Ch 2.36: Comfort

“Castle’s Wake” read the sign above the doorway to the building they were walking too, a pattern of waves underneath the writing. It was an interesting name for an inn, Elaina thought. Carline had told her a wake was a word used for boats, but there wasn’t a body of water nearby really. Still, it had been a long two days, and she was ready to relax.

“I wonder if we shouldn’t just go back to school to talk to Alonse,” Tira said as they approached the building with the hanging sign. “I don’t think the guards really believed me.”

“They didn’t believe the giant platypus thing,” Flora said, seeming unconcerned, “but they knew something happened to us, that something weird is out there. They’ll be on alert, at the very least.”

“It’s already dark anyways,” Elaina said as Tira stopped outside the door. It wasn’t actually quite dark yet, the sun just starting to crest over the tall valley they were in, but Elaina didn’t really care for the particulars at the moment.  “And you shouldn’t be out and about with your arm hurt anyway.”

Tira looked down, realizing she’d been absentmindedly rubbing at her limb. “It really doesn’t hurt, just tingles in a weird way. But you’re right I guess. They budgeted us one night’s stay in town, so we may as well use it. We’ll still be getting back early tomorrow morning regardless.”

“That’s the spirit,” Flora said, pushing the swinging door open and walking in, effectively ending the discussion. “Let’s eat!”

Food sounded great, warm food specifically. Elaina hadn’t really enjoyed inn food much on her trip to Endrin from her home, but it was better than the dried fare she’d been eating the last two days. As she entered the door behind Flora and Carline though, the scent of herbs coalesced around her, driving saliva to the front of her mouth and gripping hold of her mind.

The food at Endrin had been good, wonderful even, but there had been something missing to it, a homeliness lacking in the flavors. She’d grown up eating stews, pies, casseroles and the like, one note in texture, but filled with flavor, and those flavors weren’t quite the same at Endrin, but from the smell of the inn alone she could tell this place was different.

“Hello, students,” a man said with a wide as he carried tankards in front of them, placing them down on a full table and then gesturing to an empty one. “Have a seat.”

“Thank you,” Tira said with a polite bow before she and the other girls went to sit at the table. Elaina looked down at her uniform as she followed, feeling a bit embarrassed at the state of it. She was the only one wearing it after all, though Flora’s makeshift skirt made out of the remains from her sundress and the shirt she’d borrowed from Tira would’ve presumably made her stand out more, it was Elaina’s outfit that had given them away.

“Are you four here just for food, or staying the night?” the man said as he walked back behind the bar.

“Official business, I’m afraid,” Tira said as she slumped her bag onto the floor.

“I thought as much, considering the uniform,” the man said as he returned with four copper mugs. “Cider it is then.”

“Cider instead of what?” Carline asked, looking confused.

“Instead of booze,” Flora said. “Come on Carly; you’re not that naive.”

“But that would be against your school rules,” the man said as he placed the mugs down, Carline looking down and blushing. “And a respectable man like myself would never put four young ladies like yourselves in a compromising position, of course.”

There was a playful glint in his eye as he said the words, smiling at Elaina. There was a lift to his accent too, a sound more akin to Elaina’s own. He looked mostly unremarkable, a reddish tint to his hair, a thick coiled beard, and high cheeks. But that ordinary look made him stand out from most of the people Elaina had met since coming to Endrin, almost out of place in how normal it was, because while it would’ve been normal back home, here in Castle Town it was unusual.

“Excuse me,” Elaina said, “but are you…”

“From up north like you? No, but my parents were,” the man said as he extended his hand out. “Name’s Able.”

“Elaina,” she replied, taking his hand and shaking it.

“Nice to meet you,” he said with a quick bow before heading back behind the counter. “I’ll grab your food, ladies, be just a moment.”

“He seems nice,” Flora said as she looked around the room. “This place is a little odd though.”

Odd? Elaina didn’t really understand, though she hadn’t really taken notice to anything when she came in. It all looked normal to her, light wood floors with animal pelts covering high traffic areas, cobblestone supports, tables and chairs that had been built with sharp edges, but worn smooth over time. “Seems normal to me.”

“Oh?” Flora asked, eyes lighting up with interest. “Is this how things are like where you’re from?”

“I guess? It just seems… just seems normal.”

Elaina felt a little put on the spot, even thought the rest of her group was looking at the room around them instead of at her.

“It’s nice,” Tira said. “Not too different from my home.”

“Were you from up north?” Elaina asked.

“No, the capital. But my family isn’t from around there. They’re from way up north, outside the kingdom.”

Outside the kingdom. Elaina had always known that was a thing, of course, but she didn’t really have a reference to what that was. She was about to ask about it, but Able returned with four bowls of steaming stew, placing them in front of each of the girls as the smell of the food took hold over Elaina’s mind.

“Let me know if you want more,” he said. “And when you’re done I’ll get your rooms sorted, alright?”

“Sounds wonderful, thank you very much,” Tira said as she grabbed a spoon.

Elaina watched for a moment as her friends nonchalantly began eating their bowls of stew. It was wild to her, how little reaction they seemed to have eating it. Did it just smell better than it tasted? She grabbed her own spoon and dove in to test it.

No, it didn’t just smell good. The creamy stew was thick and rich, earthy aromas dancing in her mouth, onions, thyme, carrots. It was honestly better than anything her mother or father had cooked, had a little bit of that texture contrast from whole roasted vegetables in it that she was getting used to at Endrin, but the flavors were the exact same as back home, were home to her. The only thing better than this was—

She caught Tira’s glance as she opened her eyes, seeing the lust in the woman’s gaze. “Enjoying yourself?” the woman asked.

“Y— yeah…” Elaina said, barely able to get the word out.

“Well eat up, but don’t knock yourself out,” Tira said, returning to her own bowl. “We’re rooming together tonight, remember.”

Elaina blushed at the statement, looking to the other two girls to see their reactions. Carline was blushing too, doing her best to maintain eye contact with her soup, but Flora just raised a curious eyebrow at Elaina.

“Right,” Elaina said, shoveling another spoonful of stew into her mouth in an attempt to end the conversation, or rather delay it. She didn’t want the conversation to finish entirely, because as good as the soup was, there was still one thing that felt better than it, and she was pretty sure Tira would be serving that up to her later that night.