Sellas groaned into the bar's countertop, tired, embarrassed, and emotionally drained. The adventurers had agreed to stay the night, and she was floundering in the aftermath.

Oh, sure, Sellas had made peace with the idea that they'd need to clear out a space to sleep in and that they might not be the most perfect of guests. She'd steeled herself for scratched flooring, broken chairs, and general disruptions, even as she'd made her impulsive request. The adventurers, however, were turning out not to be the issue.

The issue was with her.

Sellas had no idea what she was supposed to be doing.

Enrick had begun moving the bar's furniture carefully off to the sides, Kate was pulling out the group's bedrolls, and Gregan was unpacking their bags, but Sellas was just sitting there, watching the three do their work. Was she supposed to be offering the group assistance as they set up? Finding them food? Ignoring them? Conversing? She didn't know.

Pinching at the bridge of her nose, Sellas hissed out a breath. Why was it all suddenly so hard? She'd been perfectly fine earlier. Confident, even! She needed to get up and ask them something. Something like...

"Hey, Sellas! You okay over here?"

Jerked from her ruminations by Kate's voice and a light tap to her shoulder, Sellas flailed, managing to catch herself against a neighboring chair in the moment before she could fall. She yelped, then leveraged herself upright, before turning to let out a strained assurance as to her general wellbeing.

"Fine! I'm fine."

Cocking her head, Kate gave the younger woman a small, lopsided grin. "Glad to hear it. Do you mind helping me out for a minute? Unrolling the beddings tends to be easier as a two-person job."

"Oh! Of course!" Visibly refocusing, and feeling utterly relieved, Sellas bounced to her feet. "Where do you want me? On one of the sides, or...?"

"Just choose a strap. If you could unlatch one as I press down on the middle—"

Sellas nodded as they made their way over to the area the group had cleared. Kneeling down, she braced against one of the roll's belts as Kate did the same on the other side, leveraging herself against its top to lessen the pressure on each of their clasps. The two heaved, and the bedroll opened with a surprisingly loud pop.

"Great! Now the others."

Pop. Pop.

It was short work, done together, and Sellas exhaled as they finished. Glancing around at the open beddings, her shoulders dropped. Just by a bit. She felt surprisingly better, having done something. More relaxed. Like she'd scratched an itch that'd been just beyond notice.

"Thanks, by the way."

"Hah! Anytime. You looked like you needed a distraction, and I appreciated the hand." Leaning forwards, Kate pitched her voice in mock-whisper. "I could wait for Gregan, but he tends to be an ass about it. You know, as if we're not also doing his." She scoffed before straightening.

"Yes. Well, that too, but—" Chuckling weakly, Sellas shook her head. "Thank you for staying. I'm sure you'd have rather kept moving, and I'm sorry for inconveniencing you all with this. It's just really good to have some other people around."

"Oh. Hey, don't even worry about that." Kate's expression shifted as she caught on. "Erick's ruffled pride aside, staying here is more boon than issue for us. We've spent nights in our own fair share of oddball places, and nine times out of ten, it's that much better than spending the time camped outdoors."

Flicking her eyes to the side, Kate gave a short pause. "Not that we think your place is odd, of course. Just... unexpected."

Sellas shrugged. It was understandable. She opened her mouth to say more, but paused as Kate leaned to the side to look past her. She followed the other woman's gaze.

"Enrick! Is there something I can help you with?"

Still clad in the armor he'd first entered with, Enrick looked up from where he was kneeling, his hands splayed against the bar's wooden floor. "Actually, Miss Sellas, I think there is." One brow raised, the man reached out and lifted a large fragment of wood, holding it at head level. "I'd like to avoid stepping on any of this in the middle of the night. Is there a place I can move it all so that it's out of the way?"

Sellas blinked, taking in the half-dozen scattered pieces of wood that lay around the man's feet, then flushed, a flash of embarrassment catching her by surprise. She backtracked. "Ah— just tossing it outside would be good. Thank you."

"Just... outside?" Enrick's wry expression faltered. "Are you sure? I'll admit, it's hardly a guarantee, but this looks like something you might fix with the right set of Skills."

"It's fine. The bar will take care of it. Thank you again, though." Sellas's face flamed as she stepped further away again.

Still seemingly hesitant, Enrick eyed her for a few seconds more before finally shrugging. "I suppose that makes things easy enough, then." Gathering the fragments of the shattered chair, he moved forwards and heaved them through the doorway. They landed outside with a muffled crunch, leaving him to dust off his hands. "In any case, however— do you serve food? I'd noticed you'd been making a stew when I first walked in, and, well..."

Sellas was already shaking her head, her expression pained."I've got water if any of you need it, but the stuff in the pot isn't edible. Still, uh, let me get you all some cups."

Grabbing a set of mugs from the counter, Sellas ducked towards the spout in the back corner of the room. She hadn't had the chance to refill her water bucket for the day, but for the moment, the issue was moot. Shifting the empty bucket to the side, she pushed some energy into the spout's runes, filling the first cup directly.

Water stores aside, Enrick's comment had touched on the genuine issue of food. Namely, that she didn't have any.

Sellas hesitated, then mentally corrected herself. She didn't have much. With the field and cliffside cutting her off from the wider forest, and no more convenient Alnumberry bushes near her door, Sellas's dietary options had taken a sharp turn from sparse to singular; sharing the few loaves of cabinet-bread that appeared throughout the day wasn't really an option.

Sellas made a face as she switched to filling a second cup.

More than keeping the loaves, however, what she really wanted was some food of theirs. The bread was filling, but she'd be hard-pressed to call it good. Sellas was dying for a bit of variety. Some vegetables, a bit of meat, a couple of new fruits, or even just—

"Is that a cask back there?" Sellas jerked, nearly dropping the overflowing mug as Enrick's voice sounded from the other side of the counter. "If it's not an issue, I'd appreciate a bit of whatever you're carrying. I'd pay for it too, of course."

"Whatever I'm—?" Shaking her head in muted annoyance, Sellas cut herself off. Instead, she turned, following the man's gaze.

A barrel sat at her elbow, its figure pressed between the stone basin and the wall. Sellas twitched. Had that always been there? She'd scoured the room from top to bottom in the days prior; surely she would've seen it. And yet...

As she nudged at the container, Sellas felt her frown deepen. "You know what? Sure. Let's see what I've got."

Straightening just long enough to put down the cup of water, Sellas bent down again and began lifting the cask. It was a relatively small container, no bigger than a pillow, really; just the right size to have been missed.

"Whoo— heavy little thing." Sellas winced as she slid the cask onto the counter. Snagging a new glass, she opened the tap and eyed the liquid that spilled outward. It was alcoholic, of course. That much was clear. The drink was ruddied brown, bordering on black in color, and reeked of brewing. Oats, orange, a spicy tang, and... Sellas sniffed, once. Was that ginger? She wrinkled her nose before passing it off to Enrick.

"Thank you. I don't usually condone drinking outside town, but..." He took a slow, deep breath. "It's been a tiring day." Flicking his head back, Enrick downed his cup. As he set it back down again, the man's face twisted itself into a pucker.

Sellas eyed him wearily.

"Sour, then?"

"Very." Enrick pinched at his nose. "Would you mind passing me another? I think I might like to taste it, this time."

"Sure."

Sellas passed him a second mug. He eyed it, then took a much-reduced sip. As his face cleared, he gave a slow, approving nod. "It's good. Herbal, almost, but good." Still nodding to himself, Enrick twisted to direct his gaze to the cabinets above Sellas's head. "Apologies, but I don't believe I quite caught what you said earlier. No stew, I remember. And I can understand that you wouldn't want to be carrying any real quantities of meat out here. But then what about dried foods?"

Caught flatfooted, Sellas wavered.

"That's... not quite so easy." Reaching for the doors to the cabinet behind her, the young woman let out a defeated sigh. She eyed the ground uncomfortably as it opened. "What you see is all I can offer. I've been trying to keep an eye out for smaller game, and I would've picked some more of those berries if I'd seen them, but, I mean..."

Enrick laughed as he looked inside. A short, deep chuckle.

"I'm sure the ones you have in there will taste just fine. How much will it cost for the each of us?"