Heart's tale

Chapter 7 part 2

Then his gaze focused briefly, and he finally saw Zara.

"This one?!" he shouted in the fat man's ear, so that he fell to the sidewalk.

"Yes! Her! That's her. Fuchi, come quickfly, look!" he shrieked, making monumental efforts to get up.

Zara tensed. Ethel stood in front of her.

"Don't be afraid, I'll take care of it," he said with a shudder, and took a step toward the drunks.

The tall one was staggering toward them. Ethel reached into his pocket, but no sooner had he done anything than Zara came out from behind him, walked quickly up to the tall man and slapped him so hard that he was thrown to the nearest lamppost, knocked to the ground and collapsed on the sidewalk without moving. Then Zara went over and grabbed the fat man by the scruff of the neck, looked him in the face, which made him turn white and seem to sober up instantly, and cracked his face on the stones of the sidewalk. There was a crunch, and the fat man went limp. And the girl, as if nothing had happened, returned to the stunned Ethel, took him by the arm, and led him to the "Thirteenth Moon" tavern at the other end of the square.

When they approached the noisy, like boiling broth, windows of the tavern, the young man recovered a little and looked at Zara in surprise – standing in front of him and adjusting her dress, the girl smiled guiltily.

"Left no crumbs," Ethel could only utter, "I wasn't wrong about the tamer."

He tried to smile, but it came out crookedly, and Zara laughed. He giggled, too, but then suddenly burst out laughing. They could not stop laughing and laughed loudly until their stomachs cramped. Ethel could not stand it and first leaned against the wall and then sat down on the wet stones.

"Oh-ho-ho-ho, how the tension is coming out," he said, wiping tears from his face. "Listen, teach me, will you? I was going to throw a smoke bomb at them, so we could escape, but what you did to them..." he laughed again. "Where did you learn that?"

Zara pointed to the door of the tavern, hiccuping.

"Do you live here?" the young man seemed surprised.

Zara nodded.

"Your parents'?" he asked, taking out his handkerchief and wiping his face.

Zara nodded, but then shook her head.

"You mean not your parents'? Is it yours, then?" Ethel raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Zara smiled, hiccuped, and nodded.

"Well, I never! I now know the owner of the most dissolute establishment in the whole lower tier! No wonder you fight like that."

At these words, a boozy thug stumbled out of the pub, but saw Zara and immediately rushed to retreat.

"Ha!" the young man exclaimed. "What a reaction! I wish the bandits were afraid of me too, I wouldn't have to pay the guards of the theater!"

He stood up, took off his hat and bowed to the girl.

"I'm so pleased to meet you, tamer of oblivion-water lovers!"

Zara laughed and tapped him on the arm with her basket.

"Hey, careful, I give up! Your uppercut might cost me my life!" Ethel put his palms out in front of him.

Zara smiled, hiccuped, walked over to the young man, and after a kiss on his cheek disappeared behind the door of the beer house. He stood staring ahead of him for a while, and then suddenly remembered.

"You didn't tell me your... name," he said into the void, and elated, he walked back down the square with a dancing gait.

When Ethel entered the Theater, it was quiet and empty, and Alladi was already climbing the narrow stone stairs in the east tower of the station. The small windows barely let in the light of the moons, and Al walked almost gropingly, trusting his instincts rather than his eyes. Inside the tower was an elevator that connected all levels of the station and allowed the attendant magisters to move between platforms without merging with the human flow. At the very top, in the observation tower, there was a streak of yellow light under the door, and voices could be heard. Al went to the door and knocked three times, and then, after a pause, two more times. The voices died down, and someone got up from a chair and came to the door.