Inside the tavern, it was filled with noises that Opal had never heard before. The sound of singing and laughter with a few loud thuds here and there. This scared Opal, then she dashed behind Mallary, “lead.” She put her head towards the ground, gripping his hand.

“You got it, boss,” Mallary said. He leads the way through the crowd of people. A few bumped into them on the way, but it was resolved quickly with a polite pardon me. Along the way, Opal and Mallary got separated.

Opal looked around for Mallary through the bar, avoiding eye contact with everyone. A drunk dude bumped in Opal, and she jumped back. “You got a problem?” The drunk man said, getting up close into her face. This scared Opal, which she resorted to slapping him to make him go away. “You wanna go!?” The drunk man got ready to attack before Mallary interrupted him.

“Pardon my friend, kind sir,” Mallary said to the drunk man.

“The only thing that will be pardoned is my fist!” The drunk man responded.

Mallary stared confused but smiled, “You see kind plebeian. In his culture, you greet people by slapping them. Like this.” Mallary slapped the man’s face, knocking him out. The man fell over, and Mallary caught him. “Wow, you need to settle down on the drinks.” Setting the man down on a chair. A few onlookers stared, “He’s a heavy drinker,” Mallary said to them. “Grab my hand.”

Opal took his hand, and they walked over to an empty table near a dark, slender man with long red hair. “Hey, Mallary,” the bartender said.

“Ah? Did you make a table just for me? I feel so special,” Mallary smiled.

“Well, you do have a reputation of misfortune,” the bartender laughed. “Plus, everyone you bring tends to start a fight. So it’s better to keep you near everything else to prevent another Puppy Crusade.”

“You’re still holding that against me?” Mallary lifted Opal onto a stool.

The bartender leaned into Opal’s face, getting a better look at the stranger before him. “Who’s this little bugger? She an assassin? What’s with the eye patch?”

“I wouldn’t get too close,” Mallary said.

“Why?–” Opal slapped the bartender.

“That’s why,” Mallary then took a sip out of a pint.

“Where do you pick up these people?” The bartender place two meals on the table.

“I don’t know Sid, they just seem to appear,” Mallary pushed his plate toward Opal. He saw her eyeballing his meal, “You can have both if you want.” Opal started on an enormous piece of bread and started eating it like a wild animal.

“You got one interesting friend here,” Sid handed a beer to a young lady.

“Just give her whatever she wants. Also, I found her in a burned down Dezmort,” Mallary changed his attention to a crowd of people gathering around a table.

“You know you can’t just take kids from places,” Sid watched as Opal scarfed down the rest of the food.

“Go,” she said, handing the plate to Sid.

Sid stared at her, “What?”

“She wants more food,” Mallary finished his drink, “Keep an eye on her. I’m going to check something out.” He started walking towards the gaggle of people.

“Wait, you said something about Dezmort!” Sid shouted as Mallary left.

“Don’t worry about it!” Mallary shouted back.

“No, seriously! I have some friends there!” Sid replied, but Mallary ignored him. Opal pointed towards a mug of beer.

“Sweet,” Opal said.

“Yes, it does smell sweet,” Sid said, moving the mug.

“Go,” Opal reached towards the mug.

“You want it?” Sid handed the mug to Opal.

“Mine,” she said, grabbing it and drank it.

She finished the drink in seconds, “Sweet.” Opal handed the mug back to Sid, fumbling with the mug, “Go.”

“I’m impressed you were able to eat and drink while wearing that mask,” Sid said, grabbing the mug. “Normally, people take it off when eating,” handing her another round.

“Off,” Opal fumbled and picked at the bandana. It took her a bit until she tried pulling it down. Her now exposed face was about to chug down the drink.

“Wait,” Sid said, picking up a different mug. “Try taking your time like this,” he took a sip of beer, “The sweetness will last longer.”

“Sweet,” Opal took a little sip, her face was red and eye glowing. “Yummy!” She then chugged it down and handed back the empty mug for more.

“Looks like I’m going to be busy,” Sid poured twelve separate mugs and placed them in a row next to her. “Try sipping.”