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3
     
    Festival
     
    1
    Adrian and Connor sat down at the table, dressed
in their finest, and looked at the two men opposite of them. They were both
smoking pipes and the smoke hung thick in the air. Alexis introduced the man
with the graying dark hair as Hamar, and the other with the orange hair and the
bright scar on his left cheek as Owain.
    “These are the innkeeper’s sons.”
    Adrian felt a flash of guilt at Alexis’s words,
but he didn’t correct him. For what felt like forever Hamar and Owain simply
stared holes through Connor and him. At last, Hamar spoke in a deep voice.
“It’s nice to meet you, young masters.”
    “It’s nice to meet you as well, sir,” Connor
replied. His politeness stunned Adrian, until he realized that Connor’s father
was likely watching this little interaction from behind the counter, and
probably with great awe.
    “A well spoken lad,” Owain said.
    “They’re both well spoken,” Alexis said, sitting
down. “I spent most of the afternoon talking with them.”
    Again Adrian noticed Hamar and Owain studying
them closely over their pipes, and he began to feel a little uncomfortable.
    “How long have you two lived here?” asked Owain
suddenly, as though only in passing ... but his eyes betrayed his interest.
    “Our whole lives,” said Adrian warily.
    “And do you like it?”
    Connor answered. “It’s not a bad city, but I’m
getting tired of this.”
    “I know what you mean,” Alexis said, smiling to
himself. To Adrian the smile looked bitter and sad.
    Their talk was interrupted as Anne and Hailey
set out their dinner: succulent roast duck alongside a large bowl of gravy, a
puree of boiled vegetables, onion pastries, and toasted heels of bread. Adrian
saw the small glances and smiles both girls threw towards Alexis, but he
doubted the other man even noticed them. The girls walked away frowning. As the
company at the table began to eat, Adrian realized that all three men kept
their gloves on.
    “What’s
Carlstown like?” Connor asked as he helped himself to the roast duck and
drowned the meat in a thick layer of gravy. “It’s close to Grandal, so you must
see a lot of Legionnaires.”
    “Not as much as you would think,” Alexis
answered. “Much of the Legion stays close within Grandal. As for Carlstown,
it’s a common town with its wealth based mainly on sweet potatoes, barley, and
wool.”
    A question struck Adrian suddenly as he watched
the three men. “Are the three of you related?”
    The three men exchanged glances, and then Hamar
and Owain burst out laughing. It was a harsh sound coming from the two men, as
though they were unused to the act. Alexis simply smiled.
    “No, lad, we’re not related,” Owain said,
smiling thinly. He seemed a less colder man then. “We’re simply three men
hoping to make some connections east. The west, I think, has as much wool as it
can handle.”
     “Alexis said you might be going as far as
Teihr,” said Connor. “How long do you suppose it will take you to get there?”
    It was Hamar who answered, his gaze still
considering, weighing. “At this rate, I would say perhaps another month or so.
You two are not brothers, are you?”
    Adrian and Connor looked at one another and then
back at the men across them. “No,” Adrian said. “We’re cousins.”
    “Ah. Yes,” said Hamar. “I could it in your
eyes.”
    They ate in silence then. The older men drank
beer while Alexis kept to wine and the two boys settled for water. Adrian
looked around once and saw Connor’s father behind the bar, apparently cleaning
out a mug, but also watching them. He saw Adrian and gave him a small smile.
Adrian also saw Tarak pushing a broom near the door and keeping an eye on their
table. Tarak smiled at him, a smile that reassured Adrian they were doing good,
and that he was there should anything happen. Adrian returned his attention to
his table and to his present company. Connor was questioning the men about all
the places they had