Merriment

I returned to the rooms that I shared with the others; I was annoyed with the way that Calendis had dismissed me, but I did trust him. He wouldn’t hold back anything that I would need to know, or anything that would put me in danger. Still, there was Ishtir to consider as well. Whatever that thing was, how could I trust it? For all I knew, it could be lying to Calendis about everything. Clearly, he couldn’t tell when it was lying. Would it even tell Calendis everything that it saw in my reading?

I opened the door to the living chamber and was met by my fellow adventurers with the exception of Rayall. They were sprawled throughout the room, lying on sofas, or sitting on chairs and reading. “Hey” I said with an awkward smile as I walked in, “Where’s Rayall gone?”

“He said something about asking the Paladin for more guidance” Cleo said, placing a finger between the pages in her book as she looked up.

“Oh, I take it we’re not doing any more training today then” I said as I closed the door behind me and took a seat at one of the tables. I began to pick at the food on the plates, realising how hungry I was after a day of hard training.

Korin looked up at me from the sofa that he was sprawled across, “Are ya kidding me? I’m exhausted, I can barely sit up let alone train” he groaned.

“Fair point” I said, smiling at him as I bite into a chicken leg. “Course, I would’ve thought that a dwarf of the mines would be a lot harder to tire out than by just swinging an axe” I added, getting a snort from Sara.

“Hey!” he shouted as he sat up, “I won’t let a boy like ya talk to me like that” he went on, sounding a bit annoyed. As he saw the others laughing at his reaction, he grumbled to himself and got up from the sofa. He walked over to the shelf at the side of the room and took a bottle of dwarven spirits from it. “Least I’ve still got this” he muttered quietly.

“Come on Korin, we all know how tough you are” Sara said as she sat up on the sofa, “I mean, only someone as tough as you could have fallen so quickly to an elf” another round of chuckles went up, even Sybil cracked a smile.

The dwarf’s cheeks blazed red with anger and embarrassment at the mockery, he cracked the lid of the bottle he had taken and began to drink, “didn’t see you lot hold up much better” he grumbled.

“Course you didn’t, you couldn’t see much of anything” Sara laughed again. Korin took another gulp from his bottle.

I smiled; I knew Korin was laughing along in his own way. “Aren’t you going to share?” I asked him, “After all of today, I think I need a drink”

“Not from this ya ain’t” he said, clutching his bottle close to himself. He grabbed another bottle from the shelf and checked the label. He tossed it across the room towards me, I fumbled it but eventually caught it before it smashed onto the ground. “There ya go, ya can have something weaker. Like you are” he declared with a satisfied grin.

I looked at the label, it was a wine by the look of it. I poured it into a cup on the table and took a sip, it had an earthy taste. “Anyone else want some?” I asked as I held it up. Sara held up her cup and waved it in the air, I walked over and filled it up for her and then Cleo’s who was sit next to her on the sofa.

Sybil held out her hand and I went over to her next, I looked around confused as she didn’t have a cup. Instead she snatched the bottle from my hands and began to drink straight from it. I shrugged my shoulders and went back to the sofa, sitting next to Sara with Cleo on her other side as I nursed my own cup.

“Hey Sybil” Korin said as he walked over from the shelves and sat on a chair near her, though was still out of knife reach in case he angered her. “Where did ya come from before the test?” he asked as he raised the bottle to his mouth.

She frowned at him and took another drink from the wine, “I’m from Alynthir, I’ve lived here as long as I remember” she said

He gave her a jolly smile, “Oh, so ya can visit your folks whenever ya want then” he said.

She looked down at the table, “No. I don’t have anyone. I lived in the slums; I don’t even remember my parents” she said quietly before taking a long gulp of her drink.

Korin quietened a bit at that, “Ah, I’m sorry lass. Did ya have anyone that took care of ya?”

She shook her head as she swallowed more wine, she must have had more than was in my cup already. “No, there were just the gangs. I could do work for them and sometimes got food or a roof for the night” she said. “I probably would’ve ended up getting killed by them in a few years if I hadn’t become an adventurer”

Korin looked a bit awkward as he sat there and listened to her, “Well that sounds shit” he said bluntly, getting a flare of Sybil’s nostrils in response. “Well, tell ya what, that reminds me of the time…” he started saying in a jovial voice before going into one of his extravagant stories.

The night continued that way, we listened to Korin’s doubtful tales and shared some more of our pasts before the Citadel. Sybil did not say much more for the rest of the night and finished off the bottle of wine before taking another from the shelves.

I smiled to Sara as we sat next to each other, our arms brushing against each other quite often. Eventually the **** seemed to get to me, and I leaned in close to her, she smiled and pulled me in for a kiss. The others went quiet for a moment as they saw us kissing in front of them. As she pulled away from me, the taste of wine filling our mouths, I blushed and turned to the others.

“Knew it” Korin declared, splashing some of his drink onto his beard. Sara blushed as well at that comment and Sybil let out a quiet laugh.

“You Knew?!” Cleo squawked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Korin smirked at that, “What’s up Cleo, you sound like you’re jealous of them?” he said, making the girl blush and stammer in response.

The **** must have been really getting to Sara at that moment, she turned to Cleo with a smile. “It’s okay Cleo” she said and leaned in close, “I’m sure Aucus can share” she whispered to her and leaned in to kiss her.

Korin spurted his drink at the sight of them kissing, Cleo seemed to be enjoying it as she didn’t seem to be pulling away and was instead kissing Sara back. I couldn’t help but grow a bit stiff at the sight of the two pretty blondes kissing in front of me. At last Sara pulled away and grinned at Cleo who was blushing and seemed to be speechless, I was for that matter. I didn’t know what Sara and I were, but I certainly hadn’t been expecting that.

“Any chance I can get some of that Sara?” Korin asked, getting a laugh from the others as Sara came over and planted a kiss on his nose. He grumbled at that but quickly returned to his drink.

“Orion’s going to kill us if we turn up to training hungover” I groaned as I finished my cup of wine.

Korin laughed at that, “I don’t see the problem. I haven’t gotten hungover since I was a lad” he said as he came to the end of his bottle and laid it down on the table.

“Yeah, but you’re an alcoholic” I complained, hearing a snort come from Cleo.

He grinned at that, “No I’m not. Just an **** enthusiast” he declared.

Sara groaned and sat up in the sofa, finishing off her own wine. “You’ve got a point though Aucus, we’re gonna need to get up tomorrow” she said. She turned to Cleo and leaned in to give her another kiss to my shock. “You want to come back to my room?” she whispered to the girl.

Cleo blushed at the suggestion and looked around at us all staring at the two of them, she bit her lip gently and nodded her head. “Yeah” she whispered.

Sara grinned and sprang up from her seat, holding Cleo’s hand. “Well, good night then, don’t stay up too long” she said to the rest of us as the two girls went into Sara’s room together.

“Well, I think I’m going to go to bed too” I said as I stood up and felt the **** rush to me. My vision blurred for a moment, and I had to stabilise myself on one of the tables. I recovered quickly enough and went to my room for the night.

I undressed and got into bed. I closed my eyes and quickly fell into a deep sleep.