45th Day of Fall, 518 AV, 21st Bell
“Where the petch is he?!” Kailani growled as she stormed into The Drunken Fish, her brindle Akinva Deerstalker close at her heels. Her sea foam eyes carefully scanned the throng of people, looking for the telltale “boy wonder” tattoo that adorned her absentee lover. Ignoring the annoyed glances of patrons as she pushed by, she stormed up to the bar and slapped it to gain Father Manowar’s attention. “I said, where the petch is he?!”
“Oh, look, it’s you again,” the proprietor answered drily, looking up as he polished out the inside of a glass. “Isn’t it our lucky night?”
“I’m not here to make jokes with you, old man,” the Svefra replied, her tone scathing. She was not in the mood for his sarcasm. Kona growled at her side, a couple of the nearby customers backing up a few steps. “Where. Is. Azcan?!” It had been over two weeks since the last time she’d seen the drummer boy, and his absence made her suspicious. He’d shown up on her casinor in the middle of the night, spouting tearful words of his need for her, and then disappeared the next day. She’d reasoned that perhaps he’d been embarrassed of his drunken confessions, childishly retreating so he wouldn’t have to face her again. But with each day that passed and he still remained away… There was a sinking feeling in her gut. She hoped her instincts weren’t proved correct.
“Look, girl, don’t you be marchin’ in here demandin’ explanations of me in my tavern,” the man growled, leaning forward and shoving a finger at her chest. “I ain’t the boy’s keeper, you hear me? And I don’t owe you nothin’. Nothing but trouble, you. Now I suggest you back off before I pick you up and throw you out of here myself.”
“Petch you,” was Kailani’s less than kind response, tossing him an obscene hand gesture as she stalked away from the bar. “I’ll go find him myself.” Father Manowar rolled his eyes, returned the gesture, and resumed polishing the glass.
The Svefra started pushing her way through the crowd of people again, making her way over to the stairs with Kona in tow. With each step up, her stomach clenched further, more and more sure of what she was going to find. Her face was set with anger and resentment alike, her dog radiating the same energy at her side.
Taking a deep breath, she stopped outside of Azcan’s door and squared her shoulders. After a brief pause to collect herself, she rapped heavily against the wood three times and waited for an answer. When none came, she tested the knob. Finding it unlocked, she threw it open and stormed inside.
The sight that met her eyes was no less than what she expected, but it enraged her, nonetheless. Empty drawers, strewn about bedclothes, an echoing room that still smelled of his presence. It looked like he’d left in haste, the dresser drawers still slightly ajar with a lingering sock hanging from the top. Fury bubbled beneath her skin, her face flushed with ire as she threw the drawer to the ground.
“Vagik son of a petching whore!” she shouted, tossing another of the drawers to the bare floor. “You abandoned me again?!” With a cry of pure and unbridled fury, Kailani threw one of the candlestick holders at the nearby mirror, the glass shattering and falling to the floor. “What is wrong with you?! Do you ever think about anyone but yourself?!”
The answer to that was a simple and resounding no, something the Svefra knew all too well. She should’ve known better than to let him into her life again. She should have walked away as soon as she laid eyes on his stupid petching face. What was I thinking? Kailani berated herself as she continued in her room-destroying rampage, overturning the water decanter and splashing its contents along the bed. How could I have been so stupid? I should have known!
Her streak of destruction was finally halted when she spied an object in the corner, a painfully familiar object that turned her vision red as soon as she laid eyes on it. Azcan’s drum. Letting the decanter clatter to the floor, she walked over and grabbed the instrument, holding it in her hands for a long, long moment. Furious tears welled in her eyes as she thought back on the night in the cave, the ride in her casinor where he’d played his drum and she’d danced at the helm. The moment held in the Tear of Tanroa, now forever tainted by his second abandonment.
Furious tears welled in her eyes as she pulled her dagger from its sheath and held it aloft with a trembling hand. Setting the drum on the floor, she took another pause to contemplate it, memories of that cursed instrument flooding her mind. With a growl, she shut them all out and brought her weapon down, slashing the drum skin to shreds.
Kona stood guard at the door as Kailani took out her rage on the drum, cutting and crushing the instrument to pieces. Once it lay in ruin, she stomped the chunks repeatedly, crying out with each smack of her foot. Finally satisfied with the amount of destruction she’d done, she gathered up the remnants, opening the window and tossing them into the street below.
By this time, the Svefra had gathered a small audience at the door, the only thing keeping them back her dog’s warning presence. “Petch off!” she shouted at them all, face blood red as she shoved through the doorway. With a glare, she grabbed the drink out of the hands of the nearest bastard in her way, chugging it right in front of him before smacking him upside the head with the empty tankard.
Pandemonium erupted with her action, the man swinging clumsily in her direction. Kona leaped up and grabbed her attacker’s arm between his teeth, another of the patrons then swinging for the dog. Kailani elbowed the offender in the gut and grabbed the Deerstalker, weaving, bobbing, and running down the stairs amidst cries of confusion and rage.
When she reached the common area, the brawl she’d started spread out among the clientele. Different clusters were forming as the various drunkards started beating each other into the ground. Kailani found herself caught up in the wave again, a meaty hand grabbing her head and tugging her hair. With a growl, she shoved her head back into the other’s face, the dazed man stumbling a few steps. Reflexively, he grabbed the thong of her necklace and pulled, shells and sea glass clattering to the floor as the tie came undone. The fight now forgotten, Kai fell to her knees as she scrambled to retrieve it, but a booted foot came down on her hand just as it was within her reach. Crying out sharply, she looked up, only for a chair leg to come crashing down on her skull. Stars danced in her eyes before the room went black, the Svefra going limp against the floor.
NaNo WC: 1182
