The Radiant End

It was too early in the afternoon for the after hours crowd to have shown up; the sunlight lit the barroom in a way that was vaguely unpleasant, the glasses behind the counter glimmering and scattering light into the darker corners. Kyris took a seat at the bar close to the powered taps, where the tender raised an eyebrow. "Either a celebration or sorrows at this time, and you don't seem all that cheerful."
"Contract fell through. Again." The ranger sighed before tapping the bar with two fingers. "You still serve that chamomile concoction I had last summer?"
"Sure." The tender pulled three bottles off the wall and began pouring. The whiskey and chamomile essence went first into the mixer followed by some sherry, and the tender carefully scattered finely ground nutmeg and hand squeezed a lemon before stirring. The drink was a wan orange, nearly perfectly blending into the dusty light. "You mentioned no contract, so assuming you want this on the tab?"
Kyris nodded before sipping her cocktail. The mellow sherry and nutmeg gave the drink an earthy, calming feeling. "There's not even really anyone to blame this time. The Princeps may give fancy speeches about progress, but progress meant the aurochs I was hunting got hit by a damned power-wagon. The wagon got the worse of it, but the aurochs was still dead when I got there."
Her grip tightened on the glass's stem before she drained it in one swing. "The lordling who wrecked his wagon even had the nerve to claim hunter's rights on the auroch's corpse, so not even a trophy to be returned. I wanted to put an arrow through that smug little shit's neck." She stared at the bottom of her glass. "That was nice, but maybe too fancy for my feeling right now. Just a plain lemon whiskey."
The tender frowned as she mixed the lemon juice in. "You'd better pace yourself. Don't want to drag you into the back room before the sun sets."
"Don't worry, I'm meeting someone." Kyris turned at the sound of boots coming up the stairs. "And there she is." The ranger pointed her empty glass at the armored woman at the landing. "Lily. Come drink with me."
The guardswoman gave the tender a glance before sitting next to Kyris and removing her sidecap. "A rum-licker punch. Could use something sweet to counteract all the sour."
The tender nodded. Orange, strawberry, lemon, and sugar were mixed into a tall glass of rum before being garnished with a small chunk of licorice. The tender gestured towards the open doorway. "The rooftop is reserved later today, but you girls are more than welcome to drink outside before the crowd shows up. I'll keep the booze flowing."
Kyris frowned as she stepped outside. The dim sun of Fourth Season didn't do much to warm the terrace, but the rooftop hearth was happily sending smoke into the sky, nestled between two spinning power-shafts. The two women sat on cushions facing the hearth, the crackle of the fire and the grinding of the power-shaft networks filling the quiet between them.
Lily started. "I'm just not sure if there's much of a career anymore being a ranger, Kyris. The wilds are tamed. Progress is what it is."
The ranger stared into the flames sullenly, her glass emptied. "I'm using my great grandmother's bow, you know. Eight generations of Fal'cene hunters and foresters. I'm just supposed to let that go, dust in the wind, all those other cliches?" She pulled her knees up to her chest. "Once the sun sets there'll be a crowd of drunken fools here oohing and aahing over nothing but trivialities, comparing whatever flights of fancy are in the latest journals, living their lives floating over the world in a haze of soft comforts. I don't want to be a part of that." The ranger curled her knuckles. "Out in the wilds, when it's just you and a wolf staring at each other? The feeling of a bowstring or a dagger-hilt between your fingers? That's real. Not ponces playing dress-up and talking about journal writers."
The tender approached the hearth at an angle. "I suppose mocking my other clientele is acceptable for the moment, but you don't have to join them." She placed two bright green drinks on the bricks. "Mint and cream liqueur. I've been experimenting, give this one a try."
Lily gave the mixture a taste. "Feels like a morning drink, but mint isn't really one of my flavors."
Kyris had already finished the cocktail. "Some sort of symbolic meaning with the mint? The urge to refresh oneself and begin anew? What a load."
A short laugh. "Something like that, Kyris." The tender picked up the empty glasses. "Or it could just be a simple drink and nothing more."

Purpose / Function

The Radiant End is a rooftop bar in the Etoile Capital City, just south of the main commercial district on the western side of the Grand Canal. Recently opened in 721, it's well known for offering drinkers a spectacular evening view of the sunset over the Feryll Sea from the open-air patio terrace. The drinks are expensive compared to the ordinary cornerside tavern or any working Travailiers pub, but the bar is known for experimenting with new varietals of mixed drinks and liquors and is fashionable amongst younger denizens of the Capital City.
The tender of the bar is a woman who has refused to divulge her name to any of her patrons; to frequent drinkers, she's merely referred to as the tender. This belies her actual status as the owner of the building and an inheritor of a Foremost House; the Radiant End is simply a commercial venture that she personally manages and oversees as a hobby. While many patrons have otherwise encountered her and would recognize her in other circumstances, when wearing the black-and-white garb of a noble's servantry, she has managed to maintain her anonymity.

Architecture

The building the Radiant End sits atop is a standard Capital City building, part of the original master plan when the City was initially constructed from white stone and roofed with red tile. The Radiant End itself is a wood frame built over the rooftop staircase of the original building, a stucco construction with fashionably exposed studs and latticework. The bar covers about a third of the roof with the rest given over to the open-air terrace; while the rooftop power-shafts are still spinning in place, small wooden bridges have been built to allow people to safely step over the power lines. As most buildings in the Capital are built to the same height, a small amount of privacy is established with copious amounts of ivy hanging from the terrace perimeter, with a gap in the ivy to expose the sunset.
The bar itself, while not unknown, is not obviously present to pedestrians on the street; no signage advertises the Radiant End's presence. Visitors must enter the building's lobby and travel up the central staircase, then walk down the top floor's hallway and climb the maintenance stair in order to enter the bar proper.

History

The Radiant End opened silently and without fanfare in the Third Season of 722, with the tender inviting some of her friends over to have a few drinks. Word spread quickly, with a breathless profile of the bar appearing in the Etoile Monitor before the end of the season. This resulted in heavy crowding for about a year before the Radiant End settled on its clientele; the cost of a night of drinking at the End limits the span of people who can drink there regularly. Since then, the bar has become a neighborhood fixture, with a regular crowd of younger Etoilean professionals arriving after work to drink whatever specialties the tender has mixed for the evening.

Founding Date

722

Alternative Names

The Skybar

Parent Location

Etoile Capital City

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The tender posts her mix recipes each day on a chalkboard behind the bar. Some notable recipes:
Whiskey Chamomile - 3 pts Whiskey, 0.5 pts Chamomile Tea Essence, 1pt Sherry, dash of crushed nutmeg and lemon bitters
Rum-Licker Punch - Assorted fresh citrus fruit squeezes to taste, with 4pt East Saibh Rum and licorice to garnish
The Green Cricket - 2pt fermented cream liqueur, 1 pt sugar suspension, dash of crushed mint, garnish with whole mint leaf
Hammer - 2pt Whiskey, 1pt lime juice, dash of orange peel bitters, pinch of crystalline salt