I sat on a bar stool next to Vajele in the Dirty Swine with an ice pack on my head. I had far more injuries than Vajele, which Aljo had explained to be my fault for not thinking during the fight. “You have a nasty left hook,” I complemented. Vajele glanced at me and smiled a little. “Thanks Blair, how kind of you,” I jested sarcastically. He snorted in laughter and shrugged.
“You two make a good pair,” the bar tender told us. “What do you expect though, Ezin is good with pairing up people. Have you gone on your first mission yet?” the woman asked.
“No,” I was surprised by Vajele’s soft voice next to me. He could talk! I smiled up at him and he looked at me with confusion clear in his eyes. “What?” he murmured. I shrugged and smiled smugly before taking a swig of his beer. His eyes narrowed slightly as he took back the mug and nudged me with his shoulder. “Stop,” he told me with playfulness dancing in his eyes.
“Vajele and Blair sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love then comes-,” Aljo was cut off by my sharp glare in his direction. He laughed at my face and continued to drink his milk. “Maybe he’ll marry you Blair!” Aljo teased causing me to blush, then gag at the thought.
“Why do girls even want to get married? It’s terrible! You have a man that will rule over you and your expected to have children! I don’t want any of that! I want to be free like a butterfly!” I swung my arms out and moved them back and forth as my flying movement. The boys laughed and shrugged.
“Most girls want that,” Prein noted taking a swig of his beer. I scowled at the thought of me tied down to a man as the boys’ switched topics. “You’re an odd one, Blair Henderson. Your already the buzz of the town, everyone wants to know the ‘fiery red head that flies with the destroyer clan’- that’s a direct quote from one of the officials.” Prein pointed his mug at me, making some of the beer spill over the edge.
“Yep! I heard some girls call her an idol because she doesn’t try to keep her opinions to herself!” Aljo chirped while wiping the milk that had formed a mustache above his upper lip. I smiled as he went and took another sip only to have another ‘mustache’. I grabbed a napkin and went over to help him clean up his face a bit once he was done.
“See, you could be a wife! You got that motherly instinct thing girls go on about!” Prein chimed as he watched me take care of Aljo. My head snapped towards him and I glared. “Or you could die alone, either way.” He murmured nervously. Just as I thought the conversation was over, the bar tender joined in.
“You have nice birthing hips!” she told me, “So lets add up all of your positive aspects- your pretty, strong, have nice hips, perfect age, and basically your whole outer appearance. Now the negative- your personality is very over bearing and I’m ninety nine percent sure most men can’t handle.” She had a thoughtful expression as she finished and I had my lips turned up in a snarl like look.
“I’m sure they could handle you, I bet you just bend right over for them.” I snapped feeling insulted. I covered my mouth as soon as it slipped out and watched her eyes tear up as she ran into the back room sobbing. “Well, that was mean of me.” I grumbled. Aljo seemed confused about what I had said, but the others knew.
“Whoa…” Ezin mumbled. “I didn’t know you had it in you to say something so cruel.”
“I didn’t either,” I whispered with guilt lacing through my voice. I was about to get up, but Terikon reached across the table and stopped me. “What?” I asked sadly. He stayed quiet, but shook his head no. I was confused as he got up himself and went into the back room. “What was that?” I asked Vajele quietly.
“That’s his childhood friend, she won’t listen to anyone but him when she gets into moods like this,” Vajele explained. I was in a state of astonishment. Terikon? The sexist pig? He was close friends with a girl?...How? Vajele must have noticed because he was chuckling at my facial expression. “If you actually talked to him- not argue- you may find he can actually be quite pleasant.”
“Your joking right?” I asked.
“Your faith in me is painfully low, Blair.” Terikon sighed before plopping down in his chair and taking a swig of his beer. “I’m actually not that bad, I just have certain views on how women should be. You don’t fit into any of those views, neither does your ma.” I looked at Terikon questioningly. Was he nice when drunk? Was this some drunken state of his? Who knows.
