Tsaimath
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Chapter 418
🕑 Added 2021-04-19 16:00:08 +0000 UTCFor a moment, I exchanged looks with the others, not sure if I wanted to enter the inn, even on recommendation from Olivia. Curiously, only Adra seemed to be bothered by the sign, making me wonder if the other two had looked closely enough or were simply following along. After the two of us exchanged a shrug, we followed Rai into the inn, as he had simply gone ahead.
“This might be interesting.” I muttered, mostly to Sigmir, as I went in, with Sigmir following behind me. My mind had conjured up quite a few images when seeing the sign but none of them came even close to the inside of the tavern. Instead of images of decadence or frivolous promiscuity, the inn was almost disappointingly normal.
The main-room, spanning what appeared to be most of the building, was open, clean and currently mostly void of customers, with long tables providing places to sit and eat. Near the entrance was an obvious reception, currently unoccupied, with Olivia leaning against it, looking a little impatient and ringing a small bell. Just as I was about to ask, a door behind the reception-desk opened and a figure stepped out.
Contrary to my original impression of a disappointingly normal tap-room, the figure was anything but ordinary, reminding me that I was a stranger in a strange place. The first thing I noticed was a pair of curved horns, glistening as the light reflected off them, the tips gilded in gold. A closer look at those tips made me wonder if my eyes were going bad or if the sign-board outside had made my mind go weird, part of me was certain that the gold decorations were modeled after a certain part of the male anatomy.
Pulling my eyes away from the strange horn-decorations, I took in the stranger’s face and found it oddly handsome, an experience that I hadn’t felt before. There was something inviting in the symmetry of the man's features, even the oiled goatee, something that I’d normally view with disdain just seemed to fit. The wide, inviting smile with which he greeted Olivia, before taking the rest of us in, helped to set a part of my mind at ease, even as a different part of my mind was screaming with vigilance.
“Ah, welcome, welcome, Olivia, wasn’t it? I remember you, always a pleasure.” he gave her a light bow, reaching across the table and clasping her hands for a moment before he fully focused on us.
“And who are these people? Welcome, I don’t think you’ve been here before, be welcome in this humble establishment.” he greeted us, seemingly without ever taking a moment to breathe, or give anyone the chance to get a word in.
“Fillippos, it is good to be here again. These are some friends I met on the road and guided here, in hopes that we all can rest our weary feet for a day or five.” Olivia responded, similarly enthusiastic but without the boundless exuberance the other being was radiating. It might have been just in my mind, but I felt as if there were bells ringing as he moved, with a gentle, easy-going manner that made me think of a spring-breeze. It was exceedingly weird.
“Allow me to introduce you around. Friends, this is Fillippos, the Satyr, one of the two proprietors of this establishment.” Olivia told us, a wide smile on her face.
“And Fillippos, these two are Rai and Adra.” she gestured to the pair that had moved a little to the side to allow Sigmir and me to enter, before gesturing to us.
“And these are Morgana, her spirit-companion Lenore and Sigmir, with her spirit-companion Ylva.” she finished, before adding in a stage-whisper, gesturing at me. “This one is quite special, she might be the one who travelled furthest to reach your establishment, far enough to be called a Traveller.”
“Welcome, again.” he repeated his greeting towards us, before focusing back on Olivia, “Alas, I’m afraid you are wrong, she is not the first Traveller visiting this humble establishment.” he told her, before giving me a wide, inviting smile, “Nevertheless, you are most welcome, dear girl.”
Before I could react, Sigmir stepped forward, just a bit, partially shielding me behind her back. That merely caused the Satyr to favour her with that smile, causing me to growl in irritation. Before I could do more than growl, the smile on his face changed for a moment, the invitation fading, the smile turning innocent.
“Two blessed souls, joined together. Rejoice, rejoice.” he exclaimed, almost shouting in joy as he leapt up and did a backflip. In that brief, air-borne moment, I was able to ascertain that he, indeed, didn’t need boots, instead his feet were hooves. It took me a moment to realise that I had seen one like him before, almost a year ago, in fact. Praxi, the leatherworker in Neyto, had been of the same race. He, too, had been a little weird. Rather, make that a lot.
As he landed, he turned away from Sigmir and me, instead focusing on Adra and Rai.
“And such a scrumptious lad, makes up for the tree-hugger next to you.” he grinned, his smile changing back to the open invitation again, only that I had a feeling that there was something predatory lurking in that smile. As I looked at Adra for a moment, I could see that her smile was rather stiff, her brows creased into a frown.
Before any of us could retort, the door behind the Satyr opened again and I managed to catch a glimpse of the kitchen it led to. That glimpse was only through the upper part of the door, the lower part was entirely blocked by the wide being walking out, a dwarf by every sign I could think of. Barely as tall as I was but almost as wide as he was tall, dark hair covering his head while a close-cropped beard of the same colour covered much of his face. Maybe to make up for his lack of height, he was wearing a rather high, white chef’s hat, matching the apron that covered his body. The apron might have been a bedsheet in an earlier life, the size would certainly have been enough.
“What are you shouting about?!” the dwarf grumbled, glaring at the still giddy satyr, sounding so very like a rockslide that I wanted to check the nearby slopes.
“Oh, honey-bear, we have guests.” the Satyr told the dwarf in a gushy voice, the smile on his face even wider than earlier. Just hearing the massive, muscular dwarf that looked like someone had carved him from granite getting called ‘honey-bear’ made me mentally stop, especially when the Satyr reached out and gently started to caress his neck. There was a strange incongruity in my mind, especially when the dwarf returned the Satyr’s smile.
I felt my mind boot up again when Sigmir reached out and started to gently play with one of my ears, tickling me just a little to help me relax.
“Mrm, isn’t that Olivia? Welcome back, how many rooms do you want?” he asked, after giving the Satyr a resounding slap on the backside, making him hop again.
While Olivia answered the dwarf, I looked over to Adra and Rai, noticing that Rai’s mouth was gaping open, just a little, his face locked in an almost comical expression of surprise and disbelief. It made me feel a little better about my mental blank earlier, at least I had managed to keep my face relatively unexpressive.
As I looked over, I managed to pick up Adra’s voice as she whispered to Rai. “Watch out, if you keep your mouth hanging open like that, the goatfucker might fill it and teach you how to play his flute.” she snarked, before leaning a little closer to Rai, likely adding an explanation, causing his mouth to close with a snap and his cheeks to blush fire-red.
But her behaviour made me feel a little strange, normally Adra was pleasant and sociable, allowing her to effectively communicate with everyone we had met so far. But now, when seeing this polite and welcoming Satyr, she was outright rude and insulting, if only when speaking softly to Rai. It didn’t seem to fit with her usual behavior.
Before I had a chance to think about my next step, Olivia told us that she would invite us to Dinner and even pay for two double-rooms, so we could sleep off the after-effects of our dinner, later in the evening.
It seemed like the polite thing would be to accept, especially as the Inn seemed to be quite excellent, if one could look past the strange interaction between Adra and Fillippos. After a moment of consideration, I accepted with a nod, receiving two large, brass keys from the dwarven inn-keeper, complete with wooden tags that had a room-number written on them.
After thanking the innkeeper-pair and asking where the rooms were, we all followed Olivia, who had a key on her own, up a set of stairs I hadn’t seen in the back of the room. Somehow, my steps felt a little lighter than they had before entering the inn.
