The town was inhabited mostly by humans but there was a large number of sith as well. The sight of humans left her uncertain about what to say or how to act. The only human she had ever seen before was the one that used to hang around Eldan’s home and even then she had only seen brief glimpses of him. For a while she wandered through the market place, too shy to speak to anyone, until finally her hunger won out and she approached a stand and stumbled through a conversation with a human. It had surprised her how fluently he spoke sith, but then she reminded herself that she was not yet that far from Avalon.
As she ate her meal she wandered through the town, purchasing provisions for the road. Then she found an inn and decided to spend the money on a room. She immediately locked herself in her room and took a bath. Her body was still stiff from sleeping on the ground, so she soaked for over an hour. Eventually she pulled herself out, dressed, and went to the common eating room for supper. The noise coming from the room made her pause. Humans had such roaring laughter. So different from the quiet, elegant way dinners were conducted on Avalon. Tara ordered a small dinner and ate it as quickly as she could. Some of the men in the room were looking at her strangely, it was beginning to make her feel uncomfortable. One of them stood up and began to walk towards her.
She tried not to look nervous as he approached. She kept her eyes fixed on the wall in front of her. The smell of ale drifted off the young man towards her. His hand appeared in the corner of her eye, resting on the table. Tara made no move to acknowledge his presence until he coughed very loudly, so she turned her head slowly to look at him. He was a young human, around her age, with thick blond hair and dark eyes.
“Hi.” He said, managing to slur even that brief word.
“Hello.” She answered coolly.
“I’m Will,” he said.
Tara didn’t answer, she just continued with her meal. He ignored the fact that she was ignoring him and slid into the chair next to her, watching her eat. She did her best to pretend that he wasn’t there, but finally his staring became too much to bear and she stood up, leaving most of her meal behind.
“Don’t go.” He said, “I was hoping we could get to know each other.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Aw, come on.” He stood up and got between her and the door.
“Excuse me,” she said curtly, trying to get around him. He moved to block her way, crossing his arms.
“You’re being rude.” He said.
“So are you.” She answered.
“Come on. I just want to get to know you. I heard that sith like humans.”
He winked at her. She fixed him with the coldest look she could.
“Would you kindly get out of my way.” She demanded.
He refused to move so she tried to go around a table to get by him. It didn’t help, he continued to get in her way. Finally she made it look like she was going to move in one direction then darted the other way, giving him a little shove in the side when he turned to stop her. He stumbled, cursing as he banged into a table. Tara rushed towards the door when his hand caught her sleeve.
“Let me go!” she cried.
“There’s no need to be such a bitch.” He answered.
Tara kicked him in the shin and pulled away, tearing her sleeve. She ran up to her room, not looking back until her door was securely locked behind her. Once inside her room she pulled out her sword and stood with it pointed at the door, half expecting the man to show up. Just as she was about to let her guard down there was a knock at the door. She stood there for a moment trying to decide what to do. Finally she crept towards the door, with her sword gripped tightly in her hand, and opened it a small bit. |
