Chapter Text
Estinien sat at the bar inside the Rising Stones, slowly drinking away the afternoon. He didn’t regret his decision to join the Scions, not exactly. Everything he said when he agreed to it was still true. But, at least one aspect was failing to meet his expectations. The Warrior seemed to be spending all her time with this red haired miqo’te who popped up out of nowhere.
He wasn’t one of those needy wretches who sat around and pined over someone they couldn’t have. That wasn’t what he was doing at all. He was just taking some time to think.
“Mind if I join you?”
The dragoon jerked toward the voice, regretting the sudden movement as his head spun gently. He squinted at the figures until they resolved into one silver haired hyur. Grunting, he lifted his glass in assent.
“Oi, looks like you have quite the head start,” Thancred moved behind the bar and reached for bottles with a practised air.
He grunted less approvingly, and threw back the last of whatever was in his glass. “I didn’t peg you for a nursemaid.”
The midlander chuckled and grabbed two glasses. “Not at all, just wondering what we’re celebrating.” He paused, tilting his head and scrutinizing the ishgardian, “Or, are we commiserating?”
“Neither. We are simply drinking.”
“Drinking for the sake of it. A time honored tradition.” He set one glass on the bar in front of the elezen, holding up the other, “To the one that got away?”
He couldn’t help the look of alarm he gave the other man. “Am I so plain as that?”
“Just a guess,” he shrugged, “Only so many reasons a person drinks alone. I find myself in a similar fashion, as it happens.”
Sighing, Estinien lifted himself upright on the barstool and raised his glass to clink against the one in Thancred’s waiting hand.