Autumn 4994, 11 Aoimoth
"Who's that?"
The usual whispers started as soon as Lily entered the tavern after Master Velona. Well, the patrons thought they were whispering. But the crowd was large, and loud enough that they couldn't truly keep their words quiet and still expect their companions to hear them.
"Are those tattoos? Is she a criminal?"
"Maybe a Sorcerer... her hair..."
"It looks like metal. There's no way that's natural..."
Lily's sigh was loud and dramatic but did nothing to stop the muttering. "Just ignore them," Tuth said as he passed her at the bar, taking the seat on the other side of Master Velona while Lily stopped to stare at her stool.
They were always the same whispers, and Lily really couldn't blame them. She'd been traveling with Master Velona for the last six years, had seen the entire kingdom a few times over, yet had never met another person with metallic hair or scaled stripes. Her crimson scales formed three stripes across her right cheek that merged together at her neck to twist around her body under her clothes, reappearing and splitting into three again on her left hand and right foot. And that was just what people could see at a distance. If they got close enough, they would often make warding signs against her eyes, which were dark blue and slit like a cat.
She looked over her shoulder at the watching patrons, all were trying to stare while also avoiding her eyes. With another sigh, Lily climbed onto her stool and hopped over to the bar, spinning on her toes to face the crowd. Tuth hid his face in his arms with a groan, and Master Velona rubbed his back soothingly as Lily cleared her throat to address the townsfolk,
"These are not tattoos, and I am not a criminal. I am a Sorcerer, and I have my clearance. My hair is -in fact- natural, and so are my scales. If you would like a closer look, or have any questions, I'll be here for the rest of the night. I don't bite." She smiled at the now silent tavern, and one brave -probably drunk- man in the front spoke up,
"Well, that's disappointing. Nothing wrong with a little nibble..." Some of the others gasped, but Lily laughed out loud,
"True! At least one of you has the balls to be blunt about it." She shot the man a wink, and he lifted his tankard to her in salute. "But I still won't, you'd have to ask really really nicely..." a few of the man's companions cheered, and some of the women blushed but smiled, and Lily hopped down from the bar.
"Why do you always have to do that?" Tuth asked in a whine. The young Mage had only been traveling with Lily and Velona for a year. And though he was used to most of Lily's eccentricities, he always hated when she attracted even more attention on purpose.
Lily scoffed and took her seat properly, waving at the bartender but speaking to Tuth, "You're the one who wanted to come here and do this job. I wanted to go to Talkar. That's the most recent place Shon's been." according to his letters. "Besides, this way, they might start whispering about something other than my appearance."
"Shon and Veon-Zih were in Talkar over three months ago Lily, I doubt they're still there," Velona pointed out as the bartender finally stopped in front of their small team.
Lily shrugged at her teacher's observation, "But it's still the most recent we have," to the bartender, she asked, "What's your local specialty? Something I can't find anywhere else."
The man grunted, "Wheat beer," not surprising for the plains of Lenare, even on the southern border near Halakon. Still, every town had its own recipe, so Lily nodded and smiled at the man who shuffled off to pour her drink.
She twisted in her seat to lean on the bar and watch the door, continuing to Tuth and Velona, "Why did we have to take this job anyway? Kobolds are soooo boring, and they always beg for mercy in draconic."
"It's my turn Lily, you promised," Tuth argued, "Kobolds are the only known worshipers of dragon-like gods. If this nest is old enough, then they might even have artifacts no one else has seen before."
Lily groaned, and Velona snickered, "You did say he could choose this one. And we had some time to kill before the Guild needs us in Lenare city."
"But kobolds? Really?" Lily whined, draping herself over the bar until the tender brought her drink. "I know I said I would teach you draconic, but they are honestly the worst to practice on."
She sipped her drink while Tuth scoffed, "Worse than draken? And seriously, you've been 'teaching' me," he made quotes in the air with his fingers, "for this entire year, and I can barely comprehend the sentence structure."
"This is amazing!" Lily exclaimed to the bartender with a beaming smile he couldn't help but return with a shy grin. "Keep 'em coming, and my compliments to the local brewers."
Tuth reached past Velona to knock his knuckles on the bar in front of Lily, "Are you even listening to me?"
"Yeah yeah, I'm not a good teacher." Lily said, waving him off and taking another deep drink of her beer, "Find someone else to teach you then."
The Mage threw his hands in the air in exasperation, "No one else speaks it! It's a dead language!"
"Then I guess you're stuck with me." Lily stuck her tongue out at the young Mage and laughed as his face turned bright red.
"Why the Guild ever let you leave-" he started, and Velona placed a hand on his arm to silence him.
Lily's smile vanished. She sat straight to look over Velona's shaved head and growled at Tuth, "The Mages didn't 'let' me leave, and they can't keep me. I'm not an experiment anymore, Tuth, to anyone, including you."
"I didn't... I would never... I..." Tuth stuttered, realizing his mistake.
"Let's change the subject, shall we?" Velona asked sweetly.
Lily slapped her hand on the bar and glared at her companions, "This is the last one. No more missions. I'm tired of waiting. We've been all over the place and still haven't run into Shon."
Tuth moaned, hardly relieved that this was the change in subject Lily went for, "He never stays still! And neither do you. Every time I suggest we wait around for a bit, you get antsy and want to take another job to move on."
Lily just rolled her eyes, "I don't care. I'm done."
"We already promised to help the Guild in Lenare-" Master Velona started, and Lily rushed to interrupt,
"After that, then. If Rasnah can send out a mass message to find Veon-Zih, then we can too."
Velona reached over to pat Lily on the head, ignoring her heat as she always did, "General Rasnah is the head of the second-largest Temple in Clearhelm and a renowned hero. We don't have her authority to-"
"Then we'll go to Clearhelm and have her do it," Lily argued, brushing the Monk's hand off, "I promised I would find him, and it's already been five years. Do you not want to see Master Veon-Zih again? I thought you two made up?" Lily asked Velona.
The Monk sighed, "That was a long time ago, Lily. We've moved on. That doesn't mean I don't want to see him again."
Lily stared into her drink, feeling guilty, "I'm sorry, Master, I just don't want to wait anymore..." Velona hadn't only had to wait. She'd had to give up on love altogether.
"I know, my precious flower," the woman reached over to stroke Lily's hair again, "after Lenare city, we'll find him, I promise."
A new voice cut above the everyday bustle of the crowd, "You must be the adventurers the Lord hired!" a privately employed soldier in a crumpled local uniform approached from the door, "There's only three of you?" he asked, looking them over and growing crestfallen.
Lily shrugged, "They're only kobolds. Where's the Duke anyway?"
"On the front lines, m'lady. In the crags. I'll lead you there tomorrow morning."
Master Velona stood to give the man a Monk bow, her right fist in her left palm, "What can you tell us about the mission?"
The soldier sighed, taking the seat beside Lily and waving down the bartender as he explained. "Well, if it was just the nest we found in the caves, it would've been fine. But with the fires up north, we got another swarm of the little buggers coming into the crags to take shelter, and we don't fancy getting flanked underground."
"And you didn't call in the Temple because..." Velona led with a smile.
The man flushed and stuttered a half-hearted excuse, "Well, we... um... we wanted to handle it without getting the government involved. They have enough to worry about with the fires, and whatnot, right?"
"Right..." Velona let the word stretch and the man squirm a little longer before she shrugged, "Either way, we accepted the job, and we'll do it. Kobolds aren't much of a challenge anymore anyway."
Lily perked up, "Maybe we'll get lucky and some draken ran with them!" or maybe even a drake! Though she had enough sense not to mention that particular settlement-destroying monster out loud.
The soldier blanched, looking between the two ladies, "There have been no signs of draken, m'ladies. Please don't wish such upon us."
"Ah well," Lily sighed glumly, resting her elbow on the bar and her chin in her palm, "it should be over fast at least..."
***
