The bath continued and concluded in silence. It was a deeply awkward experience for me. When I usually went through dungeons, simulated or otherwise, my party and I would usually have some sort of banter. I'd even chit-chat with others, even strangers. But Adhara and I sat in complete silence, nothing but the soft dripping of water and the slight hiss of steam.
Thankfully, eventually the silence was broken by an attendant telling us our time was up. We dried and dressed, still in silence. I'm not sure why, but I was feeling intimidated by the Bastetian, and my usual sarcastic wit decided to stay hidden.
We left together and found Noah waiting for us.
"You ladies are looking lovely today!" He said far too chirpily.
"Piss off, Noah," Adhara growled at him, her tail whipping side to side as she said it.
I decided to just ignore him.
"Well, that was all we had planned together today, and quite frankly, I want to get some lunch. I am hungry, a little sore, and all offense intended, I would like time away from you two." I said, grumpily as my stomach loudly informed me of its empty status.
"Aww, you don't like us or something?" Noah said with feigned injured pride.
"I like food more, and you are far too high-energy, Noah," I replied, not impressed.
"Well, I want to thank you for the training today, anyway." He stepped forward, shook my hand, and pulled me in for a pat on the back.
As he did, though, he whispered into my ear.
"We'll keep in touch if we need your help on this investigation. And trust me, Marchesi. We will."
He didn't say it like a threat, more like a promise. I didn't like it.
"Of course you will. For better or worse, I'm your babysitter while you're here. Just...check in regularly, Scarletti." I sighed, gently pushed him away from me, and turned and left.
As I stepped into the late morning air, the brightness of the sun hurting my eyes slightly, I sneezed. A loud sneeze that echoed off the walls of the surrounding buildings.
"Blessings!" A voice called from somewhere.
"Thank you!" I called back, ever so slightly embarrassed.
I hadn't been one to suffer much from hay fever before, but whatever was blooming in the city, was wreaking havoc on my sinuses. I wiped the snot threatening to flee from my nostrils and made a mental note to see if I knew anyone who could give me some kind of medicine for it.
I heard a rustle from the trees nearby, and I nearly jumped out of my skin, but I couldn't see anything that could have caused it. Damn knights, damn conspiracies, damn everything else, I was feeling jumpy today. Now I was jumping at what was likely an animal in the bushes, like it was an assassin.
I shook my head, blew my nose again into a handkerchief, and left, on the prowl for some food.
-
The further away from campus I got, the better I started to feel. I had resorted to grabbing some street food, which was the best combination of cheap and delicious, and got around to planning the rest of my day. I wanted to meet up with Eira for kisses and to catch up, but I also had a meeting with Farina that evening.
Part of me wanted to track down Myth to see if we could patch things up, but at the same time, I felt like the hurt was still too fresh. It had been less than a full day after all.
Why were friendships so hard?
Were we even friends, though? Or just close colleagues. I know I had definitely moved past my disregard of my roommates and allies as tools or resources. Enough time and near-death experiences knock that sort of noble-born attitude right out of you.
I'd like to think of them as friends. Smitty was kind and strong. Myth was flighty but knowledgeable about magic. Cori was clever and the right kind of devious. I'd even begrudgingly admit that I was starting to consider Mariana part of the grouping, all bitterness and scathing cattiness aside.
I worried that this entire deal I made would destroy that. I didn't want to go back to being friendless again. I wanted to make this right, somehow.
Too many heavy thoughts, not enough food in my face. I took a big bite of whatever it was I grabbed, spiced meat in a soft bread thing, and hummed with delight at the refreshing taste.
I walked without any real destination in mind as I let my thoughts stew, and my taste buds enjoy my repast. I decided to sit for a moment and enjoy my meal, when I found my attention drawn to the sound of a nearby conversation.
"Did you hear? Alisandrica's boy went missing the other day. Heard he went foraging for some mushrooms or summat near the park by the Foundry District and never came home. Town guard can't find neither hide nor hair of the lad." My ears perked up at a conversation between two workmen sitting on crates nearby, where I was enjoying my meal.
"Aye. Not the first one, nor the second. The kobold lass who lives near me disappeared, too. Scuttlebutt says it's been happening all over Revenstahd lately. You don't think it's one of them, what did that clever Balance feller call it...serial killers, do yah?" The other said, in hushed tones.
"Oh gods above, below, and sidewise, that's the last thing we need right now. We got all these knights and mages coming up from whatever arse crack of the world they hide in, the City Lord has us doing all kinds of work on the sewers, which is shite work-"
"Literally at that, eh?"
"Shut it, Tom! And ta top all this off, me hay fever has been a right bastard this year!"
"Aye! Worst I've had it me entire life! Bad omens, friends, bad omens!" The one worker turned and saw me staring.
"Ay! What you want, fire top! Mind yar business!" He shouted at me, and I took that as my cue to leave.
My brain felt like it was teasing at the edge of something, considering everything that the two workman said, plus everything else going on in my life, but I just couldn't get it to connect.
Eventually, I gave up and decided to find Eira so I could take a nap before my Farina meeting.
It was then that I realized that I didn't really have any idea where I was. I wasn't a newcomer to Revenstahd by any stretch of the imagination, but there were still many places I never went, mostly because I had no reason to. Really, when it came down to it, outside the district where the Jeweled Bower was, the Petals District, and the Campus, I didn't really know my way around very well.
I looked for a sign, or some kind of indicator of where I was. Finally, I spotted one, and my nose confirmed the signs information. Alchemic District. Where the bulk of the potion-making industry for the city was. The region, if we're being completely honest.
The entire place smelled like medicine and burnt flowers to me. But then, that was the nature of the craft, I suppose.
I wanted to turn around and try retracing my steps, but I had to admit, I was curious. And I had plenty of time till my meeting, and as much as I wanted a nap and snuggle with Eira, she was probably very busy and didn't need me distracting her. And I do love distracting that woman.
I shook the increasing lewd thoughts out of my brain and wandered the streets, tossing the wrapper from my meal into a waste bin.
As I strolled, I saw various shops and ateliers dedicated to one kind of potion crafting and herbology. There were shops for healing potions, potions for skin care, potions for this, and potions for that. It was a lot to take in, but if there was something that could be brewed up by alchemy, it was here.
Then a little place caught my eye. It claimed to sell teas. It seemed a bit out of place, but after considering it, it did make a certain sense. Some potion components would possibly make a tasty tea. The smell wafting from it smelled heavenly, and the spring chill was starting to settle into my bones.
"The Steep Treat," read the sign on the front in an elegant font. I appreciated the pun.
I opened the door, which jingled musically from a little bell.
"Hello and welcome to the Steep- Oh. Alta. Heeeey." The voice of Myth greeted me.
She was dressed much like she usually did, in a dark green tunic and skirt. This time, however, she also had a pale green, almost mint colored apron over top. Her hair was tied back, showing off her face, which looked brighter and more aware than it usually did.
It was the last place I expected to see her. I didn't even know she had a job, though it shouldn't have surprised me. We all had jobs outside the dungeoneering stuff. We just largely didn't talk about our lives outside that.
Which really hammered into my mind about the tenuousness of our friendship. Problem for later.
"Oh uh...hello, Myth," I said, completely falling at not being awkward as all the hells put together. "I uh...I can leave if you don't want to see me right now. I'd completely understand."
She looked nervous, then thoughtful, and then just sighed.
"No, it's fine. As long as you're here to buy something. You'd be my first customer all day." She grimaced slightly.
"Ok. I can do that. What can you recommend? I admit, I don't know much about tea. Back home, we had all kinds, but I didn't know what they were. I just took what they gave me." I said, moving towards the counter.
"That would explain all the coffee drinking! Ok, let me show you what we've got!" I saw her face light up like I hadn't seen in a very long time, and whatever issues we were having right now seemed to be forgotten as she expounded upon the types of teas, brewing methods, and more. She seemed more in her element than at any time we spent studying magic together or exploring dungeons.
It felt like the first time I had ever seen her, neither wracked by anxiety nor subsumed by the euphoric herbs she smoked. This felt like a different Myth than I had ever met before. I realized that I don't think I ever really knew her.
I ended up taking what she recommended, it's name something I couldn't pronounce and likely wouldn't remember anyway. She asked me to sit while she brewed it for me, and I did so.
She hummed while she worked. She seemed happy. I was so used to her fretting, panicking, or being in a sort of stupor, I realized I had never just seen her happy like this. It was...nice. Unexpected but nice.
After a while, she brought me the cup in a beautifully decorated porcelain, complete with scenes of the deep woods and creatures of lore.
"Care to sit with me, Myth. I think that we should talk a bit." I asked, pointing at the seat across from me. She looked around, a nervous expression on her face. She eventually shrugged.
"Yeah. I don't think I'm getting much business today anyway. And I think you're right. We do need to talk. About...about a lot of things." She took her apron off, walked over to the front door, and flipped the small sign on the front to 'Closed.'
"I'm going to make myself some tea, and then we can start. I have a lot of things to say to you, and I'm not entirely sure how to say them." She said.
"I feel the same. Sorry to take you away from business, slow though it may be. Is your boss going to get mad?" I asked.
"No. The boss is really easy-going and chill. They're like some stupid rich scholar, and they run this place as a hobby, I guess. Either way, I get paid by the hour, so if I don't have to work hard, that's fine by me!" She said with a laugh as she worked behind her counter.
I settled in and breathed in the pungent steam. I wasn't looking forward to the conversation, but the tea was definitely nice.
