During one evening, Kiran along with many others within the coalition found themselves at the entrance of a tavern somewhere in between the slums they operated within and the nicer parts back more towards the southern parts of Liall.

His nose became swarmed with the fresh aroma of garlic and other herbs once he stepped inside. It had demanded his full attention until someone for some reason chose to hop onto his back.

Their arms wrapped around him grasping onto his chest strongly. “Who the—”

Whoever decided to grasp onto him was fairly lightweight which he could be thankful for since he was still a bit sore since their mission to break Laphy free. Some of their hair touched his shoulders and he was just about ready to send them hurdling forward to hit one of the tavern’s tables ahead of him.

“Get off of me you little rascal,” he said motioning his body around to get them off his back. However, their hands were quite tightly clasped around him to prevent such a feat from occurring.

“Who’re you callin’ little?” Juna’s voice entered his right ear. So you’re the one doing this to me.

“Can you maybe get off me?”

“Oh alright!” She hopped off of him landing softly on the floor. She smirked up towards him while other members of the coalition began to laugh. “For a second I got to finally experience what it’s like to be tall. It’s pretty neat up there but it also seems like a hazard in a way. How exactly do you not bump your head constantly? I feel like if I were your height I’d be bumping my head way more often.”

He shook his head. “It’s not that difficult actually. I can’t even remember the last time I bumped it accidentally.”

“You sure about that? I bump my head all the time and I’m sure as heck a lot shorter than you.”

It doesn’t surprise me that you bump it all the time.

“You’re having mean thoughts about me aren’t you?”

“Not at all.”

Hoghdar approached the dozen or so of them. He put his hands on his hips and smirked. “I’m glad you all came. I thought we should all spend the afternoon together to celebrate after Kiran, Juna, and Lar’s most recent success. We have the entire tavern to ourselves as well so make good use of it. And don’t worry about paying. I’ve got us all covered.”

“Really?” Juna said surprised.

He lifted his hands. “I’ve got you and everyone covered so don’t worry about it. Drink and eat as much as you’d like. You’ve all earned it.”

Before anyone else could do anything, Juna had gone to the man behind the bar asking for numerous things to consume this evening. Hoghdar better be careful about being willing to pay for anything. He’ll be broke before long after she’s done ordering.

Kiran sat at a table near the back left of the moderately sized tavern. The chair creaked as he sat in it. Anytime he made the slightest movement, it creaked and squeaked. Before anyone noticed he swapped out this chair with another finding it more suitable.

Juna eventually decided to come over and sit by him choosing a different chair than the one that squeaked. She sat down two big pints as well on the table with one being for him and another for her. “I’ve got more coming. Don’t you worry.” She lifted the foamy drink to her lips taking a good long drink. “Ah, that hits the spot. Say,” she said looking around, “is Lar ever going to come?”

“She said she had something to take care of before coming here,” he said.

“Like what?”

“No idea.” Speaking of Lar, she ended up coming inside. Juna waved her arms around wildly to get their attention.

Unfortunately for Lar, she chose the squeaky chair he had swapped out earlier. As she sat down she found it troublesome needless to say.

He stifled a laugh only for her to look at him skeptically. “You swapped this chair out, didn’t you?”

“Who can really say?”

She stood back up swapping it out for another chair that hopefully didn’t squeak. It appeared it didn’t as she sat and repositioned herself towards his right. “I know how you are,” she said. “You are quite devious even though you’d like to pretend otherwise.”

“Compared to you, I’m a saint.”

“More like the saint of evil.”

A lady came by with a platter full of drinks. Really Juna, did you need to order this many drinks? Lar grabbed one for herself while Juna pulled a couple over towards her own self. Kiran wasn’t sure whether he ought to drink more than a few. He figured he’d drink his current one and just see.

While they sat together, someone came walking over towards them. Juna sat down her mug slamming it harshly onto the table. She wiped away the foam on her lips and waved towards the approaching person. “Heya Gerard.”

“Hey Juna. Just wanted to stop by and congratulate you three. I heard about all the details of that mission you all took part in and it sounded like it went relatively well.”

“It got a little bloody near the end,” Kiran said, “but other than that, it went as well as one might imagine.”

Gerard nodded his head. “No kidding. I have to admit, my job’s a lot easier than yours.” The younger man whose job it was to procure weapons for their faction stuck a hand in his trousers. “But someone’s got to do the really hard stuff.”

“For sure!” Juna said whilst trying to finish off the last remaining foamy liquid in her first mug.

Gerard shortly after left leaving the three of them there while others congregated at tables near them.

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As for Lar, he noticed that she hadn’t drank much. Just a little judging by the remainder of drink in her mug.

“You’ve barely touched your drink Lar,” Juna said.

Lar’s eyes darted towards the drink and up to Juna. “How is it that you can tolerate such swill? It’s quite foul.”

“Foul? This is the nectar of the gods Lar. H-How can you say it’s just mere swill of all things?”

“Nectar of the gods?” She cracked a smile finding Juna’s comment ridiculous. “I’m pretty sure I drank better stuff out when we were traversing the wasteland than this.”

Kiran took a sip. The alcoholic beverage wasn’t quite as good as Juna suggested nor as bad as Lar suggested. The two had completely opposing perspectives on it. To him, it was just any other drink that would get someone drunk if they drank enough of it.

While the two bickered over the quality of the drink, he began to whistle to himself softly enough that it didn’t break their arguing towards one another. This is what I need more of. Moments like these. Nice and peaceful and simple bickering between two people. What more can a man like myself truly need in life?

He finally finished off his first drink and went ahead and grabbed another since they had half a dozen more just sitting there demanding to be drank. He leaned back in his chair while lifting another mug to his mouth. Its contents ran across his tongue and washed away down his throat. He began to whistle some tune he vaguely recalled from his past as he grasped onto the handle of the big mug.

Juna and Lar both spoke to each other, bickering even more, but it was more like background noise to him as he focused on the song he whistled. And the more he focused on it, the more he began to remember a memory from his past. It was of his older sister singing to him with the same melody.

Her voice was as nice as honey. Every note that came from her lips was soothing and not at all piercing.

He was in a bad mood prior to her coming to him to calm him down by comforting him. She sat by him and ran her hands through his hair as tears dried on his face. “Raelle,” she eventually said pausing the song she sang a moment ago. “Everything will be alright. Just listen to the song and let your heart soften.” She continued singing the song softly. It did in fact help. He had been in a poor mood for whatever reason that he couldn’t completely recall.

Without a doubt in his mind, this past he sometimes gained insight into showed the life of a troubled youth. It showed someone who viewed life as unfair and unjust. And yet still, his own next of kin was there to wash away that pain. In the few memories he had of her, she was always there for her little brother who wallowed in grief, self-pity, and anguish.

This faint memory he could see in his mind must’ve occurred years before her death. She looked younger but still full of life and joy. The physical manifestation of the memory faded as he kept whistling the song for himself that his sister had sung to him from an age long gone.

As he regained focus more towards his current reality, both Lar and Juna were still bickering about the same thing except the topic had gone in a direction he hadn’t anticipated.

“There’s only one way we can settle this discussion once and for all,” Kiran said interjecting.

They both eyed him curiously. “How?” Juna simply asked.

He hunched over the table and pushed a single filled mug to each of them. “You two will have a drinking competition. Whoever can drink the most wins.”

“Now we’re talking!” Juna glared intensely at Lar eager to best her in this competition he came up with on the spot.

“What do you say Lar,” Kiran said. “You up for it?”

She grasped onto the handle of the mug and nodded her head. “You beat me in a duel. Let’s see if you can beat me here.”

He wondered whether familiars could even get drunk to the same extent that humans do. Well, he supposed he was about to find out.

The drinking challenge began. Juna finished an entire drink without even gasping for air once while doing so. Lar took their time while Juna went for another full mug.

After a while, they ran out of drinks forcing a lady in a dress to come back with a platter full of more drinks. He was just glad all he had to do was watch. He didn’t have to join in if he didn’t want to and he certainly preferred that.

When it was all said and done, Lar ended up winning. Juna gave up drinking any further causing Lar to cross her arms and celebrate Juna’s defeat. “I can’t believe you already gave up. I barely feel a thing.”

Juna rest her head on the table looking ready to pass out. With eyes closed her lips began to open to try to utter something. “I-I…d-don’t…feel so good.”

Kiran shook his head. That’s the price for trying to compete, isn’t it? “After drinking as much as you did, I can’t say I’m surprised.” He directed his gaze over towards Lar. “Say, let’s go take Juna home. It’s getting late anyways.”

He had Lar help hoist Juna over his back. He didn’t like how she had been on his back earlier but considering her current rough state of being, he was willing to allow her to be there as he carried her away from the tavern late that night.

They left the bar while others had already drifted away to head home for the night. The streets were fairly empty at this time. There was plenty of snow on the ground causing him to leave imprints everywhere he walked.

Juna mumbled every now and then. He just hoped that she wouldn’t end up throwing up all over him as she kept holding onto him as he carried her on his back. Thankfully she wasn’t all that heavy so it wasn’t that difficult for a prolonged walk through Liall.

By around the halfway point to her residence, her grasp slipped causing her to end up falling over into the snow. She lay on the snow with a happy smile as she appeared completely asleep.

Lar kicked at her causing her to stumble awake. “A-ah!”

“Calm down,” Lar said. “Look at you. Just laying in the snow like that.”

“There’s no need to be mean Lar.” He crouched and decided to carry her in his arms rather than depend on her to hold on to him as he attempted to have her on his back. She quickly fell asleep once more as they carried her down the snowy cobbled street.

As they walked on through, most of the streets were quite empty leaving it to just them. And thankfully, there was not a city guard around that might give him pause. He always felt a bit more nervous around them than he probably ought to be. He was a wanted man however although not to such a severe degree that warranted him staying hidden inside someplace forever.

Eventually, they arrived at her place. Lar dug a hand through one of her pockets managing to find a key. It let them in and Kiran took her to the back of the room where her bed remained. He put her down on her bed and covered her up in blankets. She breathed in and out peacefully as she had no want or desire to be awake.

They made sure to have her lie on her side as they left. She was a little rough after all that drinking, but hopefully, in another day or two, she’ll be back to normal.

“Are you even the slightest bit drunk?” he asked since he couldn’t tell.

“Maybe just a little,” she said. Although to him at least, she didn’t appear phased in any real capacity.

Well if familiars have that much of a higher tolerance, Juna didn’t pick the wisest of battles to try to defeat Lar all things considered.

Fred barked at them in a friendly kind of way. Or he did so at least towards him. Lar ignored and avoided the dog as they walked away from her bed and went to the ones they were temporarily using for themselves.

All in all, it was a good day and he looked forward towards the upcoming days, especially since the winter festival was coming up. There was a lot to look forward to and he was excited to see where things would go since he was moving up in the coalition and in his more personal life with the people he found companionship with. He especially looked forward to the winter festival that was coming up soon that Della was eager to go to.