Dining With the Guard, Scene v1

The smell of roasted quail and broiled vegetables, topped with thick brown gravy, made Nakita’s mouth water like a stray dog at a butcher's shop. There it sat, on a cart to the side of the table of which the three of them usually ate their late dinners, conversed, and worked on paperwork. Tonight, Devin and Raze left the head of the table open for her, while they sat across from each other on either side. The ornate silver chair, reserved for the Silver Hand, was set aside as it usually was. Raze never did enjoy alienating herself from them more than she had to. She always sat in the same red-cushioned chairs as everyone else. They had only just begun eating, prodding at their first quails between replies.

Nakita helped herself to a large plate of food. She felt their eyes on her as she took her seat. “What?”

“I swear. What would normally make people sick to their stomach only makes yours grow larger,” commented Raze.

The mage poured herself a glass of sweetened water and shrugged. “What can I say?” she said with a mouth full of food.

“The worst part of the job…though I’m sure Nakita would beg to differ,” commented Devin with a hint of disgust on his face. He set down his knife and fork. “And now I’ve lost my appetite. Would it kill you to take a bath after, or at least change into some clean clothes? You smell horrible and there’s blood all over you.”

“I was hungry,” she mumbled with her mouth full.

Devin sighed. “Well, I hope you didn’t put the girl through hell for nothing.”

“Of course not. What do you take me for, a monster?”

“Sometimes.”

Raze chuckled. “So, what did you find out?”

Nakita took a big gulp of water before picking at a piece of meat stuck between her teeth. “Turns out the furlicker was right. There is a person named Kain.” She shoved a couple pieces of broiled cucumbers into her mouth, chewing noisily while she spoke. “Seems it’s mainly him and Hazalin leading the Kival, but Hazalin’s been back and forth between Lokem and Rokan a few months now, so Kain has been organizing most of the stuff in Rokan.”

“Did she know any of his plans?” asked Devin, paying little mind to her lack of manners. Three years ago, when she first joined them at the table, she minded her manners, but as the years went by, she grew more comfortable eating with them, and proper etiquette soon became a thing of the past.

Nakita nodded, guzzling down the last half of her glass. Despite how much she was speaking, her plate was quickly disappearing. She counted with her fingers while she repeated the things she learned. “Yeah. Turns out she’s his younger sister. The three abducted children are being held in the Tanglewoods, at one of their camps. A lot of the food they’ve stolen should also be there. They were also planning to raid the silos at Levan in on the seventh. And she was supposed to meet him back at a cavern along the cliff side east of the Narrow Falls.”

Devin grabbed his glass to take a sip, smirking with satisfaction. “What a lucky find. We need to move quickly before the Kival wise up and relocate. I’ll go send out send out the troops.” He downed his glass before leaving the room.

Raze leaned back, uninterested. Nakita knew that face. Standard problems like the raids and ransom provided little interest for the General. Fortunately, for her, Devin is more than willing to take care of those issues, as if they had some sort of mutual agreement. But the Telanian witch didn’t question Isella without Raze in mind. “You want to know what Hazalin is planning, don’t you?”

The General crossed her arms with a sly smirk. “Is it that obvious?”



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