Vistus: Storm Queen

Dear Journal,

Is this how I am supposed to preface an entry? Phrased this way, would diary not be more apt? I am not sure. But this is my journal, so I can structure it however I wish. I do not expect this to be read by anyone anyway.

Mikhael suggested I write one in the first place to pen my ‘various adventures and exploits’, as he calls them, but I think he has sniffed one too many Bleakleaves his hopes are perhaps a bit high! I hardly think I will accomplish anything even remotely noteworthy in this life or the next. Nevertheless, this journal was a gift from him, and I intend to make good on my promise to use it, once I can think of something to write, that is.

Right now since acquiring this journal, the most I have done is eaten an extra slice of cake before bed. Goodness, I would never hear the end of it from Celese if she found out! I should put this journal somewhere safe where not even she can find it.

I suppose I will end this entry here.I look forward to seeing what tomorrow will bring.

-

Three young Vistians rode on the back of a big black dragon, sailing through the pink tinged sky. They had been flying for hours now, and would soon reach their destination; the characteristic traditional buildings of Dustgrove came into view.

Laerya peered down from her position on Shady’s saddle, the wind whipping her long rabbit ears behind her. “We’ll be landing in about ten minutes, it looks like,” she said, turning back to look at her companions. “Get yourselves ready.”

“I’ve been ready for hours,” Akorri mumbled, running a hand through his ruffled red hair. It was even more unkempt than normal thanks to the wind. “I just wanna walk on the ground again.”

“Yeah, even I do, to be honest,” Laerya replied. It was a little chilly this high up in the sky, and even though her purple fur was thick enough to ward off most of the cold, she still felt enough to be bothered by it. She buried her face in her yellow scarf in an attempt to seek warmth. “I’m beginning to think we should stop with the all-day flights. They’ve lost their appeal.”

“They lost their appeal a long time ago for me.” Akorri chanced a glance down at the slowly approaching town. He managed to keep at it for a few moments before withdrawing with a grimace.

“What, really?” Laerya grinned, raising an eyebrow. “We’ve been at this for like four months now and you still can’t handle heights?”

“Hey, hey…” Akorri leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, “Should I push you off Shady so you can find out why?”

Laerya snickered before raising her voice. “Jinny! Akorri’s threatening to throw me overboard again!”

Jinny, the white Feln sitting at the base of Shady’s furred neck, let out a sigh. “Akorri, please don’t throw Lae overboard. Lae, please stop teasing Akorri about his fear of heights.” She didn’t even turn to face them, but Laerya could hear the smile in her voice.

“Fine,” Lae sang in reply, leaning back in the saddle.

It had been four months since the four travellers left Greenglade to see the world, and to Laerya those months flew by. As she looked up at the pink clouds above her, she knew she did not regret asking her friends to join her. She had been a solo adventurer before this, and though she had friends, she never took them with her. She did not realise until now how lonely that existence was for her.

Akorri was not the most exciting boy she had met, but she found herself enjoying their playful back-and-forths. His level-headed attitude helped ground her when she would otherwise rush into something headfirst; though his presence did not immediately deter her reckless behaviour (though not for lack of trying), he was always there to help her think through solutions. He had been through his fair share of trials, and she suspected he was far from over them, but for now he seemed content to travel with his friends, and that was enough for her. She just hoped that, with time, his wounds would heal.

She put a hand to her chest at the thought. He was not the only one who’d been hurt recently. Finding out she had no magic at all had put a damper on her spirits, but that was nothing compared to the dull ache at the thought of the ruined village they left behind: Greenglade, the village of magic and Jinny’s home.

Laerya wondered how Jinny felt about all this. She was still the shy mage they first met in Greenglade, but in the past few months the shackles of the village and its expectations loosened their grip on her, allowing her true self to shine through. Laerya sometimes felt that Jinny’s compassion rivalled hers and even outweighed it in certain circumstances; she had been there through Akorri’s darker spells and Laerya’s slowly festering doubts, offering quiet support and endless patience. She still had a long way to go in regards to practising magic again, but Laerya had seen her occasionally training her  Light magic in the night when she thought no one was watching.

Laerya's thoughts again returned to magic, and the village that homed Havran’s two prestigious mages, Fericeus and Lorelei. She had not gotten many assignments from Fericeus since the incident; he seemed content to coop himself up in his study, clearly deep into whatever he was currently researching. Laerya had to pick out destinations to travel by herself these days, based on her friends’ desires as well as her own. As for Lorelei, it had been four months of tense silence. Laerya was not sure if that was good or not.

She wondered how Greenglade was doing now after Lorelei’s attack. She hoped the villagers did not dream of Vacerus’s corpse as often as she did.

“It looks like it’s time to land,” said Jinny, breaking Laerya out of her thoughts. Akorri heaved a quick sigh of relief as Shady began his descent and the little town of Dustgrove got closer and closer.

It really was a small town, Laerya mused as Shady’s claws touched down on the dusty ground. In fact, calling it a town would be a lie. There were a few shops here and there with signs hanging from the walls notifying what they were selling; some residential housing; a public transport stop; and an inn that connected to a tavern, known as the Short Fletcher.

“Wow,” said Akorri as he slid off Shady’s saddle. “This is… humble.”

Laerya nodded. There wasn’t even anyone walking the streets, but she could hear music and loud shouts coming from the tavern across the way. “This is more like a rest stop for travellers than an actual town,” she explained as she joined Akorri on the ground. “I guess you could call it a hamlet. It gets a lot of travellers due to its tavern.”

Jinny patted Shady’s leg once she got off him. “Mm, Dustgrove does seem like a nice, quiet place.”

“Told ya, didn’t I?” Laerya grinned. “I figured you’d like it. I heard about it a while ago and was like, ‘oh, we should totally check out this cute little traveller’s hamlet’, and here we are.”

“Thanks for the summary,” said Akorri with a raised eyebrow. “So are we gonna check out this supposedly famous tavern, too?”

Laerya noted the apprehensive gleam in Jinny’s eye, but nodded all the same. Jinny was with them to experience new things, and it would be a shame not to visit the Short Fletcher after coming this far. “You bet we are!”

After making sure Shady found a place he could relax near enough to the hamlet, the group headed for the Short Fletcher tavern. Laerya found herself feeling slightly excited as she opened the heavy door to Dustgrove’s well known pub.

The reek of beer hit her like a sledgehammer, causing her to reel back and wince. Oh dear Vacerus, do people actually drink this stuff? It stinks worse than mum’s cabbage stew!

“Hahaha! What, never been to a tavern before?” Akorri patted -- or rather, slapped -- Lae’s back heartily, and she flinched for the second time in less than a minute. “Now I thought you were worldly.”

“I am!” Lae protested. “Just not… tavern worldly.” A patron bumped her as he walked past, not even offering an apology, alcohol wafting from his mouth.

“Clearly. C’mon, follow me.” Akorri guided Jinny and Laerya past the throngs of people all merrily chatting away to a table in the corner of the room, where a Cragwing skull hung proudly on the wall above the table. “I take it you’re not much of a drinker?”

Lae sat down on the hard wooden bench.  “What, and you are?” she asked as Jinny sat next to her, balking at the Cragwing skull.

Akorri smirked. “Oh, nah. I’m barely legal, remember?”

“That’s never stopped you before.”

“Oh, ha, ha.” That wiped the smirk off his face.

Laerya stuck her tongue out at him before continuing. “So seriously, if you don’t drink, why do you look like you’ve been coming to this place since before you could walk?”

“Right, I’ll just skip over that comment…” Akorri twirled his gloved hand. “I dunno, I just ended up in these kinds of places a lot in my line of work? My uh, former line of work.” He glanced away briefly. “I never drank, though. Didn’t see it as a good use of what little coin I had. Mostly met… clients here. One particular client in particular. Haha.”

“You don’t have to say particular twice, we can read between the lines.” Lae glanced at Jinny, who was alternating between looking at them and staring the Cragwing skull. “Was Lorelei a drinker?”

“She…” Akorri paused, and then stood up. “Y’know what, if we’re seriously gonna talk about her, I need a drink. Do you two want anything?”

“Look at you, willingly getting alcohol! I can’t miss out on this. If you’re getting something, I will too.” Laerya’s gaze swept over the patrons around her, mugs of beer in hand, the strong-smelling liquid splashing onto the tables as they drunkenly waved their arms around. “...Do they have anything other than beer though?”

“I guess they have cocktails? I know you like sweet stuff.” Akorri tilted his head. “I could get you and Jinny one to share, if you like.”

“Oh, that sounds nice! What do you think, Jinny?”

The white furred Feln rubbed her arm, her furrowed brow giving away her reluctance. “I’ve never had alcohol before…”

“Then it’s worth a try, right?” Laerya leaned against her, grinning mischievously. “Come on, Jinny, you joined us so you could experience new things, right? Right?”

“This feels an awful lot like peer pressure…”

“Nah, peer pressure would be if I said, ‘come on Jinny you ain’t cool if you don’t drink 10 gallons of beer a day with us totally cool kids, yeah!’”

“I see you hung out with the cool kids at school,” Akorri said flatly.

“Absolutely!” Absolutely not, Laerya thought, flashing back to her awkward school days. The cool kids did not like idealists. “Anyway, I think it’d be fun to share a drink with you, Jinny. So, shall we?”

Jinny smiled. Lae was glad that her friend was showing her emotions more openly lately. Time away from Greenglade really did seem to do her good. “Well, when you put it like that, you make it hard to say no…”

“You can’t say no to this face.” Laerya’s eyes widened in what she hoped was a puppy-dog-like expression. “Please? For me?”

“You look stupid,” said Akorri.

“No one asked you,” said Lae, still giving Jinny her best innocent look.

Jinny sighed, inching away from Lae just a bit. She hadn’t realised she was so close until she was suddenly no longer right up against her friend’s face. “Okay,” Jinny replied. “For you. Though I admit I am a bit curious to see what it would taste like.”

“That’s what I like to hear!” Lae pumped her fist and turned to Akorri. “Barkeep, give us the sweetest, finest cocktail you have!”

Akorri frowned for the second time that night, and definitely not the last. “Funny. Call me the barkeep again and I’ll send you to get the next round.”

“Oh, next round? Aren’t we ambitious!”

“I’d call it ‘getting ahead of ourselves’...” Jinny said.

“Listen, I’m gonna need more than one drink to put up with Lae tonight. Look at her, she hasn’t even tried one yet and she’s already annoying.”

“She’s always--”

“Hey!” Laerya gasped before Jinny could finish.

“--a bit exuberant,” said the Feln, appeasing Lae with a small smile.

Akorri snorted. “Yeah, exuberant’s one word for it.”

Lae looked over at the bar, where a pastel tiger girl with long pink and purple hair was busy pouring drinks to the patrons seated in front. She talked to them while she worked, a bright smile on her face. Lae smirked. “Ah. Now I know why you really wanna get a second round.”

“I never said I’d get the second.”

“She is pretty, I’ll say that. I really like her hair.”

“What are you talking about?” Akorri turned to look at the tiger girl, Jinny’s gaze following. “... Oh, right.” He cleared his throat. “Uh. No, that’s not why. And like I said I wouldn’t get the second round.”

“Uh huh.” Lae’s smirk reached her eyes. She wasn’t entirely sure whether Akorri actually felt that way or not, but she couldn’t pass up an opportunity to tease him.

“I…” Akorri’s cheeks tinged pink, and Lae felt her grin reach the heavens. “Oh, go fall in a hole.” He left the table, his face burning.

Lae laughed, leaning back on the bench. Akorri was such an easy target, but she did feel a little bad. She would apologise later. She turned to Jinny, who was watching the tiger with an unreadable expression. Lae grinned, deciding on her second target. “You can go with him, if you want. I’m sure she looks even prettier up close.”

“W-what?” Jinny blinked, her eyes wide.

“Maybe say hi. Who knows, maybe she’ll like you more than Akorri.” Lae snapped her fingers. “In fact, I’m positive she will. You’ve got those irresistible blue eyes.”

“I don’t--!” Jinny reeled back in shock. “I’m not, I wasn’t… I wasn’t even thinking of her!” Unfortunately for her, she was much less used to keeping her emotions in check now that she was no longer in Greenglade, and that included embarrassment.

Lae chuckled. She couldn’t bring herself to be too mean to Jinny. She seemed to take the teasing to heart most of the time. “I know, I know, I’m just messing with you.” She patted Jinny’s shoulder. “That’s just the kind of banter you say in a tavern. I think.”

Jinny sighed, rubbing her arm. “Right…”

The two continued to exchange in more mature conversation until Akorri came back with the drinks. He held a mug of beer in one hand, and in the other was a large tall glass of blue liquid and a lot of ice.

Oh, now that looked good.

Akorri placed it on the table in front of Laerya and Jinny as he sat down with his beer. He sniffed it and frowned. “Eugh. Maybe I should’ve picked a less pungent drink.”

Laerya followed his example and inhaled the fruity scent of her blue cocktail. The alcohol was mostly masked by a sweet citrus smell. “Guess you could share with us?” she said.

Akorri shook his head. “I spent money on this, I’ll suffer for it.” He took a swig of the beer and shrugged. “Beer doesn’t taste as bad as it smells, at least.”

Lae was eager to try her cocktail, taking a sip with one of the straws. The sweet yet tangy liquid shocked her tastebuds briefly before she got used to it, and she nodded appreciatively. “Oh, this is good. Here Jinny, try.” She inched the glass closer to the white Feln.

Jinny looked at the glass as though it were a bomb, but with Lae’s encouragement she slowly took a straw and sipped. Lae watched her with wide, expectant eyes. Jinny didn’t give anything away at first, pausing as if to evaluate the drink, and then continued sipping.

“Looks like we got a winner.” Lae grinned and drank through her straw. She didn’t say anything else for a few moments, content to enjoy her cocktail, before remembering the original topic. “So, Lorelei went to taverns?”

Akorri put down his mug. He leaned back as much as he could and sighed, as if in preparation for what was to come. “Yeah, she went. She wasn’t a big drinker, though. Didn’t wanna impair her judgement.” He frowned. “She liked being in control at all times, so alcohol was off the table.”

Lae nodded. That was what she expected. Though she knew Lorelei nowhere near as well as Akorri did, what she did figure out was that Lorelei couldn’t stand losing power.

“Our visits were always brief. I don’t think Lorelei actually likes taverns. Or anything, really.” Akorri snorted. “So it’d just be business. Yuli was there sometimes too, and she didn’t drink either, obviously. But Lorelei was always a little more relaxed when Yuli was around. She’d stop cursing everyone nearby, for one thing.”

Lae sipped her cocktail, content to just listen. She was not even a little surprised by what Akorri was telling her, but she was curious about Lorelei all the same. She was a horrible Vistian, but she had once been Fericeus’s friend. There had to have been something he once liked about her.

Speaking of Fericeus…

“Do you think Feri’s still after her?”

Akorri looked away as if in thought, focusing on the shelves of decorative alcohol bottles on the wall beside him. “I’d say yeah. And not just him, either.”

“Hmm?” Lae leaned her head in her hand.

“I think the Peacekeepers are after her, too.”

“The Peacekeepers, huh…” Lae sipped her drink. It would make sense for the Peacekeepers to come after Lorelei now. She had drawn attention to herself when she used Vacerus’s corpse for her own gain. Reanimating a sacred dragon’s corpse to destroy a village would not slip past the average civilian, let alone the ever watchful eyes of the Peacekeepers.

“I’ve not heard much about the Peacekeepers,” Jinny put in. “I know they try and calm conflicts, but… how do they do that, exactly?”

Lae looked down at her glass to find it half empty. She raised her eyebrows, aware she had only had a few sips. She stared at Jinny.

“They uh… You know, I’m not too sure either.” Akorri ran a hand through his ruffled red hair. “They, like, protect the… peace…”

Before Laerya could comment on the redundancy of Akorri’s statement, a voice she didn’t recognise spoke out. A deep, rough voice, yet still distinctly feminine.

“Protecting the peace? Yeah, I guess that’s what they’d like to call it.”

Laerya turned around to see a black-furred Lucive sitting on the bench near them, several empty mugs on her table. She had short black hair, orange stripes lending splashes of colour to her dark fur. Her eyes, red and narrowed, glared at Lae as if in a challenge. She leaned a well muscled arm on the table, the other holding a flagon of some kind of alcohol Lae could not recognise, but its pungent scent made her shudder. How could something stink even worse than beer?

“I’m sorry?” she said.

The Lucive put down her flagon. “You guys friendly with the Peacekeepers? You talk like you know ‘em.” She jutted her head sharply in Laerya’s direction, and Lae couldn’t help but recoil from the sharp alcoholic stench wafting from her breath.

“Well, I… do know a few,” she said, tilting her head. She was getting distinctly antagonistic vibes from this Lucive, and she wasn’t sure why.

“What. Don’t tell me you’re actually friends with them.”

“Well…” Lae blinked. “Yeah?”

The Lucive’s eyes widened for a moment before she burst into laughter, but even Laerya could tell it wasn’t the jovial kind. She turned her whole body to face the group, and Lae blinked again when she caught sight of her toned stomach. “You sure about that?”

Lae felt Jinny tense up beside her. She was getting a little irritated herself. Why was she being challenged, over something as trivial as this, no less? “I’m sorry, but who are you?”

The Lucive took a swig of her ‘drink’ and grinned, revealing sharp teeth. “Elora Flamefur, of the Flamefur clan. Nice to meetcha.”

The Flamefur clan… Laerya had heard of them before, but couldn’t remember where. “I'm Laerya Lightningdancer,” she replied. “It's nice to meet you.” I guess.

Elora’s red eyes widened. “You're a Lightningdancer? Oh man, no way!” She threw her arms up in an inviting hug. “C’mere, kin!”

Laerya regarded Elora's sudden friendliness in stunned silence, wondering how much the girl had had to drink, before her brain registered what was said, snapping her to attention. “Wait, kin?”

“Yeah!” Elora kept her arms up. “You n’ me, we're cousins, bro!”

Laerya’s father's words hit her like an Earth user's boulder to the face. Apparently we're very distantly related to the Flamefurs. We shared blood with them many, many years ago! So there's a chance you may have Fire magic in you! How cool is that, Lae?

He'd said that when she was very young, before she had even discovered her heightened speed from her Air magic ancestry. She hadn't thought too much of it after she discovered she couldn't set her house plant on fire with her hands, so she had buried that information away. But now here sat a Flamefur, her own 'cousin’, welcoming her with open arms.

Well, this was pretty cool.

“No way!” Laerya leaned in to accept the hug but was not ready for Elora's lunge to meet her, and was even less prepared for her death grip. The smell of alcohol coming off her certainly didn't help. Just when she thought this was a trap and Elora intended to strangle her, she let go, grinning from ear to ear.

“Well I definitely didn't expect to meet a Lightningdancer out here. Dude, you've gotta tell me what your family's like.” Elora’s hungry eyes had her pinned. “Do you guys summon windstorms to fly on to help you get to places faster?”

“I didn't know you could do that,” Akorri murmured to Jinny.

“Do we…?” Lae blinked. She briefly pictured her father with wings flying haphazardly on an erratic wind gust and only just stopped herself from snickering. “No, nothing like that. We can't use magic.”

“You what.” Elora also blinked. “You can't use magic?”

“Nope.”

Akorri and Jinny exchanged glances as Elora narrowed her eyes. “Lemme get this straight. You're Lightningdancers… kin with the Flamefur clan… and you can't use magic.”

Laerya was getting the feeling she'd said the wrong thing. “Yes…”

Elora rubbed her temple, frowning. “What kind of Flamefur relative can't use magic?”

“We just don't have any magical ability.” Lae forced down her hint of annoyance in an effort to keep things civil. “My parents don't, and I don't either.”

“Then… Then what's the point?”

“Excuse me?”

“Why call yourself a Lightningdancer if you can't live up to that name?”

Laerya’s head swam for a brief moment as anger swept through her. The nerve of this rude, alcoholic fire-brain! “I live up to it just fine, and so do my parents! Where do you get off saying something like that?”

“I'm just saying if you can't use magic, there's no point to your name.” Elora raised an eyebrow. “I can't believe I'm related to a Terros-killer.”

Laerya’s fist moved of its own accord. The table groaned as she smashed into it, eliciting gasps from her friends and a sudden audience of the tavern’s patrons. Pain lanced up her arm, but she ignored it.”What did you just say?”

Elora raised her eyebrow, something between a sneer and a smirk on her face. “Holy crap dude, I was just saying--”

“Take it back.”

“What?”

“Take it back!” Laerya clawed at the table, her heart beating furiously in her chest. Pain fuelled her anger, pain at being called a name so horrid and demeaning that lunged at her insecurities like a Cragwing pouncing on its prey.

Terros-killer.

She had heard it in reference to non-magic users before, a derogatory term referencing the actions of the Nemonians who slayed their dragon guardian when the region was first created. She was not a Nemonian, but to even suggest that she was part of the group of desecrators who killed a dragon…

Akorri and Jinny stared, appalled at the scene before them.

Elora stood up, swaying slightly. “Back off, kid. I just said the truth. Your kind ain’t exactly as powerful as us or anything. You guys rely on tech to do everything cos you can’t do it yourselves.”

Akorri grabbed Laerya’s arm before she realised she’d moved it. “Don’t, Lae. It’s not worth it.”

She fought the urge to break free of his grip. He was right. Throwing a punch wouldn’t solve anything, though she was desperate for the pain in her chest to abate. No one had gone after her like that before, not even in Greenglade, where magic-users sneered at those who lacked it. She knew it was wrong, but she couldn’t help uttering, “No Lightningdancer would want to associate with you anyway.”

She tried to ignore her guilt as Elora stepped back, her brows creasing with genuine hurt. The expression was gone as soon as it appeared however as her hackles raised and she glared at Laerya. “And I wouldn’t wanna associate with anyone whose blood’s hollow.”

Fury flared anew in Laerya, but this time the hurt outweighed it, dampening her desire to lunge at Elora. She was not a magic user, but her blood was notlesser for that. She had to rise above her ‘cousin’s’ taunting. “Aren’t you a nasty piece of work?” she murmured, her voice brittle with suppressed anger. She couldn’t help herself. “What’s wrong, Elora? So insecure about yourself that you resort to calling non-magic users slurs?”

Elora narrowed her eyes.

“You too dumb to use your fire powers properly or something?”

Elora’s fist flared to life, searing heat suddenly an inch away from Laerya’s face. The patrons gasped and Jinny flew out of her seat to Laerya’s side. “You wanna say that again?” Elora snarled.

Laerya, briefly stunned by the fire so close to her face, was not the first to react.

“Enough.” A deep voice boomed behind her and she found herself lifted up by the back of her shirt. She twisted around to see a short brown cow-girl grabbing Elora’s flaming wrist and yanking her closer, not even flinching from the contact. The fire fizzled out instantly.

Before Laerya or Elora could figure out was going on, the cow-girl latched onto Elora’s purple crop top and lifted her up. “Violence is prohibited in this establishment,” she said as she carried her cargo away from their tables and towards the tavern doors. “I will not have you disturbing our patrons.”

“We weren’t gonna--” Elora was unceremoniously tossed out of the tavern before she could finish, Laerya following swiftly after. She grunted as she hit the hard, dusty ground, feeling more ashamed than pained from the landing.

She coughed as she sat up, wiping her face. How could she let herself get carried away like that? She bit her tongue in punishment. If only she could take back what she'd said with it. No matter how much Elora riled her up, she should not have stooped to her level. She was better than that.

She stood up in time to see Akorri and Jinny hastily exiting the tavern, concern colouring their faces. She made to quell their anxiety, but Elora spoke first.

“That could’ve gone better.”

Silence fell over the two as Elora got up, looking everywhere but at Laerya. Laerya couldn't bring herself to look at Elora either. A deep sigh brought their attention to Akorri.

“Listen…” His ear twitched when Elora's guarded gaze fell on him, the only indication of his apprehension. “Elora. I don't know you, so forgive me for speaking out of turn, but Laerya is my friend. I don't appreciate what you said about her,” he kept his gaze level, “and about non-magic users in general.”

Laerya blinked. She'd forgotten Akorri could be polite. It was strange to see this coming from the guy who threatened to throw her overboard Shady just earlier. Though it was odd, she smiled inwardly. Thanks, Akorri.

Elora continued looking at him, not quite glaring, but certainly not backing down either. She seemed to be analysing him. Akorri for his part looked calmly back at her, inviting no challenge in his misleadingly relaxed posture.

Sudden off-key singing from the tavern filled the silence, the lights from the windows illuminating the group outside. They attempted to ignore it, but a particularly tone deaf warble managed to offset the tension somewhat, causing Elora's lips to twitch upwards momentarily.

“It's really that bad, huh?” she said after a few moments. “And no, I ain't talking about the singing.” She sighed, relaxing her posture, and shook her head slowly. “I'm… I'm sorry. For what I said.”

Laerya looked carefully at her, like a stray cat-pet appraising its new owner. It was a good start, but it wasn't enough.

“Those really are bad words, aren't they?”

“Um…” Laerya frowned. “Yeah?”

“Hey, don't look at me like that. Where I'm from, those ain't slurs.”

“You're kidding.” Lae stared at her, unimpressed.

“Look, I grew up surrounded by my clan for years. We tossed those words around like any others. I thought it was normal.” Elora rubbed the back of her bristly neck. “Kinda insulting, but normal. Like uh, the word ‘shit’, you know?”

Laerya glanced at her friends to find them looking just as confused as she felt. “Seriously? Like, for real? Your clan is kinda…” She hesitated to insult the Flamefurs, but at the moment her distant family was not looking too great. Did they all have this sense of superiority over non-magic users like Elora did?  “Anyway, yes, those words are really bad. No non-magic user wants to be lumped in with Nemon's shameful heritage. We aren't like that.”

“I didn't think it was literal. It was just a name for people who can't use magic.”

Laerya kicked the dirt. “Well, it's not just a name.”

Elora rubbed her arm, a complete contrast to the confident girl Laerya had seen in the tavern. “Like I said, I'm sorry. Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot here. Can we like, uh, meet up tomorrow? Pretend this never happened?”

Laerya still felt the bitterness of Elora's insults eating at her, but she did not have it in her to reject Elora outright. “Why?”

“I kinda wanna start over when I'm more sober,” said Elora. “I'm like, super drunk right now.”

Laerya winced at that. So brazen about it…

“You deserve a proper apology when I'm more fit to give it.” Elora wagged her finger. “Plus, I wanna talk about something.”

Laerya still wasn't sure she wanted to see Elora again, but that last sentence piqued her curiosity. She checked Akorri and Jinny for looks of disapproval, but they only shrugged.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s meet at the tavern again tomorrow, in the morning.”