Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-Four - Celebrating the Good Things?Quest pleted!Trim the Cruel!The Core is saved!

  I sighed. That was a good message to receive. “Thanks, Miss Menu,” I said as I dismissed the notification.

  “Did you say something?” Amaryllis asked.

  “Nope,” I replied. “Well, nothing important.”

  She heured to the portal leading out of the dungeon. “e on, then. The others will be waiting.”

  I gnced around o time, but it felt like everything we had to do was done. Another adventure ended, and on a happy oo. Sure, we were a bit banged up, but we’d get better in a day or three. “I could use something to eat,” I said as I followed Amaryllis.

  “Ah, so now you’re thinking with your stomach? Brilliant.”

  I ughed and pulled Amaryllis into a side-hug. “e on!”

  Exiting the dungeon was strahe portal ed and bubbled, and it felt like diving into a pool of dry water. And then we were out in the open. Insmouth, the town, not the dungeon, was so much more humid than I remembered.

  Awen and Bastion were just outside the mausoleum, both looking like they were waiting while taking in the big walls of fog that seemed to hover around the town and over the o. It was night now, with a sprinkling of stars shining bright enough to glow through the thin clouds above, and the moon h fat and heavy by the horizon.

  “Awa,” Awen began. “Howard invited us to the inn. He said we could eat for free tonight.”

  “That sounds wonderful,” I said.

  “I wouldn’t mind a gss of wine,” Amaryllis admitted.

  “Aren’t you a bit young for that?” I asked as I started out ahead.

  Amaryllis just gave me a look. “I’m at least a year older than you, and what does age have to do with when someone have a cup of wine?”

  “I guess there’s no age limit on that here, huh?” I asked. “Maybe I should try some?”

  “No,” Awen and Amaryllis said in the same breath.

  “Uh, okay,” I replied. Well, if they insisted.

  We started heading into Insmouth, ae the te hour, I found the town to be surprisingly lively. Lights were on, dles flickering behind windoeople were out oreet, many of them in little groups that were walking towards the tre of town, ughing and chatting all the while.

  We got some nice waves from some folk, and others seemed happy just to smile at us.

  “This eown is creepy,” Amaryllis said.

  “They seem nice.”

  The inn was a lot rowdier than I remembered, with tables packed and dozens of people sitting around outside, king big mugs together and ptes overflowing with tasty-smelling food held up in one hand so that they could eat standing up.

  “It’s them!” someone cheered.

  Before I could find out who it was, what felt like the entire inn cheered. Younger fishpeople rushed out, ughing and screaming, and we were dragged in.

  Howard was sitting on a big rog chair o the hearth, a big mug with frothing beer overflowing it in one hand. “Ah, here they are!” he said. “I was just telling everyone about our adventure.”

  “Poorly!” someone called out.

  There was mhter, and I found myself joining in. If Howard was ughing too, then it wasn’t bullying or anything, I figured. “July! Get the kids something to eat! They deserve it!”

  My friends and I were jostled around for a bit, but soon we were all at the bar where the innkeeper, July, was setting ptes before us and mugs o those.

  Amaryllis s her beer, then leaned forwards. “ I have some wine, if you have anythi?”

  “And juie!” I said.

  I expected Awen to pipe up, but she took a sip of her ale and came back with a foamy mustache. “It’s a bit bitter,” she said. “But not too bad. I think I see why Uncle likes this so much.”

  Bastion sat nearby and waved July off when she came food.

  And then we dug in, though my meal was interrupted a bunch as I answered a whole lot of questions. People were pretty excited about our dungeon run, which was a little strange. Weren’t they pretty on?

  In the end, I asked July.

  “Oh, yeah, of course. Just about everyone who’s an adult’s gohrough the dungeon. And every time, we make a big thing of it. It’s a way of celebrating for the whole town. Only folk already at level ten go in, so it’s usually the same day their css evolves.” She grinned. “It’s a big deal.”

  “Oh!” That was so ! We’d actally stumbled into a town-wide tradition.

  “So it’s an excuse to have a party?” Amaryllis asked.

  “It is!” July said. “A great time to have a few drinks and catch up. Everyone had their day, and for a lot of us it was really special. Plus today's extra-special. I heard that you fixed the old dungeon up?”

  “Yup,” I said. “Got a quest prompt for it and everything. It should be nid safe. But maybe you should find someone in town with ing magid get it up to Master Rank; it’s what I used to the Evil Roots away.”

  “ing, huh?” July asked. “I’ll let others know. Don’t think it’s that rare a skill, so maybe we’ll manage! Here, eat more, it’s all on the house for tonight!” She grabbed a bowl-full of some potato-sad and scooped some onto our ptes.

  I ughed and tucked in, then took a big gulp of some juice July served.

  People wanted us to ret our story of ht, and I was surprised when Amaryllis was the oo start telling the story. I think she added a lot of details that I wasirely sure were accurate, but with her sweeping wiures and fident squawking voice, everyone was hanging on her every word.

  Awen had a small smile on as she polished off her sed tankard of beer, the out an undy-like burp and giggled into a closed fist.

  I was smiling so much my cheek muscles were getting a workout.

  Soon I had to get up and move around. There was dang to be done, with a bunch of fishmen having gotten little drums out and someone had a long-necked lute. A bunch of girls, most looking a couple of years older than me, were dang off to one side with nervous looking boys.

  I joined in for a spin or two. I didn’t know the steps, but I learned quickly, and I mao pull Bastion in to act as my partner. He was stiff as be, but he was still a great dancer.

  When I started to feel a bit sweaty, I came back to July for water and found her serving pies, and I stuffed myself full while Amaryllis talked really loudly about politics to a few older fishfolk.

  Awen was sipping on aankard when I left, my tummy sloshing and over-full with pie, to go find the little dies room.

  That’s when I ran into Emmanuel.

  The inn’s washrooms were in their own little building. Not an out-house, exactly, but not too far from that. They were in the back, out of anyone’s way. When I was done and leaving the dy’s side, hands wiggling in the air while ing magic did its thing, I found Emmaanding in the shadows of the inn.

  He was sitting on his haunches, head tilted back to eye the stars, and ay mug of something by his feet. I hadn’t noticed him earlier, hidden as he was in the shade, away from all the partying and the ughter.

  “Hey,” I said.

  The cervid blihen looked down at me. “Oh. Hello.”

  “Broccoli,” I said.

  “Pardon?”

  “It’s my name. Broccoli. I think I told you the first time we met, but you never really called me by my name, so I figured you just fot it.”

  “Ah,” he said. “I... yes, that’s likely, Miss... Broccoli. Like the vegetable?”

  “It’s a flower, but also a vegetable,” I said. I was always quite proud of my was a very special one.

  He nodded. “Yes, I see,” he said. He looked at me for a bit more, then turned his head back again to eye the stars.

  “You’re not a bad guy, you know,” I said.

  Emmanuel g me from the er of his eye, just for a moment, but he didn’t respond.

  “I’m kinda sad things didn’t work out with you and my friends, but still, you... you have potential, you have good iions. I think that with just a bit more time, and by being a little more open, you could really bee someone who’s a great friend.”

  The cervid took a deep breath, then stood up. “Thank you, Broccoli,” he said. “I think I just need a little bit of time to myself.” His chest puffed out. “It will take more than a bit of sado keep Emmanuel Aldein Von Chadsbourne down.”

  I giggled, then hugged him. It was a bit weird. He was all furry, and his body wasn’t optimally shaped fs from someone smaller, but I did my best. “I hope you have the best adventures, Emmanuel, and I hope you make wonderful friends along the way. Everyone deserves to make their own family.”

  He blinked a few times, and I had the impression his eyes were a bit oery side. “Thank you.”

  I waved at him, then stared up at the stars myself for a little bit. I wondered if they were lonely, there, so far apart from all the others.

  I pouted. I was making myself lonely just thinking about it. It was time to go and bother my friends!

  It wasn’t hard to find everyone. Bastion was leaning against a post off to one side, arms partially crossed and a mug of something in one hand. He was eyeing the dance floor where...

  I stared.

  Awen was ughing and giggling, feet stomping in time with the beat of a drum. A drum that was sitting by her hip and that she was thumping herself, the other musis cheering her on by adding some melody to her heartbeat-fast beat.

  I found Amaryllis, sitting at the bar, a gss ialons. “Is Awen...”

  “Very drunk? Yes,” Amaryllis said.

  “Oh, okay,” I replied. “Should we do anything about it?”

  “Other than enjoy it? No, not yet. We mock her in the m when her head is splitting.”

  “How much did she drink?” I asked. Though the rest of the party hadn’t reached its end, it certainly felt like it was at its peak. A few boys jumped onto the dance floor and tried to keep up with Awen’s frantig, but she was surprisingly dextrous as she swayed around aime with her drums.

  “Three tankards of beer,” Amaryllis said. “A small gss of some stronger spirits. And she stole a gss of my wine.”

  “Is that a lot?”

  “Frown person, no, but for someone Awen’s size? Well, I think the results speak for themselves.”

  Awen saw us, then gasped and stopped to give her drums to a wide-eyed boy before running over, hair all a flutter behind her, a big tangle of gold that spshed forward when she crashed into me with a big sloppy hug. “Broccoli!”

  “Awen!” I cheered.

  “Awa! I was dang! Did you see? I think I did okay. I never did like dang all that much, but the dang they do here is so muicer than the dang bae. And when I asked one of the boys if I could py with his instruments he went all funny and ran away, so I took his drums. I never actually pyed the drum before. It’s a lot of fun! I don’t know why my mom insisted it’s a man’s instrument, it’s perfectly dy-like.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure,” I said. I eyed Amaryllis, and only got a knowing smile iurn.

  Right. Now to figure out how to get Awen to calm down, and maybe drink some water.

  ***

  RavensDagger