"Uh…" Aiden heard a voice talking to him, "Uh… Oh HIII!" He said while standing up and getting his hair away from his face.
"Oh, sorry, just… felt asleep, don't mind my drunk ass, do you… need anything?" He smiled and looked away nerveously, trying to clear his voice from all of the hiccups, hidding bot hands behind his back and fidgetting with his rings.
"Aiden what did you do this time?" He asked himself, waiting for Kalex to speak, acting as if he could read his thoughts. "Don't be silly, you dumbass, of course he can't read your mind, calm down, control yourself…" he kept thinking while he tried to look as calm as he could.
(Aiden is such a precious bean)
(Thank you * - * he's my precious mess of a son)
“There’s two guys now,” Do whispered. ”Where’s Ski? I’m hungry…”
”Me too…” Ti murmured, giving up her bossiness.
”Me-“ before Re could finish, a big growl erupted from her stomach.
”Re!” Ti’s eyes flicked to her in alarm. “You’re supposed to be quiet!”
”I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Re seemed to be trying to keep her voice down, but her volume rose anyway.
”Shh!” Ti held her finger in front of her lips, and they all went silent, waiting for something to happen.
"Did you hear something? Was it your stomach or am I just hearing things?" Aiden asked while looking at his surroundings, "Probably just me hearing things," he said.
"So… why are you here?" He asked again, hoping he didn't sound rude, keeping an eye out for anything else that may happen, despite shoving it off as nothing but his imagination there was still a small portion of curiousness wanting to know what was going on.
He kept smiling regardless of anything, waiting for an answer and making up all sorts of plans and excuses in case something went wrong, which he hoped not but life had taught him to be cautious just in case.
Huh. So he left. He did look interested in that Aiden fellow though…
Ski rested her head on the table, going over a hypothetical conversation she and Kalex may or may not have in her head, rehearsing what kind of things she’d say.
Do you know a way to the Yeshe Mountains, or know someone who can take me there?
Why am I going there? Oh, I have a sick friend I need to take care of up there, y’know…
She looked up at the heavenly smell of chicken, and watched in awe as a bowl of meat and a smaller bowl of milk was delivered to her table. She stared at it for a few seconds, then remembered herself. She took a medium sized cloth out of her bag and draped it over the bowl of meat, the tied the cloth around it with a thin piece of rope. Then she stood, taking the bowls in her hands and cautiously walked out the door. She felt like she was carrying a sacred treasure that she wasn’t supposed to have.
When she got outside, she suddenly realized how hot the tavern had been in her hooded cloak, and she welcomed the cool breeze as she made her way to alleyway where the cubs made their hiding spot.
(Aiden…. seems hard of hearing XD)
(He's a walking mess and definitely neurodivergent, trust me, he does struggle with hearing some stuff even if his ears are completely fine, talking from experience XD)
He turned his head at the sound of whispering, but his gaze didn't go at the cubs hiding spot, just directly over it.
"Well i certainly don't think it was me, but hey if it was i apologize." he said jokingly before turning back towards aiden.
"oh as too why I'm here, i told you i was wanting to talk with you but you took off before could even get it out of my mouth." he put a hand to his neck with a soft chuckle and grin. He looked over to his satchel for a second before glancing back at aidens face.
"about your book, and the light behind it."
(smh now i want himm to have a tail sobs)
"Oh yeah, that, and sorry…" he chuckled while looking away for a moment, "Ok I think I can trust you so…" he looked around before getting the book off his bag, "Here…"
The title displayed on the cover said From healing to resurection, "See… I'm a sorcerer and well, getting proper training it's hard when you have been kicked out every proper school," he laughs and opens the book, revealing an index of various spells "Specially if you want to learn something extra."
He closes the book, putting it back into the bag, "I'm an expert on fire spells." His hands lit up and as quickly as the flames appeared, they went away, "But I need some extra training in healing and the best spells are usually forbidden for non-school members…"
As she neared the alleyway, she caught voices that definitely didn’t sound like three 5 year old children, and stopped in her tracks, moving behind the wall to eavesdrop on them for a few moments. Sorcery? So they didn’t find them yet. Okay. Why had Kalex and Aiden stumbled into this alleyway of all places? She growled internally.
Before she could have second thoughts, she entered the alley and snarled, revealing her canine teeth for a few moments.
“Why are you here? If you’re going to talk, go somewhere else!” She couldn’t keep her Yeshe accent out of her voice, the vowels going strange places and the consonants disappearing and reappearing in a brash fashion.
"Oh my, My apologiez m'am!" Aiden jumped back at the sight of Ski appearing in front of them, "Uh… Kalex, shall we continue somewhere else?" He asked while nerceously laughing.
"Control yourself Aiden, don't get too startled, you don't want to accidentlaly cause a fire again…" he told himself over and over again inside of his mind.
"I can assure you we mean no harm, ehhh, here!—" Aiden got the book out once again, "—This is what we were talking about! Take a look if you think that would… help? I-I'm not good at this stuffs…"
"so that's what I saw earlier when I looked over at you in the tavern." He nodded, before notcing someone enter the alley way.
He turned and saw the women from the tavern, what was she doing out here? He wondered silently, before glancing at what she was holding, why eat your food outside?
He put a hand on Aiden's shoulder to try and calm him down.
"i thought we agreed you were going to wait inside? I mean we can leave and all, it's no issue if you want privacy…for whatever it is your going to do."
He tried talking to her and smoothing any of his edge in speech.
Ski straightened, her face stony. “Yes, but I have food now, and…” she paused. “And it’s none of your business.” Her eyes flicked to the barrel, which moved out of the corner of her eye. Oh, please no…
The lid popped open, and Do, Ti, and Re tumbled out and went over to her, whining and crying out, clinging to her legs and waist with their fluffy, mottled heads out for the whole world to see.
”Calm yourselves!” Ski said in Yeshe, and the cubs quieted, loosening their feeble grip on her. Ski turned her hard gaze to the men, as if daring them to declare what they were out loud.
"Oh by all that is holy they're adorable!" Aiden's eyes widen as he sad the three little cubs clinging to Ski's legs, "Oh… eh, don't worry about me m'am, I'm just a drunk sorcerer waiting to sober up so I can return a book without making a mess, that's all," he nerveously laughed as the hiccups came back for a moment.
Aiden did his best to look away from the cubs with the intention of not upsetting Ski, though he couldn't help but to smile at any glance he got of them, "So cute…" he whispered to himself.
He looked around expecting for something else to happen and just hoping nothing went out of control, still holding out the book as if it was some sort of permit or identification paper that was proof of his intentions.
He raised a brow at ski, hearing her speak yeshe and understanding it since he takes up learning a bunch of languages recently and just happen to be learning yeshe at this moment in time. "You speak Yeshe?" He asked her, raising an eyebrow, before awing at the pups bc who wouldn't they were littlerally freaking adorable.
"i assure you ma'am we meant you and your pup's no harm, we were just talking amongst ourselves and didn't notice they were there."
He uses hand movements while he talks.
Ski continued staring at them for a moment, a little confused. They didn’t recoil in disgust or condemnation. As if a catamount walking free was something they seemed fine with. She slowly went over to the now fallen barrel and managed to bring it right side up. She found the lid and set it over the barrel, then put the bowls of meat and milk to rest on it. The cubs followed her, staying close and silent.
Unsure of what else to say, she muttered, “Um, yes, I speak Yeshe, that’s where I’m-“ she stopped herself. “S-so, you won’t tell anyone where and who we are? Can I… can I trust you?”
He shook his head. "I swear to not say anything about any you tell us Miss yeshe." He did a little now before smiling at her and leaning back up. "so that's what the food was for, you didn't want them to go hungry, that's so sweet you think of stealing for them." He smiled at the pups, but didn't dare try to pet one of them.
Aiden kept staring in awe and the pups, eyes wide open like a marveled child, he heard the conversation and snapped from whatever cuteness induced trance he was in, "I give you my word nobody will know about this, m'am," he says, "Sorcerer promise, let me get struck by a lightning if I ever broke it!" he rises his hand and traces an x on his chest with the other one while smiling and nodding.
She looked between the two of them and sighed. Kalex had helped her. He had done nothing else. And Aiden seemed to be goodhearted, although she wondered if he would be better at keeping secrets if he was sober.
Her sigh turned into a small chuckle. “Ms. Yeshe. Not a bad nickname, but you can call me… you can call me Ski. I hope my trust in you pays off, Kalex and Aiden.”
She acknowledged Kalex’s observation with a nod, turned over to the bowls and untied the cloth from the bigger one and lifting it off. She took out a piece of chicken and started ripping it into manageable pieces, handing each one to the cubs.
”We got really lucky today,” she murmured in Yeshe. ”That man-“ she jerked her head in Kalex’s direction. ”-was generous enough to give me money. Remember to be thankful for that.”
The cub’s eyes widened. Do and Re squealed with delight, wolfing the food down, while Ti grinned from ear to ear. She turned to Kalex and bowed her head, saying a small, “Thank you!” In stilted, heavily accented Crecian. Then she turned back to eat.
Ski smiled warmly at them. She took the bowl of milk and drank a bit before setting the bowl down with the cubs and getting her own share of chicken.
She switched back to Crecian. “Alright, if you don’t mind us filling our bellies, I would love to talk now.” She took bite, wondering how this should go. The men had seemed like they were also in the middle of something when she’s arrived.
