Page 33 of Sorcery, Swords & Scones
He grunted again but didn’t answer. The orc was wiser than anyone gave him credit for.
Val took one of the proffered hand pies and grinned at her friend. “Korl knows better than to try to calm down a female.”
Korl shot Val a look. “Learned it the hard way.”
“And he means hard,” Val said. “I might have thrown a few things at him back in the day.”
A particularly loud clatter echoed from the kitchen, drawing a few glances before curious patrons returned to their eating and drinking.
“So definitelynotcalmed down,” Val mumbled around a bite of meat pie.
“Better check on her.” Sass hurried back toward the kitchen and imagined what chaos she might find. She pushed through the swinging doors just in time to see Lira squatting on the floor beside a fallen baking sheet, half-moon shaped pastries scattered across the floor like bones rolled for chance.
Sass rushed to her friend's side. “Let me help.”
Together, they knelt on the crumb-dusted kitchen floor, carefully gathering the hand pies that had escaped the confines of the baking sheet. The pastries were still blazingly hot, and Sass could feel the heat searing her fingertips as she helped collect them, butshe didn't complain. The pain seemed minor compared to the defeated slump of Lira's shoulders.
When they had retrieved the last of the scattered pastries, Lira finally looked up, and Sass could see that the anger had burned itself out, leaving behind something more vulnerable and raw.
"Thanks, Sass.” Lira’s voice barely rose above a whisper. "I know it’s ridiculous that I would care this much about a family I never knew, but..." She trailed off, seeming to struggle with how to say what she was feeling.
Sass waited patiently, recognizing that her friend needed to find the words in her own time.
"In a way, I’m still grieving losing my gran," Lira continued, her voice thick. "She was the only family I ever knew, and I thought I'd made peace with that. But now there's this uncle I didn’t know existed, and a father who's apparently been wandering the Known Lands for ages and knew about me, but now he’s missing and might be…” She sucked in a jerky breath. “I don't know if I can handle grieving someone I've never even met."
Sass's heart clenched at the pain in her friend's voice. Even though her parents weren’t dead, she understood loss and grieving for something that was never really yours. She’d been quietly grieving the loss of a future in her homeland since she'd run from it. Sass reached out without hesitation, pulling Lira into a fierce hug.
Lira melted into the embrace, her shoulders softening as she allowed herself to accept the comfort. The unlikely friends stayed like that for several long breaths, surrounded by the coziness of the kitchen and the muffled chaos of the tavern beyond the doors. Soon Sass felt Crumpet’s tiny paws as he landed on her shoulder and wrapped his wings around both their heads.
“Thanks, Crump,” Lira said through a watery laugh. She pulled back and smiled at both Sass and the flutterstoat balanced on the dwarf’s shoulder. “I feel better already.”
Before Sass could ask her if she wanted to take a longer break,Iris burst through the kitchen doors, her colorful skirts swirling around her ankles and her silver-streaked curly hair an untamed halo around her head.
"I came as quickly as I could," she announced breathlessly, putting one hand to her waist as if she had a stitch in her side. "What's this I hear about an elf uncle in the woods?"
Twenty-Four
Vaskel slida glass of whiskey across the polished bar to Iris and then followed it up with one of his most charming winks—the kind Lira claimed had gotten him into trouble with merchant wives and noble daughters across the Known Lands.
Sass rolled her eyes as she stood beside him, polishing the last of the evening's tankards she’d gathered from the tables. "You realize that flattery won't make the cleaning go any faster, don't you?"
“But it makes the work more pleasant," Vaskel replied with another grin, his tail swishing behind him as he wiped down the bar's surface.
The dinner rush had finally died down, leaving The Tusk & Tail in that comfortable state of post-service calm that Sass had grown to treasure. The great room still held the lingering aromas of roasted meat and buttery pastry, mixed with the earthy scent of smoldering peat and the sweet tang of ale.
Cali perched on the barstool next to Iris, her golden eyes watchful and her ears twitching at the occasional creak of settling timber, the distant howl of a dire wolf, the soft shuffle of Korl adjusting his position in his chairby the hearth.
Lira emerged from the kitchen, her apron untied and hanging loose around her waist. Her expression had shifted from simmering anger to something approaching calm. "I'm ready to talk.”
Cali immediately straightened. "I told Iris about Erindil. I didn’t know if it was a secret, but I thought Iris should?—”
Lira waved off the apology before Cali could finish. "It's fine. I'm glad Iris knows. I would have told her myself, anyway.” She settled onto a barstool next to the apothecary, her green eyes seeking her grandmother's oldest friend. "In fact, I'm hoping she can fill in some of the blanks that Erindil left."
Iris shook her head slowly, her silver-streaked curls quivering. "I can't believe he arrived with an entire traveling party. Although I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. The elves of Lananore were never known for their subtlety."
Lira's eyes narrowed, and Sass could practically see her friend's mind working to piece things together. "What exactly do you know about Erindil? About my father? About any of my elf family?"
Iris took a sip from her glass and sighed deeply, her gaze dropping to study the amber liquid inside.
