The Misadventures of Kayla Foster

Chapter 20

  The next morning was met with a heavy downfall of cold rain. The weather had been fair for the entire Competition of Might, so Kayla guessed it was about time for the rain to come down. Kayla convinced Thorn to go into the city to eat breakfast after they were done with their morning training. As they walked to Raven Wood, Vega and Zyryl chattered at each other, and Kayla had to wonder if they were actually able to communicate.

  One in the city, they found a tavern that looked respectable and sat down to have breakfast. It wasn't as good as Kayla had been hoping but it was better than trying to cook and eat in the rain. As they sat there chatting about nothing, Kayla heard a familiar voice from across the dining hall. She turned to find Mia's group, with Mia arguing with Luke in an angry voice, in a booth across from the dining hall. The whole group looked frustrated and, even though Kayla was glad to see that they made it to Raven Wood okay, she didn't want to get involved with whatever they were upset about. Thankfully, the group left shortly and didn't notice her or Thorn.

  "Now you are hiding from your friends?"

  "No. It's just I don't want to get involved with them today. I don't know if you could, but they are very upset about something." Kayla ran a thumb over her bottom lip. She really didn't feel like getting caught up in drama today.

  "I understand. How about ordering a drink and waiting for them to leave the immediate area."

  "Sounds good."

  Kayla called over a barmaid and ordered a local cold drink that was close to mango soda with a little bit of milk in it. The two sat there for another hour, enjoying the rain outside the windows and their drinks. When they left, they headed for the Blue Opal Inn. While Thorn and Kayla didn't plan on staying there on this trip, Thorn wanted to turn in his ticket. The hostess at the Blue Opal Inn was overly nice to Thorn and gave him a certificate that was proof that Thorn had the right to stay at the inn for six nights without being charged.

  After stopping at the inn, Kayla and Thorn made their way to the shopping district. They headed to the jewelry shop so that Thorn could redeem his ticket for two space rings. It took a minute to find the shop, but when they did Kayla was amazed at how luxurious the shop looked.

  The shop was named The Elegant Mark and Kayla felt very out of place when they entered. The whole shop just oozed money. She felt that if she looked at an item long enough, they would charge her gold just to be in the place. Kayla snuck a glance at Thorn. She was floored to see that he looked bored in the place. 'How can this obvious display of wealth not even faze him?' Kayla had to wonder as Thorn walked to the counter of one of the merchants.

  The merchant had a snark greeting on the tip of her tongue when Thorn pulled out his prize ticket. With a haughty look on her face, she snatched the ticket and started to examine it. After a thorough examination, she took the ticket with a strained smile. The woman had no desire to serve people whom she saw as lesser, but she had no choice but to show Thorn the selection of space rings that were available.

  There were two distinct versions of the pace rings. Rings that were simple black bands and rings that were decorative and had elegant metalwork and beautiful gemstones. A quick explanation from the merchant told them that the simple black ring bands were 700 square feet in size and the fancy rings were 300 square feet in size.

  Thorn felt that there was no reason to have a decorative ring when the simple rings were over twice as large. So, despite the looks he got from Kayla, he got two simple black rings with no design. Thorn examined each ring to make sure that they were the correct size, which they were, before he gave one of the space rings to Kayla. With a nod to the snooty merchant, Thorn led Kayla out of the shop.