Chapter #1b: Out and Inn (Cato, Kellan, Pisca)
“No chicken,” Miery responded, then brightened, “but I think we have some leftover roast. Will that do?” She smiled at Cato. “I’ll get somethin’ filling fixed up for ya.” She held up a hand. “Wait here.”
The warmth, smell, and noise of the public room washed over the tired heroes as they stood talking—it was a veritable tidal wave of normality. Old Man Tice, who owned a farm not a mile from Kellan’s parents, held court before a couple of other equally crotchety-looking older men, reminding them how much colder the nights had been in their youth, and how fortunate these younguns were that they didn’t have to experience the biting frost of that kind of ocean breeze, theorizing that today’s less-hardy stock of Sandpointers might die of frostbite right then and there.
His audience nodded sagely, agreeing with every word.
A well-dressed younger couple shared a glass of wine while staring into each other’s eyes as if there was nothing else in the world. A boisterous group of shopworkers added significantly to the din, their stories, insults, and general good humor aided greatly by their obvious inebriation. Maggy, one of the girls from down at the Pixie’s Kitten, her buxom assets well-displayed, circled the group like a lioness, looking to peel one of the lonelier-looking clerks off from the herd.
The threat of ghouls and the depravity of evil seemed far from this place. And wasn’t that worth fighting for?
Not minutes had passed before Miery returned from the kitchen, bearing metal plates heaped with cold cuts of roast, small loaves of dark brown bread, slabs of yellow butter, thick slices of an orangish cheese, and small bunches of purple grapes.
“Here we are,” she informed the group, professionally handing out the three heaping platters as if it hadn’t taken an impressive feat of agility and acrobatics to carry them all from the kitchen. “Anything else, dears? There’s pitchers of cold water in your rooms. You can see Dannin,” she jerked her head toward the Dragon’s bald bartender, “if you want a sip of somethin’ harder.”