Dinner For Three

Weekends at the Academy seemed to sort out one of two ways for most: Stay on campus, or stay off campus.

This was because travel back to the Academy was exhaustive on foot and expensive by air car, so students tended to maximize their time outside the Academy when they did go.

But for Kir, money wasn't going to be a problem for a little while, so when his date with Kordia and Rainier finally came, he insisted on paying for everything as they ventured into the city, doing a bit of light shopping and sightseeing as they walked together.

Students weren't an uncommon sight, and more than once the trio waved to someone dressed in the same uniform, though they tended not to look Kir in the eyes.

Most of their time was spent in the middle district. Kir noted that people there were less likely to show outright hostility toward him, but the looks he got were still wary.

"W-wow..." Kordia said as soon as they arrived at their dinner destination, which Kir had decided on thanks to some helpful advice from Stella.

While she'd never been out of the shop, she did acquire quite the trove of knowledge on Norneau for direction-giving purposes. At Kir's insistence, however, she stayed in the Academy; to which she boasted loudly in her reply that she would have a sequel to her last book out by the end of the day.

"This looks fancy," Rain declared with a big smile on his face. He was wearing his halo out, letting it rest on his head like an over-large circlet that refused to stay horizontal.

The three of them were still in their uniforms, and while there was no written dress code, as soon as they entered it became apparent that this restaurant - located in the city's middle tier - catered to the wealthy.

However...

"Welcome to The Lake and Lily... um..." the concierge, a young beastkin lady with white, wooly hair and lamblike features tapered into silence for a long moment before ending with "...students." She smiled nervously, eyes locked on Kir, who had led the way in.

"Is there a problem?" Kir asked, internally suppressing his self-recriminations at not having foreseen this potential turn. "We'd like a table for three."

"No problem! Let me just, um, ask the manager." The concierge left, following the age-old tradition of making a problem into someone else's problem.

"They've got some really nice tables," Rain noted obliviously.

The manager came out shortly, an elven man wearing an officious smile as the sheepish concierge hovered behind him.

"Ah, students. We normally don't see many Academy students unless it's a holiday. Would you be willing to demonstrate that you can, in fact, afford to dine here? I'm sorry but students have been known to dine and disappear at times." His eyes kept flicking up towards Kir's horns and down to his tail. 

Kordia started tugging on Kir's shirt, but Kir simply reached into the dimensional storage on his left forearm and produced a gold coin, which he flipped to the manager. "That should more than cover our meals," he said, not wanting to deal with the man any more than he had to.

"Ah right this way," the manager said, leading them towards a section of the restaurant that was walled off from the rest. He opened the double doors to the room and gestured for them to sit at the large, circular table.

Kir, Kordia, and Rain took their seats before the concierge came by, nervously dropping off menus. "Your server will be by soon," was the only thing she said to them before closing the door behind her.

As soon as the door shut, Kir let out the breath he'd been holding.

"Kir, you didn't have to do that, we could have gone somewhere else," Kordia said.

"It's fine," Kir said. "I just want us to have a good time and not worry."

"They even gave us a private room," Rain smiled at the decor around them.

Kordia winced, which meant she likely was on the same page as Kir. The private room was so the manager could take his money and keep him out of sight. Their server, a much younger elven girl who looked related to the manager, showed up a few moments later. One look at the menu told Kir that he was at serious risk of overpaying, at least Rain started ordering.

"Can I get the aurochs steak with honeyed carrots, mashed tubers and red wine sauce. Oh and a dragon's egg soup bowl, extra spicy. One broasted raptor, and the..." Rain paused to look at the menu once more "Flan. For dessert."

"A man who knows what he wants," the server winked at him before addressing everyone. "Is that for all of you?"

"I'll have the summer berry salad with chargrilled raptor," Kir said.

"I'd also like the aurochs steak..." Kordia said nervously, looking at Kir as if he would disapprove. He gave her an encouraging smile instead.

"Anything to drink?" the server asked.

Before Kir could answer, Kordia spoke up.

"Wine! Um... Tayberry if you have it," she looked at Kir again and he shrugged.

"I'll bring the bottle," the server said with a respectful bow.

Kir was pleasantly surprised to discover nothing amiss about the meal when it arrived. Between the three of them, the conversation was pleasant and mostly about what they dealt with at school. Well, the conversation between Kordia and Kir to be more precise. Rain was too busy stuffing his face and answering in unintelligible muffled sounds that seemed either positive or negative.

Kordia relaxed a lot more after her first glass of wine, and soon was leaning against Kir as they gossiped about school. Kir told them all about what Professor Ingotszen called him to the office for.

When Kordia asked if he got anything out of it, he answered, "It got me interested in seeing the Great Dungeon of Duat."

"Mmph!" Rain swallowed his bite before speaking this time. "I've been wanting to go there for years!"

Kordia's assessment was a bit more on the money, "They say if you can make it back from the fifth strata, you're set for life!" her eyes had a glint of ambition about them. "Of course, you have to be strong to get that far. It's the ultimate test for mages."

"Then we should go sometime!" Kir proposed. The mood dampened a bit as soon as he proposed it. Then he remembered. "Oh. Right. You both have to get married after you graduate."

"Just getting there is pretty much a month in the desert," Kordia sighed.

"And the only way to get past the third stratum is to have a full team of adventurers. That far in, people stay for weeks at a time," Rainier added, still seeming a bit wistful as he finally drank his cup of wine.

"I'm sorry," Kir said. "I didn't mean to-"

"No sorry," Kordia said, poking Kir. "We can imagine it. Not like it's gonna happen but we can think about it. Maybe try one of the close by dungeons if the school will let us. Is becoming a delver something you want to do when you graduate?"

Kir grew thoughtful.

"I don't know what I really want to do yet... But after I figure out things, I think I want to leave the world better than when I found it." He took a bite of bread and then asked, "You said there's a dungeon close by?"

"Yessir!" Rain said as he poured himself another glass.

"You need an adventurer's badge to get in, but the entrance is just outside the city. You can see it from the towers sometimes," Rain tried to pass Kir the cup he'd just filled.

"I, uh... shouldn't drink..." Kir said, trying to politely refuse.

"Relax a little. You've been tense since you got here," Kordia said, pressing herself against him. "No one out there knows we're all on a date," she giggled, tilting her ears slightly towards the door.

As if to disprove her point, the door suddenly slid open and the elf from earlier came in.

"Just checking to make sure everything is alright," she smiled. "Can I get you another bottle?" she asked.

""Yes!"" Rain and Kordia said at the same time.

She was gone and back rather quickly, and as soon as the door closed again, Rain decided to take Kordia's side.

"Have you ever had wine before?" he asked.

"No," Kir said. "I just don't think I should drink until I'm an adult."

"But you have your wings. That means you're an adult, right?" Rain said, rubbing his hand along Kir's back as he offered Kir a cup of wine.

Kir flinched. He'd showed Rainier his tattoos, and an interesting effect of it was that touch was dulled where they stored his wings, but right in between, along his spine, was quite sensitive. Even with all his misgivings, he wasn't used to this kind of peer pressure. "I guess... a little will be alright..."

He took a sip.

It was cold, with a summery flavor, fruity and bright. Looking at the bottle he noticed there was an etched magic circle for cooling, glowing faintly from recent use.

"Wow you're glowing," Kordia said. "You must be a lightweight," she chuckled, encouraging him.

Kir continued to sip, before taking a longer pull. He remembered...

Wine, but no one to drink it with. The sense of a final night. A final task. A final message...

The memory from his past life was overwhelming... his old self had felt... empty.

Kir looked at his Kordia and Rainer. The two people who he'd been lucky to meet, to talk to, and now to date. He drank down the glass in one final gulp, exhaling a satisfied gasp as his vision started to get a bit blurry. He wasn't going to let himself feel that way, ever again.

He was going to-