Scorched

13

The entire table is dead silent — except for the raucous noise in the packed room of The Cross tavern. Everyone wanted to go to The Lattice since it is the most popular tavern in the Village, and served better refreshments, but Mira refused. She will not sit in the same tavern her brother resided, not after what happened.

They all seemed to understand and that brought them to The Cross. After the intense brawl, Mira immediately sought to looking for Kaleb and found him in the same place she left him in— beneath the tree. He mentioned that him and the team finished their searches and still had time to spare for drinks for a little while before they had to head back to Court.

Mira is a tiny bit intruiged about what these searches were about. But she also didn't care and just wanted to see him again.

Mira takes a small sip of her rum and gently swallows down the cool liquid, reminiscing in the way it cooled her throat and body from the overly-packed and stuffed room. She so badly wants to chug down the entire drink, but she knows it'll lead her to being the  unattractive drunkard and act like the complete opposite person that she actually is, and that is the extremely discourteous repellent person.

She quickly skims the table to Zalaena reading a book she found on the wooden bench when they arrived and Mira is still trying to figure out how one can read a book by turning to the next page every two seconds. But that is something Zalaena does when everyone else is awkward and quiet. She keeps to herself and never involves herself in such situations. It's always been something admirable about her.

Next to Zalaena —Adelaide is neatly propped on her hand, gazing dreamily across from them, at the too handsome Kaleb sitting beside her.

Kaleb is looking intently down into his drink as if he were wishing it could somehow lift out of the ale jug, his hair locks falling over his forehead into his eyes. Mira has been wanting to ask why he was so quiet since they entered the tavern, and why he was so hooked into his thoughts. But she found it mean to disrupt him and his rumination.

She is also all too aware of the rest of the guards sprawled around throughout the room having drinks themselves, and when their duty times are officially over  would they return back to Court, but Mira is pretty sure that they were only waiting for Kaleb to initiate the call for them to leave.

It wasn't hard to pick out who they were except for their uniforms — most people has stopped their drinking to gawk at the random men; which Mira instantly knew had to be the guards, concluding by the way they were staring at them. Some women were even around touching and trying  to seduce them and some men tried touching their swords but that only led to the drunkards running down the hall for their lives in fear of getting cut up into two pieces.

She has also noticed the fair amount of people watching them; well Kaleb for that matter. It isn't everyday when guards are sent here for work and go to the local inns for a bout. So as soon as Kaleb and the rest of his guards stepped into the inn, the room has been more busy with looking and being all busy in their business.

Mira sighs again. It is clear how exhausted all of them were. Even though the game wasn't that long and they didn't even take part in it; it was still exhausting to go and watch it, dedicating all your attention to the brawling. But Mira was happy with the results nonetheless. The one she bet on won— which  left Adelaide crying out too loud, and Zalaena not giving a single damn about who won or lost.

She even scanned the arena in hopes of seeing Jezio. But her assumptions were correct. He hasn't pitched up at all.

Just as she was about to take another sip of her ale did Adelaide; still in her dreamy stance, pipe up; "So Kaleb right?"