World Of Mirume: Flaresca

chapter 17

We had now made it back to the place which we would, for the moment, call our home. We were back at the village of Highlore, where we would be reunited with our friend, lightning mage and of course, snack provider, Tazor.

He was resting and recovering well, at the village inn. But once we had arrived there, I had a very uneasy feeling in my gut, as we would, of course, have to explain to him that the very person he'd had a terrible and violent battle with, as well as the same person who had attempted to mortally wound Tazor's significant other, Mirume, was now a part of our team.

I knew that he wasn't exactly going to be all too thrilled about this news. But I braced myself for whatever reaction we might receive from him.

The two typical guards at the door of the building greeted is formally and invited us into the inn. The four of us, being myself, Mirume, Jesse and the new (and rather controversial) friend of ours, made our way into the place while the baby dragon, Veyhuar, was reunited with her dragon companion deadclaw, on the outside.

Upon the sight of us, Tazor waved excitedly, then gestured for us to come sit with him where he was, laying comfortable in a soft bed. We came over right away, gathering chairs for ourselves to sit in.

"I missed you guys. And I missed the adventure!" He said, practically whining. "And it kinda sucked knowing that I wouldn't be able to be there to complete our first mission to gather materials for our shops."

"Hey, don't worry about it." Mirume said, in an attempt to comfort Tazor a bit. "you were still, very much a big part of that mission, which, by the way, was a success."

"Well that's great to hear!" Tazor said in a celebratory tone of voice. "But next time, I'm going to be there for the whole nine yards and then some! Hey, wait... who's that guy over there?" Tazor asked curiously as he didn't recognize the features of Tae without his ninja mask.

"Uhh, right." Mirume started to say, with a rather nervous and uncomfortable smile as he scratched the back of his head. This, earning a weird look of suspicion from his significant other. "So uh, funny thing. Remember the guy who tried to attack us when we were in the forest of thieves?"

Tazor's face was now quite grim and dark. "You mean the one that tried to hurt you, Mirume." His voice was stained with plenty emotion, to match the expression on his face.

"Uhh yeah... that's the one." Mirume admitted, looking very uneasy right now. "Well, Jesse here, not I, decided that it would be a good idea to recruit the person as a party member."

Tazor now turned his eyes towards Jesse as Tae and I exchanged nearly horrified looks. "Jesse, why don't you explain your actions." Tazor said, trying to find a measure of patience within himself.

"Sure, I wouldn't mind doing that, big guy." Jesse said quite casually and much without shame. "I'll make it pretty simple and clear. He may have attacked us, but that doesn't reveal the nature of his character in any way, form or fashion. We don't know him. For all that we do know, he could very well, be just like the rest of us. Only, he doesn't have any of his own friends so he has had to find his own way to get by."

Tazor's face reluctantly softened up as I'm sure he had tried to maintain his emotions but instead, lost grip of them. He understood all to well, the point that Jesse was trying to make.

Tazor now looked directly at Tae, with a less than merciful glare. "Okay then, fine." He said in a forced out and rough voice. "Here is where I stand on the subject. I'll allow you to travel with us. But I have no reason to give you my trust yet or any time in the near future. And if you ever try to do any harm to Mirume again, or to any of my friends, for that matter, then killing you would be a mercy, compared to what I'd do. And trust me, I would never be so forgiving as to show you such mercy."

My heart stopped just from hearing that threat and I gulped as I waited for Tae to respond.

"That...is understood." He said, clearly intimidated. "And I do apologize for my previous actions. I assure you that my mistakes shall not be repeated."

"Oh, I know they won't." Tazor said, in a threateningly yet almost gleeful tone. "I wouldn't allow them to."

"Alright, that's enough out of the two of you." Jesse said, intervening. "It's time we get to bed. It's gonna be another big day tomorrow."

The rest of us agreed and from that point on, we all prepared ourselves for bed at the inn.