Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with a wonderful story from Cianna Danaan. It is entitled
And Then There Was Nick, Part I
Background music by Smartsound
Cianna jumped as the door to the Soltown tavern burst open with a clatter and a rush of cold air. The soft, plaintive melody she’d been absentmindedly playing on the piano died away. A youngish man, clearly the worse for drink, stumbled through the door. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, pushed his cloth hood off, and glanced around the room.
“Barkeep! Barkeep! Another round, if you please.”
“Ya haven’t had your first yet, mate.” The grizzled old man behind the bar said, laughing. “At least not here. But you’ve definitely had a few rounds somewhere else, by the looks — and smell — of ya.”
The scattered patrons in the tavern laughed, the young man joining in with them.
“But, isn’t this the Fire Lotus Tavern, good man? It’s not? Hmmm, I could have sworn I was in Owl’s Head.” He shook his head as if to clear it. “I seem to have lost a continent. Well, no matter, let’s remedy this problem on the spot. Barkeep, my usual, if you please.”
The barkeep beckoned with his finger. “Come here, my boy,” he said, a look of bemusement on his face.
The young man swayed as he ambled up to the bar, leaning across the counter so he could hear the barkeep. “Yes, my good man?”
The barkeep whispered, loudly, so the room could hear, “Seeing as you’ve never been here before,” he said, “I don’t know what your ‘usual’ is. Do you see my problem, mate?”
As the crowd laughed again, Cianna rose from her seat.
“He’ll have a whiskey,” she said. “You can bring it to my table.”
Everyone turned to look at her as she spoke, the young man turning a bit slower than the rest, trying to maintain his balance as he went. He looked at her in confusion for a moment. Cianna thought she saw concern pass over his face, but if it was there, it quickly vanished.
“Milady? Is that you? By all the Watchers in Adoris, it is! It’s you!” He turned to a hefty man sitting on a stool near him. “It’s her!” he said to the man. “The love of my life, the apple of my eye, the….”
Cianna strode forward and gripped the young man by the elbow. “Quiet, please, Nick. I don’t care for too much scrutiny in public.”
“Shhh, shhh, yes, milady. I understand, I do. I’ll be quiet. Quiet as a….as a….”
“Foghorn?” said the barkeep, stepping past them to place a whiskey on Cianna’s table. “Anything more for you, miss?” he asked.
“No, I’m good, thank you.” She handed him coin for the whiskey.
Cianna steered Nick to her table, helping him to maintain an upright demeanor. She pulled out the nearest chair and guided him into it. She looked him over with a smile lurking at her lips as she sat down again.
“So, we meet again. How are you, Nick?”
“Ahh, but it’s good to see you again, milady.”
“Stop with the milady business, will you? Cianna’s good enough for me.”
He raised his eyebrows, then took a sip of whisky. “Cianna it is, then. Only trying to be respectful to my lady love.” He winked at her.
“I’m not your lady love, Nick. We barely know each other.” She laughed at his pouting face. “It is good to see you, though.”
“And it’s grand to see you,” he said. “Your beauty brightens up the day. Puts the very sun to shame, and makes the moon cry in his cups.”
Cianna laughed again.
