Chapter 49
Forty-Nine
“Look what the goblins dragged in!” Thrain thunked his tankard on the bar when he spotted Vaskel slinking in the tavern door the next morning.
Vaskel had hoped that the place would be empty, but it appeared that no one had retired for the night.
Sass lay sprawled across the arms of Val’s armchair by the cold fire while Cali was curled up in the chair across from hers. The dwarf startled at the sound of Thrain’s booming voice. “What? Who? Are they back yet?”
“Not yet,” Thrain said, turning on his barstool to face the hearth. “It’s just Vaskel returning from his lady love’s.”
Part of Vaskel wanted to groan, but another part of him very much liked the sound of that.
Iris was his love, after all, and it felt wonderful not to hide that anymore.
It had been more wonderful to stay up talking with her in her back room, with her cuddled on his lap on one of her overstuffed chairs as the bookwyrms slept and the snow fell.
Cali opened one eye, then closed it and wrapped her arms over her head to block out any light.
“Why are you back, anyway?” Thrain blinked bleary eyes at him.
“I wanted to let Iris get some sleep, and I wanted to check on Lira. I’m assuming that she’s heard about her brother by now?”
Sass waved a hand toward the back of the tavern. “She’s with him and Erindil at the encampment. They’ve been talking all night.”
Vaskel glanced at the door that led behind the tavern to the collection of elf tents and beyond that to the stream. “Do you think she’s okay?”
“Well, she did just learn that her elf brother, whom she’s never met, has been stalking her.” Sass shrugged. “The upside is that she’ll probably work through all this by baking.”
Thrain leaned back and peered over his beard at Sass. “Are you happy that our friend’s trauma will benefit our bellies?”
Sass wiggled her way out of the chair. “I’m not unhappy I’ll get to test more types of scones and maybe a cake or two.” She leveled a finger at Thrain. “When your heart gets broken, all we get is a dent in our ale stores.”
Thrain spluttered at that as Vaskel made his way to the bar.
The kitchen was quiet, and he imagined that Crumpet and Bramble were still sleeping soundly in the nests of dishrags that Lira had made for them.
Even the raccoon had taken to staying in the tavern overnight, and Vaskel wondered how many other woodland creatures would eventually make their home inside the Tusk & Tail.
He walked behind the bar and leaned his hands on the buffed wood. It was the same bar it had always been and the same tavern he worked at every night, but it felt different now. He felt different.
Grinning, he started inspecting the glasses and tankards and was soon humming.
“Is that what I think it is?” Thrain asked. “Are you humming one of Sass’s sea shanties?”
Vaskel stopped and thought about it. “I guess I am.” He chuckled. “They’re catchy.”
Sass was beaming as she joined them at the bar, tying on her apron to start the day. “That’s what I’m saying.”
“A dwarf singing sea shanties.” Thrain shook his head. “It’s wrong is what it is.”
Vaskel had just resumed his humming when Lira walked in through the back door. They all stopped what they were doing and watched her walk to the bar and slide onto a stool.
“Drink?” Vaskel asked, although it was still early in the morning.
Lira nodded wordlessly as Sass hopped onto the stool next to her. Even Cali uncurled from the upholstered chair and walked over, taking the stool on Lira’s other side.
Vaskel pulled her a pint and slid it across the bar to her, where she curled her hands around the cool pewter but didn’t drink.
“He’s leaving with Malek.” Lira didn’t have to say who.
“Aye.” Sass patted Lira’s arm. “Are you okay?”
The half-elf loosed a heavy sigh, then sat up straighter.
“I think I am. We spent a long time talking. Our father wasn’t around much for his childhood either, so I guess we have a few things in common.
” She managed a smile. “That’s actually why he’s been traveling around the Known Lands. He’s looking for our father.”
“And now he’s taking Malek back to Lananore,” Thrain said.
Lira nodded. “He won’t stay there for long though, which means he’ll be back here.” She smirked. “And I made him promise not to wait a decade to come back. I told him he’s on human time, not elf time.”
“Wonder what it would have been like to grow up in the elf city,” Vaskel said. “It’s supposed to be so beautiful you can lose days just staring.”
Lira shrugged. “That might be true, but there’s still no place I’d rather be than here with all of you.”
Cali put a paw on top of one of Lira’s hands. “Same.”
Thrain sniffled and swiped a hand across his eyes. “Enough of that now.”
They all laughed and blinked away tears. Lira glanced up and met Vaskel’s eyes. “You broke the soul bind, I met my brother, and Iris finally got a stubborn hellkin to admit that he’s crazy about her. Not bad for a night’s work.”
Vaskel’s face warmed, and his mouth fell open. “Wh—how long have you known?”
Cali dropped her head on the bar, rolling it to eye Vaskel. “Soooooooo long.”
“I’m glad I got to see it happen before I died,” Sass said, and the others nodded in agreement.
Now Vaskel laughed. “Well, I’m happy I finally admitted it, too.”
“But if anyone needs powders or tonics,” Cali said, “Vaskel has an impressive stash of them.”
When he gaped at her, the pantheri shrugged. “Iris told me you were her best customer. I decided not to inform her that hellkins rarely get sick. You’re welcome.”
“I wonder if she’d take some of those back,” Vaskel said. “They’ve started to take up too much space in my room.”
Sass winked at him. “I’ll bet she’ll do anything you ask her to do if you kiss her like you did last night.”
Thrain pounded his hand on the bar as he roared with laughter.
“Let’s go easy on Vask,” Lira said.
“That’s right.” Cali nudged her friend. “You’re about to be a honeymooner. I guess you’re the next to be teased.”
Lira slid off her stool, leaving her ale untouched and heading for the kitchen. “I won’t be a honeymooner until after our second wedding.”
She disappeared through the swinging doors, and the rest of the group exchanged confused glances.
“Did she say second wedding?” Cali asked.
Sass hopped off her stool. “She hasn’t even had the first.”
Vaskel led the way as they followed Lira into the kitchen. “What’s this about a second wedding? I’m assuming you haven’t found a second groom.”
Crumpet and Bramble were clambering from their nests and stretching as Lira poured milk and spices into a pot for chai and chuckled. “Hardly. My brother wants me to have a second wedding in Lananore so the rest of my family can be there. You’re all invited, of course.”
Just then the kitchen doors flew open and a pile of burgundy fabric waddled into the room. A pile of fabric with a gnome face protruding from the top.
“No talk about a second wedding until we make it through the first one,” Tin said from beneath the fabric. “Have you seen the snow out there? Fenni says a blizzard is heading toward us.”
“A blizzard?” Lira almost fumbled the bottle of milk. “The day before my wedding?”
Sass squinted at the window, where the snow was indeed cascading from the sky. “Do you remember how you said you wouldn’t mind getting married in front of the tavern fireplace with just us?”
“It still sounds perfect,” Lira said as she stirred the warming chai.
Vaskel took in the cozy kitchen and his friends gathered in it, and he drank in the aroma of cinnamon and cardamom. It was moments like these he loved even more than all the epic quests.
Like warm chai on a wintery day, joy comes in sips, not gulps.