Of Golden Thread and Ivory Claws

• Three: Of Fine Wine and Strong Steps •

It took Sten a while to return back to the pub - Bo's wife was reluctant to let him leave without having him stay awhile. He chuckled thinking about the sweet woman he had known as long as Bo himself. It seemed he had done Bo a favor by escorting him home, because although angry at first, she seemed to almost forget her husband at the sight of Sten - the kind brother of her king and successful pub owner.

It didn't bother him to be known as a brother of the king, but he would never be happy being just the brother of a king. That is why people knew him as more, because he made it so. This made him smile, remembering his third niece. She was his favorite niece, as she reminded him of himself. He loved all of his nieces, but the other two were more complaisant and less driven to do for themselves.

Sif was a special girl, kind and strong. She was almost boyish in the way she fought and acted, but she appeared undoubtedly feminine. He was reluctant to let any man lay claim to her. Unlike her father, he was very skeptical of such things and unlike his brother, he thought there were very few men who deserved her or would be understanding of her ambitions. Most men would try to smother her with authority, and that would make her miserable. Sten shook his head, not wanting to worry about things that were not as much of a concern currently. She had time, he wasn't sure how much, but he would help her prolong this period of peace as much as possible.

Pushing the pub door open, he looked around to see if the girl in question was still in the tavern area. He didn't see her, but he was surprised to see a cup still sitting upon the table Bo was sitting at before. Walking over to it, he looked around, but no other cups were left in sight. Brows drawing together, he picked it up and looked inside. Sure enough, it was empty.

Puzzled, he turned and walked towards the bar. Behind the counter, two other empty mugs sat. His expression turned into an all-out frown. This was very unlike his niece to just leave these here. When she cleaned up, it was always spotless. Unless-

Footsteps tapped unevenly down the hall behind the cracked wooden door leading to the kitchen. She wasn't! A surprised laugh threatened to explode from his quickly growing grin.

Sifrina pushed open the door with a great shove and nearly toppled over along with her freshly fetched drinks. She had two in each hand, which made him raise his eyebrows. The girl had already finished off three mugs of who knows what and she was planning to drink two more?! The laugh burst forth immediately, especially with her barely being able to remain upright and thinking that he would allow such a thing.

"I'll take those!" He quickly snatched the drinks from her hands, and she tumbled back against the door, before giving him a nasty drunken glare.

"Those are m-mmine," she lunged at him. Instead of lunging, she more like fell into him. Leaning against him, she reached up at his arms holding the drinking above her head. "Give 'em back, Uncyy!" His fit of laugher grew by the second.

Uncyy? He closed his eyes, his cheeks cramping at the strain of his wide grin that somehow continued to grow - his giggles unending. "Sif -" he had to remember to breath between laughs, and his stomach hurt from it, "You 'ave had enough lass!"

She backed up suddenly, somehow incredibly stable, "No." Pausing for dramatic effect for a moment, she then finished, "My drink." She outstretched her hand expectantly, trying to appear sober for some odd reason - like he hadn't seen her stumbling around just moments before. The fact that she forgot she had two drinks initially was all a simply hilarious picture.

"Close ya eyes for a moment and I will." He thought up a plan to slow her down. How in the hell could he get her to sober up before going home?

She squinted at him skeptically before lowering her eye lids, leaving a small crack to see through her lashes like she was being sly. He snorted, "Lass, close your eyes and turn around, or you'll never get your drink back." She huffed in response before complying, moving her body to face the opposite direction.