Into That Wild Blue Yonder

9. All the Essentials

Colm packed up his things the moment he returned from lunch at the tavern. Idara said it would probably be a few days until they heard anything, but if he didn't need his gear, he wanted it to be ready quickly. Delaying the inevitable only made it hurt more.

Idara also decided she didn't want Colm drinking alone anymore, so Colm hadn't had a drop to drink in three days. The last time he spent this long sober was at the monastery. He had never prepared himself for the challenge of finding ways to stay occupied sober, and every waking moment, he just wanted to pour beer straight down his throat. He stretched, meditated, and reviewed his bag over and over again until it was a mindless set of tasks.

Colm's only bag had his armor, clothes, and small tools for different jobs. Even his sling bag fit into the larger suitcase with space to spare. He had never really thought about how little he owned before. Ulan said he would help Colm buy nicer clothes over time so he wouldn't have to overstuff his bags with his entire two outfits.

They all met at the tavern each day in the early afternoon to go over anything new, though there wasn't anything yet. Colm still didn't want to face Abelard or Moira and hadn't gone back at night. He didn't know what to tell them. Idara had gone back to talk to Moira each night, probably trying to finesse a few more attempts at her before heading off.

With nothing else to do, Colm decided to head over to the tavern and eat lunch ahead of schedule. He had to meet Ulan and Idara in a little over an hour, but if he already ate, he could head out early and come back to his apartment. He had taken a liking to stretching out more and getting little exercises in to distract himself and preferred doing that in his relatively empty unit.

Colm learned his lesson from the other day and stuck to the more low-key paths to get to his usual locations to avoid being followed. Without Jerry as his employer, any protections he may have unknowingly enjoyed before were definitely gone, and it was anyone's guess who may come after him. Anyone from a street thug to the cops could come for him.

He made his way to the tavern and snuck in through a door in the back to stay out of sight. No one inside noticed him as he snaked through the room to his usual seat at the end of the bar by the wall. The daytime server recognized him by now and nodded to him as he wordlessly sent Colm's order to the kitchen.

When his food came, Colm took his time to enjoy it and really take a good look at the tavern he had been coming to for so long. The soft lighting on dark hardwood furniture had always helped him relax after even the most difficult jobs. The black granite bar gave him a nice, cool surface to lean on when he was tired. His chair squished in just enough to keep him up but comfortable. He never really appreciated it before.

He wasn't going to come here nearly as often, now. Idara planned on taking him all over the Freelands for this little adventure of hers and Ulan's, probably to places that would be more trouble than they were worth. Colm hadn't left Joustbergh since he arrived and never planned to before. The idea of walking all over the continent put a pit in his stomach.

Colm set his mind aside and enjoyed his food while waiting for his new employers to show up. He looked over the daytime tavern-goers while he waited. They were clearly a different sort of crowd from what he was used to, just here to eat good food and then head back to work for the day. No trouble, no boisterous attempts at gaining validation from others. Colm actually preferred it over the night crowd.

When Idara and Ulan arrived, Colm felt his heart hold for a moment when he saw that they had Moira in tow. They spotted Colm instantly and hailed for him to go to the usual table in the back. He took his time walking over, hoping to make it clear that he didn't intend to stay, but Moira grabbed Colm's arm as he approached and dragged him to a seat.