The dried rations lasted all the way to the end of the line and Sela was pleased that Elizardbeth didn't hold back. The druid had grown more independent in the short day's long travel through the burrow. She carried herself a bit taller now, the poor thing was a little gaunter for the practice of her powers.
It showed.
Sela had felt her stumble along, drawing it in. She wasn’t in tune with the burrow but she was in tune with another. All of them rejoiced for her. Still, she wasn’t ready to admit that she might end up in the house she wanted to.
“Sela has been here before, but we always have a tradition, at least in his raft, of stopping at our favorite bakery and brewery on the way home,” River said.
“It just so happens that those are one and the same,” Sela interjected.
A two-story wooden building crested the edge of the red mist-coated valley as they approached. A small town existed just there on the edge of the pathway down.
The red mist covered everything below making the visibility poor.
“Vendetta’s Rise,” Mark said,” I supposed that means that they serve revenge bread?”
“It’s a dish best served cold,” Sela said.
Elizardbeth held back a cough.
River, still in corvid form lad the way in.
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“It’s hard to fill a druid's stomach,” Sela told the badger and the lizard, “But here? It’s free for you two.”
Mark smiled broadly back at Sela and rushed in.
“Mave, did you perhaps see my husband pop by?” Sela said.
The tall rabbit stood in front of the table, talking to River. She’d welcomed the two initiates with the customary neverending Olympus platter. As soon as they cleared a plate, another came in.
The Lizard, it seemed needed a bit more than the badger. But neither held a candle to the corvid.
“I did not see him. I’ve been looking for an otter-like you, someone that *ahem* fits the description, Chip but fewer muscles and more beautiful,” Mave said, her black hair glinting in the light.
“That’s right!” Sela said.
Groans around the table punctuated their conversation.
“Sela, you should probably give her a better description, or she’ll question every otter that comes by,” River said, briefly coming up for air from her platter.
“Why would you think that I don’t?” Mave said “You Company types are a dime a dozen, and I can see your leaf. You’re still pledged to do your years of service, but instead it’s here. We know you.”
Her apron was constantly in motion as she cleaned a tray of mugs that her staff had set on the side of the table.
“Well, miss,’ Elizardbeth said,” Do you have any words of wisdom for us now that we’re here?”
Mave paused as if her wheel was stuck.
“Druids don’t often ask a lady hostess for advice, but I’ll tell you what.”
Mave forcefully slammed down a cup, and Sela was surprised that it didn’t break.
“If you ever need to talk to someone, come up and see Mave. If you bring me things I need, then we can get things that you can’t get…” She gestured outdoors, “Down there”