free," he said sadly. "There are too many refugees for me to offer just one a roof to stay under. Do you have any talents? Any skills I could make use of?"

"I can play the lyre," Alfred said, "But that's about my only talent."

"Can you read?"

"Of course."

"How about your numbers?"

"Good. I'm probably a bit rusty but Kiku said I had a knack for them."

Antonio rubbed at his chin. "That's something, anyhow. I don't know—"

Feliciano interrupted him. "I'll cover the rest," he blurted out. Antonio stared at him for a moment.

"You are not exactly a wealthy man, Feliciano," Antonio said.

"No, but Alfred has lived with the gods themselves," he said. He turned to Alfred, positively glowing with excitement. "He must stay here at any cost!"

Alfred blinked in surprised. "I couldn't…"

Antonio nodded at Feliciano. "If that is what you want." He wandered away and returned a few moments later with a large piece of parchment, and a quill. Together, the three of them worked out schedule that would allow Alfred to help Antonio keep track of money and entertain patrons several evenings a week for room and board. It wasn't quite enough to cover the cost of everything, but Feliciano swore to cover the rest.

When they were done, Alfred was led up to his new room. It was small and tidy. The bed was not as big as the one he slept in at Caelei, but it was soft. In the corner there was a small desk and candlestick. A wardrobe stood by the bed, though Alfred had very little to put inside it. With an enormous yawn, he fell onto the bed and was asleep within moments.