"How about another round for the entire table, on me!"
It was dusk at White Lake, and in the brightly lit tavern of the honey mead brewer, locals from all over Lightwood, Novograd, and further north in Siveria gathered for merrymaking in the evening. It was the time of year when people were returning home from months of work to settle down for the winter, the harvest for the year was bountiful, the summer was coming to an end, and people were ready to rest, celebrate, and deal with personal affairs at home.
Tables began to fill up as the lanterns went on and the sky had darkened to a deep indigo with the twinkling of stars already becoming visible.
Tashawren worked the bar and kitchen, serving up cuts of roasted boar, potatoes, squash, and root vegetables smothered in the meat juices, a creamy and cheesy stew with bacon and soft dough dumplings, freshly baked bread with butter or cheese– or both, finely shredded coleslaw with cabbages, carrots and beetroots harvested from a nearby plot in Lightwood, and all manner of cured meats and also had the fragrant spiced wine on the menu for the winter season, made to mead brewer Bogdan Lyutikov's traditional family recipe in which the alcohol was notoriously strong. The usual famous honey mead was also available, as always.
The dish of the day was fried lake pike that had been caught early that morning, and drizzled with butter, chives, onions and whole roasted bulbs of garlic that became caramelized with heat, and spreadable. She was known for being a good cook, and had landed a position working at the Tavern by chance a few years back when it officially opened.
As she glared threateningly at the drunk mage who had been gloating and flashing his coin at a table full of girls since sunset, she lined up a long row of tankards and filled them up quickly and expertly, saying nothing.
"Woahh! -hic- There she goesss ha ha ha!"
He stumbled over to her, babbling and slurring loudly, drawing more attention to himself.
When he first came into the tavern he had already reeked of alcohol, though he wasn't quite drunk yet, and had sensed Tashawren's disapproval as soon as he caught her eye. He initially avoided directly approaching her out of feeling intimidated, though as he became more intoxicated, an obnoxious boldness took over, one that she was all too familiar with. He clumsily slid his arm up on the bar and leaned closer to her.
"What a pretty one you are, eh? A ten- ten -hic- tender, delicate elven flower like you working as a kitchen porter, fancy that."
She glared back at him as he drooled and slurred, her stony-faced and unfriendly expression unchanging.
Tash was a young, blonde, doe-eyed elf, though not much about her was dainty or delicate, or graceful. She was tough as nails, shorter than average for an elf and a little stocky with thick dark eyebrows, a round face and a small, pushed in nose.
She cursed like a sailor, did as much hard and backbreaking work in her day as any man, and always went her own way about things. She'd left the League Army abruptly after an incident that she barely ever spoke about and that had greatly changed her opinions on the faction war and the leadership of the country, and it was something that she was usually adamant on remaining tight-lipped about.
The drunk mage smiled and chuckled at her lack of answer but took another swig from his bottle as he kept looking into her intense gold eyes. She cleaned a large glass tankard, the squeaks of the cloth against the now blindingly reflective glass becoming almost obnoxious as she contemplated smashing it over his head.
"Can't lighten up on the job, huh? say love, how about you step out from behind that bar and join me and my lovely table full of g-g-hic-girls here eh? I'll pay you three times whatever you're making standing behind here all day just to kick it with me! Whaddaya say?!"
He attempted to stand back and staggered a little to the left, arms outstretched in a braggadocious fashion, making the comment about paying her loud enough for most of the tavern to hear.
He was dressed in fine purple, gold and red tailored silks but as he opened his arms, the stench of alcoholic destitution and unwashed flesh hung in the air. It was a sad sight. The girls at the nearby table were all villagers, mostly from up North looking for a meal ticket and a way to a better life, though they had enough sense to see that this man had nothing much to offer bar alcoholism, venereal disease, and perhaps finite resources that would soon dry up. They huddled up, smirking and giggling to each other and he stumbled about the place, looking like a fool.
Other patrons began to pay attention to his antics and hushed whispers spread across the entire tavern. Tash was becoming increasingly aggravated, and her paladin instincts were beginning to kick in. She always kept a weapon behind the counter, just in case she ever needed to teach anybody a lesson.
The mage laughed, almost mockingly.
"Come on love, what's the -hic- matter? Never seen real money before?"
He smirked through decaying teeth, tossing a purple velvet bag of platinum coins that spilled onto the bar and into the freshly filled tankards, spilling some of the mead. Some of the coins flashed brightly and gasps could be heard across the room. Tashawren grunted loudly and slammed the glass that she had been holding down so hard that it could be felt through the floorboards and the tavern quietened down, near silent.
"ENOUGH!"
He raised both his hands and awkwardly stumbled back.
"You!... you have been causing an absolute scene here for far too long, and now you're messing with me and my patrons! Look at you! A pitiful sight, I don't see how any girl would EVER want to 'kick it' with you– you've obviously gone way too far off the deep end! "
A fiery rage began to sweep over her body as she rolled up her sleeves and reached down behind the counter, retrieving a large rune inscribed two handed sword that began to glow with a bright yellow fiery aura as soon as she picked it up.
More guests gasped while some quickly darted out of the door, fearing a brawl would break out.
The mage began to back down, though he was still very drunk and loud.
"Ok but whyyyy do you have to be so mean and get all crazy with the big sword like? All I asked is i–hic– if YOU wanted to hang with me and the g– th–th– the-hic- girls"
At this point, everyone who had been seated at the table had mostly left.
Suddenly, a trill voice pierced through the heavy tension in the atmosphere from the doorway and he almost seemed to sober up for a second.
"Leon?!"
He knew that voice well, and he turned around to see the almost unrecognizable, tall, slender, deep red and purple embroidered silk-cladden and jewel adorned figure of his ex-wife. He dropped his arms and they both dropped their jaws, taken aback at the sight of each other.
"Azira?"
Tash almost dropped her sword as it's bright fiery glow faded.
"Azira?... and wait– Fuzzy? Is that you, bud?"
Although She wore a large hat that cast a heavy shadow over her face, the pale glimmer of tears just beginning to well up in Azira's gold eyes was still very visible. She hadn't expected to see him ever again, let alone in Lightwood, and definitely not in this state. Leon fell to his knees and sobbed pitifully as more whispering and conversation began to flood the tavern again.
"Zira I…I can b– barely even look at you. I don't want you to see me like this."
She inhaled sharply as terrible memories flooded back, and she quickly glanced around to read the room. At one table she spotted a couple of scantily clad, plump-curvy Kanian women and one other elf all quietly chatting to each other, and bottles and gold coins strewn about the place. She knew instantly that it was his. In their marriage, he had been a raging alcoholic, a cheater, a gambler, and an all round embarrassment. Efforts to help him get clean had only worked temporarily, and after their messy divorce, he had spiraled so deep back into his toxicity that nobody could help him at all. She managed to gulp back tears and quietly reminded herself that she had cried enough, for years.
"Too late, Leon."
She stepped over his slumped figure and stood at the bar, looking Tashawren in the eyes and winking with a slow smile. Tash was in shock at how much Azira had changed, carefully looking her up and down and soaking in her more refined appearance and aura. She had deep purple makeup lining her eyes, and her full lips smiled with plum coloured lipstick. She flashed her dark red, long, shining nails as she raised her hand in a delicate wave, and Tasharwen noted that gone were the days of plain linen and cloth robes for her, and now she was now sparkling with large rubies, sapphires and obsidian from foreign lands. Even when she was married to Leon, she had very much been in the background– seen, not heard. She dressed very plainly at the time as he wouldn't have allowed her to wear anything that was too lavish. Tash smiled at her friend admiringly
"Say it ain't so…"
Azira removed her dark red velvet wide-brimmed hat, and slid down her plum coloured embroidered silk hooded cowl to reveal a stylish short mop of platinum white ringlets that framed her now more toned and deeply tanned jawline. Another surprise to Tash, who had remembered her as a deathly pale, round-faced, sheepish elven girl with a shoulder-length dark purple bob cut that had very straight bangs, often hiding her true expression.
Fuzzy stood beside her, nodding and smiling to Tash. Not much had changed about him except for a couple more scars and perhaps one or two more wrinkles, but he still had that brilliant youthful glimmer in his bright hazel eyes.
They all sighed, and braced for conversation.
Suddenly, another voice broke the silence at the doorway, this time the deep, gruff, hoarse voice of a Kanian Mead brewer…
"Hey, what's going on here! What is this? Who let this guy in here?!"
Bogdan had returned for the night from his daily excursions across Lightwood. Four strong men carrying large crates of goods headed past him into the tavern and down to the basement kitchen. He looked down at Leon still slumped on the floor and then glanced up at the messy table, now completely empty with only bottles and coins littered across it. He suddenly recognised the mage, having had an altercation with him many months back after he had stormed the tavern, and that time he had been even more drunk and belligerent.
"You!"
Leon looked up, finally recognising Bogdan and began stuttering.
"I don't want to hear a word– I just want you out! Didn't I tell you that you're not welcome here?"
Leon slurred, cursing at Bogdan in an old Elven tongue and clumsily taking a swing at his legs. The tavern patrons gasped again, mostly horrified and disgusted.
"What? How dare you!- Why, I ought to turn your brains to mush!"
Bogdan rolled up his sleeves and grabbed the drunken mage by his collar, choking him out.
Azira gasped and ran over, pleading for him to stop.
"Bogdan! Whatever damages this has caused for you and your business I will pay handsomely, double, triple, quadruple– just please let him go! I'll make sure he never comes back!"
He looked her up and down, not quite recognising her as they had only ever been acquaintances, but seeing an almost familiar panic flash across her eyes.
"And who are you?"
"I'm… an old friend of his– please let him down, I'm so sorry for what he has done. I didn't expect him to be here acting up like this. I know who he is and I know where he belongs, I'll make sure he gets the help that he needs–"
"Help?! hah! I think the only help left for this disgraced palace-rat is in purgatory now!"
Leon's face almost looked purple as he was rapidly losing air and she gasped, falling to her knees and whimpering.
"PLEASE, Bogdan! just let him go!"
Bogdan cursed through gritted teeth, and finally loosened the grip of his large fist, letting Leon fall to the ground, barely conscious.
Azira immediately placed her arms around him, holding him and crying while her friends stood in shock. Bogdan and Tash's eyes finally met and she gulped.
"You let him in here?"
"S-sir– I didn't realize until it was too late. It's been a busy night running the place on my own and I've had no help–"
He looked back down at Azira, menacingly.
"And you– get him out! Now! He is never to return here, and I will be keeping my close eye on YOU! If I see this idiot in my Tavern again, he is DEAD!"
She shivered through her embarrassed tears, but quickly summoned all the strength she had to lift his arm over hers, they both tumbled through the doorway and shortly after, he was violently sick. They finally fell clumsily beside a bush and she sobbed into his stinking garments, mourning the man she once loved so deeply while hating who was in front of her at the same time.
Tash and Fuzzy were close behind her, both stood at the doorway and looking on, shocked and speechless.
Azira lifted his worn, dull and sunken face up to look him directly in the eyes.
"Leon..."
"Azira… I'm so sorry for everything."
He pushed her over so hard that she toppled onto her back as he started running ahead into the darkness of the night, stumbling and falling about but still too fast for her to catch up to him.
"Leon!"
She tried to catch him, worried that he would do something stupid or end up getting hurt. Lightwood was not lit up after dark, and with him being so intoxicated he could have easily ended up as werewolves' dinner. She lost him as the light of the tavern was faint and the darkness of the woods almost fully enclosed them, and before she could say another word, a single bright purple flash of light appeared before her and he was gone.
Blinded by the flash, she instantly staggered and tripped on a tree root and fell hard onto her face, becoming dizzy and disoriented from almost being knocked out cold. Fuzzy, Tash, and one of the tavern workers had been right behind them and caught up in time to lift Azira to her feet. She was now a bloody mess with makeup streaming down her face. She was barely conscious, but could hear a hushed conversation between them as they walked her back to safety.
"I can't believe it's been all these years and here she is, still chasing him like he'd ever really care..."
Tash angrily glared at Fuzz, awaiting his input, but he was hesitant to add to the conversation. The crunch of dirt and gravel under the rhythm of their footsteps seemed loud in the silence of the drowning tension and the woods at night, and after a short moment, he sheepishly spoke.
"I…I guess when you've loved someone for that long, they kind of never really leave your heart."
Tash furiously scraped her feet to a halt and shot a death-glare at him as he refused to look her in the eye.
"Is that all you have to say? This is one of your best friends– look at what she, at this point, is putting herself through for the sake of that disgusting, putrid, shallow, narcissistic, delusional, cheating addict!"
Her voice echoed loudly as she stomped deeper into the sandy dirt, silencing the quiet humming of crickets and carrying over the now seemingly endless darkness of the lake.
As they'd almost made it back, they stood at the first lantern post on the short pathway to the tavern and the sounds of the bar were faintly becoming audible again. She handed Azira to the tavern worker who had set out with them, Osip.
"Here, Ludmila should be back by now, take Azira to her to get cleaned up."
He silently nodded back and lifted her arm over his shoulder as they made their way inside.
Fuzz wanted to go in after them but Tash stood firmly in front of him and crossed her arms as they went inside ahead of them. She waited until they were out of sight to speak.
"I know how you really feel about her, Fuzz. I'm not stupid, I can see it– and I'm sick and tired of seeing you like this. You -WE- had to step in just now and clean up her mess. I thought that those days were long gone. Ten years! Ten!- I…This is the first time I've seen her in ten years, Fuzz."
Her voice cracked a little, sounding heartbroken as Fuzz finally looked up at her for a moment. Both could see each other's fatigue and disappointment. He sighed deeply as she continued.
"I thought she'd changed, but clearly not. We can't keep doing this."
Fuzz looked down again, shaking his head and not wanting to admit to anything, though he knew that she was right.
"This is messed up, and you know it. It's up to us now to make a decision whether we are going to keep enabling her, and …"
She looked down and thought carefully, hesitant about what she would say next.
"... And whether we are going to continue our friendship with her. I for one, know that I won't be getting involved with this anymore. If she wants to die over this loser, and if you want to follow behind her like a sad puppy, then let it be so, but we are too old and have been through too much to be dealing with this."
She turned and walked into the tavern, leaving him to think.