Even Nobility Can Be Shook Up|Aegestrom, Maelstrom

[Kender Bard]

Gareth still enjoyed his regular walks through Maelstrom with his loyal companion, Scylla. However, he took them a bit less frequently than he used to, saddled with work and often being accosted in the street in order for someone to put a word in the royal adviser's ear.

This was not quite the same as those walks however. He strode briskly, shoulders hunched and head down. Scylla darted between feet behind him--he'd tried to keep her at home but she had craftily gotten out of the closed room. He was aware of her presence but didn't bother to stop and take her back. Instead he made a beeline for the first tavern he could find and marched himself up to the bar. Leaning against it, he said in a slightly rough voice, "Your strongest. Whatever it is."

[Darastrix]

Maple took in Gareth's tense posture and took a glass bottle with a snowflake etched into the body from the shelf behind her, and a small glass from beneath the counter. She filled the glass with a clear liquid from the bottle and set it in front of the man.

"Icewater," she told him, "from Khelek by way of Ilyamen." She doubted he really cared where it had come from, but she'd found it was a good way of warning a customer of the cost without having to outright say that something was expensive and by extension, imply that a customer couldn't afford it.

The Storms, she'd found, were a bit more touchy about such things than her fellow Winds in Talen'sul. Especially when it came being told by a woman. Maelstrom had come a long way from what she had heard of the place before the unification, but old traditions died hard.

[Kender Bard]

Gareth knew he'd be able to afford it--he wasn't the 'poor noble' he had been once. Shadow paid well. He grabbed the shot glass and tossed its contents back, swallowing them hard and giving a harsh gasp afterwards. He put the glass down and gestured for another. "To family," he muttered bitterly.

[Darastrix]

"Sounds more like a curse you're making than a toast," she said as she poured him another. "Troubles at home?"

[Kender Bard]

"Soon to be troubles," Gareth murmured as he tossed the second drink back. He didn't immediately ask for another, but he did eye the bottle as though he was thinking about it. Scylla reached up and dug her claws into Gareth's leg. He winced and picked her up, putting her on his shoulder so she'd stop bothering him. "Brother says he wants to meet me. Bastard betrayed his family and country though."

[Darastrix]

"Nothing says you have to meet him," Maple pointed out. She didn't bat an eye at Scylla's appearance. She'd seen enough Storms with their little lizards to no be surprised when they came into her tavern. It was reassuring, in a way. The shocker lizards wouldn't put up with their human companions if they were the bad sort.

She poured Gareth another. "Just because someone's related to you doesn't mean you owe them the time of day if they're the bad sort of person."

[Kender Bard]

Gareth blew out a sigh. "I know," he grunted. "But it's tempting. Says he knows something important. Bout our father.... Cept Father died. But the letter kept talking about him like he was still alive. I gotta admit, I'm curious. Just don't like the idea of meeting with him. Said he won't tell me over letters though." He only sipped at his third, grimacing.

[Darastrix]

Brother probably wants something from him, she thought. Money, most like. That was usually the reason a family's black sheep came calling, so they could lay it on thick in person.

"You figure he's going to try to fleece you?" Maple asked, resting her elbows on the bar. It wasn't busy at the moment, and there were worse ways to pass the time. It would be nice if someone came to the tavern for a drink and started to talk about something happy for a change, though.

[Kender Bard]

Gareth frowned down at his shot glass at that. "Didn't even consider it," Gareth laughed quietly. "I'm not used to having money again. Well. At least I'm not always thinking about it... As far as he knows, I'm still poor as dirt, unless news of my, ah, promotion made it all the way to Ekaitz. I'm more afraid he's going to try to drag me into that filthy country."

[Darastrix]

Ah, Maple thought. So his brother's that kind of traitor.

"Well, since you clearly don't want to go, not much danger of that, is there?" she asked.

[Kender Bard]

"If my father's alive, I'd like to know," Gareth replied quietly, scratching at his chin as he did. "So really my choices are that I don't go, and I'm left to wonder for possibly the rest of my life... Or I do go and either get what I want or get double crossed somehow. I mean, even if he doesn't persuade me to join him in Ekaitz, he might do something bad. Dunno what... Well I do, but I don't want to consider my own brother would try anything... brutish."

[Darastrix]

"He joined a bunch of others who'll take any other elemental as a slave," Maple stated. "That says a lot about what he's willing to do right there." She pulled a cloth from her apron and started to wipe the counter down. "Take someone with you if you want to meet him. Or have him meet you someplace public."

[Kender Bard]

"Hmm, good idea," Gareth murmured as he slid a good handful coins out of his money pouch and laid them down on the counter. "Keep the change, aye? I have to go find a friend. Thanks for listening, by the way."

[Darastrix]

Barkeeps are a captive audience, Maple thought with a mild sense of amusement.

"Doesn't cost me anything to listen," she replied. "I hope things turn out all right."