Elayne leant back on the windowsill and kept watch on the quiet streets outside. She was perched on a small stool at the back of the gaming room in the Silver Spoon, soaking up the rare peace that was the mornings in the famous tavern. 

Elayne was waiting with Areli and Fiona with only a handful of people in the entire place. It certainly offered a sharp contrast to the usual rowdiness of the evenings, crowded and buzzing even on its quietest nights. 

Elayne checked her pocket watch and sighed once more. It was already half an hour after the agreed rendezvous time, and three out of four of them were there just as planned. And now, they were stuck in limbo. Elayne loathed delays. 

To make matters worse, in the time spent waiting, she had already lost two games of billiards to Areli. She wasn’t sure how many more games she could take. After one last wistful glance out the window, she slid off the stool to join Areli again as he sat waiting for her at the billard table. 

She grabbed the cue off of him and moved around the table, surveying the remaining balls. She had six balls left to Areli’s two. Areli had moved to  the other side of the table and leered with a hungry look in his eyes. He knew he was going to win this game too. 

She tapped the edge of the billard table thoughtfully with the pool cue as she looped around a second time. She risked a glance in Areli’s direction, pretending to check for Fiona coming back from the main dining room. 

She still sometimes did a double take when she looked at him. Something about him set off her danger senses every so often. He was a foreboding looking oruk, not being particularly tall but being incredibly fit and a dangerous feel about him. Which wasn’t unfounded, he was wicked with his daggers and a hell of a shot with a short bow. 

Elayne swirled the cue around in her hand. It was only the beginning of him really as well. He had a natural grace about him that was almost beautiful to watch when he moved or fought. He knew how to read tracks and Elayne had seen him pick a lock in half a minute flat. 

In terms of his personal life, she had found out that morning that he was also a pretty damned good billiards player, but that was pretty much it. He was frequently at the tavern with the others but rarely joined in the small talk. At first, she’d taken it personally when his replies were always terse when she tried to talk to him but after seeing him talk to people he truly didn’t like, she felt more at ease.

Elayne chose a ball and leaned down to line up her shot. She’d suggested putting five copper on the first game of billiards when they started in the morning, just for a bit of fun. Now that she was about to be fifteen copper down, she was starting to feel the pinch.

That and the fact that they were starting to really run behind schedule. It wasn’t unusual for them to start a contract late but it was odd for it to be Harlea who was late. He was always the first when they had to travel, chomping at the bit to leave every time alongside her.

Lost in her thoughts, she glanced up to see Fiona walk into the gaming room, carrying a small bowl of roast vegetables and bread. 

“He’s fine. He probably just slept in is all.” Fiona told Elayne reassuringly as she passed by her.

Ellen offered up a half hearted smile in return. She was probably right. Elayne went to take the shot but stopped, changing her mind at the last moment. She straightened up and resumed pacing around the table.

She loved Fiona. She had only met her a few months ago but Fiona was goals in many ways. She was calm, confident, and composed. 

Elayne could still remember the day they’d met. Fiona had been at Elayne’s entry interview and she had been the friendly face that Elayne had needed when she’d come into the Silver Spoon to meet Harlea. 

He had been so serious as he asked her questions about her experience in bodyguarding and fighting and when Elayne got flustered, Fiona had saved her. She cracked a joke and offered her support to lighten up the table in a way that Elayne hadn’t forgotten. 

By Elayne’s estimation, Fiona wasn’t that much older than her. At a guess, Fiona was a young-looking forty five. She was also a good deal taller than Elayne and built solidly for a mage. In fact, it was a week after she’d joined the Red Damnables before Elayne had realised that Fiona was the mage of the group. She’d seen Fiona train in the martial weapons and wielded her sword so effortlessly that Ellen certainly wouldn’t have picked her out as a soft hand. 

Out on contracts, Fiona regularly took the lead, with strong legs and a healthy constitution. Arty, the fifth member of their crew, had once been foolish enough to say that was shaped like a pear and had earnt himself a painful whack with Fiona’s walking stick. Elayne loved Fiona for many reasons but one of the primary ones was her ferocity. 

Elayne refocussed and settled on one of her billard balls. One of her larger balls was set in the middle of the table and begging to be hit. She leaned down once more to line up the shot, hitting the white ball with a healthy amount of gusto. It collided solidly with her ball, sending it flying and bouncing aimlessly off the sides of the table. 

Fiona chimed in from across the room with a well-meaning, “Almost.”

Elayne flashed a smile back at her and handed the cue over to Areli, who was hovering next to her. 

Having Fiona around had made settling into Ol’Haran much easier for Elayne. Fiona had taken her on a tour of the districts of the city and told her which locations she should avoid and which she should frequent. She had also dragged her to several alchemist and mage stores for a bit of her own personal shopping but Elayne hadn’t minded. They were nice if not wholly useful for her.

“I guess so,” Elayne replied despondently “I honestly don’t know how many more billard games I can play this morning.” 

Areli lined up his shot skillfully, pocketing two balls easily. He smirked, “I am not sure we could say that you have played a single game of billards this morning.”

Elayne grabbed the cue back from across the table and let it drop onto the table to land on top of one of her balls, “Oh, shut it. I have no idea why I keep playing against you.”

Areli scoffed quietly and sidled up to the stool in the window. He paused in the sunlight and closed his eyes briefly to bask with the sun on his scales. 

As a cold-blooded oruk, he needed the morning sun more than Elayne and Fiona did. Orukfolk found it harder to live up north, where the morning sun The orukfolk were the majority high species of the southern countries of Coia, where the climate was warmer. 

Despite being fewer in Ol’Haran, there were still a large number of oruk when compared to the rest of the north. As a trade hub in the southern part of Weidenland, Ol’Haran was a melting pot for the high species.It was common to see oruk, human, and even faetyr, roaming the streets. Elayne enjoyed the cosmopolitan environment, travelling had always been a passion of hers. She had felt stifled in the west,frustrated by the grumbles and complaints of the backward Weidenfolk of the west coast. 

Elayne let Areli rest in the sun and paced once more in circles around the table. She still had six of her balls on the table, and he had clearly pocketed another of his balls while she had been lost in thought. She was so screwed. 

She lined up the white ball with another of her larger balls and closed one of her eyes, striking the white ball with the cue. 

Ellen winced as she watched the white ball shoot towards a trio of balls on the other side of the table. 

She’d hit it way too hard. It was obvious as the ball careened away, smashing into the three others hard, spraying them all in separate directions. Two balls spun wildly out each side and the third rolled neatly into the corner pocket. 

Elayne couldn’t believe it. She rounded the table in disbelief, glancing into the pocket to find her smaller ball sitting in the netting. 

“Well, there you go,” Elayne exclaimed, “Right in the pocket.”

Areli opened one eye and looked across at her from the stool in the window, “Unbelievable.” 

Elayne shrugged and lined up the next ball, carefully measuring the distance from the pocket and the power needed to send it gently into the pocket. She swung her cue and watched in frustration as the white ball hit her ball and they both bounced around the table impotently. She looked up to see Areli standing next to her again with a smug grin on his face. 

Areli snatched the pool cue, “And that right there is why I didn’t believe you took the other shot.” 

Elayne feigned being insulted and let him pass. He stalked around the table until he settled on his next shot. He stopped abruptly and muttered something under his breath.

Elayne leant forward on the long rail of the table and watched as Areli's shot glided down smoothly to nick one of his smaller balls, spinning it perfectly into another ball and knocking it into the pocket. The shot had looked impossible to Ellen but, Good Gods, he was good.

Areli took about half a second to gain his bearings, lightly tapping the white ball into the black ball, aiming to drop it into the side pocket. The shot was too gentle and when it fell short, he looked accusingly up at Elayne.  

She leant back quickly from the table and raised both her hands in a half joking sign of surrender. She looked across the room to Fiona for support, who gave her a reassuring eyeroll. Keen to put some distance between her and a cranky Areli, Elayne walked back over to the window, spotting her salvation right outside.

Walking down the street carrying three large bags was none other than the leader of the Red Damnables, the swaggering scallywag himself, Harlea. 

He wasn’t a big man in stature but, in the south, he was larger than life. He regularly dressed from head to toe in different tones of red, and wore red beads woven through a long black beard. His twin axes, with signature red handles, were fastened to his red trousers, and his burgundy satchel hung from his torso to make space for the large packs on his back and hanging from each shoulder. He strode confidently down the road, over-encumbered but looking every bit the icon of southern grit that he was.

He waved at them from outside the window and rushed over to the entrance of the Silver Spoon. 

“Looks like we will have to call it a draw, Areli.” Elayne clapped her hands together and moved swiftly to gather up her things. Areli glared at her in response but she ignored it happily as she moved quickly out to the dining room. 

“Bullshit. Take the loss, girl.” Areli called out behind her, “No way you were coming back from that one.”

Fiona chuckled lightly as she also stood and picked up her bags, “I don’t know, Areli, she just pocketed one. The momentum might have been shifting.” 

The sound of the billiard balls smashing into each other with a few choice swear words from Areli followed Elayne and Fiona as they left the room.

Elayne hid a smile as she walked into the dining room to find a belaboured Harlea moving towards her. She met him halfway and took one of the bags off his shoulder.

“Thanks.” He readjusted the other bags on his back and clapped his hands together, “Shit news, we have been requested to take on an urgent contract to the east. We need to head out in an hour, and even then we'll arrive later than Garrond Cross wanted us to.”

“Wait, what? I thought we were heading into the Valleys? Did we change contract?” Fiona interrupted him.

Harlea visibly winced, “We will be. We're going to be going out on contract for a few extra days. We'll hit both contracts before we return. I've got extra supplies for us all but we'll need to reshuffle the stuff in our bags so we can share the load. You have an hour before we leave from East Gate.” He dropped his bags on the floor to a chorus of groans. 

He shook his hands vigorously to bring the blood back into them, “We should be home by Friday but best that you make preparations until Sunday.”

“Fuck me, Harlea. Some on-the-spot decision making? And turtling with a week’s equipment with no horses.” Areli complained, having just appeared out of the gaming room.

“I know, I know.. But I didn’t get much of a choice. We’ll be paid about one hundred silver each, post kitty, for the two days and then add the payment for the Garrond Cross contract as well.” He replied before adding curtly, “Just be at the East Gate.” 

Areli left without another word, roughly pushing past Elayne and Harlea. Fiona glared sternly at Harlea, “I figure you can carry my bag to the gate then. I’ll go see Mari and ask if she can look after Claude and the chickens. I’ll be seeing you.”

“Fine by me, I’ll stay here for a bit  and then slowly walk over.” Harlea remarked, chagrined.

Fiona passed by Harlea before turning back around a step later, “You can’t just pull shit like this, you know that.”

“I didn’t get a damned choice. She’s called in another chit, Fi.” Harlea protested earnestly.

“Whatever you say, Cap. Just letting you know,” Fiona replied with a curt wave before disappearing out the door after Areli. 

Elayne stood in the tavern dining room, unsure what to do. Fiona had left her with a cranky Harlea. He exhaled deeply and stroked his beard, “Well…”

Elayne took a seat at the nearest table, “I always pack extra supplies just in case. I should be fine with what I’ve got for the week.” 

“Of course you did. Want a drink then?” Harlea grinned suddenly.

“Go on then, but you’re buying.” Elayne grinned back.