Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Seven - A Poet, and Also a Dragon

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Seven - A Poet, and Also a Dragon

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Seven - A Poet, and Also a Dragon

We should go visit Booksie together! I declared. The grenoil exploration team looked confused for a moment, so I hastened to fill them in. Shes a friend of ours, a really nice bun that needed a bit of help. She should be in the East side of Port Royal.

Ah, yes, Emeric said. I suppose we could follow you zere. By ze way... I noticed ze ears earlier... zey werent zere when we saw you last, right?

I reached up and squeezed both ears at the base, the part that had a bunch of white fluff. Nah, these are brand new. I got them when my first class evolved.

Zats unusual, Arianne said. Not entirely unheard of, but unusual. I suppose youre lucky zat ze evolution was towards somezing so innocent. Buns are generally well-liked.

I guess so! I said. I tugged my ears down, then let them go so that they sprang back up. Anyway! Do you guys want to do lunch? We could go see Booksie, then find a nice place to eat and catch up.

I have some letters to send, Amaryllis said.

And we can give Amaryllis time to send her letters.

Emeric looked to his friends. Valerie was nodding quite seriously, Arianne shrugged while leaning against her staff and Pierres tummy growled. Donat was the only one that really didnt seem certain. You know what? Why not.

Brilliant! I cheered. We should go check on Booksie first, and then maybe she can point us to a nice place for dinner.

A bit of a walk wont do any harm, Emeric said.

We took off, heading downhill towards the main streets of the city, then off towards the East end. I walked next to Emeric and listened with all four ears to him talking about their last adventure and how tricky it was to survive in the snow.

I kinda knew all about that, but he was eager to talk, so I didnt interrupt or anything.

I did notice Amaryllis walking next to a quiet Pierre, keeping to herself, and a bit further back, Awen was making a piece of glass float above her hand next to Arianne who seemed to be giving her some advice.

Hey, Emeric, I asked when there was a bit of a lull in the conversation. We were making good time. People had a habit of getting out of our path. I guess a group of armed and armoured people in adventuring gear made most pedestrians move, which was okay I guess. Your team is pretty strong, right?

Well, all of us are at least in our second tier, except for Donat. Arianne and I are just about to hit our second class evolution and neither of us are more zan twenty-five years old. Were a bit ahead of ze curve.

Thats cool! I was wondering, maybe after lunch you could teach us some things?

The grenoil looked at me quizzically. What sorts of zings? he asked.

Ah, well... I tapped the tips of my fingers together. We tend to get into some trouble sometimes, and while weve won every fight that counted, some of them were really close. And I guess Im sort of our partys leader? Kinda? We never voted on it or anything, but Awen and Amaryllis and Orange all tend to follow along with my ideas. And I dont want them to get hurt because I wanted to try something dumb.

You already sound like youd make a good party leader, Emeric said.

I beamed up at him. Thanks!

As for training, we probably wont stay in Port Royal past ze night and maybe into ze morning, but I can give you a few tips, Im sure. Maybe a bit of sparring wiz Pierre? Hes quite good at fighting wizout injuring anyone. Dont tell him, but Donat has been improving by leaps and bounds under Pierres tutelage.

That would be really nice, I said. Maybe after lunch we can pick out an inn or something with a big yard and you could give us tips? Oh, well pay, of course, it wouldnt be nice otherwise.

Maybe you can pay for Valeries portion of lunch and well call it a fair deal, he said. The glimmer of a smile in his eyes suggested that it was a bit of a trap, but I doubted Valerie could eat that much.

Deal!

We crossed the gate into the Eastern section without the guards doing anything more than glancing at all of our Exploration Guild pins. Awen didnt have one, but maybe they thought it was under the lapel of her jacket.

Nope! Shes decided to take over the local mob, so now you shouldnt have any more problems with them, Booksie! Ah, but we discovered this great big conspiracy that might lead to a big war, so were going to stick our noses into that and see what we can do, I said.

Are the others with you? Booksie asked.

Uh-huh. And I found some old friends too! Theyre a grenoil party from the Exploration Guild. Theyre nice.

Well, lets go meet with them, then, Booksie said.

Rhawrexdee sighed and got to his feet, his tail swiping through the fence behind him and the clothes line behind that, but he didnt seem to care much. Ill leap over your little shop, he said a moment before taking to the air.

When the dust settled, I turned to Booksie with a big smile. So, reading romances while sitting on your friend? I asked.

Oh, shush you, she said past her flush. Rhawrexdee was just helping me with some of the translations. I agreed to teach him the other languages I know in exchange.

Wont that take a long time? I asked.

The bun smiled a small, knowing sort of smile. Yes, yes I think it will.

I giggled as I followed her into the shop. Youre going to start the store up again?

I think so. As much as I... enjoy Rhawrexdees company, I am an independent woman. Im not going to move into my... my maybe-boyfriends moms cave just like that. Ill see about buying some of the lots out back so he has a place to land and sit around in, and then, ah, I suppose Ill have to look for a loan to get everything started again.

Do you think people will come if theres a dragon around? I hoped that the people around here werent so speciest as to boycott a shop just because the owner was friends with a few dragons.

It might actually help. Itll at least make for a good deal of advertising, she said. What was that about a war?

Oh, right. Amaryllis can give you the important details, but we think someone is trying to start a big war between all the big countries around here. It sounds really nasty, so well see what we can do to stop that from happening.

I wish you the best, truly.

I stepped out onto the street to find the Exploration Guild party staring up at Rhawrexdee as if he was going to eat them at any moment. Which reminded me...

Hey, Rhawrexdee, were going out for lunch, did you want to come?

Lunch? Certainly. Im quite hungry. And also a dragon.

I grinned. Awesome! So, do any of you know of a good place to eat? The only place I know is the Rock Inn and Roll Inn. They do have a nice courtyard, so that might work.

Sounds good enough, Amaryllis said. I need a place to write some things, any place with tables would do.

Likewise. Booksie said. Let me just lock things up.

Emeric moved over to me while Booksie was off closing up the shop. Ah, when you said zat you were friends wiz ze dragon, I, ah, didnt zink you were being zat literal.

Well, were not super-best friends or anything, not yet, but Rhawrexdee is a nice guy under all the arrogance and the desire to eat people and take their gold. I think theres a good chance that him and Booksie will work out!

The older grenoil looked at me for a long moment. You are one strange person, Broccoli Bunch.

Thank you!

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