“That took much longer than expected.”

“You’re right, Rolla. If I had known that I was going to run into so many chatterboxes, I would have never left. I would have preferred watching Shango pick his weapon,” Ave said with irritation in her voice.

“Ya, that one is on me. I always underestimate the lengths people will go to curry favor with you.” Rolla said, pouting a bit. “It’s must be so nice to be so wanted. I’m so jealous?” Rolla said in a sarcastic voice while putting her arms around Ave.

“Hmph, no need to be jealous, my brother and many others seem to want to curry favor with you too,” Ave replied, knocking away Rolla’s arms and walking ahead of her.

“Not funny!” Rolla yelled, catching up with her and pinching her butt, causing Ave to let out a loud yelp.

“Rolla!”

“Hehe. Mind your manners, young lady. People are watching.” She pointed to a few of Ave’s personal maids who were staring at them. A few of them were looking at them with stars in their eyes.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Ave ignored Rolla and walked away as fast as possible. Feeling proud of herself, Rolla followed behind her, snickering along the way while Ave tried her best not to lose it. As Ave and Rolla made their way back towards Shango and Thorn, they heard a commotion coming from the eating quarters.

“What do you mean alcohol is not a good source of nutrition? I’ll have you know that for the last few years, it has been my main source of nutrition, and it has been perfect for my body,” Thorn said, flexing his lone arm before snitching a jug of alcohol from a nearby countertop.

“Sir Thorn, please return that!” yelled the kitchen help.

“Rolla, is that Thorn I hear?”

“I believe so. Maybe they finished earlier than we expected?”

Walking inside, they saw the sight of a one-armed man trying to chugging a large bottle of liquor with one of the kitchen helpers trying to stop him.

Seeing that sight annoyed Ave. Even though she felt pity for Thorn, she was getting tired of his behavior, especially after the incident that happened earlier.

Slowly walking towards him, she could smell the stench of alcohol around him, almost like a barrier designed to keep out fresh air. As she got closer, the kitchen help who was trying to take the bottle away from him noticed her and backed away. Even though Ave said nothing to the maid, she could tell she was irritated.

As she neared Thorn, she reached out and tapped him on his shoulder. Thorn, who was fully indulging in the taste of the liquor, did not notice her at first. She tapped on his shoulder again, this time with more force.

He finally noticed that someone was tapping his shoulder, “You know it’s rude to interrupt, someone when they are having a drink,” Thorn said, not even turning around to see who was tapping him.

Just as he was about to get back to drinking, Ave said, “Sir Thorn, are you enjoying yourself?”

A few seconds went by before Thorn realized it was Ave and started to break out in a cold sweat.

“Sir Thorn, I asked you if you were enjoying yourself.” She said as she walked moved to stand in front of him, making eye contact along the way.

Dammit, he thought to himself. Slowly placing the bottle on the counter and clearing his throat, he said, “Well, yes, Princess Avelina.”

“That’s good to hear Thorn.” she said, reaching out and patting his shoulder and showing him a friendly smile. “Savor that the feeling, Sir Thorn. Savor that feeling for a long time. Rolla.”

“Yes, Princess Ave,” Rolla replied in a monotone voice.

“Put out an order that Sir Thorn is banned from drinking. He is not allowed to set a single foot inside of a pub, inn, or any place that serves alcohol. Anyone caught abetting him will pay a large fine.”

“Wait, Princess, aren’t you being a bit too harsh? This liquor is the only thing that makes me forget about my arm,” Thorn said, his voice shaking.

Walking closer towards him, Ave grabbed Thorn’s hand. “Thorn, I’m sorry, but it’s time to get over it. We are so close to getting the magic we need to fix your arm; we just need more time. It would not make sense to get your arm back when your body is destroyed from the inside out because of that stuff.”

“More time, more time! Princess, please don’t say that. I have been hearing those same words for the last several years now. How much more time? How much!” Thorn yelled, smacking his hand on the counter with tears flowing his eyes.

“Thorn, just wait till the end of the year. If we do not have your arm fixed by then, then I will personally see to it that you drown in the finest of alcohol.” she said with a smile.

Seeing the smiling princess, some of the negative feelings that he had bottled up vanished. Thinking for a moment, he said, “Fine, I won’t touch any of the good stuff until the end of the year, which is about three months, or so. I can wait till then, but there is something else I want until that time comes, something to keep me distracted.”

Tilting her head to the side, she looked at Thorn with a puzzled look on her face.

“What could you possibly want?”

“Ohh, nothing major.” he said with a smile. Leaning forward, he whispered in her ear so that Rolla could not hear.

Nodding her head while listening to Thorn, she said, “I cannot force it, but I can set up a few opportunities for you.” she said, winking at Thorn.

“That will do just fine.”

“Now that we have that out the way, where is Shango? I want to see what kind of weapon he picked.”

“Umm. Well, you see, he was taking a bit longer than expected to pick his weapon, so I left him alone,” Thorn said, rubbing the back of his head.

“You did what? Do you know how dangerous that is?”

“Well, you see. Until recently, I had a bit of a drinking problem,” Thorn said while blushing.

Looking at his face, Ave was resisting the urge to leave a five-finger handprint on it. Calming herself down, she said, “Thorn, if anything happens to the Hero, I’m going to get your arm back and shove it far up your ass.”

“Princess, manners.”