The Dawn of Light

(15)Green Feathered Hat

Green Feathered Hat

Claudeus' POV

The sun had set about an hour ago and the rest of the gang had slowly strolled in, one-by-one.

Casseus and I were seated at the wooden table in the corner of the gardens; the Plamtree hotel was buzzing with chatter and light laughter. We were already on our second beer when Asclepius sat down with a huff.

"That man is a creep."

"Waldonius? Never..." Casseus joked, but it was very easy to pinpoint that that wizard was a vile man.

Asclepius shook his head with frustration; "He practically harassed every women who entered is office. I had to show them out when they grew too boring for him. And then he made me make him five cups of coffee- all of them disgusting, apparently, and unfit for human consumption."

"He sounds like you on a good day." I commented dryly and my cousin glared at me from the across the table.

He lifted his hand and signalled to the barman for a beer. "I swear, that man is an idiot. He's more concerned with how he looks than what he's teaching those poor, unsuspecting students. Today he even slapped a young boy for saying his name wrong!"

"Whereas you just give people a really dirty look." I countered and Asclepius nodded eagerly; "Exactly! Ugh..."

"There you guys are..." Narray walked up to our table with a deep frown, but that wasn't what we were staring at.

She had a light yellow dress on and a white rose in her hair. Narray's cheeks were flushed pink; we'd barely recognised her.

"Good gods, what have they done to her?" Casseus whispered loudly to us and Narray slapped the back of his head with her palm. "I can hear you, you narcissist."

"Ow..." Casseus rubbed the back of his head and glared up at the young woman.

The waiter placed a cold beer bottle in front of Ash and turned to leave, but Narray quickly grabbed him and pulled him close. "Get me a double brandy on the rocks. Make it snappy."

"Y-yes, my lady." The man made a clumsy bow and dodged left to do her biding.

"Tough day? Break in some beds?" I asked with teasing eyes and Narray leaned over to slap me, but I scooted away from her on the wooden bench and she settled for a growl instead. "No! I didn't have any... clients. It was my first day. They were just showing me around and stuff."

"And Madam Keya?" Casseus asked with interest and I shot him a look. The others didn't seem to notice his subtle curiosity. I did.

"She fine. I guess." Narray shrugged and took a sip of Asclepius' beer. "Hey!" He complained and she put it back down with a pointed look.

"Fine?" Casseus asked again and pressed for more.

Narray sighed; "Yeah, fine. She's... I don't know? Mysterious? She had her own dealings and doesn't spend much time with her girls. She's mostly out, anyway."

"I see..." Cas nodded and sipped at his beer glass with lowered eyes.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Triton jogged up to us with a wide smile. "Guess who crashed and burned Estra's first test today?" He held up his hand to his ear and waited, but we didn't bite. With a loud whistle he pumped the air like a typical jock. "Me, vlakas!"

"What a surprise." Ash commented and signalled for more beer before Triton and Narray could steal more of his.

The ocean prince sat down beside me and smiled happily; "I'm telling you, before the end of this week, Estra's going to be calling me 'commander'."