Frozen Summer

Chapter 40

Konnor and Richard entered Ciscera before noon, after weeks of uninterrupted travels they finally were back home. They had just dropped Isabella at her home so she could rest from the long journey. They started making their way to the tavern and noticed the city was way less lively than what it was when they left, the main period of the Circadium had just passed and foreign merchants were gone with their bags empty of their goods and full of coins. With all that went down, the two companions barely had any time to notice that spring was almost over, in a few weeks summer would be upon them.

Konnor stepped inside the tavern and took a deep breath, all the familiar scents were filling his nostrils, the ale, the freshly cooked meat, the perfumes of the waitresses.

" Ahhhh, it's good to be back ! "

Next to him, Richard was looking around the room in search of Malik. He spotted Jessamine first who was busy taking customer's orders, he waved at her and held out a finger to tell him to wait a bit.

" Lets go sit down boy, i'm starving "

" Same. "

They walked in the crowded room and took their usual spot near a window towards the end of the building. Konnor was so deep in thoughts once he was sitting that he did not even realise that Izi was standing right next to him to take his order. Annoyed, Izi gave a light punch in his friend's shoulder.

" Carefull ! I'm injur- ... what .. are you wearing ? "

Konnor looked at Izi from head to toe and was slowly realising his uniform was not the usual one.

" My uniform got dirtied because a customer spilled his drink on me last night and we didn't have any spare clothing... so Maureen gave me her spare uniform. "

For some reason, the petite and feminine figure of Izi looked like it was made for the waitress uniform and to top it off his hair now grown were below his shoulders and you could really forget he was a young man if you simply looked at him.

" Can you ... stop staring at me so much ? "

" It's just .. wow "

Embarrassed by his friend look, Izi nervously brushed his hair behind his ears.

" Do I look weird ? "

" No, you look very good ! "

For some unknown reason, hearing this compliment and having his friend look at him so intensely was almost making his heart pop out of his chest. To shift the conversation, he looked at Konnor's arm still in the sling.

" What happened to you ? "

" Oh that ? Nothing, just a run in with some old maniac. "

" An old man did this to you ? Man, you really are a bad fighter. "

" Shut up Izi ! He was experienced and it was dark ! "

" Richard, is that true ? "

Richard sighed .

" The man was indeed strong, can you get us some bread and wine and maybe tell Malik we have arrived ? "

" Yeah but Malik is currently on an errand so I don't know when he'll be back. "

" It's alright, I will drop our bags upstairs, just stay here and rest. "

Konnor simply nodded, and sank deeper in his chair while Izi headed for the kitchen. Richard started walking upstairs and when he reached the top he bumped into a young blonde woman with short hair. The woman had a particular color of eyes, they were purple. Somehow he felt like he had already seen her somewhere before.