Tom stared into the bottom of his mug of rum. Takes this much for me to feel it, he mused. Not sure it's an improvement. He frowned. Maybe I shouldn't have another. I need to think about something else. He had taken a small table in one corner of the tavern, and most people seemed to sense his mood and steered clear. Edge stopped by again, briefly.

“Left the ladies at home, Tom?”

Tom nodded. “Hey, Edge…I got one more request for you. Information.”

Edge grinned. “That's what I'm here for. What do you need?”

“I want information on any other elves in Rivermarch. Not the advisor in the Keep, I already know about that one. I'll pay you a silver—no, two silver—for every elf you find for me.”

“Oh, I can—“

“But not tonight,” Tom interrupted the informant. “I just…not tonight. Tell me tomorrow or whenever.”

“Sure thing, my friend. You doing all right?”

“Yeah. I mean, no, but I'll be all right. I just need to drown my sorrows and anger and stuff. Sorry, I'm not good company tonight.”

“Not a problem, Tom. You relax and drink in peace. I'll leave you be.”

“Thanks, Edge. You're a good guy to know.”

“Happy to help.”

Edge went away, and Tom brooded about Eubexa and his promise not to retaliate for her condition with Madam Louisa. Grimacing, he ordered a second rum. He was about halfway through it when his solitude was disturbed by a familiar-looking woman.

“Hey, there, big fella.”

Tom blinked up at her for a moment before he remembered. It was the woman Edge had brought to take Kervan to his client. “Oh. Hi. I owe you dinner and some drinks.”

“Right you are.” She sat down so that they shared a corner of the table. “And I owe you this.” So saying, she discreetly slid a gold coin to him. Tom nodded and put the coin away. He caught Debbie's eye and gestured. The barmaid nodded at him and continued to take someone's order.

“I'm sorry, I forgot your name.”

“Lily Rose. What's yours?”

“Tom Walker.”

“Pleased to meet you, Tom.”

“Likewise. Thanks for helping out. I didn't want to leave the others alone in here.”

“Sensible. Some people like to look for trouble to get into. You take the rest home already?”

“Yes.”

Lily Rose regarded him for a few heartbeats. “Bad news?”

Tom grimaced. “Yeah, you could say that.”

“I figured. You look a lot more down than you did earlier.”

Debbie came over. “Hi, there, big guy!”

“I got a name,” Tom grumbled.

“You do?” Debbie did a good job of sounding astonished. A moment later, she sobered as she realized Tom wasn't in a joking mood. “May I know it?” she asked politely.

“Tom.”

“I'll remember that, Tom. You already paid for Lily's dinner and drinks earlier. So, Lily, what are you drinking?”

“I'll have what he's having.”

“I'm drinking rum,” Tom warned her.

“Then, so am I.”

Tom shrugged. “It's your life.” He stared at his half-finished drink, then looked at Debbie. “I think I'll give Northern Ale a try next.”

“You'll get it, Tom.”

Lily stayed at Tom's table and had her dinner. She took her time drinking her rum, and for the most part just sat quietly, which Tom appreciated. He wasn't in a very talkative mood. Finally, she finished her mug and slouched in his general direction.

“Better or worse?” she half-mumbled.

“Hmm?”

“Your mood. Better or worse?”

Tom considered that, swirling his second Northern Ale around in his mug. “A little better, I guess.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

Tom grunted noncommittally.

“Beggin' your pardon, but…how in the demon hells did you end up a slaver pimp?” A moment later, she was leaning back with her hands up in surrender, watching his face. “Sorry, sorry, it's just…you're built like you do honest work for a living. What happened?”

“Fucking bandits is what happened. Killed off my entire crew while we slept, and by the time I woke up and killed the killers, I was the only one still standing.”

“What did they steal? Oh…slaves, huh?”

“And other stuff.”

Tom ended up telling most of the story of his adventures of the past two weeks. He had to concentrate to remember that he needed to say there were only four elven slaves in the wagon, and later, that he couldn't name Madam Louisa per their agreement. Lily Rose was a good listener. She looked fascinated by the tale, asked smart questions, and even bought a couple of rounds.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

They drank a toast to each of Tom's fallen comrades, and then one for Mr. Whistler, too. Then Lily Rose started telling Tom her story, and they drank to the memories of three of her friends as well. A fair bit of drinking happened. It passed the time and Tom was glad of the distraction. But eventually the dark thoughts returned.

“I just don't get it,” Tom complained. “I mean, kill people and take their stuff, sure. They're wrong, but it makes sense. There's, you know, a reason for it. But something like cutting up a slave who can't even fight back? That's just…sick. Sick!”

“Sick!” Lily Rose agreed loudly. “Sick bastards.”

“Right? I ever find the guy who did it, I'm putting him in the ground. In the ground,” Tom swore.

“I'll help!” Lily Rose called, raising her hand like a kid trying to get her parents' attention.

“Thanks! And…and I'll help you with your bad guys. But, you know, only if they're bad.” Tom wagged a warning finger at her and had to concentrate a little to get his aim right.

“Thanks! You're a good friend, Tom.”

“You're a good friend, Lily.”

“We're good friends.”

“Yes, we are.”

“We're good friends.”

“Goooood… friends…” Tom attempted to sing, but ended up sounding like a foghorn. Lily Rose snorted and tried to harmonize with him, but it sort of fell apart. They both snorted for a few moments more after that.

“That's…” Lily blinked and took a deep breath. “That's…better.” She rested her chin on her palm and looked at him. “Hey, Tom?”

“Yeah?”

“How are the elves in bed?”

Tom growled in frustration. “Gods curse it, I wish I knew.”

“Wait…you haven't fucked them yet? What, are they sick?”

“Huh? No! No, they're all healthy.”

“Are you sick?”

“Nope.”

“Then why haven't you taken one of them to bed? Hell, why haven't you taken both of them? Or…?”

“Not that side of the barn.”

“What? Oh. You like men?” Lily's voice had gotten quieter.

“Huh? No. No. This side of the barn.” Tom pointed over his shoulder. “I don't like men that way.”

“Oh. Good!”

Tom furrowed his brow, sure that he was missing something. He frowned at his mug. “I probably have had enough for tonight.”

“Yeah…me too. I'm the…the right amount of drunk. The right amount of drunk. The right amount of drink got drunk. The right amount of drunks got drink. Two. Two is a good number of drunks to drink. I like two.” Lily stared over his shoulder for a few moments, then blinked and looked at him with a smile. “Three's good, too.”

“Mmm.” Tom wasn't really following the conversation any more. “I gotta…necessary.”

“Me, too. I'm gonna…I'm…don't go without me, all right? I mean, don't go before I get back. I mean, don't leave before I get back.”

“You…same.” Fair is fair. Tom didn't understand a lot at the moment, but he knew that much.

The cool night air helped to clear his head a little. By the Tom walked back inside, he was alert enough to spot Varga leaning against one of the posts holding the roof up. Uh-oh. He headed right over to her.

“Varga? You all right?”

“What?”

Tom heaved a great sigh and concentrated hard on translating to Elvish. “You are good? Yes, no.”

“Yes.”

“Elves good? I mean…”

“No bad, Tom. I watch you. Are you (something)?”

“I don't know what (something) is.”

“Are you good?”

Tom shrugged. “I am all right. Um, I am good.”

“You go (something) Lily?”

“I no understand.”

Varga gave a frustrated grunt. She looked about to try again when there was a crashing sound behind him. Tom turned around, familiar with bar fights, looking for the action. Lily Rose was standing over a man on the floor. She looked down at him and pointed a thumb at her chest.

“I say who gets to touch me, ass. And it's not you.”

“Why, you—!”

“Want me to break it?” Lily asked, taking a half step closer. “Please, say yes.”

“Sorry, miss,” another customer called out. He bent over the fallen one and helped him up. “Let's go, Hal. You picked the wrong girl to get grabby with this time. It happens. Let's try the Salt and Pecker. Let's go, Hal…” The second man half-dragged Hal across the room and out the front door. Lily Rose stood still and watched the whole time, fists on her hips.

Tom looked around. He could see a bouncer who had moved closer but stopped, and Miranda was watching Lily closely. Gave her a chance to clean up the mess herself. Good. Lily strutted over to where Tom and Varga were standing.

“Hey, Lily. I should probably go home. The elves are worried about me.”

“Oh, hey, no, not yet…”

“Sorry.”

“Well…um…could you walk me home first? I don't want to have a second round with Hal and maybe some buddies in an alley.”

“Huh? Oh, sure. Of course.” Tom glanced at Varga. Varga was staring at Lily with respect—for defending herself well, Tom guessed.

“We go,” Tom told Varga.

“I understand. Good Tom.”

“Wow, Tom, you sound like you're good at Elfish already. Elvish?”

“Elvish,” Tom agreed. “Thanks. Come on, let me settle up and we'll walk you home.”

“Great!”

One generous tip later, Tom, Lily and Varga headed out. Lily led them down a couple of narrow streets crowded with apartments, and little shops closed for the evening. She stopped at an old oak door set underneath an overhanging second story, making a sort of rain shelter. Lily fumbled in her pouch for a few moments before producing a key.

“Are you good?”

Lily Rose blinked at him. “Almost. I wanna say good night first.” She moved closer. Tom was about to step away when he felt Varga's hands on his back, giving him a firm shove forward. Before he could sort out his thoughts, Lily was kissing him.

It wasn't his first kiss, and Varga had kissed him more than once, recently. But it was his first serious kiss in a long, long time, and he hadn't had very many of those, either. Tom had been holding himself back from kissing Diavla for weeks, and his frustration finally boiled over. His arms went around Lily instinctively and he kissed her back.

A few moments later, Lily jerked her head to one side. “Sorry.” She reached up and wiped her mouth. “Sorry. I just…not so…um…” Tom blinked, slowly realizing that he apparently had done a bad job kissing.

“Sorry.” He let go of Lily and tried to pull away but Varga was still pushing hard on his back. In a heartbeat, he was going to shrug the elf off of him and turn around, but he was distracted. He had desperately needed that kiss, and he had gone and messed it up.

“No. No, I wanna try again. It's just… smaller moves. Slow down.”

“I'm sorry.” Lily went to kiss him again, but Tom stumbled backwards, then tripped and fell. He landed on Varga and heard her gasp, then wheeze. I'm on top of Varga, Tom thought. Screwed that up, too. Hearing her wheeze again, Tom did his clumsy best to hurry up and get off of the smaller elf so she could breathe. “Sorry, Varga.”

“Hey…hey…I still wanna kiss…”

“Sorry. Sorry, Lily.” For some reason, “sorry” was all he could think of to say, and he felt as if he were starting to drown in embarrassment. He helped Varga to her feet while she said something in Elvish he couldn't get. She didn't let go of his hand.

“I don't understand.”

“Tom, you kiss her.”

“I do bad.”

“Tom, you kiss her now.”

“I do bad!” Tom jerked his hand away and started stalking off back towards Vinder Hall's, humiliated. He'd gone a fair ways and rounded a street corner before he realized that Varga wasn't with him. Scowling, he stomped back and looked.

Varga was just leaving Lily's doorway. Lily stepped inside and closed her door, and Varga started to jog to catch up to him. Were they making fun of me? Was Varga laughing at me? Or… Tom shook his head. It was too hard to think with his soul muddled with alcohol. He turned around and stomped off towards home, ignoring Varga the rest of the way except to check and make sure she hadn't disappeared again.

He used the necessary, then trudged upstairs. Stupid, Tom, stupid. You shouldn't have kissed her. You should have tried again. You should've…shouldn't have… He gave up trying to think, went into his room, locked the door and fell onto his bed in despair.

I'll never drink again, he promised himself. Then he welcomed the darkness as it claimed him.