Syri sucked in his breath as he locked eyes with a white-haired male sitting across the hall from where the zeta currently stood.
The male was silent as he stared at the zeta, not breaking contact when after being discovered. The white-haired was sitting in Ibbi's area of service; if it had been otherwise, Syri would have walked his way up to the man and inquired on his reasoning for the continuous gaze. Satisfied with uncovering the source of the long glance, Syri continued his rounds, but the zeta kept the male in his sights.
The man's white hair was cut short, and his gaze was piercing but soft. It was as if he was scrutinizing the zeta in the kindest way possible. His gaze was not hungry or harmful; rather, it was interested and hopeful. Syri thought the man strange; no person had ever looked at him like that. Sure, there those who were curious about his strangely sweet scent, but they usually went no further than classifying the zeta as an omega and moving on with their lives. This man, however, refused to move on. He followed the zeta's every step and gave the pink-haired his undying attention.
The man's gaze was so steady the zeta soon grew comfortable under his eyes. Syri could not explain why, but the white-haired felt familiar. The zeta mentally shook his head at himself for the wild thought. 'That's nonsense.'
'Is it, though?' Aska's voice in the zeta's mind grabbed Syri's attention.
'Am I crazy, Aska? I haven't even met the man, and I already feel so comfortable even though he has been staring at me non-stop for the past ten minutes.' Syri gave out a glass of wine as his wolf answered. 'It may be weird, but it's not crazy. You don't remember much from when you were young. Maybe you had met him back in Hern.'
'That's true.' Syri agreed with Aska. He had lost his memories when he was five due to an accident. It was possible he had met the man prior to losing his memories. 'I'll have to ask him when I get the chance. The way he is looking at me is no ordinary gaze.'
'Sounds like a plan, but you really should focus on the task at hand. You're about to hand the man whiskey, Syri. He asked for wine.' The zeta snapped himself from his thoughts at Aska's warning and quickly grabbed a glass of wine to give to the waiting guest. 'Whew, thanks for the warning, Ask-'
The zeta's thanks to his wolf was interrupted when a hand grabbed his shoulder. Syri froze at the sudden contact until he smelled the familiar scent of the gamma. 'Oh, thank god.' The zeta released a breath and turned to see Estan staring at his through wide eyes. "Syri! What are you doing here?!" The gamma inquired in a whisper.
"They needed more workers and brought us from-" The zeta was once more cut off when Estan grabbed his arm and began leading him out of the hall. The gamma took the zeta's tray and handed it to a worker in passing as he brought Syri away from prying eyes. Estan led the zeta around a corner outside the doors to the hall and turned his head to make sure no one was in their proximity before releasing a breath and addressing the zeta, "Okay, now explain."
"They needed more workers, so they came to the stables and ordered for the females and low-ranking males to wait tables," Syri explained in a hush voice. Estan pursed his lips and bobbed his head as he absorbed the information.
"I'm glad I got here early," the gamma released in a breath before placing his hands on his hips. "Jae and Yejin are on their way, so we gotta get you out of here quick." Syri nodded in agreement as the gamma thought of a solution. "I could put you in the kitchen. You'd get free food at the end, and Jae would have no idea you were even here." The zeta's eyes lit up at the mention of free food, and Syri immediately nodded his head. He was all for free food while staying hidden. "Okay, that's what we'll do. Come on, Little One," Estan said and began leading the way to the kitchen. 'Thank the moon goddess I had the urge to arrive early.'