Beyond the Darkness

Chapter 16

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               It was her sixth time meeting Kai. She was waiting for him at one of the tables in the Red Lady. He was late, as always. It was a bad habit of his and every time she brought it up and yet, he never fixed his tardiness. It was beginning to near a full hour past their meeting time and she was starting to get impatient.

         Sipping her cider she watched him come in and make his way over to where she was sitting. He was soaking wet and left behind a trail of water as he walked over. He plunked himself down across from her and began wringing out water from his clothes, which began to form a pool of water around his feet.

        "Hello," he told her cheerfully as he continued his wringing. "Sorry I'm so late." Kai took of his cap and placed it on the table and shook out his hair. Then he picked up his spoon and began devouring his meal. Amaya's plate sat off to the side, already empty.

        "Hi," she replied warily. "What have you been up to? Did you decide to take a swim right before coming to meet me? It that why you're so late?"

        He let out a laugh, his face lighting up which in turn made her smile. His happiness was always contagious.

         "What? No, of course not. I guess it's too loud in here to hear, but it's raining outside," he explained, "You look dry so I expect that you beat the storm."

        Amaya shrugged. "The sky looked clear when I got here. That was over an hour ago now though," she said, glowering at him.

       "Sorry again for making you wait. The rained slowed me down. It is the worst to ride in. Although it's not like I would have been on time anyways though."

       "No of course not, that would be impossible for you," Amaya told him dryly.

       "Exactly!" he stated, grinning ear to ear at her.

        She shook her head at him as the pool of water kept growing underneath his feet. "The owners are going to hate us," Amaya told him, indicating the mess he was making.

       "We'll leave a very generous tip," he told her, as if that solved the problem.

      "You mean you'll leave a generous tip," Amaya told him, "Since I'm not the one making the mess."

       He gave her a fake teasing frown. "Where is the feeling of comradery where one friend would help out another friend to dampen the wrath of angry tavern keepers in this friendship?" He asked, seemingly bewildered.

       "I just think that you can handle this without my help. Besides, of the two of us, you have considerably more money than I do, so if you want to talk about friendship, buying my meal would only be the friendly thing for you to do."

       Although Amaya hated King Roland, he did pay handsomely for every kill made. Amaya though, had given majority of her money away to her brother and May's family. What little she had kept for herself she had almost used up during the past year. Thinking on this she decided that she needed to do some pickpocketing before she went back to the Caravian palace. She knew a couple markets where there would be plenty of Lords and Ladies for her to choose from.

       Kai was watching her pensively as her rubbed his fingers along his chin. "That is a very good point you just made," he told her grinning and slapped a large quantity of money on the table. It was enough to pay for both of their meals and included a very large tip. "Consider your meal and all future others paid for!" Kai announced with a flourish.