Peculiar People

"Captain are you sure we are goin' the right way." my subordinate looked towards me with a face of concern while we rode side by side on our horses. I look ahead seeing the long narrowing path we are taking through this forest. Then I look behind me to see the elite squad I am commanding at my back. Everyone of them dignified with their heads up high being ever vigilant to the surroundings.

"This is the way we were told to go by the higher ups so it is the way we'll go. We should arrive at our destination in a day or two, So dont worry and calm your mind." I reply to ease the tension he's been feeling. But it is true that this was sprung up out of nowhere, this mission that my superiors gave me saying it was of utmost importance with no earlier notice.

"Understood captain, I apologize for doubting you. It will not happ-" the sentence cut short i turn my head to see a spear sticking from the abdomen of my subordinate as he falls from his horse. Then all around me I heard screams and shouts seeing things fly at us from the tree line.

All hell broke loose.

I jolt awake in a cold sweat and look at my surroundings. Realizing everything that happened was only in my head, I relaxed my body back into the rocking chair. Ahead of me is LilaWeath, with her back face to me, she still seems to be sleeping soundly. I get up from the chair and head to the door slowly opening and closing it so as not to wake her, And head downstairs to find the barkeep. Easily enough he was up bright and early, seemingly wiping down some tables and getting ready to serve breakfast.

"Oh, you're up bright and early aren't ya." he looked up from a table he was wiping down, and threw the cloth over his shoulder. "Breakfast aint ready for another hour."

"I'm used to waking up early. When will I be able to meet the client for the job?" I look to hime awaiting his response.

He puts his hand to his beard and begins stroking it, pondering for a moment. "I believe he said he'd be around a bit after breakfast where he will meet with everyone." what he said surprised me

"Everyone?"

"Oh, yeah sorry I forgot to tell ya he needs multiple people for this request apparently. Though like I said before I don't know much about the details" he laughed a bit and went back to wiping the tables. "Well since you're up early why don't ya go wipe yourself off a bit. We have a washroom just down that hall to the left" he pointed down the hall. "There is a fresh cloth and a bucket with some water in there you can use." I just simply nodded and headed on over to the washroom.

Inside the room was small with a stool and a bucket of clear water with some rags on the wall. I started to slowly but meticulously take off my armor and place it in the corner. As I did I slowly revealed the many scars adorning my body. Many from my time serving and a few from my childhood. Finishing up I slowly left and went to sit down in the tavern.

…

It's been about 10 mins since I received breakfast. Slowly but surely people were coming into the tavern from upstairs and outside to have breakfast themselves. As I continued eating I saw out the corner of my eye LilaWeath coming downstairs rubbing her eyes. She looked around anxiously before her eyes sat on me. She breathed a sigh of relief before heading towards my direction.

"I thought you left without me, I was about to be sad for a second." she sat down in a stool with her elbows propping up her face. "The bed was wonderful to sleep on but I wondered how the chair was. Was it comfortable sleeping on that WITH your armor?" she looked at me with a questioning gaze as she asked.

"It was fine." I simply replied without explaining in any more detail.

"That's it, fine is all you can describe, cause from my perspective it doesn't look very pleasing." she smirked as she got up to go talk with the barkeep.

She came back 20 mins later looking refreshed with a plate of food in her hand. "So where to now? Are we doing anything fun today?"

"We?" I questioned. "I am going to wait for the client to come in, you can do what you want. And we can go our separate ways." I took a swig of my drink before looking back at her.

"Alright that's fine, I shall do what I want, and what I want to do is follow you." she smirked at me while she ate her breakfast.

I exhaled a long sigh "Do what you want LilaWeath though I'm not gonna babysit you, so i hope you have some coin to pay for that meal." I pointed towards her meal then downed the rest of my drink.

It looked like she was about to speak but before she could 3 figures entered the tavern and walked towards the tavernkeep. They conversed for a bit then the tavernkeep led the 3 to a back room. Then the tavernkeep walked up to us.

"Well that's your guy, just head on to the back room there and he will tell you all about it." The tavernkeep pointed to the room that the 3 went in.

"Thanks for the help" I simply said as I got up from the table and dropped a few coins on the table. Enough to pay for both Lilaweaths and I's meals. Lilaweath got up after me and followed me to the back room.

"Thanks for your patronage." the tavernkeep smiled and he scooped up the coins and slipped them in his pocket. I simply just waved back at him and entered the room where the 3 people went.

I opened the door to 3 figures sitting at a table discussing amongst themselves. Now that i could get a good look at them, they were definitely some odd characters. There were 2 men and a woman sitting at the table. On the left was a female dressed in very intricate white garbs with a staff to her side and a gold necklace around her neck. Her clothes had intricate designs that looked like feathers were weaved in and around them. She had brunette hair with hazel eyes. She wore jewelry but none of it was too gaudy or out of place everything fit like a puzzle. To the right was a figure more rugged than the woman before he had a short stature but was built like a bull. He had leather wraps and armor with a green gambeson. To his side was a large crossbow that had a dragon etched into the wood of the crossbow. He had no hair on his head but his beard was braided and it went down to his torso with an iron ring to fasten the braid. The man was obviously a dwarf of sorts while the woman was human who seemed to work as a priestess of sorts. Finally the man in the middle didnt have outrageous features as the last to but still had unique features of his own. He was wearing simple yet stylish clothes and wore spectacles with black rims to match his hair. He had books and such lying around him in various manners.

As I walked in with lilaweath the 3 figures all turned to me and the simply dressed man stood up from his seat.

"I assume you are here for work, yes?" he said to me as he rounded the table.

"Yes, I was told that this was the place I needed to go." I simply responded.

"Good good. My name is John, John barkley. I am a professor at the academy in the magicians cove and I am looking for capable folk to retrieve something for me." he said smiling at me with his hand out to greet me. I took his hand to shake and responded. "I am Fellim a pleasure to meet you"

"Well Mr.Fellim you look plenty capable I would love to have your help." He excitedly said then his eyes wandered over to LilaWeath. "May I know who this young lass is here?"

LilaWeath just stood behind me playing true to her character she was playing. I simply sighed wondering when this charade would end. "She is LilaWeath my *cough* daughter" I physically winced when that last word came out of my mouth. But also lilaweath stared daggers at me making sure i introduced her 'correctly'.

"Well I hope this doesn't hinder your performance. But remember this task is a bit… dangerous to say the least and i don't know if it's fit for a child." he said looking a bit concerned. If only he knew this kid just last night butchered 3 full grown men, I bet his tone would change. But I was not going to correct him.

"I am not a child! I am perfectly capable of handling myself." Lilaweath ferociously objected behind me.

John was taken aback by the fact the sheepish girl lashed out. "My apologies I didn't mean to offend. I was simply stating my concerns." he went back to his dignified look and spoke again. "Anyways let me introduce you to the people that will join you in this mission to the left we have Milaine. She is a priestess that serves under the god of life."

Milaine bowed her head and said in a soothing voice. "Pleased to have your acquaintance"

Now that I got a better look at the necklace it looked to be a pair of hands cradling a dove of sorts.

"And to the right we have Braum, a dwarf from the snowy mountains north. He is a man of the woods, a hunter if you will but he is also a great shot." John gestured towards the dwarf.

Braum simply looked with disinterest as he took a sip from his mug in front of him, but said nothing. John simply whispered to me "He's not much of a talker but I can vouch he is good at what he does." John backed away "anyways make yourself comfortable I Believe we have one more person com-" before he could finish his sentence the door behind us burst open Revealing a flamboyantly dressed tanned skin man with pointed ears. He looked around the room with a watchful gaze then gave a huge smile.

"Why hello everyone sorry I am late, i had to get my beauty sleep." he yawned then looked around the room at everyone staring at him. "I Know i'm gorgeous but no need to stare, it's quite rude, you know."

John cleared his throat "Well hello my name John barkley professor at the academy in Magicians Cove. And you are?" The elf took his hand and kneeled down in front of him "My name is Fredoral Parthenia Redwing'' he stopped for a moment and kissed john's hand, "But you can call me Fred" John made a wry smile. "Mr....Redwing I am glad that you can be of service, please sit and make yourself comfortable."

Now that I could see this man in view his clothes were pure white with golden tassels that went around the sleeves of his shirt and his pants. As well as gold inlays in his clothes of all different eccentric patterns. Upon closer inspection I saw that there were certain protrusions on his sleeve, That some of the tassels hang off of. They were in the shape of a knife… dagger maybe couldn't really tell.

"It's a pleasure everyone." He sat at the table then looked at everyone but his gaze stopped at LilaWeath and I. "I didn't know that children were invited. I would have brought one of mine here."

I could see LilaWeath physically seethe in her seat. She was about to say something but I put my hand up before she could speak. "Let's stop the small talk. I would actually like to earn some money and stop messing around with pleasantries" I looked at him coldly.

"My apologies didn't know you were the father but I can see the resemblance. But anyways exactly what he said mr… uh" "Fellim" "Fellim hmm yes i apologize." He went around and asked for everyone's names and after we were all acquainted with each other John stood up from his chair.

"Now that that's out of the way it's time I tell you why I need your services"