Private Tales To Tor'Rahel

[Zathria At'Arel]

She supposed she couldn't blame him for not knowing that you chewed it instead of eating it. Although you could get darb root on the surface, it wasn't nearly as common or popular as it had been among the military units she served with below.

Zathria walked into the tavern and tossed coin down at the bar for her and Ispir.

I'll have a bowl of stew, bread, and whatever he wants, she said, shoving a thumb toward Ispir.

The room smelled strongly of pipesmoke and ale and a group of people - one smoking a pipe - sat huddled at a table across the room. Something about them triggered something inside Zathria that she couldn't put a finger on, leaning against the bar in such a way that she could keep an eye on them. They looked... conspiratorial. She couldn't tell what exactly it was, but she didn't like it. She had absolutely no proof of anything either.

But for the moment, she waited for her stew and said nothing directly to Ispir for the moment.

I hope you like mushrooms and bat wings because it smells like that's the stew today, she said.

Ispir Sione

 

[Ispir Sione]

As Ispir followed Zathria At'Arel to the bar he had already begun fishing his own coin pouch from his hip when Zathria spoke up, wanting to pay for him, and he would blink in genuine surprise up at her.

"O-Oh! Ummm actually...."

Holding up some coin of his own Ispir would smile and nod toward the bar.

"If you accept gold in the Underrealm I was actually going to buy your food Miss Zathria. As thanks for helping me find Ria."

He would close his hand around the gold and give a shrug at the mention of mushroom and bat wing stew.

"It just seemed like the polite thing to do, anyways."

Despite his attempt at casual demeanor he would fidget just a bit on his feet as his free hand not holding his coin tugged fitfully at Ria's cloak. Pearly teeth tugging at his lip for a moment before he glanced back up at her.

"Are you sure I can't convince you to let me be the one to treat you?"​

 

[Zathria At'Arel]

Zathria's fingers fidgeted slightly as she stood there, clearly more distracted now than she had been before.

Sure, go for it. Thank you, she said as she watched the trio of men rise from their table and head out of the bar. If he watched, Ispir would be able to tell that her eyes followed the trio as they left, but she didn't say anything about it as the bowls of stew were pushed across the counter toward them.

She scooped a bite of stew up, strong in spices it covered up some of the less savory flavors. This wasn't a high end establishment, after all, but it got the job done and it was... homey in a way. It brought comforting feeling to her as she scooped up bite after bite.

Wasn't sure you'd have money people would take down here, she said, motioning with her spoon toward his coin pouch.

But gold's good everywhere, she said.

Ispir Sione

 

[Ispir Sione]

Ispir would deposit his gold onto the bar and smile at the barkeep who did not return the expression. Merely sliding the stew to the two of them as he watched Ispir warily. For a moment Ispir hesitated, staring down at the literal batwings in his stew, before deciding it would be rude to pluck them out so he scoot his seat closer to Zathria At'Arel and cradled his bowl in his grasp. Blinking up at her when she expressed her surprise over his money.

"Oh! I'm actually a pretty uhh.... successful Bard, I guess? People are usually very nice and tip me well."

Ispir hesitated before taking his first bite of everything but bat wing and found it.... okay. He nearly coughed at the glut of spices and cleared his throat while his mouth was still full of stew, swallowing it down with a bit of effort and gave a small cough. He had eaten a LOT of unique foods in his life so it was pretty easy to tell the spice was just covering up otherwise bland taste by overcompensating. All in all he had definitely had worse and this was EDIBLE but he got the distinct feeling that if he ate this regularly he wouldn't be able to enjoy more mellow foods from how oversaturated his taste buds would be.

Shaking his head and looking up at Zathria he settled on very small spoonfuls to limit the amount of spice assaulting his tongue at once he would ask.

"So.... if you don't mind Miss Zathria. May I ask about yourself? It's very kind of you to escort me how you are. You look dangerous and umm...."

He would shift in his chair a bit, thinking of how to be diplomatic about what he wanted to say.

".... refined. Are you a knight of some sort?"​