26- heros first impressions

Ayi couldn’t help but to chuckle and loose some of her reservations about the young lady in front of her after such a weird introduction. The handshake gesture was nice and all. Very solid in fact if not a little stiff. But the most important thing to her was how both Feugan and Zoey seemed to be at ease with her. That was the best introductory she could ask for.

“It’s ok don’t worry about that, you have a good handshake. It’s just a normal brief greet. But don’t you slack off, people can judge you by it!”

“T-they can?!”

“{I distinctly remember telling you that…}”

“Here” Still holding Mimiru’s hand, Ayi started moving her hand up and down with an accelerated rhythm that annoyed her internally, but she was trying to make a point.

“If you were to describe the handshake as a conversation, what would you say this feels like?”

Taken aback a little by the unexpected turn of events, but focusing on the question at hand (almost too literaly at hand), made her evaluation right on spot “I-I think its kind of forceful, patronizing. As if I have no say on how the conversation goes”.

Ayi smiled at the young girl. “Exactly, I take it that you don’t do handshakes here, but you did well. I learned it just as some sort of good manners” With a smile still on her face, Ayi gently let go of the young girls hand and smiled at her. Now that the silly icebreaker moment was past them. Ayi paid more attention to the girl in front of her.

She looks very… athletic?

Mimiru looked like a blonde girl from south California, perhaps in her early twenties, if this wasn’t a whole different world, she would have easily said she was a surfer girl. Maybe. It had always been hard enough for Ayi to try and guess people’s age. But on top of that, Mimiru looked to be very solidly built. For starters, the young girl was very tall, 5’7” by her own sense of height. Which she recognized it could be wrong, but at the same time she felt like she was right about it. She also looked like she the total envy of an Instagram “fitness model”. Appart from a solid body with a nice face, the young girl in front of her looked as if she could be a very promising Olympic athlete. On all the competitions.

Does everyone in this world look so darn well-built?!

Ayi found herself wondering again just who this girl was. She knew her name, alright, she also mentioned that she had been under Feugan’s care. Which was a very disconcerting phrase if she thought about it.

She was under the care of a rideable Dragon Lord? How? Why?

“{Mimiru was kind enough to assist me. She also seemed to have the right amount of… good heart, in her.}”

Uh?!!!

“F-Feugan!! W-what are you spouting off so suddenly! Lady Ayi will misunderstand you!”

I think I am misunderstanding a lot of things already!!

***

As Ayi entered the building, following Mimiru, as she had insisted on taking them to a nice spot inside the building, Ayi was again paying more attention to the little details once inside.

All the sights made her remember the few renaissance fairs she had gone to. Or the attempts of one, there was no lack (or want) for medieval fanatics, constantly clamoring how even the most diminute details were wrong.

She had no fine eye for such critical comparison of something that happened hundreds of years before she was alive. So she shrugged those thoughts and decided to mentally her new experiences in a “New folder”. That made some modicum of sense to her, and that was good enough for her right now.

She was immediately taken back from her inner thoughts as upon going thru the sizeable gate threshold she was assaulted by a cacophony of laughter, chatter and the bustling sounds of what she thought would most likely be a bar from any given movie. As she looked around at the tables she saw what she could only describe as adventurers. VERY gaudy adventurers. Leaving aside the disturbingly high amount of leather-bound yet somehow shirtless men, along with all the suspicious looking people with big robes, cloaks and other manner of loose tunics covering their heads, here was a very distinctive clash of colors going on with the attires. Bright yellow capes, fierce red leather vests and breastplates, a shield with a bright yellow clashing with a sickish green on a checkered pattern that forced her to look at it and wonder if daltonic clowns were dressing this people. Which made her think that perhaps that was the intent of the colors, at least on the shield, to grab someone’s attention, most certainly not to ponder on genetically disadvantaged jesters. For the life of her she couldn’t figure out why anyone would willingly dress in pants that were somehow both green and red topped with a yellow gambeson.

Deciding to put aside the headache-inducing attires, she tried to focus on something else, she was quickly brought to attention by the sounds of wooden mugs against each other as well as on the tables just like the clattering of the wooden tableware which made Ayi wonder just exactly to which level of technological development were they at.

A sudden crackle of fire made her realize there seemed to be a firepit on the far end of the dinning area, she could see the flames dancing and licking on what she could only guess, from the distance she found herself from it, were huge skewers with meat onto them.

The moment she put her attention to the food she started perceiving the smells of the meat roasting by the fire, most likely covered in spices she couldn’t recognize but she was already getting faint traces of. She also picked up other unsavory smells that made her scrunch her nose as she focused fiercely to disregard the smells of maybe a dozen leatherbound shirtless men and women.

I am being so very easily distracted by my senses today.

“Here we are! We will take this table while we wait!. Oooii! Yes! Thank you!” Now Ayi’s whimsical attention was brought to Mimiru which had brought them to a table by one end of the dinning area of the building. The young lady was signaling to another young woman. Which Ayi could only guess was some sort fo maid, barmaid or wench, depending on who you ask and other people’s sensibilities, she definitely would have to ask about that.

“Good! Today there are lots of meat and food ready!!”

Mimiru set herself at a table, plopping herself onto a chair, Feugan followed suit in his own manner, he sat on his hindlegs while facing the table. Ayi grabben one of the chairs, a bulky wooden piece of furniture, crudely made yet it looked VERY sturdy, perhaps by design. It then came to her attention that Zoey was not with them.

“ZOEY?!!” Ayi looked frantically around, drawing stares from nearby people due to her outburst.

“E-everything is in order! Sorry! Zoey went to the kitchen to go help with the food and refreshments, she works as a maid here at the guild...”

This comment did help with soothing Ayi’s sense of urgency, but it was soon replaced by a different feeling. She glared intently at Mimiru, her intense gaze startling the young girl.

“And why is my precious daughter working in a bar serving drinks to- ” She stopped there, her fist was on the table, at some point she had slammed it, her knuckles white due to the pressure she was excerting. But, she wasn’t here trying to pick a fight or start putting names and labels on the professions of others. “Why is my daughter working, she should be enjoying herself, playing with other kids” Ayi somehow exerted much more control than she even thought it was possible, even more so now that her rightful daughter was involved. If she ever had a doubt about such a thing, it was long gone. the feeling of indignancy and raw irritation was making her feel almost sick, there was no doubt about the sincerity of her feelings.

“I-It was the only option p-possible!!” Mimiru was very startled by the sudden change of attitude on her guest. Although it seemed like she was ready to explain, she couldn’t help but to inch back on her own seat as if dealing within a dangerous subject.

“Explain…” Ayi let the words come out slowly and as controlled as she could, biting off some of the bile that had somehow built in her mouth, ready to be spewed off.

“We talked about this when Feugan found Zoey… She… She is too young to be without a guardian. Registering her to a guardian would allow her to go to any of the temples to receive some sort of education, but binding her to a guardian put her completely under their care ‘by law’.” Mimiru stopped here seemingly to to let her words sink in.

“If… If we registered her to anyone, you would be unable to make a claim unless you were subjected to some heavy magical analisys to prove your claim as a blood related guardian. Feugan insisted we should wait for you to-"

“That does not explain how come she is a minor working at a bar with such a… 'rowdy looking clientele'” Ayi was almost biting her own lips trying to contain herself by now.

“B-by the same laws, a minor without a guardian cannot be hosted anywhere. This is to prevent random people claiming rights over orphans. And since we didn’t want to put her into an orphanage, the best available option was to hire her as a young barmaid in training under the protection of the guild, the regulations are very lax when it comes to such a trade”

At this point, Mimiru stood up and locking her eyes with Ayi’s with a fierce look on them she proclaimed.

“While her situation might be that, she is not being mistreated! The guild’s staff, the other barmaids, the old man and me! We are all looking up for her wellbeing!”

Eh?… I thought she seemed too {timid and indescicive} to make such an statement of her own.

Uh?!!

While being assaulted by a thought that didn’t feel quite her own, her attention was caught by the comment of her trusted companion.

“{She speaks true, master. This was the best arrangement we had available. Now that you are present, Zoey can undertake proper education in any temple or organization if you so desire so.}”

With Feugan's statement, she calmed down visibly enough to let Mimiru relax too. As she was rumiaging the possibilities and implications of everthing that was taking place, she was surprised when a diminutive bairmaid brought her a cup of a steaming beverage.

the cutest barmaid!

“Here, Misstress. this infusion is great for relaxing and destressing” Zoey said while carefully putting the tea and plate on the table in front of her. Ayi’s mood was also vastly calmed by the warm and soft visage in front of her.

“Oh! Why, thank you, sweetie!” Ayi said while pulling her cute little wofkin in for a big hug, which made the little wolfkin flail for half a second before joining in on the warm moment.

Ayi stroke the cute wolfkins head softly and looked at her “Have they been treating you well sweetie? You can stop serving tables any time, now that I am here”.

“Thank you Mistress!, I really appreciate it but… They have been really good to me and Feugan! I want to return some of their generosity by working hard.”

“Oh sweetie im sure there are other ways-”

“And Kara and the other maids are teaching me manners and proper etiquette to be a pro-maid!”

“Eh?! P-pro-maid?! Why would you nee-”

“I need to be ready since I am to be the head maid of ‘The great tomb of Naa’!!”

“Eeeeh?! The… wait!! Not because our house is lacking furniture, makes it a tomb!!!”

While his master and his little sister were having a familial moment, full of warmth and laughs, Feugan couldn’t help but to chuckle softly, feeling that things were going to be alright now that his master was finally with them.