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Audra

The door shut with a satisfying click and Audra let out a long and enjoyable sigh, Vasuki’s boots faded down the hall and she let herself slide to the carpeted floor beneath her. That was unexpected, carpet...fluffy red carpet...not a hardwood floor like the rest of the building. It was soft, almost too soft, but she wasn’t going to complain about the added comfort. She sat up and examined the room around her. A large window was locked shut in front of her. The red curtains were pulled away from it, allowing the light from the sun to illuminate the room and the beautiful view to come into her vision. The window had the perfect view of the lake, only 100 meters away to the right of that side of the building. Directly in view of the window was a large forest that vibrated with life. The sun gleamed over the lake, letting it shine and glimmer. She had to break out of her reverie or she’d be there all day.

To the right of the window, against the wall, was a small sturdy, wooden, desk with a cushioned chair neatly pushed underneath it, right next to it was a bookshelf with a few books but only enough to fill the top row. To the left of the window was a door that led to the bedroom. She entered it to see a large queen size bed in the middle of the room, with a window just above the headboard. It had a red duvet and white sheets with white pillows, they all smelled fresh. Next to the bed was a nightstand, with three drawers going down it’s body, and a lantern on top of it.

A door at the wall opposite of the bed led to a large bathroom which was illuminated, in a warm orange glow, by writing engraved into the wood walls. That was something interesting, writing that acted like a light source, she had never heard of something that could do this, she took a note of the faint humming sound they gave off. A giant metal tub sat on the floor, engravings were made on the outside of the tub, she hoped they weren’t a bad omen of some sorts, but seeing as how the ones on the wall were helpful she could only assume these were as well. The bathroom held a mirror on the wall, the outer edges seemed to be made of steel and were decorated like a long serpent was wrapping around it. Under the mirror was a counter that held two sinks. Overall the entire room was very elegant, how she got something like this was unexplainable, but she wasn’t going to complain about it.

Audra left the bathroom and went to the table, as Vasuki had mentioned, there was a small bell on a wooden base. Letters engraved in the base said, ‘Ring for room service.’ She put the bag Felix had given her on the table, along with the room key, and headed back to the bathroom, looking forward to a nice bath after all that she went through. She opened the window and began to grasp for water within the air around her, she then moved the water slowly to the bath until it was mostly full. She breathed heavily as she got another bucket equivalent of water from outside and poured it into the bath. She panted as she laid on the floor for a bit.

“Good job Audra, magic exhaustion...you idiot.” She closed her eyes for a moment before pushing herself off the floor and staggered to the bath, coughing as she grabbed the edge of the bath and dipping her face under the lukewarm liquid. She came up for air, somewhat refreshed, and stood up before slowly disrobing. After placing her clothes on the counter she slowly sank into the bath, her breathing was heavy and her limbs ached but the bath was a welcoming refreshment.

The bath had gotten slightly colder but sleep was still attempting to wrap it’s warm limbs around Audra’s body when she heard a faint humming sound around her, sitting up she looked for the source and barely just noticed a dim red glow coming from below the rim of the tub. Taking a quick peek over the edge she noticed the runes were slowly lighting up before fading away, she ran her fingers over the writing and enjoyed the warmth that exuded from them. ‘Is the bath...getting warmer?’ Audra thought. She waited for a moment before she had an exact answer. Ten seconds, twenty, thirty then the glowing stopped and Audra found herself in a steamy bath.

“This...this is what luxury feels like.” Audra said sinking as low as she could. “Whoever made this is a fucking genius.” she commented, slightly laughing at herself.

Audra stood out of the bath, aching to go back into the self-heating bath but her stomach had been gnawing at her for far too long. She needed food. As much as she wanted to air dry her hair, food came first, she could dry it out with magic once she was fully recovered. She quickly flicked the water off of her, with magic, and let it drizzle outside the window. It wasn’t much effort so the magic used wasn’t enough to put even a dent in the small amount remaining. She quickly dressed in the clothes she had from earlier, she’d prefer clean ones but it was all she had.

Audra began to descend the stairs to the tavern, her room key safely tucked away in the bag wrapped around her shoulder. She stopped when she heard a voice speaking to Vasuki.

“Your birthday’s coming up soon, anything in particular you looking forward to?” a man asked, his voice was deep but kind.

“Not to fall on my ass in the middle of Cabana’s sparring lesson.” Vasuki replied. That caught Audra’s attention, Felix had said he was bringing her to a place where she could learn to defend herself.

“Did you say sparring lesson?” Audra asked.

“Yeah I did, Cabana decided to teach me some things she learned when she was a Royal Knight. Sound like something you might be interested in?” Vasuki asked as he began working behind the counter.

“Maybe, I think you offered me a meal earlier. Is that offer still up or am I going to starve?” Audra teased. Vasuki’s eyes went wide.

“Shit I am so sorry, here’s a menu, the meal is still on me.” Vasuki quickly grabbed a menu and handed it to her. Audra sat on a stool and began looking through the menu, she was glad the meal was on him, she didn’t have any money on her all of it was still at home. Though that place was probably burnt down by the Cro’ak, she wondered how her mom was doing without her. Something told her she’d be okay, she wasn’t that far away and they had seen each other after evacuating Kiaveen, so they knew each other was still alive.

Audra shook her head from her thoughts when a glass of ice water was set in front of her. She saw Felix drinking water earlier and he never paid for it. ‘Must be complementary.’ She thought as she grabbed the glass and began to take small sips of it. It felt good going down her throat. She looked at the menu for a good amount of time before deciding on something, putting the menu down after Vasuki returned from cleaning spilled ale. “You got your order ready or do you still need a bit more time?” Vasuki asked.

“Actually, can I get the Pike Chili?” She asked. Vasuki gave a wicked smile.

“Dad, you get that?” Vasuki asked, staring at the kitchen.

“Why do the pretty ones always want the complicated shit!” He yelled while laughing.

“And what would you like to drink? Remember it’s all on me so don’t be shy.” Vasuki reassured.

“A refill of water when I finish this will be fine actually.” She claimed.

“Meh, I don’t blame you not big on alcohol myself. Too bitter.” He claimed.

“That’s because you’re a pansy!” Audra and Vasuki jumped in shock as a dark skinned woman screamed and leaned over the counter next to her. She never even noticed the feline-scent getting closer to her.

“Fucking shit Cabana you scared the hell out of me! How do you do that?” Vasuki asked.

“I don’t ask you to tell me all of your secrets so why would I tell you mine. I’ll take a bottle of Hellhound Venom Whiskey, I plan on making mistakes later tonight and I do not want to remember them.” Cabana claimed mischievously. “Oh and can I go ahead and get a bit of Spider Rum with a bit of Rosemary, I want my breath to smell strong but zesty so I can be a bit more alluring to him.” Vasuki’s face slightly flushed as he popped open a bottle with a dark red liquid inside of it. He recoiled from the smell.

“How do you drink this shit?” He asked as he poured it into a small glass, disappeared into the kitchen and came back with some rosemary leaves that he dunked into the glass.

Audra flinched as the smell from the rum hit her, it had to be an absurd amount of alcohol and the woman began to take slow sips of it without a single hint of recoil. Cabana’s eye peeked towards her and looked at her in thought as she put the glass down.

“Who are you? I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.” Cabana mentioned, the ears on the top of her head pointed up, and her eyes were wide with curiosity.

“I-I’m Audra Sandalious. Vasuki’s mentioned you a few times.”

“You’re...different than the usual travelers.” She seemed different, a bit more serious than she was now. “Has he talked to you about his sparring lessons?”

“H-he’s mentioned them, he said you were a Royal Knight?” She nodded as she gulped the rest of the rum.

“One more Rum for me and a nice Cider for the pretty lady over here.” Cabana ordered.

“Oh no, please I don’t want anything.” Audra complained. Vasuki put another glass of Spider Rum in front of Cabana.

“Please! Live your life while you still can...so yeah I was a Royal Knight. I know a lot about self defense if you’re interested. I also know a lot about medical response, nature, and hunting. So if you ever think you might need that in your life tell Ice boy over there and he’ll let me know. Then I’ll find you.” Cabana said gesturing to Vasuki who was quickly writing some orders down for a table that just entered the building.

“So when did you quit being a Royal Knight?” Audra asked. Cabana seemed to think for a bit before answering.

“I retired from my position...10 years ago. When I was 43.” Audra gasped, Cabana was a sexy dark skinned woman that looked like she was younger than 30. Cabana laughed at Audra’s reaction.

“Ha ha very funny. So for real what happened?” Audra asked catching the joke.

“That is what happened. You’re looking at a 53 year old Feline Variant. As a Royal Knight I had to meet a few requirements, meeting them has slowed my aging process. So I still look about 28 don’t you agree?” Audra took a meager sip of the pleasant Cider. She leaned back against the counter and looked upside down at Vasuki.

“Hey Vasusu, get me the bill and that bottle of Hellhound Whiskey, if I remember tonight I’m going to come back for a refund.”

“Right on it.” Vasuki claimed. Cabana sat upright as she began to count out gold for the bill.

“If I were you I’d go look around town, I don’t know the situation but seeing how Vasuki was giving you free meals, you need money. Talk to the blacksmith, or go check out the building next to the pier of the lake. They could always use some work. Hell maybe you could work here.” Vasuki slid her a piece of paper with a number written down, along with the a large dark tinted glass bottle, she looked at the check and back at him appalled.

“You’re charging me more than usual!” She complained.

“Call it reimbursement for traumatizing Chereno last week.”

“I did no such thing!”

“He caught you and I quote ‘Piss drunk sneaking in his room late at night, because you thought you locked yourself out of your own house.’” Vasuki held his arms out in feign shock. “Maybe lay off the Hellhound Whiskey and you’d remember these things.” She rolled her eyes and counted out a few more coins before laying them on the counter.

“I got some places to be, after your meal I’d say explore town a bit. But don’t stay out at night, this may be a peaceful town but monsters still lurk where they can’t be seen. Here’s a little something for some new clothes. Your clothes smell pretty bad.” Cabana said, putting gold into a smaller coin purse before sliding it over to her. “C’ya ‘round.” Cabana said, standing from her stool and leaving the tavern.

Compared to Ravi, someone that seemed to live and breathe combat and power, Cabana seemed to be the total opposite. Audra couldn’t help but wonder what was so different in their lives that made them carry themselves so differently.

“She’s been through hell. She once told me that she’s been running from something for the majority of her life. If you decide to take lessons from her you’ll be able to see it just by the sheer amount of scars.” Vasuki mentioned as he slid a check to a customer and passed an ale to another.

“She just doesn’t seem like a Royal Knight. How can everyone know for sure about that part of her past?” Audra asked.

“Have you seen the size of this town?” Vasuki asked, as he put a glass of ice water in the kitchen window, then grabbed the bowl his father had sat down. Audra nodded.

“She has saved all of us, at least once.” Vasuki claimed, setting the bowl of chili in front of her. It smelled spicy and sweet.

“But the way she acts is so…”

“Amorous and playful? Yeah, I’m not sure why but that’s just how she is. Don’t think less of her for it. A lot of people have before.” Vasuki finished before going back to work. Leaving Audra alone with a bowl of chili in front of her that tasted just as good as it smelled. She didn't think less of Cabana, she only grew more worried for her.