Not knowing what to do, I decided that it would be best to ask. Still unsure of the social niceties required and not wanting to cause a stir with a potential faux pas, I sent Elwin to find some information. Meanwhile, Kidu and I finished cleaning our shoes and waited at an empty table. In due course, one of the serving girls came to us.
The girl was perhaps in her twenties, young and fair-skinned with a sprinkling of light freckles around her nose. She had flame-red hair tied in a bun but had the Asiatic eyes and a small nose, so common to the locals here. Our server was pretty in a homely sort of way, offering us a pleasant smile while she asked for our order.
“Hello there! Nice to see some new faces,” she began cheerfully in a high singsong voice as she eyed the massive Kidu up and down, stifling a giggle. “What can I get for you?”
“Do you have anything that is non-alcoholic, juice or milk perhaps? And a light snack, as we have just eaten?” I asked, not wanting to start drinking so early in the day.
Her bright smile grew a little in amusement. “We got a little Lanelo juice and some Rockcrab legs,” she said as if rummaging through the back of her mind.
“That would be lovely,” I said gratefully. Wistfully, I couldn't help but recall my struggles with complicated menus in the past.
“That will be twelve coppers then, for three of you, I’m assuming you’ll be wanting to order for the man that came with you too?”
As she smiled, I realized she was the type that grew prettier as they smiled.
Now that Elwin was elsewhere, scouring for information, I was able to summon up a little courage. “What’s your name, if I may be so bold?” I blurted out, a little too formally, as I placed twelve copper coins on the table.
Red stained my cheeks as I removed my helm and placed it on the table, and I grew conscious of my appearance.
“Aren’t you a dear! My name’s Halena Aster. Nice to meet you, adventurers.” She smiled, eyes lighting as she played with a loose strand of hair.
“Kidu Kreshin,” the big man rumbled as he introduced himself.
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For the first time, Kidu had introduced himself with a second name. I had known about this additional part of his name for a long time now, having cast Identify on the wildman during our days of enslavement. Perhaps it held some significance? I would have to ask him about it later.
“Well, aren’t you both the strapping sort! I’ll be right back with your order,” she finished, giving us a wink and dexterously scooping up the coins in one smooth motion before turning around and walking toward the kitchens.
I noticed that she never asked for my name and that Kidu was looking at her retreating form for a few long moments before I coughed.
“Kreshin?” I asked, curiosity apparent in my tone.
“On the ice, we receive the name of the first kill as our second name, that we may never forget the struggle and the test. The Kreshin brought me great honor among my tribe,” he said solemnly, successfully tearing his eyes away from our server.
“So, no family name?”
“All in the tribe are one, my family is the Three Bears,” he said stiffly, unused to this line of questioning. He probably thought that this must be common knowledge and was currently distracted by our waitress.
I was soon saved by Elwin after he navigated through the groups of people back toward our table, a roguish grin plastered to his face. He plopped himself down and looked us both in the eye before he began.
“So right, the thing is, first of all, before we start doing jobs for the Adventurer’s Guild is that we got to register and pay the membership fee,” he stated, pointing a thumb at the wooden counter where the people were lined up. “That’s three silver each, but from what I heard only one of us needs to be a member to take on jobs so that saves us six silver. Though if we’ll be doing work a little bit on the regular side, they advised that we all register.” He shrugged noncommittally.
“Course, the pays all the same split three ways but some jobs require a minimum number of members. Once we register we’ll have to meet the Guildmaster and be given a badge designating our rank, it’s the same system like the Guilds where I come from. We can take any jobs from the board as long as they are within one rank of our badges, the guild gives out a death payment only on jobs of the same rank. I don’t plan on dying anytime soon, so this doesn’t really matter I guess…” He finished just as Halena returned with our food and drinks.
“What rose blooms in this here sad garden?” Elwin asked lasciviously, looking the girl up and down as he made to touch her shapely rear.
Halena, with a stony, fixed smile on her face and a veteran of a hundred such advances, adroitly dodged his questing hands while placing our items on the table.
“Anything else?” she asked, a little annoyance clouding her voice.
“No, thank you,” I quickly added.
She had already begun to turn away to take another adventurer’s order before I had even finished.
“I can tell that one likes me!” Elwin guffawed, which drew a simple grunt from Kidu.