4 Cairo - A Risk

There was a long, eerie silence after I finished speaking. A silence that morphed all types of quiet into one uneventful pause. This silence seemed to take all the noise out of the tavern, and replace it with the sounds of beating hearts and shallow breaths.

That's how I came to realize, I have said too much.

"Cairo…" Rina whispered beneath her breath, smiling. "I don't have the right to stop you from wherever it is you plan to go, but I'd like for you to stay for a little while longer." She said as if there was more to staying than just a free room and nighttime meals.

I continued looking down on the table, unresponsive. I always thought about my actions. How would they affect the future? Would it be in my best interest to do this? What would I achieve by following this path?

Those were the questions I was always trying to find the answers to. Questions I hated the most, and the questions I would always get helped with.

It was Mooks. Mooks would always help me decide which path to take. Sometimes I felt like I was following him instead of him following me. It might sound foolish, but he's never been wrong about the direction I should take. So, I only prayed his undefeated streak wouldn't end here.

"PWWHHHHFFTTT" I whistled, loudly this time. If I was trying to impress anyone with my whistling skills, I would have succeeded. Instead, I ended up waking Cartuja again.

The front doors instantly swung open, and the white fury beast made his entrance from the dark outdoors. His eyes radiated fear onto anyone they crossed paths with. His paws creaked and cracked the wooden floorboards beneath him. His jaw opened it's deadly bite like a great white shark, and his nose could smell the uncooked meat from the back room like a starving lion.

"Hello everyone!" Mooks smiled and waved his right paw to Rina and Cartuja.

Cartuja thought he was dreaming, so he just yawned and walked upstairs. Rina however, remained still as a rock. She wasn't sure if she was afraid or confused, but the stir of those emotions hindered her ability to produce any sort of movement.

"Uhm, Cairo?" She leaned in close to my ear, quiet like a tiger approaching it's prey. "Is that a friend of yours?"

Mooks wasn't my friend, nor was he someone I would give my life to. However, he was my companion. A companion I traveled with. Nothing more, nothing less.

I nodded, and Mooks hopped up onto the barstool next to mine.

Immediately, Rina backed up against the countless shelves of glasses and aged wine behind her. The sight of Mooks so close must have startled her, but his welcoming smile eventually brought her closer. However, she remained her guard.

Rina made an awkward gesture as if she were waving, but it looked painful to watch. "Uhm.. Hi there…"

Mooks stretched out his paw, keeping his hungry smile in check. "Hello! My name is Mooks! This is Cairo!" He looked over at me as if she didn't already know that was my name. "We come in peace, friendly human!"

Rina slowly reached her arm forward, shaking Mooks's dirty paw with a twisted expression on her face. "Well it's very nice to meet you. Mooks." Her tone of voice changed into more of a playful one. That's when I saw her eyeing me down as if that's how I should have introduced myself six months ago.

Rina plopped her hands on her hip, dramatically and with a sassy demeanor. "You never told me you had such a lovely friend." She directed her words toward me, but I remained silent.

Mooks put his paw on my shoulder, "He's been through a lot…"

Although it was nice of him to say that, Rina already knew far too much about me. She didn't know the small details of my time after the war, but I'm sure she could imagine the worst of the worst.

"Listen…" Her voice became quiet again. "Me and a few others are planning to go on a quest. One that'll yield a reward that only gods can dream of." She paused for a second, pulling up a stool and sitting beside us on the opposite side of the table. "I know asking you to join us would be-"

"We're in!" Mooks barked at her with excitement.

Both Rina and I looked at him with wide eyes and dropped jaws. I however, have had enough of Mooks's carelessness. "What's in it for us?" My voice was strong and thick like a bucket of tar.

Rina hesitated for her reply, but her eyes told more than her words ever could. "The reward is the Jewel of Mynotna. A Jewel that can grant one wish to the holder. Anything they've ever wanted, or any question they've ever wanted to be answered."

"What's the catch?" Mooks was quick with his answer, "Seems too good to be true. And how would you know of such a thing? Will there be others who are trying to get it? Will we have to steal it? Who else knows? Do you have a team?"

With so many questions at once, even I couldn't follow Mooks's train of thought. Nevertheless, he was right. This did seem too good to be true.

"Well," Rina gave an innocent giggle. "It's on the bounty board." She pointed to a large, rectangular board nailed to the side of the entrance. It had tons of stapled papers to it, each with a different drawing of some sort, and a different reward written on the bottom.

Personally, I've always thought of it as a chore list, or something similar to the matter. Then again, prior to today my hood always remained atop my head, so my vision never obscured from my next steps forward.

Rina poured herself a glass of tart cherry juice, sighing and finally feeling more relaxed. "As shitty as this place seems, this is a Guild. It's just that the others are usually off doing something else, so business here is pretty slow. Aaaand…" She exaggerated that last part to draw more suspense, "Everyone just arrived earlier this afternoon after being gone for months, so they've crashed for the night hours ago." She took a sip of her juice, making a cringing face, then returning it back to normal.

"How did you come about such a quest?" Mooks made his question direct, with his voice leading his curiosity.

"The Bureau is responsible for all bounties that arrive at any Guild. The Bureau is.." She thought of a way to describe them for a moment, then continued. "Kind of like our employer in a way. They send bounties and quests with great rewards to any Guilds in the country, kind of hoping that the Guilds will take care of the mess." She sighed again. "The Jewel of Mynotna was recently said to be sighted in the Catacombs of Nyrvana. So.. the quest to retrieve it was sent out, but no one has found it yet."

I thought about what she said for a good moment. Then I thought about what Mooks had said previously. This did seem too good to be true. If there was one thing I've learned over my miserable years living in this world; If things are too good to be true, then they are indeed too good to be true.

However, a wish that comes true is a wish I was willing to make. Even if this quest was nothing more than a trap of some sort, or even a dumb joke played on it's victims. I was willing to take the risk. The risk of finding happiness.

I got up from my seat, gave Mooks a look of no regrets, and cleared my throat of any anticipation I had remaining. "When do we leave?"

Rina smiled delightfully, staring into my eyes like a lost soul. "Get some sleep first. You'll need it for the journey."