Odd Encounter at the Axe Baron Inn

They walk towards the inn, glancing around to make sure no one is following just in case. Khio fastens the horses' reins to the horizontal post, with enough reach for the water trough and food.

The inn's door holds a sign with the name in front. Another unique name appeared, as the sign read: 'Axe Baron Inn.' No matter how unusual a name, an inn is still an inn and some good rest is highly needed. Now thinking about it... It had been days since any of them got a decent night of sleep. Rhetta looks at the top of the door, noticing some words carved into the wood.

Rhetta reads the words aloud "Ad pacificos?"

"It means 'To the peacemakers.' if I recall correctly." Florian states

"What's that supposed to mean?" Khio grumbles, hating how every place has a weird slogan that doesn't make obvious sense.

"It means this is the safest place for us to rest, it's the same as Onion Ore, neutral ground. Axe Baron is a little more...strict you could say." Florian pushes open the heavy door and holds it open for her two companions before stepping inside.

A peculiar man sits with a malicious grin, watching the three women entering the inn, his hand holds two wanted posters. One with Rhetta's picture and another with Khio's.

The inn, compared to the suffocating situation outside, felt warm and welcoming in comparison. Sunlight poured through the colourful windows, the rays leading to a large counter that doubles as a bar. The counter nearly takes up the entire wall close to the entrance. Towards the back of the large building, stands an open archway leading to a set of stairs and a few tables for eating are present. The tables are a mix of small round tables fashioned from old barrels, and some slightly larger rectangular tables.

Florian looks over the eating area, it's about half full. It is not rowdy, nor solemn. It's relaxing. The people eat, drink and share an occasional laugh and exchange of whatever conversation they deemed interesting. One thing is for sure; everyone minded their own business. Even when three strangers set foot into the inn, not a single person stared, some paid a curious glance and then went back to their own dealings.

"Welcome to Axe Baron Inn, my lady. What can I get for you?" The cheerful man behind the counter spoke with a soothing voice. He possessed an odd presence, neither frightening nor friendly. In fact, it is unreadable. Even someone like Rhetta could not read him in any sense. It had been evident that he was not someone who appeared weak and based solely on his appearance she would have likened him to the son of a noble rather than an innkeeper.

He held a soft smile, rounded violet eyes and short, pale blonde hair. All of his features seemed to exude an innocent impression. Perhaps the same feeling one would feel when seeing a puppy, Rhetta regarded him with suspicion and felt that more than a puppy, he likened something more sly. Though that was her intuition speaking.

Khio notices Rhetta lost in thought and steps to the front to speak, "Do you have any rooms available?"

"We have quite a few vacancies. Would you like one or two rooms?"

"We might need two rooms." Rhetta speaks, finally being present in the conversation again.

The innkeeper chuckles "I could also recommend a large double room, it's slightly cheaper than getting two rooms. If one can decide who will sleep on the sofa."

"We'll do that then. Thank you."

"Thank you my lady, will that be all?" The man looks over at Florian, meeting her eyes and his smile deepens with a warm sense of familiarity.

The innkeeper holds his pleasant smile and writes the information down in the records book. Rhetta pulls out the money and places it carefully on the counter. The innkeeper's smile falters, it had been too long since he saw someone with a noble grace act so humbly. Most nobles that came to the small inn would complain about it being dirty or unpleasant. When paying; they would toss the coins at him without so much of a second glance.

Rhetta secures the pouch, "Would it be alright if we stopped for a meal as well?"

"Of course my lady!" he beams

"Hmmm it's good we have food and beds but I wish this was a tavern. I still need that drink." Khio states with a disappointed sigh.

The innkeeper stifles a laugh, "Anything in particular you're feeling for?"

"Something strong..." Khio answered not realizing her mumbling had been answered by the innkeeper, but her surprised face was met with that amicable smile.

Florian stared intently at him, she could vaguely remember someone that looked like him. She knows it was from the temple, but for someone she only saw in passing, it was hard to confirm whether or not he was the same person in her memories.

He shifts his eyes to Florian, "My lady, I know I'm quite handsome but anymore than this, you're going to stare holes into me." He muses.

"Ah! I'm sorry, I just- I thought you looked familiar. I was trying to remember if we had met. I didn't mean to stare so much." Florian apologizes looking a bit flustered over the incident.

"That's quite alright, I'm simply teasing." He points over to a free set of tables. "Feel free to take a seat."

Khio leads the way, staking her claim over the furthest and most corner table she could find for the group. Rhetta and Florian soon catch up, the moment they sit, a waitress appears as if out of thin air.

Florian gets startled at seeing her so suddenly and accidentally hiccups. Khio cackles uncontrollably at the sight of Florian getting hiccups so quickly.

"I'll take a honey mead!" Khio says excitedly after glancing at the menu.

"Make that two." Rhetta chimes in, Khio gawks at her. Never once had she ever seen Rhetta drinking alcohol, much less ordering it.

"Make that three!" Florian smiles, hopping onto the bandwagon.

"Oh no you don't, you're getting juice." Khio cuts in quickly, cancelling her order, "And to eat...we want three Axe Baron special stews."

The waitress nods her head in agreement and whips away to get everything together. Before Florian could even protest or get a word in, the waitress had already left. She pouted like a child seeing that her order for honey mead was ignored. It was innocent curiosity, seeing she had never had any alcohol aside from the wine in temple rituals.

The innkeeper approaches their table with the tray of drinks, "Two honey meads and one honey berry juice." He sets them down and looks at Florian who shows outright dejection. "Better luck next time."

Khio and Rhetta lift their tankards, simultaneously taking a swig. Khio takes hearty gulps compared to Rhetta's small sips. Meanwhile Florian just 'enjoyed' her juice in silence.

Khio looks over at the innkeeper, "Are you the bartender or the innkeeper?"

"I'm the barkeep."

Khio laughs at the play on words even Rhetta cracks a smile. He nods and goes back to manage his counter and bar. Rhetta sets her drink down with a half empty tankard. She didn't want to waste any of their time and wishes to sort through the sheer information overload they had the last few days.

"To summarize what we've seen over the last few days... The severe poverty, dismal conditions of villages due to the negligence of the nobles, corruption within the systems of those who work within the empire." Rhetta counts her fingers, realizing that she didn't have enough for everything going on. "The knights are oppressing the people, abusing their power, now there are drugs and to top it all off...a mysterious plague affecting animals."

"A pleasant entrée isn't it?" Florian comments, Rhetta places her head in her hands.

"Can there be any more bad news? This isn't something we can easily fix seeing that we don't even know who or why we were framed as traitors."

"Really? Sounds like you just answered your own question."

Khio slams her hand on the table "Seriously Florian! Enough with the snide comments and speak up if you want to say something." Florian raises her hands in surrender.

"Rhetta...You ever think that maybe they got rid of us because we wouldn't be bought over?"

"Seeing how upset you guys are, you were bound to crack down on the people who did this. You were the biggest target of removal from where I'm sitting." Florian speaks plainly to avoid another confrontation over ambiguous comments.

Rhetta mulls over the words; it was in no way strange that nobles were offering to buy Khio a title or act as a sponsor to her family. They were things she could not easily attain on her own and made her a suitable target for their tempting deals. Khio being Khio however, refused and claimed that she would attain things through her own abilities and effort.

Rhetta is no different, she treated every noble who approached her with an agenda indifferently. If she gave way to a foot in the door she would set incredibly difficult conditions that no one could ever fulfil.

Both Khio and Rhetta became people with immense influence as well as being those who did not side with the nobles nor a particular movement of power. They carried out their duties to the empire, and never turned a blind eye to the wrong doings of the nobles.

Florian sipped her sweet tasting juice, "I wonder why we have every serious conversation over food."

"We don't get to be picky. It's an all inclusive kinda deal." Khio says through a full mouth of food. She swallows the big bite of table snacks "If you haven't noticed, we're criminals who escaped execution."

"It's just a matter of proving your innocence then."

Rhetta shakes her head at Florian's statement "Easier said than done. We're innocent. I'm sure a lot of people know it but it's convenient to pretend otherwise. We were convicted as guilty without any evidence or investigation. Our innocence never mattered in this case."