Dwarven Hospitality

Vel led them into the Hall and John could immediately tell how big a deal the clan was making things. Even at the entrance, the sound of merrymaking and the clink of cutlery on plates filled the air, along with the scent of the food on offer.

“Sounds like things haven’t fallen apart since I left to get you,” Vel remarked with a chuckle. “Hopefully, the Order’s people have taken on a more festive mood.”

“You’ve mentioned that this trial would have been a reason to celebrate even without our dealings,” Vivian said.

“Oh, yes,” Vel remarked proudly. “The coming of age trial was a time for celebration in the past, a sign that one or more of the clan’s youth were ready to step into adulthood. It’s fallen out of favor for a while, but Tok’s been pestering for it ever since he decided it was the best way for him to make his entrance. I think he’s more entranced by the old tales of champions past, but I can’t deny that it’s made everyone excited. And things have aligned nicely for other purposes.”

“Is there anything else we should know about what’s going to happen?” Aeolia asked.

“If you’re worried about this being some ‘to the ****’ kind of affair, I’m seriously doubting if business between us will work out. It’s a bit late for that line of questioning.” Vel laughed.

“We have no doubt things will be as safe as possible,” Verida said, causing everyone to turn towards her. John was expecting to not see Kiera and was very surprised to see the bluenette present right behind the goddess, standing next to Teri. Then it clicked. They had pulled off what they did back in the caves and summoned an avatar of Verida.

“I see there’s a new trick you can pull off,” Vel remarked as he stroked his beard thoughtfully. “And yes, the trial isn’t designed to be some deadly thing. A dead or crippled young man or woman is not a good thing for the clan. It’s a showcase of their ability, not a do or die mission.”

Vel cleared his throat. “And the particulars will be announced in due time. For now, it’s time to mingle. I’m sure there are more interesting conversationalists than me around.”

The dwarf gestured towards a pair of ornately carved doors and they swung open, revealing a large open chamber. Inside, a good number of people milled around a number of wooden tables laden with food. Most were dwarves, dressed in a mix of East Asian and western style clothes. A similar mix of eastern and western attire adorned the various other members of the clan, which made picking out the members of the Order painfully easy.

The two he could see were adorned in gleaming white armor, with gold filigree decorating the metal with twisting vines and roses. They wore soft blue cloaks over their armor, each held in place by a broach in the shape of a rose.

“I think you should meet with them,” Vivian whispered to him once she noticed where his gaze had landed. “You’re the warrior going into this. Can’t hurt to network with them.”

“While you and Estelle work over the clan members?” John asked back, a grin on his lips.

“Can’t hurt to multitask,” the redhead admitted.

“I’ll go, maybe I’ll look for my dwarven compatriot too,” John said as he slipped away from the group. Thankfully, his years of experiences of sliding through crowded hallways as unseen as possible allowed him to make his way without issue. As he neared the Order’s position, he recognised one of the two knights.

“Knight Ramirez,” he greeted her with a nod of his head, something he felt was appropriate for the atmosphere around them.

“Mr. Newman.” Ramirez returned his nod. “May I introduce my colleague, Knight Abraham Gaunt.”

The stern man inclined his head. Knight Gaunt lived up to his name, having a dead focused look in his blue eyes. A once handsome face was marred by numerous scars, which John took as him being a decorated fighter and he guessed, absent of any diplomatic displays, that he was chosen for this mission to look the part of a valiant warrior.

“I have heard many things about you, Mr. Newman,” Gaunt said in a monotone voice. “Hopefully, your actions today will re-affirm the Order’s commitment.”

“Well, I’m going to put my all into it,” John declared. “Haven’t been slacking in my training.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Ramirez said. “I’m sure Donnelly will be happy to see that later. She seemed eager to show the fruits of her labor with that sword she won. Though I’m not sure where she ended up. Our hosts were quite eager to chat when we arrived. Seems they’ve exhausted their curiosity. ”

John had been wondering who was going to join him and Tok from the Order. There had been some debate on who they would elect to send. Given that John was only really familiar with a grand total of three, he had no way of knowing just how many could fit the mission profile for this endeavor. But, given that they were involved, it made sense that either Rowan or Moira would have been the pick.

‘Seems the Order doesn’t want to look like they’re waltzing in with the heir of their whole organization and showing them up,’ Senka remarked. ‘Or, even more cynically, they don’t want to risk her if this whole event is more dangerous than advertised.’

‘I doubt it’s that,’ John protested. ‘They’re a knightly order of holy knights. To fight in their lady’s name and all that.’

“Well, I’m eager to see how well she’s gotten with it,” John said with a smile.

“I’m sure you are,” Ramirez replied. “Now…”

“There you are!” a loud and somewhat familiar voice boomed from behind John. A second later, John found himself spun around as a weighty set of hands twisted him around. Tok was dressed not so differently as he was in the mall, a green kimono and sandals, though it did look to be of a higher quality of make. “John Newman, right?”

“Yes?” John answered uncertainly.

“We weren’t properly introduced, and I intend to fix that! Tok Foh Baz,” Tok declared, letting go of John to offer his hand.

Still a bit shellshocked, John robotically shook Tok’s hand. The dwarf’s digits easily wrapped around John’s.

“I see the Order sent people you’re already familiar with, eh?” Tok asked, beaming over John to Ramirez and Gaunt. “Already a mover and shaker.”

“More a victim of circumstance,” John managed to say.

“Our path crossed with theirs by chance,” Ramirez confirmed. “And our choice in representation was made in consideration of our prior association.”

“Ah, so you know who’s going to be joining us then? In that case, let’s go and meet our third,” Tok proclaimed and began to drag John away. He shared a glance with Ramirez who slightly shook her head. He was left to his fate. Before he took his eyes off the knight, he could make out the barest of smiles breaking her stoic facade.

‘It seems you’ve been betrayed,’ Senka remarked, amusement clear in her voice.

‘So it seems,’ John sighed. He wasn’t sure how he felt about getting manhanded by the exuberant dwarf. On some level, Tok reminded him of the jocks from school. He was clearly the athletic type and set off John’s well honed instincts regarding them. But where they roamed the school halls like predators strutting around their territory, daring any to challenge them or looking for weak prey to harass, Tok seemed more like an over excited dog dragging someone to play.

“So, what’s our friend from the Order like?” Tok asked him as the dwarf led them in the search.

“Rowan’s, um, dedicated,” John answered, carefully choosing his words. He didn’t want to reveal anything he’d gleaned from Observe or her small crash out when they fell into the caves under the floating city.

“That’s all you got, dedicated?” Tok asked, a genuine curiosity in his voice.

“It’s not like we’re friends or anything,” John said. “Calling us acquaintances is a stretch. I think I’ve spent a grand total of like four hours with her. She wasn’t unpleasant or anything. Plus, fighting in some barriers isn’t like playing some ice breaker.”

Tok slowed and glanced up at John, a challenging gleam in his eyes. “I’m going to have to disagree with you there, John. I think there can be a lot you can learn about someone by how they fight. And I’m not talking about if they’re swordy fellows or spearish chaps, but how they conduct themselves in a fight.”

“I think I get what you’re saying,” John slowly said.

Tok let out a breath. “Really? Great! Then am I right about it? Haven’t exactly been in a battle to really see for myself.”

John stared at the dwarf incredulously. “You have this deep philosophical thought about how a person fights reflects their personality and such and you’ve never been in a fight?”

“I’ve been in fights,” Tok said defensively, awkwardly scratching his cheek. “I mean, sparring counts, right?”

“Unless you’ve sparred with most of your clan, I’m not sure if you’ve got enough experience to be making these kinds of deep thoughts,” John deadpanned as Senka laughed in his head over the absurdity of this whole conversation. “Hell, the last month of my life probably isn’t enough, and I’ve had some degree of combat nearly everyday.”

“That’s some dedication,” Tok declared and slapped John’s back heartily. “Can’t imagine it’s been easy for you.”

“What do you mean by that?” John asked, his brow creasing.

“I mean, from what I was able to get out of Dad, and he’s not exactly loose lipped, you and your friends have been through the ringer,” Tok answered.

“Yeah, it’s been a rollercoaster,” John admitted.

“Well, might be a bit hollow coming from me, but that you made it out the other side’s pretty manly,” Tok said with a grin. “And I can’t wait to fight alongside you.”

John chuckled awkwardly. It was weird to be getting praise from someone he didn’t really know. So instead he seized the last thing Tok said.

“‘Alongside,’ huh? So we are going into this as a team?” he asked.

“I’d like it to be that way,” Tok replied with a smile. “There’s nothing about having to undertake the trial alone and we’re supposed to be showing how our factions can work together so it makes sense to go in as a team. Which is why we’re looking for this Rowan. Get us all on the same page before we go in.”

“Give me a second. I’ll see if I can pick her out of the crowd,” John said. Arcane Sense flared to life, filling John’s perception with the many mana signatures around them. Tok’s earthy presence was the strongest, to no surprise given proximity, but John was about to tune it out as he swept further out.

Between his physical eyes and his magical third, he was able to pick out where Rowan was. He did have to double take as her aura, which used to have a similar quality to Tok’s if a bit weaker in definition, now was not only stronger, about on par with his read on Tok, but now had a low heat to it, like a firepit with still warm coals in it.

‘Is that because of the sword?’ Senka wondered.

‘I can’t think of a reason why her aura would change otherwise, though I don’t know enough about how people grow stronger in general to be sure. None of the girls have shown any radical shifts in their aura.’

Whatever the reason for Rowan’s evolution, if the Order didn’t see any harm in it, and from his understanding of them, they wouldn’t have her on this mission if she was a liability, then there was no need to worry about it.

“She’s over there,” John pointed out, gesturing over to the far side of the hall. There, in an out of the way corner, stood Rowan, turned towards a painting on the wall. John wasn’t entirely sure how he missed her while she was wearing similar ceremonial armor to Ramirez and Gaunt, but she didn’t seem to be all that comfortable with the whole affair.

“Huh, not sure how she's not being swarmed,” Tok remarked as John took the lead. “This whole thing’s been all the clan has been talking about.”

“Oh, that was me,” a voice said from behind them. John and Tok stopped and turned to face Lara. The halfling looked up at them with a grin. “Poor girl looked like she was going to faint from all the attention, so I slipped a little something onto her armor to give her a bit of privacy when I was shooing them away. I’m a bit surprised you could find her.”

Lara said that last part while looking at John with suspicious eyes. Before he could explain, Tok cut in.

“He’s worked with her before,” the dwarf said. “Makes sense the Order would send people familiar with Pruzonia, right?”

“Is that so?” the halfling murmured, still staring at John intently. “Well, I won’t get in the way of you reuniting.”

Lara turned on her heel and marched away, leaving both John and Tok a bit stunned.

“Sorry about Lara,” Tok said, recovering first. “She can get a bit protective and I guess Rowan set off her mother bear alarm.”

“Think she could glare one down,” John muttered.

Tok let out a laugh. “She probably could. Got a lot of practice keeping everyone in our age range in line. Wouldn’t know she was the shortest one around by that reputation.”

“I sure wouldn’t have,” John said with a contemplative frown. He didn’t like the implication Lara seemed to be getting at, that he was some kind of womanizer or was stalking Rowan.

“Don’t let Lara’s paranoia get to ya,” Tok said, thumping John on the back. “She means well, but thinks she can prep for anything and doesn’t care if she steps on people’s toes to narrow down the list of possible outcomes.”

It made John feel a bit better, but not by much. The old rumors spread in school halls still stung. He felt Senka’s concern bleed into him accompanied by the sensation of her arms wrapping around him. Her care soothed the old wounds and he shook away those dark memories.

“Let’s go meet her before something else pops up to stop us,” he said in a deflated tone.

“You okay?” Tok asked even as they began to cut across the banquet hall. John saw a flicker of concern and guilt cross Tok’s face before he stopped walking. “Look, I don’t want to start things on a bad foot, or in bad faith. Lara’s tendency to make plans also means she digs into anything she can find to get a better picture. And isn’t above using sources with, eh, questionable accuracy.”

“She looked into me?” John pressed, wondering just what the halfling had learned. And from whom.

Tok nodded solemnly. “She has contacts with people familiar with that school in Springfield that’s filled with Abyssals. You went there, right?”

“Yeah,” John admitted, suddenly feeling very worried about enemies, both known and unknown, knowing a lot more about him than he knew about them. His fear must have shown on his face as Tok quickly waved his hands.

“Woah, no need to freak out. I don’t think any of Lara’s contacts knew anything about you. The most she got from them was that there were three who dropped out at the same time and the sole guy matched your description. Nothing about you having magic or anything,” the dwarf said.

Tok’s earnestness eased some of John’s worry, but his whirling mind was quick to hone in on why Lara had a dim view of him regarding women.

“Those sources said some... unflattering... things about me, didn’t they?” he asked.

Tok looked a bit uncomfortable as he nodded. “Yeah, they painted ya as some pervert. And you coming in surrounded by women doesn’t really disprove them. Now, I don’t believe you're some scummy dude, but it does paint a picture.”

“Great,” John groaned. “Didn’t think we’d need a PR department.”

Tok chuckled. “I’ll make sure Lara lays off the conspiracy juice. I’m sure she’d move on from the pervert angle to which one of your group you’re with once she’s convinced you’re not a bad guy.”

“Um,” John uttered, debating whether to reveal the whole extent of his love life.

‘He’s been upfront with us,’ Senka counseled. ‘I say go for it. What’s the worst that can happen?’

‘Nothing ever good comes from asking that,’ John remarked and sighed. “In the spirit of openness, I suppose I should say we’re all with each other.”

“Well, that’s not at all what I expected.”