Esmera stopped dead in her tracks. Her face looked like it had seen a ghost as she stared across the square at two men loading a cart. Sinte stopped and looked down at her, then over at the men she was staring at. They were average height, somewhat built; probably farmers, with shaggy dirty blonde hair.
"Ya alright?" Sinte questioned.
Esmera stayed silent, watching them for what seemed like several minutes to her, but in reality, was only about 30 seconds before she shook her head and looked up at Sinte.
"You look like you've seen a ghost..." He commented.
"Just thought they looked like some people I knew." She muttered and turned to the left to head back towards the Creekside Tavern and Inn that they had been staying at for the past several weeks. She was quiet for the rest of the evening, barely eating much of her dinner and drinking only a small amount of water before heading up to the room.
She opened the door and headed into the somewhat small chamber. It had two beds, with a bedside table in between them, a small window, an armoire, and a single small round table with two chairs. Walking over to her bed on the left side of the room, she leaned her bastard sword against the wall and sat down to take off her boots. Sinte leaned his large pick against the opposite wall and sat on his bed. As he did so, the bed creaked underneath his weight. Silence held the air for several minutes as he chewed on his lip.
"Those people I saw today..." Esmera sighed heavily, her head hung, teal hair hanging in waves on either side of her face. "They looked very similar to my cousins."
"Similar or were?" Sinte grunted.
"Similar, It wasn't them. This is too far for them to travel from Turtleback Ferry. They were the ones - or some of the ones who beat me..." She glanced up at him with her orange irises. His jaw was tense.
"Yeah, I thought this might be a bit away. But also I didn't know if you really saw a ghost. If anyone that'd see 'em, I figure it'd be you. Or that other chick from the graveyard. Well, you've got a great imagination. Keep using it and I'm sure you can come up with something wicked for them."
"Maybe, or maybe I won't. I don't know." She muttered as she looked down at her hands folded over her knees.
"I guess It might not be worth it now..." He shrugged.
After several minutes, her long green tail hanging off the bed and twitching anxiously, she looked back up at Sinte.
"Hey, would you do me a favor? You like to drink right?"
"Only always...." He laughed
"We're not doing anything tomorrow are we?"
"Nah, not really."
"Go..Go get us something to drink - to get us drunk.." She looked up at him, her eyes pleading with him. He grinned and stood up.
"Alright."
He headed out of the room and down to the bar. She took a deep breath and finished removing her boots. Setting them down at the edge of the bed, she began to unbuckle her armor and hang it over the foot of her bed. She stopped at her bra and began unbuttoning her pants. Shimmying out of the tight-fitting leathers, she laid them over her top and adjusted her underwear. She leaned down and dug into her backpack, pulling out her notebook and pen, and setting them down on the end table between their beds.
They had been traveling for months after the slaughter of their mercenary group that they had joined together. They were the only two survivors besides the officers of the troupe. Their contracts were voided and Sinte's sentence was absolved. They struck up a partnership and headed south. Eventually, they found themselves in Rodrick's Cove, doing odd jobs to pay for food, room and board, and supplies.
Esmera climbed up onto Sinte's bed, sitting cross-legged with her long pointed tail in her lap, flicking aimlessly as she waited for him to return. After several minutes he pushed the door open with an arm full of three bottles.
"I'd been saving up and didn't know what you'd like so I got Gin; it's like yule trees, Whiskey, and Vodka." He grinned and shut the door. Walking over to the bed, he laid the bottles down at her legs and sat down on the end of the bed. He grabbed two mugs and handed her one.
"I'll try the yule tree one."
He laughed a little and pulled the cork on the clear bottle and poured a small amount into her mug. She looked at it curiously and then back up at Sinte. She had previously had a small amount of ale here and there which she was starting to get used to but had never had hard liquor.
"That's not very much..." She complained as she lifted it to her nose to smell it. The skin on her nose wrinkled up and she squinted her eyes.
Sinte chuckled as he poured himself a hefty pour of whiskey and corked the bottle.
"Ah this stuff is stronger than ale, you don't need as much."
She nodded and sniffed the mug again; that was a mistake. Closing her eyes, she took a large gulp of the liquid. It burnt her throat and was like biting into a pine tree full of fire. She gagged, coughed, and gasped for air.
"Oh, this is horrendous!" She exclaimed and Sinte chuckled as he took a large sip of his whiskey.
"Here, try this one. It's better." He said as he poured a splash of whiskey into her mug. She shivered and sniffed it. It had the smell of alcohol, but also a burnt wood and tobacco scent. She tossed the liquid back, gagged again, and swallowed.
"Uhg! That doesn't obviously have the pine tree crisp, but it kinda tastes like ashes."
"Well here, this one is basically alcoholic water. Tastes like nothing." He poured the vodka into her mug. By this time he had already drained a few mugs of whiskey himself and his pour was a little heavier. She shrugged her shoulders and tried to down the larger mug of vodka. Again, she swallowed and gagged, wheezing and coughing.
"The air is gonna kill me!" She exclaimed as she had her mouth open, trying to breathe but being hit with flames with each breath. Sinte laughed and took a big swig of the Vodka from the bottle.
"I don't see anything wrong with it..." He took another few swigs. Esmera grabbed the bottle of gin and poured herself some more.
"That's definitely the worst. Not water! The whiskey isn't the worst, but I think I prefer the yule tree over the others..." She took another big swig of the gin, gagged a little less and breathed slowly this time as she finished her drink. They sat there for a while drinking before she put the two-thirds bottle of gin down on the table and tried to stand up. That didn't work too well for her, as she lost her balance and fell back onto the bed beside Sinte.