As soon as I close the door, Ryuu whisper yells, "Do you know nothing of gender differences?!" I stare at him blankly and wait for the other remarks, but they never come. I look to see that the younger three are just getting comfortable in the room and figuring out who's sleeping with who.
"You didn't seem to have this problem in the cave," I look back to Ryuu. He can't seem to come up with an adequate come back and move on. I toss my bag on the couch. "I'm going to go get some food and another blanket." I say and they are too busy arguing to notice. I sigh and just leave them to their bickering. They've been like this the whole time, and it's driving me insane. When I get down stairs the woman from earlier holds out a blanket to me from behind the bar.
"I figured you'd be down for this and some dinner." she says and I smile at her. "What can I get you and the boys?" she pulls a notepad out of her apron and a pencil.
"Can I get four of your specials and one rare steak?" I ask her and she smiles.
"Four clubs and some meat, coming right up." she winks at me and give her a grateful smile. "I'll have someone bring it to your room, unless you want to stick around." she says and I sit on a barstool with a nod. She walks off to help other customers and I play with the blanket, while eavesdropping.
"Did you hear?" "The princes were kidnapped from the castle!" "I heard they ran away," "I heard their Uncle had them killed to keep his crown!" I can hear several people say and snort at the accuracy of the rumors. One conversation does catch my attention though, in the farthest corner of the tavern, on the other side of the bar, two men sit.
"Our next bounty, is some mutt in the mountains, that might not exist?" asks the man with red hair. He is a red fox demon, and doesn't seem to believe in the target.
"No," says the other one, he is a black bear demon. "We are going after whoever is living on the mountain, wounding royal soldiers."
"There is no way the person they described is real," says the fox.
"Maybe not, but they were definitely wounded by someone." argues the bear.
"They also said it was a fully-grown hybrid," the fox counters. "With how society is now, there is no way that's possible. Especially not if they were half dragon."
"They also said it was holding the princes hostage," the bear says, getting irritated. "Who cares if they were crazy, as long as they pay up."
"Alright, but how are going to find it?" the fox backs down. "They said that it should be in town by now, but if it's survived this long, it's not going to expose itself, and they didn't exactly give us a great description." Annoyance drips from his voice.
"You've got me there," the bear scoffs. "What are we supposed to do with black hair, red cloak, that describes half the population in this area!" he growls and I hold back a chuckle as the woman comes back with our food.
"How much?" I ask, having enough of my eavesdropping for tonight.
"Three silvers for everything," she says and I slide them across the table. "Have a nice night," she says and they place the tray on the blanket in my arms. I nod and make my way up the stairs and back to the room before the princes even notice I'm gone.
"Come grab a sandwich," I call to them, interrupting their argument over who sleeps with Khidell who tosses in his sleep. They swarm the warm food and I place the tray done on the small table in the corner of the room at the foot of the couch. I sit on the arm and eat my steak and potatoes, so thankful for something other than soup. When we go to bed the night, I sigh for the upcoming days of showing them around their kingdom. Once all of their breathing evens out, I finally fall asleep.
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