Chapter Text
Jade sat back at the table after the second course of food came and wondered if she was going to get through everything Dave had ordered. Thankfully the next course was one of the multiple deserts he asked for, and she felt like at least it was going to be worth being too full to move for a bit.
They hadn’t ordered any alcohol yet, but she was curious about doing so, she was a little worried about Rose’s reaction to the idea. Jade wondered if it was reminding Rose too much of her mom’s drinking, but hopefully it would be safe and careful, especially with John watching.
“Woah, this pie is good.” Dave said as he was digging into an apple pie.
She laughed as did the others. “Dave liking an apple dish? How surprising.” Rose said with a grin.
“It’s about as good as my Dad’s.” John said as he ate his piece of the pie.
Jade was surprised, most baked goods paled in comparison to John’s Dad’s food. “That’s high praise.” She said.
“You sure you guys don’t want some birthday cake for yourselves?” John asked.
Dave shook his head. “Nah, I’m good.”
“Yeah, I don’t mind.” Jade said. “As long as the deserts are good.”
Rose smiled. “It’s no bother to accommodate you John, I’m sure you’d do the same.”
Jade saw him smile and was glad to see that.
The second desert that came out was a cheese tart and both her and John dug into that one. It was super delicious and Jade was amazed at the quality.
Gal came out and said hi to them. “Someone sent this tart over, it came from one of the fancy bakeries uptown.”
“Really?” Dave asked surprised.
He nodded. “Yeah, they said happy birthday, though they weren’t sure whose birthdays it was.”
“All of ours but John here, we’re 18 today.” Dave replied.
“Well happy birthday kids, adults now? Going to order something to drink finally?” Gal asked them.
“What should we try?” Dave asked.
“Lemme bring out a cider, a beer, and something harder.” He said with a grin. “You can try them each.”
He walked away and came back with two mugs and a small glass.
Dave reached out for one of the two mugs and took a sip before what Jade thought was him suppressing a face of disliking it.
She snickered a little before grabbing the glass and taking a sip of what she thought was probably a whiskey judging by the color. Her first response was to spit it out, but she managed to suppress it. “How do people drink this.” She said as she set the glass down before watching Rose lift it up and examine it. “It tasted like smoke and burning.” She continued.
“Mother never drank whiskey.” Rose said as she looked at the glass. “But I believe that taking shots and drinking it quickly is purely for the sake of getting drunk quickly, supposedly you’re supposed to let it sit in your mouth to taste it after the burning subsides.” Rose lifted the glass and took a small sip and Jade watched as Rose suppressed the similar urge to spit it out but held it in her mouth before finally swallowing it. “Ugh, burning, smoky, and something slightly fruity?” She reached for her water and rinsed her moth out. “I don’t know how mother could drink that.” She said.
“Didn’t she drink cocktails?” Dave asked.
“Yeah but her cocktails were mostly martinis, which I believe are just two different alcohols mixed together with a slight flavoring.” Rose answered. “It’s practically the same level of alcohol as this.”
Dave pushed over his mug. “Try this, I think it's the beer.” He said before grabbing the other one and taking a sip with a surprised face he couldn’t control.
Jade sipped the beer, and it was fine, but weird, It didn’t burn like the whiskey, but the flavor was weird, and she didn’t really like it. “It’s weird.” She said, “Maybe an acquired taste like coffee is?”
Dave nodded. “What do you think sis?” He said as she lifted the mug and sipped it and let her face reflect her distaste.
“I think, it is not to my tastes.” She said calmly as she set the mug down and pushed it to the center of the table.
John laughed. “How bad is it?”
Jade thought for a moment. “It’s bitter and a bunch of other weird flavors I can’t figure out.”
Rose nodded. “I think it’s floral and herbal flavors, but they aren’t pleasant to my pallet.”
Dave shrugged. “Tasted pretty gross.” As he sipped again from the second mug.
Jade reached her hand out and gestured for the last mug. “Share the cider Dave.”
He grinned and passed it around to Jade who sipped it before handing it to Rose. “Tastes like weird apple juice.” She said.
Rose nodded after her sip. “Fortified apple juice.” She stated. “The sweet alcohol flavor is quite different.”
He gestured for the mug again and Rose shook her head, taking a decent sized drink out of it before passing it back to Jade who did the same. By the time the mug got back to Dave there wasn’t much left.
“I feel betrayed.” He said, holding his tone steady in that old Strider way. “You’ve both stabbed me in the back, and I don’t know if I can ever trust you around apple flavored beverages again.”
John laughed as Dave put on his performance, prompting Jade to feign insult and Rose to grin widely. “You should have expected such from me dear brother.” Rose said. “Why wouldn’t I sabotage your pre-existing addiction to all things apple. You might become a full-blown appleholic.” She joked in her old psychiatrist tone she used to use when younger.
“If I chose to indulge in apples on a regular basis, then I can, I’m an adult, and the older brother, You can’t tell me what to do.” He claimed as he waved someone down and ordered them three more ciders.
Jade started giggling at the whole thing and leaned back in her chair, worry about being too full forgotten. John smiled and watched as they each took one and Jade ended up nursing hers for the rest of the evening, while Dave and Rose both finished theirs and had to be stopped by John from ordering more.
By the time the night was over she was definitely intoxicated and wasn’t sure how she felt about it, but it was an experience she was happy to have had, at least at that time. Rose claimed to have been fine, but barely changed before falling asleep on top of the blankets of her bed.
John and Dave had gone to their own room, John walking behind Dave watching out for him while Dave was stoic and walked down the hall carefully and deliberately.
Sleep came rather easily, and when she woke it was to Dave knocking on their room door. “3:60 wake-up call.”
She winced as he spoke loudly through the door. Evidently they drank a little too much cider, as a headache was already making itself known. She found Beq staring up at her from the bottom of the bed and started waging his tail when she stirred. “Yes boy I’ll get up and feed you.” She said to him before turning to the side. “Rose are you up?”
Rose didn’t respond so once she sat up Jade went over and lightly jostled her friend which resulted in Rose snapping awake sitting up in a rush and then immediately gripping her head. “Ouch, I should not have done that.” She said once regaining her composure.
“You too?” Jade asked in a quieter voice that hurt less to speak in.
“I suppose I should have known better to stay hydrated.” Rose said in a measured tone as well.
“Dave sounded ok.” Jade said. “Though he would hide it I guess.”
“I’ll have to drag it out of him then, so we can all suffer together.” Rose grinned.
“John is lucky.” Jade said rubbing at her temple before she finished getting ready and headed out towards the washroom.
Rose washed up after her and Jade packed everything up putting everything into her inventory, it seemed to grow again after leveling up. She then took Beq outside and gave him breakfast before coming back in and finding the other three at the breakfast table.
“So he does have a hangover?” Rose asked John.
He nodded. “Yeah, he jumped when I first spoke this morning and covered his head.”
“I see.” Rose said as she looked to Dave who looked away to Jade.
“We ordered you your regular.” Dave said to her.
“Thank you.” She said as she sat down, they probably had 45 minutes before they needed to be at the southern gates for the caravan.
Breakfast came pretty quickly, and they all ate in a slight hurry in order to not be late.
“Did everyone get all their things?” Jade asked after she finished eating.
John nodded. “I have so much more room now, I can hold things other than just my armor.”
“I bet that stuff took up almost every bit of space.” Dave said. “I know mine was at least half of it.”
“Yeah, It was pretty bad, but it's much better now.” John agreed.
“But yeah, I got all my shit.” Dave said.
Rose nodded. “I’m completely packed as well, I’ll go turn in the keys.” She said reaching out her hands and collecting the keys from each of them.
“It’s kind of bitter-sweet.” Jade said. “We’ve been here for months, so it's kinda like a short term home we’ve had.”
“We were in Amesh just as long, but this time were going much further away.” Rose said.
“Yeah, the Hegemony is an entirely different place, we’ll have to figure out a city to settle in once we get there.” John said.
“I have some recommendations.” Rose added. “Two of the five I think are bad ideas.”
“Well once we’re across the mountains we can figure it out when we get the caravan to the city their headed to, which one is it?”
Rose pulled out the paper. “Edolas.” She said. “The city of Lizardmen primarily, one of the three acceptable ones in my opinion.”
“Awesome.” John said. “That’s good to know.”
“I think that’s where the biggest Space temple is!” Jade said, imagining the possibilities of the structure despite having no idea what it looks like.
“We can visit it when we arrive.” John said with a smile.
Rose finally went to the front desk to turn in the keys and Dave waved goodbye to the cook. “Tell Gal I said bye.” He asked.
“You always seem to get along with the people who work at the Inn’s.” John commented.
“It’s because they’re just regular dudes doing regular stuff, no fancy wizards or religious nonsense, it’s easy to talk to them, and they appreciate it.” Dave said.
Jade gestured to Beq and the two of them headed towards the front door where the found Rose waiting, Dave and John trailing behind her by a bit.
“You don’t need anything else?” Rose asked her.
Jade shook her head, “No, I’m good.” She said, looking at Rose and realizing she wasn’t wearing the item she was given yesterday. “Why aren’t you wearing the headpiece from yesterday?”
Rose shrugged. “Various reasons, aesthetic, personal, and principals.”
Jade sighed. “Rose…” She trailed off.
“I’ll consider it, but right now, I don’t want anything to do with it, I accepted it, and I’ll consider it.” She replied.
“Best you’re gonna get.” Dave said as he came up behind her. “She’ll wear it when she's good and ready.”
Rose narrowed her eyes at him before turning and heading towards the gate. “Let’s be off, we don’t want to be late.”
John passed Jade and walked up to Rose starting a conversation that was rather quiet and Jade couldn’t catch much of, but it sounded like he was trying to calm her down.
“I wish she wasn’t so stubborn.” Jade said to Dave who still stood next to her before the two of them started to follow behind the others.
“I’ve lived with her for 5 years now, let just say, she’s improved greatly since Mom stopped being so mysterious and drunk.” Dave answered.
“Ugh, I know.” She grumbled as they all went towards their meeting site at the gate.
When they arrived, there was a small caravan waiting outside that she could already see. Thankfully there was just one so the four of them walked right up, and Jade was fairly confident they were in the right place.
“Is this the caravan for Edolas?” Rose asked as they reached a few people talking at the front of it.
“Yes, can I help you?” One of them said, two of the four took the chance to walk away off to work on something else, while two remained.
Rose held out the job sheet from the Guild. “We’re the last minute escorts, we heard your previous ones were injured yesterday.”
The person in the back narrowed their eyes looking over the four of them and made a dismissive sound. The one in the front though took the sheet and looked it over. “Well, If the Guild think’s you’re skilled enough.” They at least tried not to sound too dissatisfied.
“We are, you don’t have to worry, we’ve had plenty of experience handling monsters and mayhem such as the incident two days past.” Rose said, dropping a small brag.
“Yeah, you and every other adventurer in the city, how many did you four deal with, three, maybe four?” The one in the back accused.
Dave laughed. “Twenty four if you include the dual wielding adventurer that attacked the council.”
One of the wardens in the back next to the gate must have overheard. “He’s telling the truth, the Head Warden evidently wouldn’t shut up about these four. The cloaks are a dead giveaway it's them, Blue, Orange, Red, and Black.”
The one in the back choked on their own breath for a moment before mumbling about checking on something and running off.
The remaining person, a dwarf shrugged. “Can’t get much better recommendation than the Guild and the Warden’s vouching for you, at least here up north.” He held out his hand to shake. “Toremaek Emberdelver, but call me Tor.”
“Dave.” Dave replied, pointing out and introducing everyone individually after shaking the man’s hand.
“Is two up front and two in the back good for you?” Rose asked, Jade watched as she looked at the wagons.
“Should be fine by me, as long as at least one of you on each side is paying attention.” Tor replied.
“That should be fine, how long do you plan on resting at night.” She asked.
“We do 5 hours between making and breaking camp.” He answered. “With four of you it might be a little tight.”
Dave shrugged, “Nothing a little sleeping in the wagons can’t fix.”
“If you’re volunteering.” She said with a grin.
“Yeah yeah, put me on the shitty shift, It’s fine.” He said.
Rose nodded. “Then everything works fine for us, what towns are we stopping at on the way?”
“Nekir, Quath, Poltnash, and then a quick stop outside Fort Beshin.” He answered.
“Ahh down the central pass, I assume that’s safer right now?” She asked, “We haven’t crossed the Tusktooth’s before.”
He nodded. “Yeah, you can’t take a caravan down the western coastal road, their capital’s too close, and it guarantees getting raided.”
“I see, so then through the mountains, and around the swamp to Edolas?” She asked.
He nodded. “That’s the plan.”
“Alright, thank you.” She said with a smile. “John, shall we take the front today?” She asked.
He nodded and Jade watched them head to the front. “Guess that puts us in the back today Dave.” She said before looking back and seeing it was the passenger wagon, no wonder Rose wanted the front.
She and Dave hopped in the back, and she tried to get comfortable on the rough hard seats before eventually pulling out a fur and sitting on top of it. Beq curled up at her feet half under the bench trying his best to stay out of the way. She smiled down at him and gave him pets as Dave settled in next to her.
“Time to ride.” He said with a grin.
She returned the smile and looked out the back to see the gates of the city, frost still on the ground. She was reminded of the vision Rose said she had, of them in front of the city gates while the ground was frosted. They misunderstood it at the time, but it certainly came true, it was winter when it was time for them to move on, they just didn’t realize the scale of the move.
The wagons started rolling and as they pulled out onto the road she watched as the massive walls of the city grew smaller and smaller as they did. It was time for a new adventure, she smiled and turned to see Dave looking out the back too. “Ready?” She asked him.
“Always.” He replied with a grin.