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The bartender could have sworn that the door to his inn swung outwards on its hinges, yet even now as he watched it the large panel of wood swung towards him, into the bar area of the small inn. The bartender was, of course, the only member of the scarcely populated public house to notice this minor phenomenon, because most were preoccupied with their drinks, conversations or because the lighting of the tavern was dim enough as for them not to notice. The bartender was about to go back to serving his customers when he noticed the elf walk through the oddly opened door. Elves were becoming more and more common in these parts lately, for no apparent cause, but for some reason the bartender�s attention was drawn to this one; perhaps because of the unusual door, or because of the confident grace the elf walked with, a black robe lined with silver flowing down his form and swaying at his ankles. Long auburn hair fell across his shoulders; his pointed elven ears poking through at the sides, as two strands of hair lay neatly down his perfectly proportioned face and pale skin. The figure moved slowly towards the human staring from behind the bar, and the door swung shut behind him when he was several feet from it, apparently pushed shut by a strong wind from inside the tavern on this perfectly windless night. The bartender blinked and tilted his head. The elf took a seat at the bar next to a petite human girl, smoothing down his dark robes with a hand. He looked up at the bartender through his hair and raised both brows, as if only realizing the man�s presence before him for the first time now. The moon elf then cracked his neck to one side, rolling his head to get the muscle comfortable; or, apparently, to examine the girl seated beside him before turning his attention back to the bartender with the faintest of grins. �Hmm� Silverymoon wine?� The bartender shook his head, putting down the cleaning cloth slowly, indicating the lack of Silverymoon wine in stock. The red-haired elf gave a small sigh, yet also an almost teasing grin that gave the bartender the impression that he had been confident of the answer without having asked. �Give me a Kaim-fion, then.� The bartender again shook his head, staring into the golden eyes of the elven customer. Again he received the knowing grin. The moon elf folded his arms, clucking his tongue against the top of his jaw and leaning back as if there was a backrest to the stool in a way that convinced the bartender he would fall onto his back any moment. �Red Cherry? You must have Red Cherry.� The bartender nodded and turned around, hastily fixing up a goblet of Red Cherry wine for the elf, muttering something under his breath as he did so that he privately hoped the customer had not heard. But the moon elf was paying him no attention, his golden gaze shifting to the human beside him. �Aelin�uial Eil�deth.� The girl blinked, realizing suddenly that it was her he had addressed, and turned a little on the stool to face him. She reached up a thin hand to brush the locks of night black hair from her face, but found they seemed to curtain themselves without her needing touch them as she turned her head. Unused to being addressed so suddenly, she stammered on her first word. �W-what?� His reply came with a thin smirk, one eye watching the bartender as he placed the Red Cherry in front of him. �It�s my name. Aelin�uial; Aelin is quicker to say, though.� �Oh�� She gave him a smile and turned back to her glass, hunched on her stool over the drink, silently wondering why she had just been given that ineffectual information. She could feel the elf�s eyes on her but ignored it; she was used to the looks, though admittedly rarely were they from Elven eyes. He lifted his glass. He took a sip of wine. �You do have a name, I assume?� �Coirie. Why?� She had turned to look at him, but Aelin�uial simply gave her the same smile he had given the bartender, thin and teasing and she could not help but watch his lips as he smiled. He stared across at her, out of the corners of his eyes though, and casually licked the red wine from his lips. �An elf can�t ask a beautiful human girl her name in this bar without motives being questioned?� Coirie rolled her eyes and looked away from him, muttering a response as her attentions became redirected to the drink in front of her on the bar and away from him. �That answered my question well enough.� With what could be described as an unamused snort, Coirie took a long swig from her glass and called across to the barman for another. Aelin�uial narrowed his small golden eyes, without dropping the thin smile however, and took a second sip of his Red Cherry. Not easily impressed� �hard to get� the humans would call it. Aelin gave a chuckle, shaking his head to remove the hair from his face. The human girl, Coirie, looked across at him, her leather armor giving a worn creak as she did so. Even the bartender looked across at the sound of the unexpected laughter, pausing in his motion of serving a short dwarven customer his tankard of ale. Coirie suddenly gave a small gasp as her refilled glass of Cormyrian brandy slid smoothly across the bar, as though pushed by an invisible hand, and rested against Aelin�s waiting palm. The bartender raised a brow silently; Coirie narrowed her dark eyes either in anger or disbelief. She leaned across the bar to take the brandy back, but found she couldn�t make it move. Her small hands cupped tightly around the glass and tugged, but she would have had more luck at moving it if it had been nailed to the bar. She lifted her eyes and found herself staring the pale golden depths of Aelin�s, he had lowered his face close to hers, and she saw the concentrated stare in them. �You like being this close?� She scowled at his question and pulled away from him, huddling back against the bar in her seat and silently dusted her leathers down, her eyes glowering at the brandy still resting between the elf�s hands. And then, as if suspended on a hidden string, the glass rose into the air, hovering there a few moments before moving itself eerily towards her. Aelin�s eyes stared at hers, concentrated and testing, as the glass approached. With a shriek, the small human girl flailed out at the grass, knocking it from the air and smashing it against the floor. The tavern fell silent. Pale brandy crept over the floorboards around broken glass and Coirie leapt from her seat and hurried out of the tavern, shoulders still hunched over slightly, casting a disgusted look at Aelin�uial as she made her exit. The moon elf�s pale gaze hovered over the mess before him and he shook his head slowly, a half-amused smirk crawling up his thin lips. There goes another one. Lowering his hair back over his face, Aelin�uial spun back around and faced the bewildered bartender. �That�ll be twelve gold pieces, I suppose?� |