We tramped down to tavern part of the establishment, which looked pretty messed up. Empty and half filled mugs lay scatted on every surface, along with scattered bits of food, and card games. The place smelled very strongly of ale.
There was a woman with a cloth, on the floor, with a bucket of water, scrubbing away. A man was wiping down the bar. Redwar walked up to him.
"Good morning. We would like some breakfast, and then we'll do the work."
"Alright" replied the man cheerily, which surprised me, because he looked so rugged and dour a moment ago.
He went into the kitchen. We sat on bar stools while we waited. Hecame back with bread and cheese. "I'm 'fraid this is all I've got right now," he apologised.
"That will do fine," replied Redwar evenly. "Do you have water? I prefer not to drink this early in the morning."
The man laughed. "Yes, let me go draw some."
Redwar cut the bread and cheese, handing the slices to us. I put the cheese on top of the bread and bit down. The meal was not necessarily tasty, but it was filling.
The man came back with a pitcher of water and a ladle. "I'm 'fraid this is the way you'll have to drink it, I don't have anymore clean glasses."
"That's alright," Redwar said as he took the pitcher and dipped the ladle in it. He swallowed huge gulps and then passed it to Valeria. "What work do you want us to do?"
"Well, I was thinkin' your two daughters could help clean off the tables and wash the glasses. And you could help me-"
Valeria erupted into a coughing fit. We looked at her with concern. She waved a hand and said breathily, "I'll be alright, just got water in my throat."
I turned to look at Redwar. Had he told the manager we were his daughters, or had the manager assumed that?
Redwar did not correct him. "Help you do what?" He prompted the manager.
"Help me muck out the stables."
Redwar nodded. "Sounds good to me. What about it, girls?"
"That sounds alright," said Valeria. I shrugged and agreed with her.
"Then it's a deal," said the manager. "I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm Mr. Finnley." He pointed to the woman scrubbing on the floor. "That woman there's my daughter, Sherria."
Sherria looked up and waved at us.
"She'll help you two clean this place up and get it ready for lunchtime. What're your names?" Mr. Finnley asked Valeria and I.
"I'm Valeria, sir."
"My name's Ravine."
He clapped his hands, which made both of us jump. "Two beautiful names for beautiful girls."
I dipped water with the ladle and raised it to my lips as Valeria said, "Thank you."
After breakfast Valeria and I began helping Sherria clean the place up. My first job was gathering all the mugs and shot glasses, then cleaning them out. It was a fairly easy, but very mundane, task. Valeria was assigned to scrub the tables.
Sherria proved to be friendly but quiet. She did her work with a well practiced air, proving she'd been doing this probably all her life. Despite having two helpers, she did not shirk any of her duty, but worked just as hard.
Redwar and Mr. Finnley went out back to the stables to muck. We didn't see them until it was nearly noon. They came in sweaty and dirty.
"This place sure looks nice!" Exclaimed Mr. Finnley.
I smiled and finished washing out a mug, putting it on a shelf behind me.
Just then a man stumbled down the stairs, looking a bit bleary eyed and disheveled. "Hello Mr. Finnley," he said.
"Good morning, sir, would you like some breakfast?"
"Yes, please."
He turned and called out, "Sherria, get this man here some of that soup you're cooking!"
"Alright," said Sherria as she finished wiping down a table. She walked over to the bleary-eyed man and guided him over to a chair. "Here you go, sir, just sit right here and I'll bring some lunch out for you."
She went in the back and came out with a bowl of steaming soup. The man mumbled a thank you and dug in.
As I continued washing glasses, more people started to come down the stairs from their room. Most of them were bleary eyed, with headaches, indicating they'd been drinking hard last night.
I eyed them as I washed another glass. I really had no use for such people, to be honest they disgusted me.
About the same time customers came in the doors, workers looking for a drink and lunch. These were the ones who's faces I perused intensely. Derrek, where are you?
I finished scrubbing another glass and looked down at the water, which had started to turn a mucky brown and stink. I picked the basin up and walked out the back. Like Sherria had shown me, I tossed the water on the garden.
I drew fresh water out of the well, dumped it in the basin, and carried it inside. By then, there was another stack of glasses waiting for me. I resumed washing and watching.
As I ran my eyes over the faces, my eyes picked out one. Unfortunately it was not Derrek. But he still intrigued me. His face was handsome, there was no doubt about that, but it was the way he moved that grabbed my attention.
He was clean and smooth, sophisticated, unlike these men he now moved among. He came up to a table where a dice game was being played, and sat down to join in. He stroked his mustache as he watched.
Sherria noticed me watching him as she dipped up soup. "You found your next lover?" She teased.
I blushed. "Oh no. It's just... I don't know, he seems so sophisticated among the other men."
She nodded. "That he is. He's Willy Wilson, leastways, that's my nickname for him. He's as wily as they come. He stops in here every week or so. He cheats, but he don't get caught often."
I gave her a surprised glance. "And you don't throw him out for cheating?"
She chuckled. "Men come here for ale, lodging, and food. If they choose to risk their money, that's their business and their risk. We ain't gonna get involved unless they start a fight. Then dad'll throw all of 'em out."
She picked up the soup bowls and left. Valeria came to me with more mugs to wash. She set them down and wiped her forehead. "Phew, I never knew running a tavern could be such hard work."
I nodded. "I don't see how just Sherria and her father could run this place by themselves."
Valeria shook her head. "They don't. Mrs. Finnley usually helps out, but she took ill."
"Oh, that explains it."
"The older sister used to help out, but she got married. Sherria's going to be married too next year, but until then she works here."
"And how did you get all this information?"
She shrugged. "I asked her."
She whisked away and I returned my attention to the cheating man. I found it hard to believe that he could cheat, he seemed very nice. Then I realized that was probably part of his ruse.
He looked up, and caught me watching him. I flushed and looked down. How embarrassing.
When I looked back up, he was still watching me.
We helped Mr. Finnley until the lunch rush was finished. Then we set out to do some more searching in the city.
As we strolled along I asked Redwar, "Did you tell Mr. Finnley that we are your daughters?"
He nodded. "It's safer that way. Besides, it's true. You're my adopted daughters."
I raised my eyebrows and turned away. I'd never realized he thought of us that way. And I wasn't sure I liked it. I'd always thought of him as a mentor and friend.
Redwar, seeing my distress, hurried to explain. "Oh no, not in the way you're thinking. You see, in Ravagerian society, a mentor is considered an intellectual father of his students. He's passing on a legacy, therefore he is considered a father with adopted children."
"Oh," I said. I was relieved. "That's fine then."
"Where are we going to search today?" Asked Valeria.
"I think we'll try the blacksmiths," replied Redwar.
AN: This chapter seems a little slow, and a bit of a filler. So, sorry about that, I'll probably clear that up in the editing.