Honor of Euroka

Chapter 7 - New and Old

What Honor didn't expect to happen at all was that as the alligator finally reached him, it didn't chomp on his legs or anything. It started snuggling with him.

Still very stiff and entirely cautious, Honor slowly sat down. The alligator looked at him, and he immediately halted. It looked at him for some more time before finally looking down. Honor used that time to finally slide to the floor, where he began to pat the animal very cautiously.

What he didn't know was why there was an alligator here in the first place. He also had no idea where Sekena or his other teammates were. Maybe they had been transformed into the alligator, and he was patting his former mentor on the head.

He sighed and got himself more comfortable. He would wait until Sekena and her other apprentices got home. In the meantime, he continued patting the scaly head that adored him.

***

Three hours. That's how long it took for the others to come barging through the door. They seemed more shocked to find Honor awake than they were of the alligator.

"Hey, Honor." The one on the right said. She was the one who kept bumping into him.

"How did you find out my name?" He asked cautiously. When people knew your name and you didn't tell them, it was always time to run.

"Sekena said it, remember? She mentioned you needed to sleep." She and the others came through the room. Honor wasn't expecting to see two men behind them, though. The men sat down and started playing with a deck of cards.

Honor didn't think it was fair that she got to know his name, and he didn't get to know hers, but he pushed that thought aside. Sekena sat on the couch with a cup of tea she didn't have a minute ago.

"Honor, this is Yennefer," she said, pointing to the one he kept getting bumped into. "This is Evelynn," she pointed to the shy girl. She then tossed her hand to where the two men were sitting. "And those are two of my former apprentices, Gryffin and Alarik."

The two looked up from their playing cards to wave. Alarik spilled his cards in doing so, and Gryffin saw all of them. The game had ended.

"Well,that was fun. Also, I won again. That's the seventieth time in a row," he said, checking something on a piece of parchment. "Seventy dinners you owe me," he smiled.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Alarik protested. "I spilled my cards everywhere!"

"Maybe, but the point of the game is to avoid doing that. And to be honest, we both know I was winning." He said. Alarik huffed, but apparently, he knew it was true enough to stop arguing.

Alarik looked up. "I see you've found my familiar," he said, looking at the alligator. Honor would've hated to have an alligator familiar. Honor was relieved when the alligator stood and plodded over to where Alarik was.

"What's your familiar?" Honor asked Gryffin. He shrugged and pulled out a snake that looked like it could choke somebody to death. The cat that was so lazily perched on the couched puffed up and made a horrible dying sound. It scurried behind Sekena, who rolled her eyes.

"For some reason, my whole apprentice group last year had reptiles. Xian here felt very threatened." She twisted around and pat her cat on the head.

Gryffin put his snake back in his pocket, which was an extremely disorienting maneuver, because he physically shouldn't have been able to do that. Probably magic, Honor thought.

"Another round?" Gryffin asked Alarik. Alarik's eyes widened.

"What? No! Absolutely not! I am not owing you seventy-one dinners!" He said. Gryffin raised an eyebrow.

"Are you meaning to tell me I'm better at the game?" He asked smugly. Alrik nodded his head vigorously.

"It's a game. And it's luck-based. And for whatever reason, you have insane luck." He said. Honor could feel his pain. It seemed they both had bottom-of-the-line luck. Gryffin shrugged. He seemed like he'd be good-natured about literally everything.

"Well, whatever. I'll go play with Herbert," he said. Alarik rolled his eyes.

"Have fun losing, I guess. We both know Herbert has even more luck than you do," he said. Apparently, it was true because Gryffin sat back down. Yennefer stood and walked over.

"I'll play it with you," she said. Gryffin seemed to find this acceptable. Yennefer hid an evil smile, but Honor didn't miss it. Apparently, Yennefer had luck that rivaled even Gryffin's.

She sat while Gryffin shuffled the cards. He handed her a third, kept a third, and put a third of the deck in the middle. Honor had no idea how they played it, but they both seemed to understand what was going on. Going by the amount of groans coming out of his mouth, Honor assumed Gryffin had found out just how much luck Yennefer possessed.

About ten minutes later, Yennefer shrieked with joy while Gryffin put his head in his hands.

"You owe me a dinner!" Yennefer pointed in his face. She was clearly enjoying this more than was probably necessary. Gryffin apparently agreed with that sentiment because he grumbled.

Sekena cleared her throat. "Actually, how about you pay for lunch instead, since it's about that time. Oh, and pay for all of us," she added as an afterthought.

"What?!" Gryffin complained loudly. "That's not how the game works! And you aren't even my mentor anymore!" He said. Sekena smiled.

"No, but I am higher-ranking than you, and I say that's how the game works today, and I also say that you'll be paying for everyone's lunches here. Oh, and because he decided to complain, you also have to pay for the familiars' lunches, too." She said.

Gryffin sighed and peeked in his wallet. Judging by the devastated look in his eyes, he wouldn't be considered the richest of people once lunch was all said and done. "Well, where do you guys want to eat?" He asked resignedly.