Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Eight - Eating Out

I walked into the Rock Inn and Roll Inn with a bunch of friends at my heels. The only ones that stayed behind were Pierre and Rhawrexdee. The Ranger because he wanted to keep an eye on the dragon, the dragon because he couldn’t fit in the inn.

“Julien!” I called to the big grenoil behind the counter.

He looked up, and in an instant his expression shifted to a huge, welcoming grin. “Little Broccoli! It’s been days! And look at how many new customers you bring zis old frog.”

I laughed and skipped over to the counter. “Hey, we’re all looking for some delicious lunch, and a place to eat it, preferably outside. Do you think we could order here and eat in your courtyard?”

“Of course you can! I wouldn’t take away the sun from such a pretty young woman. You should be enjoying the last of the warm weather before ze winter hits.”

Booksie stepped up next to me and curtsied a little. “Hello, sir,” she said.

“Booksie! I zought you were off, what wiz, well, you know.”

Booksie shook her head. “It’s all been handled. I made some very good friends who helped me out of my pinch.” She gestured my way with her ears. I was a little jealous of the control she had over them, mine tended to flop all over.

“I see, zat’s wonderful!”

“Ah, about my new friends. One of them has... an appetite. For meat. Lots of it.”

The grenoil nodded. “I’m sure we can arrange that.”

“No, no, I mean... lots of meat. A cartfull. Maybe two.”

Julien blinked. “Zat’s a lot of meat.”

“He’s a dragon,” Booksie said.

The grenoil shifted to look out the window where, on turning to look myself, a large scaly flank was visible, gleaming a bright blue as it reflected the sun’s light. “Ah,” Julien said.

“We don’t want to leave him out, that’s why I asked to eat outside,” I said.

“I... of course. Well, ah, place your orders and I’ll get right to it?” he asked.

I grinned. Knowing so many friendly people from all over was such a boon. “Thanks Julien!”

Soon enough, all of us were gathering in the courtyard tucked into the large ‘C’ of the Inn. It was a nice spot, with a couple of little tables and a big old tree that cast green shadows across clean-cut grass.

Amaryllis installed herself at the table so that she could write her letters and such while the rest of us mostly just flopped onto the grass. It was a nice day for enjoying the bit of birdsong and the soft murmur of voices, the distant whistle of steaming pipes and the rattle of carts over cobbled roads.

Even Rhawrexdee seemed to appreciate the relaxation. He laid down on his side with a crash that made the ground bounce. For all that he was a dragon, I couldn’t help but imagine a big dog laying onto its side on the grass.

Orange padded over to the dragon, then climbed up his side and flopped atop the huge creature to be in the position of maximum sun absorption.

I pushed my cleaning aura out as far as I could, wiping away the stink that such a big city without modern plumbing produced.

“Zat was a nice spell,” Arianne said.

“Thanks!” I said. “Hey, do you guys think we could do a bit of sparring and training?”

“Awa, I would love more help, Miss Arianne,” Awen said. “My glass magic is still not very good.”

Emeric shrugged his shoulders. “Sure, why not? Broccoli, you’re a melee-focused fighter?”

“I guess so? I do use some cleaning magic while fighting, and I really want to learn more magic, but so far it’s been slow going.”

“She’s not that bad,” Amaryllis said from her seat. She didn’t look away from the page she was scribbling on. “She catches on quickly.”

“Aww, thank you--”

“I think,” Amaryllis continued. “It’s because her brain is so empty, that there’s a surplus of room for things to fit into.”

I glared at my harpy friend.

“Don’t pout at me like that,” she said. “It makes you look as dumb as you are.”

“I wasn’t pouting, I was glaring!”

She snorted, and then some of the others joined in the laughter.

I slumped. Was it ‘make fun of Broc day?’

Emeric gestured over to Arianne. “Can you get us a couple of poles?” he asked.

The mage nodded and twisted a ring just like Amaryllis’ around. Some paper and a pen appeared and she wrote while pushing it up against her thigh. A moment later a pair of wooden staffs appeared on the soft grass before her.

Emeric got to his feet, picked one up, and flung it my way. The other he tossed to Donat. “Right. Up and at zem. You two can wail at each ozer for our entertainment. Donat, do try not to hurt ze girl zat’s chummy wiz ze dragon.”

“Um, alright,” the young grenoil said as he hopped to his feet. He twisted the staff around and held it by his side.

I did the same. I was pretty sure my Makeshift Weapons Proficiency wouldn’t work on a staff since it was... weapon-y. But that didn’t mean that I wouldn’t do my best!

“Oh, are you going to kill each other?” Rhawrexdee asked.

“Nope! Just practice so that we can both get stronger!” I said.

“Hrm. Not as entertaining. If you kill him by accident, I call dibs on the body.”

“Uh. I don’t think it’ll come to that,” I said. “Just wait a little bit, lunch will be arriving soon enough!” I twirled the staff around, fumbled it, then hugged it close instead of dropping it on the ground. Flushing a bit, I held it properly. “I’m ready!”

“So, I’m curious,” Emeric asked. “Where and when, exactly, did you pick up draconic?”

“Oh, I just kind of picked it up along the way,” I said.

Donat asked me if I was ready, then came in swinging. We had a quick exchange filled with the clacks and thumps of staff hitting staff. Donat wasn’t quite as flexible as I was, but he hit harder and could lunge forwards really well, his extra reach helped too.

I might have been spending too much time fighting thugs and such, because I was surprised by Donat’s technique more than once. Emeric kept an eye on the both of us, barking out advice about footwork, and ways to better hold the staffs to make use of their length.

I would have been a sweaty, stinky mess by the time the food came around if it wasn’t for my cleaning aura whisking away the sweat.

Julien delivered the food himself, with only one of the barmaids to help him, one of the tough-looking girls that only balked at the dragon in our group for a moment before pushing on.

I found a spot to sit next to Amaryllis and was soon joined by Awen on my other side. “Are you guys having fun?” I asked.

“Ahh, yes!” Awen said. “Miss Arianne is a very good teacher. I think I can get my Glass Magic Manipulation up to apprentice rank in a few days if I practice really hard. I’ll have to find some proper spells though.”

“That sounds great!” I said.

Awen nodded, looking quite pleased with herself. “Miss Arianne said that my natural mana aspect will begin to shift a little towards Glass. I, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to become a proper mage like that. Um, and I can still be a mechanic. Though I haven’t been using those skills much.”

“Hmm,” I said. “Maybe we should find some small projects you can carry around? You could get some practice.”

“There’s another opportunity,” Amaryllis said. She looked very serious as she placed a letter before me. “Read.”

I pushed my lunch aside and picked up the letter, flattening it with my palm onto the table to remove the creases down its middle.

Dear Amaryllis,

I read your report. The timing was quite fortuitous as I was just arranging to send you a letter of my own. The events you’ve uncovered only scratch the surface of the troubles we’ve been having lately. It took a while before the number of coincidences started to add up towards something more than just unfortunately timed diplomatic incidents.

Someone is playing silly buggers with more than one nation, and it’s beginning to be a serious problem.

Which is why I wanted to contact you. The clan is sending a representative to the East to smooth over some of our difficulties. The diplomat is your cousin Fell. She’s competent enough, but I suspect that the news of our sending someone might be intercepted. That’s why I thought that, were you willing, you could act as a second, unannounced, diplomat.

Your position in the family would remove any doubt as to your credibility.

Please write back as soon as you can. Things are beginning to move at a pace that we’re not comfortable with, and time may be of the essence.

Your mother.

I finished reading the letter, a bit disappointed that there wasn’t more fluff and love in it and that it was all business, but then, it was a sort of business letter. “So, does this mean we’re going to the Nesting Kingdom next?” I asked.

“I can hardly ask that you come with me,” Amaryllis said.

I rolled my eyes, then leaned to the side until I was pressed up against Amaryllis. Then, for good measure, I pulled her into a hug. “As if I’d let you go alone,” I said.

Amaryllis huffed her ‘I want to look as if I don’t like this, but I actually do’ huff. “If you don’t want to come, perhaps I could entice you by introducing you to my sisters. And as for you, Awen, my home has some of the best mechanics and engineers in the world. They could certainly teach you a thing or two.”

Awen giggled a little lady-like giggle, then she pressed herself onto my other side and pulled Amaryllis even closer. “I think we would enjoy that,” Awen said. “But, but if Broccoli taught me anything, it’s that you should always look out for your friends.”

“You’re both idiots,” Amaryllis said, but she was flushed as she said it, the silly bird.

“I love you guys, you know that, right?” I asked, just to be sure.

“Awa,” Awen said.

“Don’t start, you moron. It’s too early for that kind of sickly sweet... stuff,” Amaryllis said. She was blushing a lot harder now. It was cute!

I sat up taller, still grinning for all I was worth. “So, when do we leave?”

“I think today is too soon,” Amaryllis said. “Booking a flight doesn’t sound feasible at this hour. But I think we could get one for tomorrow afternoon. Or we could teleport over.”

“Teleport?” I repeated. My ears went ramrod straight above my head.

Amaryllis rolled her eyes. “It’s far more expedient, and ruinously expensive. It’ll cost half a dozen gold to get us to Fort Sylphrot. But it would save us a day or two of travel time. And... I suppose I could defer the costs to the clan as a sort of expense.”

“That sounds awesome!” I cheered.

“We’ll see tomorrow,” Amaryllis said.

I nodded, then slid out of my seat. “I’m going to go tell the others. Booksie will have to handle the dragon siblings all on her own.”

“I suspect that she’ll manage just fine,” Amaryllis said. “That dragon will be whipped to shape in no time, I’m certain.”

I shook my head. Amaryllis had weird ideas about relationships. “I’ll be right back!”

***