Page 105 of The Eye of the Fifth
Boony chortled, slamming his tankard on the barrel. Jak laughed too, though he mumbled, ‘You’re a prick.’
‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you, my friend,’ Kawai said.
Kyra couldn’t help it; she cleared her throat, letting them know she was there, and that she’d heard the whole conversation.
They went quiet, then Boony whispered, ‘Is it the earth girl?’
‘Girl?’ Kyra asked incredulously, standing and side stepping around the mast. She casually leaned a hand against it, the other firmly on her hip. ‘Do I look like a child to you?’
Boony blushed profusely, the colour clashing horribly with his wavy orange hair. ‘No, er… sorry.’
‘You wanna join us?’ Jak asked quickly, his eyebrows rising expectantly. Kyra glanced at Kawai, but he was staring at his tankard, a wry sort of smile on his lips. His nonchalance irked her.
She flipped her hair over her shoulder. ‘Sure. I’d love to give myfaeinsight.’
Kawai was distinctly nonplussed. Boony blushed again, and Jak practically ran to the starboard side to fetch her a seat. He returned with a wooden bucket that he slammed upside down in between himself and Kawai.
Jak was younger than the other two, surely no older than seventeen. Boony was definitely the oldest of them, possibly early thirties, though his disposition was much more reserved now that Kyra had joined their party. Quite the contrast to Jak’s puppy-like energy.
‘Do you like ale?’ the latter asked, then added apologetically, ‘It’s pretty much all we’ve got.’
‘You mean you don’t have any vintage Sarlalian wine?’
Jak’s face dropped. Kawai snickered. ‘She’s joking, Jak.’
Kyra gave the young waterling a dazzling smile. ‘Ale is fine.’
Jak ran off again in search of another tankard. Kyra drummed her nails on the barrel and basked in the awkward silence that followed. Each time she caught Boony’s eye, he looked away and glanced at Kawai, who still had that same, stupid smirk on his face.
She had the strange feeling she’d been the topic of one of their conversations before.
‘So, is this your club?’ Kyra asked Kawai directly, breaking the weird silence.
Kawai frowned. ‘Club?’
‘Your drinking club.’
He laughed. ‘Yeah. I suppose it is.’
‘I thought you said it was just you.’
‘I recruited. It got boring drinking alone,’ he said with a shrug.
Jak placed a full tankard of ale in front of her, the contents slopping over the side a little in his excitement, and plonked himself back onto his own seat. ‘If we’d known you like ale, we would have invited you to drink with us sooner.’
‘I like anything with the ability to inebriate, Jak.’ Kyra took a sip. It wasn’t the best ale she’d ever had, but it definitely wasn’t the worst. She wiped her lips with the back of her hand. ‘Anyway, Naal and I have been pretty busy.’
Offhandedly, Kawai pried, ‘Doing what?’
‘Oh, you know, just important things.’ Kawai did look at her then, and Kyra fought to keep her expression cool under his knowing stare.
Jak blurted quite suddenly, ‘What’s it like being the Earth Warden?’
Kyra forced herself not to look at Kawai. She scoffed. ‘I’m not the Earth Warden.’
Boony shoved his red glowing face into his tankard. Jak’s wide eyes blinked at her. And Kawai looked as though he was holding back a laugh.
Through gritted teeth, Kyra demanded, ‘What did you tell them?’
