Lauka took my money and left shortly after that, though I was planning to offer her a tip, but she raced off before I could dramatically dig around in my pockets for more.
I sat around within the hideaway pub for a little while, relishing the atmosphere of just another sort of hearth. While it wasn't a welcoming one, it certainly had its own warmth to it, a secretive fire for conspirators to gather around and discuss just another plan. I didn't stick around for too long, and when I left, I gave the bartender—a hardened looking, green Tiliquan—a fair tip, along with subtle eye contact that told him just how… unappreciated the selling of my whereabouts would be.
After that I just roamed the rooftops, not feeling the need to practice the Sharah for the night. While it would have felt productive to do so, there is really only so much practicing you can do before it begins to lose its calming touch. So, instead of succumbing to the habitual need to perform the Sharah ad nauseam, I walked the city and spoke it instead.
I created sentences that described the graceful walking of a cat, slinking across a tightrope—the minimal flaps of a bird's wing in full flight. Just a few days ago, I had scaled a wall with almost no effort, just speaking the words of ascension.
Now, I tried to understand just how well I could move, in the context of the urban landscape. And understand I did. I had only really practiced the lengths of the Sharah in the fields near Mayer's little home, now I was scaling buildings with little more effort than it would take me to fly across a flat plane—the pure efficiency of the Sharah's movements, along with the inherent shifting that came along with it and micromanagement of my kinetic energy allowed me to pull stunts that clearly defied gravity.
It was a fun distraction, really. I didn't particularly need the practice to do these stunts, being capable of speaking the Sharah so naturally all the time. It gave me the time to think about some more aspects of my power in general.
It seemed that I was more powerful within a place of hearth, socially at least. Maybe it was obvious to state, but with how my powers were really just handed to me by Gallar, I really knew almost nothing about them. Other than I had a domain, divine power, and was now even more immortal than I was as a Champion, I was left with almost nothing to work with. Divine Pacts were a total surprise, though Gram didn't seem surprised enough to make a big deal out of it. Being able to call on religious greetings without knowing them first?
So, as the sun was once again uncovered by Orisis, I made my way back to the Skinned Lizard, entering without much fanfare and making my way up to my room. I left my suit and shoes to rest for the day, returning to my regular traveller's clothing.
As I entered the dining floor once again, I found it mostly empty, aside from a handful of patrons. Sure, it was a little early in the morning, but I guess it was just a slow day for the Skinned Lizard. I couldn't see either Gehne or Tenra on staff, which meant there must be someone else on staff—seeing as the few patrons here were served.
I sat at one of the tables, content to wait for Rethi and Alena to come down in their own time. But as I waited, it wasn't long before a large man emerged from the door leading into the kitchen. The man, massive by Tiliquan standards, stood at a mighty six foot—his broad shoulders and muscled torso hardly hidden by the light shirt he wore. His scales were a mundane brown with a smattering of a darker brown. Though, what really stood out was the line of damaged, dusky scales tracing from his snout to down below his shirt-line.
"Welcome." He said, his voice a gentle growl that might scare if I couldn't see that he was doing his best to dampen his naturally terrifying voice. Though, when he took another look at me, I could see a small smile build on the wide-mouthed Reptilia. His voice was accented, a heavier tone mixed in with the rest of his speech, an effect not too dissimilar to the African accent.
"You're the guest that has Gehne and Tenra so riled up, aren't you?" He questioned even as he pulled out a seat and delicately sat in the chair that somehow refrained from groaning underneath his weight.
"I'm so talked about already, am I?" I asked, despite knowing full well that Tenra probably couldn't keep his excitable mouth shut to save his life. The Tiliquan's eyes glimmered with amusement, though he restrained himself from laughing.
"You could say that. Though I have to say, it isn't often that I catch Gehne as concerned as I did the night before last." While he was still relatively jovial, there was a small amount of warning and apprehension in his voice—though I guess that meant that Gehne had kept that little encounter to herself.
"A fault on my part, I assure you. Thankfully, I was able to clear it up with her not long afterwards." I felt a strange twist of emotions from the man, a slight surprise coming to the surface. He scrunched his brow heavily, making his already intimidating face even more severe.
"You… tried to court her?"
Well, I can't say that I expected that. I coughed gracefully with surprise, returning to the man with an awkward smile.
"Ah, no. I didn't try to court her." I paused for a moment, thinking whether it was appropriate to as my next words, but decided to go with it anyways, "Though, that isn't to say that she would be undeserving—as forward a statement as it might be." I grinned wryly at the war-like Tiliquan man as his face scrunched in a mixture of a few different emotions in small quantities.
"You find the Reptilia attractive? That is quite odd for your race, no?"
"Is it?" I asked thoughtfully, though the man just shrugged his wide shoulders, "I have only just met the Reptilia and understand little of the relations between them and the humans here. You might say that I'm an outsider in that sense." He brought up a clawed finger and tapped at his chin idly, a calculated calm regaining control over his emotional state. He was quite the man of emotional control, it seemed.
"I find you to be an enigma, guest." He said finally, though the words held no hostility, there was a decent amount of interest within them, "You appear one day within a Reptilian owned establishment, give good impressions to the employees and customers, enough that I heard about it. You both worry and interest Gehne, you come in with a suit worth more than most of what I own." He stopped, his eyes suddenly becoming as sharp as a blade, piercing straight into me—the slitted eyes narrowing ever further.
"Not to mention the whispers of a man dancing across rooftops within Shed's territory, the man in a strange suit making a stop at the Skink last night." I didn't react with my posture, an instinctive understanding washing over me. I just smiled gently, careful to not part my lips at the man.
I suffered under his gaze for a while, letting him stare at me as much as he wanted. I could see the expectation of my cracking underneath the hood of his calmed emotions, though when I didn't—there was a measure of pleasant surprise within him, almost akin to respect.
"Now," he continued, voice quieter still, "it's quite odd that a man walks into my little inn with a warrior's gait. Given all that information, of course." I quirked an eyebrow, genuine surprise making an appearance on my face.
"A warrior's gait? I wasn't aware that I had one."
"You have one, it is unmistakable. Your movements flow with a practiced ease that only comes from being a dancer or a warrior, and where I am from, there is very little difference." He spoke with such surety that I couldn't help but admire it. I settled on an amused shrug.
"I dabble, I must confess." The Tiliquan scoffed, sounding almost like a lion chuffing, though an even sharper sound. He squared me up with his eyes, something that Rethi and Mayer had done thousands of times.
"If you only dabble, you must think me a toddler." I looked over the muscled and clearly trained man—his physique head and shoulders above the rest of the naturally muscled Tiliquans.
"You're a warrior yourself, probably quite good at being one, I'd imagine." He snorted.
"Once." I rolled my eyes as I repeated the word back to the man silently.
"I know a man, a warrior, much older than both of us that would scoff at that." The Tiliquan grinned slyly but didn't elaborate.
"Maximilian Avenforth, or just Max." He nodded shortly in lieu of a handshake.
"Tek. I appreciate the shortening of your name, it sounds almost Tiliquan. Powerful."
"I suppose so. My name is good at being both formal and informal when I want it to be." Tek nodded sagely, crossing his arms over his broad chest.
"Many Tiliquan and Gek find our names to be a little lacking in the context of human names and last names. We had tribal names once, that served as a family name as you have—yet we have abandoned those, along with our tribes."
"Why not create a new one? Establish your own tribe within the city and use it to form a community of Reptilia, or at least Tiliquans." He stretched his neck from side to side, the light popping of his spine rung out as he thought.
"That seems easy, except that Shed will take it as an act of war. The Reptilia are afraid of Shed and his gang of fools, and it'd put too many people in danger to try that. The best we have at the moment is this little inn. Here its neutral territory, even Shed's strongest flunkies leave us be." I eyed the man.
"In no small part to you, I'd assume?" He chuckled but didn't bother answering. I wondered where this conversation was going. It started with the genuine interest, along with the accusation of basically telling me 'I know what you're doing', but apart from that, neither of us are budging. I decided to extend an olive branch, getting tired of waiting out the political talk.
"This politicking of yours seems very unlike the image you give off, Tek." I let the statement sit for a while, neither of us overtly reacting, "What is it that you want to know?" I asked finally. I felt the slight relief in the man, maybe a small worry that I'd get offended or try something stupid.
"I want to know what you're doing, riling up the gangs. A human frolicking around Shed's districts could be dangerous, for you and for Haedar Kout and his people. They don't know who you are yet, but they will soon, when the people I get info from finally end up leaking to someone other than me." I stared at him, though without any challenge in my eyes.
"And why would I care what Kout and Shed are up to?" I ask dangerously, though we both knew that it was really just a bluff sentence.
"Because if they find out who you are, they'll go after your people, and I don't know if the Skinned Lizard could protect them from that. If they really want you, of course." Well, I imagine that it'd be a bad day for someone who tried to go up against Rethi. Though, even if we'd been teaching Alena bits and pieces about fighting, she was still pretty weak in a confrontation. Though, if she was willing to, she could easily tear apart someone with a touch.
"Well, I guess I should let you in on the secret then." I grinned and the Tiliquan man, despite his general stoic body language, leaned in towards me as I teased the next sentence through my lips. "I have no idea what I'm doing."
The look on the Tiliquan's face was probably worth it.
"You aren't trying something?" He said, his voice low and dangerous—though it was more to hide his disbelief than to intimidate.
"Nope. In fact, I've only learned of the gangs last night, at the… Skink, you said?" Tek nodded curiously, "Before then we were only here for a few days, but I'm feeling like I could maybe get my hands into something here, if I wanted to. Of course, I could just pick up the bags and horses and be on my way, but that would be a little boring, wouldn't it?" I smiled smarmily, but the musclebound man almost didn't seem to notice my theatrics. He was staring down into the wooden table we sat around, his eyes searching for something in the grained wood.
"Tonight, after Orisis has hidden the sun for three hours, come into the kitchen and through to the back room." He said quietly, quietly enough for none of the very few patrons to hear. I nodded easily, feeling a little excitement as I realised I was being pulled into a conspiracy of sorts.
"I'll be bringing along my companions." I said simply, giving no room for argument. Tek pause for a second before shrugging slightly.
"If you feel they are trustworthy. I will bring out the last order you had for breakfast in a moment's time." I nodded, and let the man leave the table behind, disappearing back into the kitchen once more.
I sat alone at my table for a while, just thinking about the interesting turn of events for the day. Every day in this city seemed to progress me even further towards something else, a total difference to the massive spans of time where nothing happened in Mayer's road town. It was invigorating and endlessly exciting, truly making me wonder just what I could get myself into while I was here and, perhaps, what I could change.
"Master Max." Rethi spoke as he plopped himself down at the table, giving me a dry look. He hadn't escaped my attention as he had come down the stairs, but he had made his way over here fast.
"Enjoy your day with Oscar and Alena, Rethi?" I asked sarcastically, though the boy's expression was so dry it could start a drought in a rainforest. I could only laugh at the boy, letting myself drift into the beginning of yet another day in this city. Rethi snorted with heatless derision.
"I hate you." He mumbled under his breath, only forcing me to chuckle longer, and a little louder.