Page 109 of Dark Elves of Ardani

It was almost dark by the time they arrived, but a few people were still moving about, getting the last tasks of the day finished. There was no curfew anymore, and these days, people were less paranoid about Varai attacks, though most of them still didn’t like to go outside after dark.

Nero and Zara traveled in and out of the village often enough that they were not an unusual sight anymore, but people still stared. Some nodded or waved. Some avoided them. But there was not a red cloak in sight, and hadn’t been since that night five months ago.

In the inn, they were greeted by a wave of warm air and the smell of something savory and spiced. Zara was disappointed to find that Novikke and Aruna were not there. She’d expected them two weeks ago. She was beginning to wonder if something had happened to them.

“Zara, Nero,” Basira said, greeting them with a smile. She was holding a tea kettle in one hand and a pitcher of what was probably ale in the other. “Sit down. Is it snowing again? You look damp.”

“Just a little,” Zara said, hanging her cloak by the door.

“It should have stopped this late in the year.”

“I am sure it will warm up soon.”

“I wouldn’t count on it, with our luck. The mountains seem to get colder every year.”

Nero took the pitcher from Basira’s hand to start refilling glasses around the room.

“Nero, you don’t need to do that,” Basira sighed. Nero gave her a look. They all knew Basira preferred to spend her time chatting with customers rather than filling glasses, and Nero liked to have something to do with his hands.

There were a good number of people at the inn that evening. Crow, Vaara, Naika, Devana, and Inaya and Farhana were sitting at the table in the center of the room, where they were playing some game involving each of them taking turns drawing in Naika’s sketchbook.

After the Varai had begun making appearances at the inn, some of the regulars had abandoned the place, not that they were really missed. There were no other taverns or food halls in the village, so the inn had plenty of business without them.

Zara wouldn’t go as far as to say the Varai were welcomed in the village, not by a long shot. But Basira had made a show of befriending Nero and Devana and the others after the night Theron died, and Basira had a fair amount of social influence. The Varai and the humans of the village both regarded each other with fear at first, then curiosity, then cautious acceptance, but they were careful not to intermix too much, lest their fragile coexistence fall apart.

Nero and the other Varai had taken back their mountain home after the Paladins were defeated. Over the past few months, more Varai from around the mountains had joined their group. Most of the remaining groups of raiders and bounty hunters had been chased out of the area. The raids in the settlements around the mountains had all but stopped.

That bloody night five months ago was a thing most of them didn’t like to think about. Zara had not told anyone that a demon had briefly possessed her, and neither had Nero, for which she was grateful. It was a secret just between them. She still could not work out whether she was ashamed or proud of what had happened. She supposed that was always the way it was when two people fought to the death.

While Nero saw to the customers, Zara went to find Tahir. She located him in the kitchen, standing over the stove. She set a leather pouch down on the counter next to him. He looked down at it, then up at her.

“You found it?” he asked with a tentative smile. He opened the pouch and peered at the bunch of dried Astra’s heart leaves inside. It was a core ingredient in wound sealer and fever reducer, which he’d been missing for months while the mountain was covered in snow.

Zara smiled. “We found a big patch of it on the east side of the river.”

“How much do you want for this?”

She shrugged. “Room and board for a few nights. And you could let me use your workshop for a few things I want to make.”

He shook his head, reached into a pocket, and handed her a few coins. She tried to refuse them, but he pressed them into her hand, giving her a look of disapproval. “You still don’t understand how things work in Ardani. You can’t be giving things away for free.”

“You and Basira give me things for free.”

“That’s different. We feed you when you visit. That’s common courtesy between friends. But going out into the mountains is dangerous. It’s difficult work. It takes time. And how else are you going to make money if no one pays you for it?”

She scoffed. Of course the wilderness had its dangers, but to Nero and her, it was just their way of life. She liked visiting the inn, but she loved the freedom she and Nero embraced every day, when they awoke with the amber-rose light of the sunrise on their faces and slept under blankets of stars. She wouldn’t have traded it for anything.

Back in the main room, Zara sat down with Naika and the others, and after a time, Nero sat down beside her, having finally been chased into the seat by Basira. Inaya and Farhana drew in Naika’s sketchbook while Vaara looked on critically, and Naika was in the middle of a conversation with Devana. They were arguing about whether a basilisk or a harpy would win in a fight. Zara noted that neither of them looked entirely sober.

Devana’s right,Zara signed to them, solely for the sake of sowing discord. She hardly understood the argument—but Devana and Naika were always arguing about something.The harpy would win.

Devana triumphantly signed his agreement. Naika showed Zara her middle finger, and Zara smiled into her tea.

They ate and drank until they were overfull and it was late in the evening. Many of the customers had already gone home by the time the front door opened again and two shrouded figures entered. They were each covered in thick layers of clothing to protect from the cold, but it was obvious by the way that they scurried inside that they were freezing. Large wet spots of melted snow darkened their shoulders and hoods.

Novikke threw back her hood and looked surprised and then pleased by the outburst of happy greetings she was met with. Crow got up to hug her as the hooded person behind Novikke brushed ice off his cloak. Despite stomping their feet in the entrance, they both tracked in little trails of snow.

Zara pressed her lips together as she waited for them to finish their greetings, resisting the urge to immediately ask if they had news from Avan. It would be the first time Zara had heard from her since she’d left Vondh Rav with Kashava. Several months back, when Novikke and Aruna had first visited the village, they’d offered to deliver a letter to Kuda Varai for her. For reasons Zara was still unclear about, Novikke appeared to be allowed free passage in and out of Kuda Varai. She was still the only human with that privilege, as far as Zara knew.

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