Volume 4: Dereliction of Duty
Chapter V: Intersections
The Little Kettle inn smelled bad. If rancid meat, dung, sweat and the body odor could have been combined, the result probably would have been a color. Tessarie liked colors, even if her family never understood them as she did. It was a pure form of expression, like dance, that you didn't need to be able to wrap your mind around to fully appreciate.
You didn't break down color into components and judge them for their merit that way but they
could
stand for many different things. Yes, if this place was a color, it would have been a muddy brown. Maybe flecked with black and yellow. The only sprig of color in this place being the pink mask on the far wall beside the dartboard. It looked like something from the northerner lands, a spirit mask of some sort.
It was out of place among the hustle and bustle of caravan crews going to visit whores, loading up on terrible beer and ordering their revolting meat meals. The very idea made her nauseous. The 'beef' stew at the Crimson Desire was bad, but it was almost exclusively broth. Here the stink was everywhere.
And then there was the kobold sitting beside her. Sarah had called him Keiter, but he was a monster to Tessarie and almost any civilized race on the planet. Here she was sitting next to one!
They were both draped in heavy robes, sheltered among the shadows of a corner booth it- he- had chosen. They sipped from the pitcher of beer that sat in the middle of the table, but neither of them spoke, feigning interest in the cheap wooden mugs that occupied their hands. Sarah would have had them talking whether their liked it or not- she had that power. But Tessarie was too focused on avoiding the gaze of casual passers by. All it would take would be the wrong person looking at the right time to destroy her chance of escape.
She scrubbed her face, muttering into her palms. What had she been dragged into? "Gods above."
The kobold clucked its tongue softly, emitting a couple of brief clicks. "You doubt." It said in a soft voice.
Tessarie kept her mouth shut but stole a quick glance at the reptilian creature around her hand. It was looking at her. What was she supposed to say? Did it even really understand words or concepts?
"When I was young. Very, very young." It took a sip, glanced away. Almost as if it was trying to cough, it opened its mouth and huffed a hiss. "She found me in a cave. Bodies of my tribe everywhere, most of my muzzle was missing." Another sip. It looked down with its mouth hanging open as if that would let the taste fall from its tongue. "Attacked. By people. I'm sure they thought they were doing good, but I was the only survivor." It looked up at Tessarie.
For a moment she thought she could see anger in its eyes, but in the next it was gone. Only that alien expression remained. It pushed the ale aside and tucked its arms up into the robe as if seeking protection. "She had to chase me down. I clawed at her and bit her. . . I thought she was one of the villagers. But she took me with her, took me to a place to heal and rest. . . Lied to the village about me before-" He chuckled a dry, empty sound that had no mirth in it. "She sold them mining equipment, you see? Several machines that would empty the cave out. Then she made them break once she learned what had happened." Once finished, the kobold took a deep breath and looked to Tessarie once more. In those eyes she saw sadness, something she didn't think a lizard possible of expressing. He showed his teeth briefly. Was he smiling? "She is many things. . . .many, many things. But she will see that things work out as she thinks they should."
Tessarie frowned a bit. "I- don't know what to think."
"Faith is a double edged sword," he took his cup once more, producing a copper coin and a toothpick from the little dispenser on the table. "But lack of it and of hope is not a way to live." He broke the toothpick in the center so it formed a V. He set it on the edge of the mug, then the coin in such a way that the toothpick wouldn't let it fall in. "Faith," he said as he motioned to the creation. "See?"
The elf stared blankly for a moment. Too curious to ignore it, she leaned over to peek. "I don't understand."
"If the wood isn't there, the coin falls, you know it will but it hasn't. Why not?"
Tess tried to puzzle out what the creature meant, but in the end she shook her head. "Because it's balancing there on the edge. The toothpick is keeping it up."
He clucked his tongue sharply. "Very good. So you have faith that it will fall?"
"Well. . . .yes?"
"Good."
"Good. . ." She sunk back into her chair.
"Maybe I can show you faith in others." The little kobold reached forward and took the pitcher, with surprising strength he pulled it closer. "So can I make the coin fall without touching it?"
"I. . . .no?" She licked her lips. Slowly she began to relax a bit, still trying to figure out what he was getting at. She glanced at her own cup, then his. "How would you? Unless you shook the table."
"No, I don't need to! Even if no reason appears to have it, you know that the coin will fall. What if that was life threatening, yes? Everything says it won't happen, but we want this to."
"O- okay?"
"So. We know it will drop, but not how to get it to. Yes?" He held up a clawed finger and took the pitcher. "So nothing around us is changing. The table doesn't shake, I don't touch the mug. But. . ." He tipped the pitcher over the coin and toothpick. Slowly it began to straighten out, more and more until it was nearly straight. The coin slid off the pick and dropped into the mug with a thunk. "See? This is Sarah's approach. Not obvious, but effective?"
"And if you keep pouring it gets everywhere?"
He was looking up at her when Tess saw someone approach in her periphery. She looked up to see an older human woman sliding a long stick back and forth along the floor, as if trying to trowel dirt with her finger. Only then did Tess notice the woman's eyes were actually closed, though her dark brown hair hung well on either side of her head to frame graceful wisdom and a soft mouth. She looked like someone who enjoyed smiling, but had forgotten how to do it right. The woman tapped the side of one of the empty chairs, paused for a moment and then spoke in a careful voice, "I'm sorry, is someone sitting here?"
Tess looked at the kobold with a sudden rush of panic; was she some kind of magic user that she didn't need to see through normal eyes to tell what they were? Gods, some kind of spirit? No. No, that didn't make any sense. No. She needed to calm down.
For his part in it, the kobold eased himself up and spoke in a firm but soothing voice that almost felt like it was meant to ease people's nerves. Even if it didn't work on Tess, she could understand why: he almost sounded human. "No. Not yet, but maybe soon. You're welcome if you'd like."
Tess's eyes widened a bit and grabbed her own chair. This witch was going to set them on fire or something at it was going to be this damn
monster's
fault!
"That's mighty kind-"
