Into the Wilds

Chapter One

          Josie was an older woman who Deja heard claim had once been beautiful. Time had since ravaged her once delicate, fae like features. With her pale, paper thin skin and thin figure, she looked more skeletal than fairy. If she were honest, Deja wasn't sure how she managed to heft the heavy trays around the way she did.

          "Well, off with you girl, them dishes won't do themselves," Josie insisted before hurrying off to serve the rowdy crowd of miners looking to let off a little steam after spending a night in the mines.

          Deja sighed, shoulders slumping forward as she made her way slowly towards the double doors leading into the kitchen. She paused at the bar where a lone man sat hunched protectively over a large wooden mug.

          "Mornin' Eon," Deja said, noting the man's disheveled clothing looked even more unkempt than usual. Though his dark skin made it difficult, she swore she could see a bruise blossoming outwards across his stubbled cheek. "You get in a fight?"

          The man merely offered a grunt in response before taking a long pull from his mug. He set it down with a heavy thud and after a moment glanced towards her.

          "Don't you worry none about old Eon," he said, offering her a toothy grin. From this new angle there was no doubt in her mind that he had gotten into some sort of scuffle. With who was the real question. There were few men in the lower district that came close to Eon in size and fewer still who could move the way he did despite the bulk. That anyone managed to give him that shiner was in and of itself a miracle.

           "What did mama tell you about gettin' into fights?" Deja asked, placing her hands on her hips in much the same fashion as her mother did when she decided it was time for a lecture.

          "She said, 'Eon, don't you dare be bringin' no fights into my cafe or you'll have to find another place to drink till you can't stand straight, and sleep it off afterwards'," Eon replied in a high pitched voice Deja presumed was meant to mimic her mother. It made it hard to keep a straight, serious face when he did things like that. "Which I didn't. This happened up the street a ways. You know I don't want to bring your mama any trouble. She's been too good to me."

          Deja sighed and shook her head. "You eat anything or are you on a liquid diet now?"

          "I'm fine," he replied before jabbing his thumb over his shoulder, "but you best be going about your own work before Josie gets a hold of you."

          Deja looked over to see Josie, tray empty, approaching the bar with a scowl carved into her bony face.

          "Right, I best be getting to those dishes," Deja replied, "See you later, Eon!"

          "I'll distract her," Eon called after her as she ducked beneath the bar.

          "Mornin' Josie," she heard Eon call as she dashed through the doors into the kitchen.

          Deja was up to her elbows in hot, soapy water when she heard the door swing open. Assuming it was Josie come to check on her progress, Deja began to scrub with more vigor at the plate she held in her hands.

          "You've barely put a dent in the pile. You're hopeless."

          "Well if you're so great, why don't you do it?" Deja asked, grinning as she turned to see her best friend Abraham leaning casually against the counter. He smiled and pushed away from the counter.

          "Move over, shorty," he said, rolling up his sleeves. "Let the master show you how it's done."

          Deja made a face. "You grow a few inches and all of a sudden I'm shorty," she replied. In truth, Abraham had grown more than just a few inches. To Deja it seemed as though he had shot up overnight, now towering over her by half a foot where they had once been on near equal footing.