Thranduil seemed to stare in shock and disbelief as I uttered those words and truthfully speaking I would've been just as shocked to see myself even considering the position let alone feel excited for it,however It'd been at least two days since I actually had a meal to eat and a proper bed,prolonging a job just cause it didn't suit me was a luxury I'd lost.
snatching the paper from my hands Thranduil stuffed it back into his pockets and crossed his arms while glaring at me slightly.
"I can't hire you"
"HUH!?, what do you mean you can't I just assisted you in rebuilding that thing hiring me is the least compensation I can get!!"
Thranduil raised an eyebrow to my annoyance filled sentence as I now felt more desperate than ever.
"you have to understand that I'm not looking for just anyone here,Thrands tavern has a reputation that can't be tarnished so I can't just hire anyone"
"it's a tavern that makes ale, the ale is it's reputation not the the workers besides what else will I be doing but cleaning a few cups and bringing them over!!?"
Thranduils face crumpled into a frown as I asked this that I wondered whether his response would come in the form of a shout,however it came out calm and patient completely contrary to his expression as he leaned forward with a pointed finger.
"Waitresses play a massive role in a taverns reputation....if you understand what I mean"
Noticing my contorting face of disgust Thranduil let out a loud laugh of amusement while tapping my shoulders.
"I'm poor and jobless,this isn't funny right now"
"haha,ha, haa alright,alright learn to lighten up a bit if you're really serious about working for me"
My eyes widening again as the excitement and relief coursed through me once more,smiling to my excitement Thranduil handed me a second pamphlet with "Thranduils tavern employment" written in cursive with a space for my name and signature right at the bottom that I was rudely reminded of the other paper I had yet to fill In to officially call myself Niel.
"I won't accept half hearted determination remember there's a reputation to uphold here"
"right...."
stuffing the paper neatly into my pockets as I got ready to leave I gave Thranduil another handshake before sprinting back through the city to the captains board room with Belrog hurriedly following behind as I prayed that I'd be able to submit a name in time, dodging civilians and carriages as Belrog made good use of his nimble abilities while I sat mounted on the beast as we made our way through the city while taking quick glances at the dimming sky. Praying even more to whatever higher being that the captains board didn't close at this time.
Finally seeing the same golden written name of "captains board" I leapt off Belrog and swung the door open in a desperate rush before closing it right behind me, feeling more at ease in being inside the building I took the time to catch my breath and relax as I took a seat on the all too familiar polished wooden benches.
Sighing as my body regained the lost energy from sprinting I stood and made my way to the obsidian door, giving it a quick knock before waiting for what felt like a few seconds before the door slowly opened with the same red and black robed woman standing in front of me with her hands on the door as she stepped out the way for me to enter.
"I almost thought you couldn't figure out a new name"
smiling rather warmly from the first time we'd met Clairvoyas clasped his hands together while waiting for me to take a seat or at least that's what I assumed till he placed a quill and ink in front of him and gestured for the parchment in my hands,walking towards the polished desk and neatly placed papers on top of it I hesitantly picked up the quill and started writing.
Signing my new signature at the bottom and sliding to Clairvoyas who took it and strained his eyes on it before giving me a small amused smirk before the parchment burned in a beautiful blaze of green and purple flames,I felt a slight gnawing feeling within my mana flame but brushed it off as I was fully ready to leave.
"it'd be rude of me not to properly send of a new citizen,a short shaking of hands would do"
Surprised and suspicious of the hand that clairvoyas held out in front of me I hesitated but nonetheless took it.
"take care Ms Niel"
my eyes widened at the distant word that felt seperate from myself even though it was my new name.
'this is going to take a while getting used to'
shaking Clairvoyas's hand firmly while emanating a warm smile and attempting to tirelessly figure out just where the sudden change in mood had stemmed from but inevitably stopped as I realized just how much the man was constantly swimming within my thoughts.
Exiting the building I'd now placed on my list of places I never wanted to visit a second time, I walked through the repairing city of Loridea and the calm cold breeze of the night that allowed me to truly dawn on the situation in front of me even more.
A new name, A new job although still working on the new house I was a completely different person at least by paper work.
'a new beginning'
I recited the sentence dozens of times in my head as I practiced getting familiar with it, people walking by dwindled and ultimately disappeared with lanterns hung on warm light filled homes suddenly lighting up in a dazzling display of white flames before declining to the usual orange flame. Tall street lamps ignited in the same way bringing light to the round city center where I was standing with the subtle sound of water gushing from the square shaped fountain in front of me, glancing left and right as I searched for the slightest glimpse of a person however the street was completely empty.
"Niel,Niel,Niel,.....nope still doesn't feel right"
Laughing at my growing habit of reciting sentences a sense of relief and weightlessness overcame me, I'd previously wanted to prove my identity as the proclaimed hero of Loridae Yelaine Droxinia however I'd next to never shown my face to the public back in my time as a knight.
"come to think of it I guess that's why the illustration of me was far from the real thing, even if I wanted to go back I'd probably need to prove myself through some show of accurate detail of memories or some other boring in depth analysis.....besides what good am I now if I did prove myself. If anything its probably best that my legacy ends with some righteous death maybe that'll spark some goodwill into people"
Frowning at the deep thoughts slowly sprouting within my head a light nudge pushed me forward a bit as I looked back to find the tall stature of Belrog, his mane blowing majestically to the cool breeze of the night.
"I forgot you were right here I really am bad at keeping pets"
stifling a laugh as Belrogs stare turned to that of a glare I gave the beast a pat on the head.
"now lets go looking for a nice corner on the road somewhere to sleep for the night, I do remember this one spotless corner that Erebore would usually fall unconscious in after excessively drinking"
Clatter!!
Bang!!
sounds of rummaging and falling metal items sounded from behind the shabby wooden door Thranduil had placed at the end of the bartenders desk just behind it as he searched for a "waitresses" outfit which even though I'd found it unnecessary the dwarf was so persistent on the idea that I eventually gave up on refusing.
Minutes went by till the loud shout of celebration finally told me he'd found what he was looking for.
"haha I knew it was hiding somewhere in that messy pile of junk, take a look for yourself its quite the neat outfit"
Thranduil held in front of me a red bow tie and crimson skirt that went just past my knees.
"where's the rest of the outfit...."
"there is none, it's just this"
Glaring at Thranduil as I was fully ready to give him more than just a jab to the stomach,he quickly raised both hands in surrender while chuckling slightly.
"Calm down you're going to wear it with the outfit you have now, minus the pants and the brown coat"
"you should've made it clear from the start!!"
"perverted jokes are a dwarves specialty even half dwarves"
Grabbing the bow tie and skirt I left to the room Thranduil had just exited from to try out what'll soon be my long term uniform,as I entered the room I was met with more junk than I previously assumed. Barrels,metal pieces of ancient artifacts and an entire mountain of papers with it's own corner at the back of the room,metal gears and bars with scratched and fading runes on them made up the entire floor making navigating through it without tripping or hurting yourself somewhat of a challenge.
sighing as I kicked a few of the seemingly useless looking items and made my way to what looked was half a mirror and a closet next to it,confused but relieved at the sight of something to help with my changing I quickly took of my coat and pants placing the bow tie before transitioning to the skirt which was far from enjoyable when wearing however I brushed it off as just getting too used to wearing pants.
I folded the coat and pants as I turned around to leave to which I met gazes with a painting of a woman I must've missed in my earlier assessment of the junk room, she harboured dazzling emerald eyes and long flowing blonde hair,the painting had faded through time making it slightly harder to discern the expression the woman wore however her embracing eyes led me to assume it was nothing short of a smile.
"the only thing that doesn't look like junk in this room"
Smiling at the painting I now truly got ready to leave however an idea quickly sprouted within my head causing me to halt my exit and glance back at the end of the room.
'No never mind'
Shaking my head I left the room and walked towards Thranduil who nodded approvingly to the new attire.
"I'm new to this so now what?"
"no tavern can start without any ale so I'll be on my way to get some in the meantime your job is advertisement"
"advertisement....?"
"exactly,give people a reason to come here and not anywhere else if you can't then there's no reason for me to keep you employed rather than just getting someone else"
"w-wait you can't be serious"
Thranduil shot me a glare that didn't harbor any intention of transitioning to a laugh.
"this is my brothers tavern, I have no intention of tarnishing the work he built to make it"
"right....."
Smiling this time Thranduil gave me a meaningful wave and opened the door to leave.
"I'll be back by the end of the day so good luck"
The door slammed right behind him leaving me completely dumbfounded and in a state of internal panic,the thought of losing a job from something as silly as advertising left a bitter taste in my mouth.
'how do you advertise a tavern?,there's no drinks so I can't get them through that method,encouragement?, no how the hell do you encourage people to come drown themselves in ale without them actually tasting it!!?'
a loud yawn sounded as I turned to Belrog who looked to be having a complete blast from the dilemma I was facing.
"what happened to the helpful and caring Belrog from yesterday?"
Belrog rolled his eyes and fell onto his side before loud snores indicated that the beast was fast asleep.
"tch useless"
grabbing my sword I sighed and dragged my feet towards the door that felt harder to open as i pulled it open,sunlight flushed into my eyes before dimming and allowing me to witness the busy street of Cranborne.
People with carts and horses passed by with random items in hand such as books,papers,carts of food or just plain out empty and on their way somewhere,for some reason a certain nervousness overcame me as I watched everyone pass by like stage fright but no one was looking at me.
Words refused to formulate within my mouth and instead I stood there like a statue ornamenting the renewed Thrands tavern behind it, people passed and didn't take any second glances making the situation better and worse at the same time.
'come on say something,say something dammit'
my mouth opened and closed a few times causing me to shout internal curses at myself continuously while time passed by, not even caring to halt a bit for me to gather up some confidence.
I ravaged my mind for an opening sentence even going as far as remembering my times within a tavern,the feeling, the reason for even coming there when you're just going to drown yourself sick in alcohol.
"Th-Thrands tavern opening and ready for drinks as soon as tonight!!"
the words rolled off my tongue out of sheer desperation to say something however it'd done a fine job at collecting a few stares as some people halted what they were doing to look at me with interest, however I couldn't determine whether it was a good interest or bad but with a slither of confidence now flowing through me I continued.
"A cup of ale and a break from all the work,a tavern finally opens its doors to celebrate the survival of the 3rd calamity so why not come tonight and enjoy it!!?"
more gazes came as I said these words but ultimately the ideal reaction still wasn't there.
'god dammit why is it so hard to please a crowd...'
"You expect us to think of ale at a time like this!!?, half of us can't even feed ourselves thanks that bloody calamity and you want us all to drink it all away??!!"
murmurs of agreement carried over from the tattered white vested man who'd shouted the sentence.
"you think you can empty our pockets by using a sorry excuse for a distraction like alcohol,have some decency and help out rather than try and get us to drink all of our problems away"
"what about the children, they can't drink want us to leave them at home while their parents go waste themselves!!?"
anger was slowly rising up from the crowd as the murmurs soon to turned to shouts of agreement,I was more than inclined to leave as most of the points they'd already shot at me were nothing more than truthful but I didn't.The city was a walking mess even though it was trying hard to repair itself the lingering feelings of depression and sadness still remained,it didn't seem like a single soul had celebrated a single thing after the 3rd calamity was over, whether it was the fact that I was dead or the death of other loved ones I couldn't help but feel as I stood in front of the crowd of piercing gazes that these people.....
Truly needed a drink or two.
Filled with a somewhat more morally good reason for what I was doing I pulled my sword from the obsidian scabbard and spun it with my wrist before dramatically throwing it into the air,I positioned my scabbard in the area I assumed it was going to land and waited.
Clang!!
the sword closed itself in the scabbard perfectly keeping the crowd silent and confused but with some completely awe stricken.
"you've all been working your damn asses off and now you're refusing just one night to take a little stress off and relax with a few friends in a tavern!!?"
Now filled with my own anger I pointed to a random man in the crowd wearing a short hat and neat red clothes.
"you there just how long did that God forsaken 3rd calamity last!!?"
surprised and flustered at my shouting voice the man straightened up almost as if I was someone higher than him giving an order.
"f-five years!!"
"five years of nothing but terror and the constant fear of whether or not humanity would prevail through it all,five years of sleepless nights while you were stuck being forced to travel and deliver food and water to all of those woman and men on the front lines without even knowing if you yourself would make it back"
I now pointed at the crowd accusingly,at this point I felt like I was giving a speech but it didn't matter if I was actually winning them over somehow.
"all of that terror is finally over and now you can't even celebrate, can't even give the knights who died for all of you here a reason to feel honored for that death.they didn't do it all to see you sulking and depressed, they did to bring back those cheerful smiles that were once littered all across your damned faces"
'I'm really getting into this'
"you've all never given up and that's why this city is special, that's why people like the hero Yelaine are willing to sacrifice their lives for it but it's all for nought if you're all going to go around still looking depressed like that!!"
pausing as I gazed across all the silent faces of the crowd, not being able to discern whether I'd shaken their minds or not I finally decided to put in the final ingredient.
"All drinks for tonight will be free of charge and any children may be brought along to which I'll happily entertain myself,also free of any charge"
Cheers finally went off with Thrands tavern being shouted and repeated dozens of times like a chant,the scene was lively and brought a large smile across my face.
"this is what I wanted to see after the 3rd calamity was over, maybe even share a few words of amusing reminiscence with Erebore or Curtis under an atmosphere like this....."
shaking my head slightly I looked back to the tavern that'll be filled to its brim by the end of the evening and chuckled to myself.
'Thranduil isn't going to like everything being free is he?'