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“Run, Flissa! Go to the chantry!” Inquisitor Adaar said urgently, strong hands pulling her up and pushing her towards the door.
“But…”
“Go now!” he insisted, already turning around and running to help someone else.
She should run, she knew she should, but… Her tavern… It wasn’t much, really. Just a little tavern in a small, little town, but it was hers! The Spymaster had asked her so many months ago if she wanted her own tavern, and she did, and she came, and now it was all burning around her! All gone…
It really wasn’t much. It wasn’t fancy, and it didn’t bring her riches, far from it. But it had been hers. She had put the pictures on the walls, and she had scrubbed the tables until they gleamed, and she had made sure there was always enough drink for the soldiers so they didn’t need to go to the other towns and villages in the area.
“Would you like to come and open your own tavern, Flissa? Would you like to come and aid the Inquisition?”
She hadn’t understood then what it meant. Only saw an opportunity to leave Denerim behind and start somewhere new, join the adventure, be on the front row of it all. Now she understood. Now she had seen. And now it was burning down around her.
Sweet Andraste, she didn’t even know what was happening outside! One moment, someone had yelled about forces approaching, and then they had said the Inquisitor had taken them out by causing an avalanche! That had seemed very clever at the time, but then… A dragon? Had people really been yelling about a dragon??
And then the Inquisitor had come to save her? Of all the people in this little haven of theirs, the Inquisitor had thought her worth saving, had gone out of his way to save her. Surely there were others more important!
She yelled when a flaming beam fell next to her, and violent coughs overtook her. What am I doing? He took the time to save her, and she was standing here in this burning building?!
She was not prepared for the sight outside, chaos and screaming and more flames from other buildings vying for attention, violently invading the night, and there… Dear Andraste, those are bodies!
Was that the apothecary burning? Where were they going to get medicine— Oh! Haven’t there been oil delivered there today?!
Before she could process the thought, Adan and Minaeve ran past her, Minaeve stumbling as a coughing fit overtook her, and Flissa automatically stepped forward, grabbing her around the shoulders and trying to keep her upright as she swayed against her. Adan slowed and turned around, terror on his face as the oil finally caught fire, sending impossibly high flames in the night.
“Don’t stop, keep going! Flissa! Behind you!” he yelled.
Turning around at the urgency in his voice, she turned only to look right into the face of a very big Templar running straight at them, sword held aloft. It was the look in his eyes that got to her, fierce and angry and… red!
Screaming, she took a step back, still clinging to Minaeve, when the Templar was yanked from view, and she saw the Seeker impale him from behind before releasing her grappling hook.
Flissa couldn’t breathe, there was no breath left. Twice! Twice, people had stopped to save her, and all she was was just a bartender; surely, there were more important things they needed to be doing?
“Flissa! Run!”
And this time she did, dragging a struggling Minaeve with her, knees buckling under both their weight as the coughing elf still struggled for breath.
They saved her. They saved her. She didn’t know why or what she had ever done to deserve their time in this horrifying, violent moment, but she knew one thing: she would make it count.
She would pay it back.
➽──────────────❥
“You want me to what?” Cabot asked, confused.
She looked uncertain for a moment. “Uhm… People said you were looking for a job? Some place you could help? I know it’s not glamorous or anything, but I can’t do it anymore, but if you’d rather go find something important, I could—”
“You don’t think running the tavern is important?” he asked, his voice gruff even to his own ears.
“Well, I don’t— I mean— It’s not like fighting, or arming the troops, or anything, but it’s something to do? In Haven, Sister Leliana had said it would be better if the soldiers had somewhere close to go than having to travel to the other towns just for a drink, so I imagine here in Skyhold that would be even more true… Or not at all, maybe? Since there really aren’t any other nearby towns. So, I guess, it’s up to you! Or whoever, not that I’m saying you want it, I mean, people have just said to ask Cabot, he’s looking for something to do.”
He could only stare at her when she finally took a breath. So, she was one of those. A babbler. That was just great, really. On the other hand, if she was giving away her right to run the tavern, that probably meant he’d never have to suffer her babbling again. Which would be good. Quiet was good. So, a tavern… Would he find quiet in a tavern? Maybe in a tavern, people would talk and flirt and fight with each other, and that would mean he’d have the kind of quiet he wanted. He didn’t mind noise, as long as it was quiet.
A tavern! Yes! He could run a tavern. You just mixed together the stuff that didn’t taste like nug, didn’t you?
“Alright,” he said, and winced when she excitedly clapped her hands, giving a little hop of joy.
“Oh good! Then I can tell Sister Leliana someone is carrying on with it! Come, let me show you! I think I know which place you can use, although it needs some work, but then all of Skyhold needs work, doesn’t it? But luckily, I had my little book in my apron the night that— Well, I had my little book, so I guess it will be your little book now! Names of suppliers, and how often I needed to order stuff, and so on. Though you might want to double-check with the suppliers, see if they’d be willing to deliver here. Oh! Or you could get guys to do that, create some jobs for some of the refugees!”
For someone no longer wanting to be involved with the tavern, she had an awful lot of opinions, he thought, rubbing between his eyes where the headache was starting. It would be okay. As soon as she handed everything over, he wouldn’t need to worry about her anymore.
He listened politely as she rambled on, giving her a grunt every now and then when it seemed like she needed a response, until finally she just stood there, all out of things to say, yet not understanding that it gave her leave to… well, leave.
“What will you do now?” he asked.
“Oh! I’m joining the Chantry! I want to serve and make a real difference, you know! I have been given a second chance, and I intend to make the most of it.”
“Right,” he said, eyeing her sceptically. Somehow, he couldn’t exactly see her as a sister, but to each their own, he supposed. Being a dwarf, that was luckily not his problem. Following the Stone was so much less complicated than everything the humans had managed to come up with.
“You’d better go do that then,” he added, pointedly looking at the door.
➽──────────────❥
The Inquisitor looked taken aback. “I was expecting the same face from Haven,” he admitted.
“Well, it’s not a hereditary position,” Cabot said, rolling his eyes. There were a lot of people willing to speak to the Inquisitor; did it have to be him? Though it was the Inquisitor. He should probably say something else.
“I think Flissa… Uh… What was it? She joined the Chantry? I don’t understand the type, but that’s her business,” he said, sliding a jug of ale in front of the man. Hopefully, that would keep him occupied.
“The Chantry?” he asked, making Cabot flinch as the realisation hit him. The Inquisitor was apparently a talker.
Just wonderful.
“That’s quite a shift from bartender; I wonder why the Chantry?”
“She wanted to serve.”
“Does that make sense?”
“As much as anything, I suppose.”
“You’re not very talkative for a bartender, are you?”
“You were expecting?”
“I don’t know. I suppose nothing…”
Cabot gave a long-suffering internal sigh. He was slowly coming to realise that being a bartender did not mean people automatically talked to the other people. Sometimes—an awful lot of times— they wanted to speak to him. “I am a bartender. Like my father before me, and my grandfather before him. A lineage destined to draw me hence. Is that better?”
“Actually? Yes, yes, it is.”
“Of course. Refreshments await you, Kings of Destiny.”
He nodded with satisfaction as the Inquisitor sighed and took his drink elsewhere.
Quiet. Quiet was good.
➽──────────────❥
“Heya, Cabot!” a happy voice accosted him.
He sighed before turning around, mentally bracing himself. Flissa was leaning on her elbows stretched almost over the counter as she leaned forward, reddish hair falling forward into her eyes before she blew it away. He was absolutely not looking at how that position accentuated certain parts of her womanly features. Not at all. He was far more worried about why she was there.
“Why are you here?”
“Just thought I’d come see if you’re doing alright!” she said, so chirpily it was reverberating in his teeth. “Pass me my usual there, my good man!”
He lifted his eyebrows. “I’m still surprised you’re allowed alcohol.”
“Of course! In moderation. You should taste some of the stuff the sisters brew, actually, if you ever wanted more exotic stuff on the shelf, you should speak to one of them!”
“Gmph,” he grunted non-committedly.
“Thank you! Can I have one of those little yellow umbrellas?”
“No.”
“Oh, come on! I know Maureen always gives them with her supply, she says it’s to spread happiness.”
“You want happiness, take another sip,” he groused. “This is a tavern, not a circus.”
She resignedly sat back before carrying right on. “Place is doing well, I see! We do have a lot more people here than we had in Haven, don’t we? With a lot less entertainment around... Still, I’m glad people have a place to come. I’m glad Maryden decided to stay on, she does know how to entertain a crowd, doesn’t she?”
“Excuse me, I need to go get some stock,” Cabot said, walking to the backroom. Just a moment of quiet, that’s all he asked…
“Hey, nice stock!”
He whipped around. She actually followed him?
“You actually followed me?”
“Well, I’m here, thought I could lend a hand. What are we fetching? Oh, you have more customers, you do this, I’ll go see to them!” she said all in one breath, going back outside while he could just watch in consternation. Paragons preserve him, what had he ever done to deserve this?
Fetching some bottles, he grumbled to himself as he walked back out, seeing her lean forward from the wrong side of the counter and flirting with Krem. Good! Anything to get the incessant talking away from here.
“Flissa, why don’t you go talk with Krem, over there, where you two can hear each other better?”
“Oh, we’re fine like…”
“I insist,” he said. And from the smirk on Krem’s face, he knew the guy was reading the situation perfectly. He scowled at him, trying to pass the quiet message that he’d better play along if he wanted to keep receiving the nug-free products.
“You know it is a little hard to hear you, Flissa,” Krem said to her, sending a particular knowing and annoying look in Cabot’s direction. “Let’s go sit over there, it seems like Cabot has got this under control.”
“Go on then, I’ll be there in a sec!” she said, watching him go before whispering to Cabot, “Are you sure? I’m more than willing to help. I don’t have to go talk to everyone who flirts with me, you know how it is, right? We have to get a bit immune to it after a while, don’t we?”
Cabot stared at her. If anybody had been flirting with him, no one had told him about it!
“Please, do go on,” he said in his insistent voice.
He sighed a sigh of relief as she hopped on the counter and swung her legs to the other side, because of course, she couldn’t walk around like a normal person.
Quiet. Quiet was good.
➽──────────────❥
“What’s the current mood, Cabot?” the Inquisitor asked earnestly, as he took his drink.
“Obsequious.”
“Oh… uh… good?”
It was a quiet morning, but Cabot knew from experience that if the Inquisitor was here, it wouldn’t take long for his companions to follow. Sometimes he felt sorry for the guy; it didn’t seem that he ever got any quiet time at all. Though he didn’t seem to mind it much whenever the Seeker was around…
“Heya, Cabot! Oh, hi, your worship! I haven’t seen you around much!” Flissa said much too happily as she hopped onto the stool next to the Inquisitor. Did the woman always have to hop? Could she never just move like a normal person?
“Hi Flissa! That’s true, but I follow the Qun, so I haven’t much occasion to go to the Chant—”
“Oh, right! Well, turns out I wasn’t exactly suited to be a Lay Sister. The Mother said it’s alright, though, it’s more important to go where the Maker had intended for us than to take a job we’re not suited for.”
“Hmm… You know, the Qun believes something similar.”
“Oh, really? Good, that makes me feel better. But I do agree with her, I think I’m much more suited for my new job!”
Cabot shared a look with the Inquisitor. He couldn’t fault Flissa trying to find her place in the Chantry, religion did mean a lot to a lot of folks. But she never quite struck him as having the quiet solemnity the job required. He was a bit scared to find out if her next chosen path would be better suited…
“Uh…” the Inquisitor said carefully. “What’s your new job?”
“Oh! I’m training to become a soldier!”
Cabot put down the glass and cloth in his hands so he could stare at her properly.
“You’re what?”
Training to become a soldier!
“Do you know how to fight?!”
“That’s why I’m training, silly!”
“Flissa…” he said, against his better judgment. This was definitely not a Cabot-problem. “You know that soldiers kill people, right? And remember you told me how scared you were that night in Hav—”
“Oh, don’t worry so, Cabot! It will be fine! You’ll see! I want to serve, so where better than to become a soldier? And then I won’t be scared on nights like Haven! Maker help us, may that never happen again, though.”
The Inquisitor looked like he wanted to say something before a rowdy crowd entered the bar, making all three of them look around.
“Oh, a rush! Let me help!” Flissa said, and without invitation, hopped onto the bar to swing her legs over again.
He glanced up at her as they served the newcomers, watching her joke, and smile, and beam. Like she was a ray of sunlight personified. There were happy soldiers… Soldiers who hopped and chirped and slid over bars, you got those too, right?
It would be fine… He was sure it would be fine.
➽──────────────❥
“Ouw,” she said, looking up at the face of Skinner appearing above her.
“Do you need a hand, or do you want to keep lying there for a bit?” the elf asked.
“Just lie here a bit, thanks,” she said, trying her best not to move.
It had been a rough couple of weeks, and her body was feeling it intensely. People had really been kind, training her like she asked, all of them taking the time to explain. The Commander had chosen people specifically to help her; the Seeker had even come over once to give her pointers, but it was just no good. This fighting thing just did not want to stick!
This morning the Chargers had invited her along on a sweep around Skyhold so she could learn how fighting worked in the field. They hadn’t expected to find much; there were enough patrols in the area, but Bull had said that they all needed some air, and so here they were!
Grim’s face replaced Skinner’s, and he grabbed her by the hand, pulling her up, giving a little grunt of approval.
Sorrow filled her as she looked at the scene in front of her, and for a moment, she had to push down the tears threatening to fight their way to the surface.
“Did we have to kill it?” she asked sadly, making the Chargers look at her, perplexed.
“Yes,” Skinner said, indicating with her voice that it was a silly question.
“I mean, it really just wanted to live, didn’t it? Like the rest of… everything. It couldn’t help that we’d be here. Oh no!” she said, suddenly alarmed, “What if there’re babies?”
“Flissa…” Dalish said, wavering a bit. “It’s a bear… A very big, vicious bear.”
“But if we just waited a bit, it may have gone away…”
“What if it wasn’t us?” Rocky asked. “What if it were some of those fancy people the Ambassador keeps inviting? If it wasn’t us, it would be them, and then they’d be dead!”
“I suppose….”
“But you did real good!” Dalish said quickly. “You are becoming quite the fighter, look! It was your dagger that did the final blow!”
Flissa was quite sure the only reason that had happened was that when she had tripped, the dagger happened to randomly be at the same place the bear’s throat happened to be, and not because of any impressive tricks from her side. She had killed the bear, the giant and vicious bear, completely by accident, and she hated that she had done it!
She felt so bad! She had a very close look as the light had left its eyes, and how could something that was so alive and… spirited mere moments before, suddenly just be dead? No spiritness left! And she had done that; she had killed it!
And she had hated it!
➽──────────────❥
Cabot looked up from cleaning the glass when the usual greeting from his new patron didn’t come. It wasn’t like anyone to walk into a bar and not immediately start talking.
He was even more flabbergasted when he saw who it was.
“Flissa?”
“Hmm? Oh, hi, Cabot.”
“Uh…” What did he say now? He had never not known what to say to her, because she had always been saying the stuff.
“Drink?”
“Yeah.”
He looked at her worriedly when he slid the drink over, and she just starred at it. He frowned before he rummaged under the bar and retrieved a little yellow umbrella, adding it to her drink. That finally got a real smile from her as she lifted her eyes.
“They do spread happiness!”
He felt a bit better when she chuckled. Good! The sooner she went back to her annoying self, the sooner he could be annoyed by her again.
“Oh, Cabot!” she said, suddenly clasping his hand where he’d carelessly left it on the counter. “I don’t think I can do this!”
For some totally unrelated reason, heat was starting to spread from the place their hands were touching. “Uh… do what?”
“Become a soldier!” she said, so obviously upset by the news, he genuinely felt sorry for her. It wouldn’t be kind to tell her that he had told her so.
She was still grasping his hand, her skin soft and warm against his, entirely too warm as the heat now reached his arm.
“Uh… What makes you think that?”
“I killed a bear!”
“You did what?! Dear Ancestors, by yourself?”
“You don’t think I can kill a bear by myself?” she said, suddenly indignant as she let go of his hand. His skin felt oddly bereft.
“No!”
“Well, that’s nice, isn’t it?”
“Flissa, not even the Inquisitor himself can kill a bear alone, he said so!”
She deflated at that, looking sad again, and for one mad moment, he had the oddest urge to take her hand again. “I guess you’re right. Oh, Cabot, it was awful! One moment it was alive, and the next it was just dead! And I did that! And you know what his biggest crime was? Just wanting to live. That’s it, the poor thing just wanted to live like all the rest of us!”
“Well, I’m sure it wouldn’t have the same attitude if it—”
“I told the Seeker I couldn’t do it, I just hadn’t the heart to tell the Commander! He was so kind about it.”
“What did the Seeker say?”
“She said it was good to know one’s own strengths. Oh, look, the shift must’ve changed, there’s guards coming,” she added before sliding over the countertop again, a lot more subdued than normal.
It was completely ridiculous of course, bears in this area were notoriously vicious and a menace to the traders who were actually willing to come this way. But she looked so sad, he wished she hadn’t needed to learn that lesson in such a hard way. The upside was, of course, that he wouldn’t have to worry about her when the troops moved out.
Worry about her?! By the Ancestors, he needed to get out and get some fresh air, clearly being cooped behind the bar so long was starting to mess with his head!
➽──────────────❥
“What’s the word out there, Cabot?”
“I hear the Arishok was replaced by the Arishok. But he’d better watch out. In the shadows, the Arishok.”
“That’s not quite how it works…” Bull said.
“Hmphf.”
“Heya, Cabot! Inquisitor! Bull!” a cheery voice said, not improving his mood at all. It’s not like he’s been waiting for her to make her usual late morning appearance.
“Hi Flissa! How’s it going? I heard you decided against becoming a soldier,” the Inquisitor said.
“Yeah, I just don’t think I would’ve been able to do it. I really admire you guys who can! I will never take having soldiers around for granted, ever again. But you know what they need where soldiers are?”
Cabot thought about this. “Rations?”
“No, silly! Healers! So, I’m going to train to become a nurse!”
Cabot thought of a reason it wouldn’t work, and couldn’t come up with anything. As far as plans went, it actually wasn’t half bad! She liked talking to people, she really wanted to serve, and being a healer would surely keep her occupied. Her sunny disposition should be good for the morale of the sick as well!
“I think that’s a very good idea,” he said approvingly.
“You do?”
“Yeah, I think you’d do a lot of good for the sick and wounded.”
“Oh, thank you, Cabot! It means a lot that you think so!” she beamed, hosting herself onto the counter and leaning over to plant a kiss on his cheek, before she happily hopped of and started retreating.
“I just wanted to come tell you the news, but I’ll come back when my first shift ends!” she waved from the door.
An uncomfortable silence fell around them, well, uncomfortable for him, as the two Qunari in front of him grinned gleefully.
“Well, would you look at that,” Bull smirked. “I have never seen a dwarf turn quite as red!”
The Inquisitor chuckled. “Something you wanna tell us there, Cabot?”
“Yeah, go sit over there,” he said gruffly, before turning his back on them to go fetch something from the storage room. And not to get rid of the stupid blush at all.
Or the annoying grin his mouth was making all by itself.
➽──────────────❥
“Well, that was quick! Short shift?” Cabot asked when she entered two hours later, cursing himself as he fought the blush rushing to his cheeks again. He was not going to blush just because some miss had kissed him on the cheek. People kissed each other on the cheek all the time. It was fine. Completely normal, even.
Only… she didn’t look happy. Didn’t look happy at all.
“What happened?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. But I don’t think I’m suited for healing.”
“Why not?”
“It doesn’t matter?”
“Did you kill someone? Already?”
“What?! No! Of course not, what kind of a question is that?!”
“That’s the only reason I can think of why someone wouldn’t be suited for healing,” he shrugged, turning around to pass her her drink.
She sighed. “You’re not letting this go, are you? Fine! If you must know… I fainted.”
“You fainted?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“There really was an awful lot of blood! So much Cabot! One of the guards took a blow to the head during training, and do you know how much heads bleed?”
“A lot, I’m guessing.”
“A lot!”
“Right. Well… at least you can say you tried.”
“I guess. I just really want to serve you know! Make this second chance count! It shouldn’t be this hard to find a calling, should it? Oh, look, Varric and his friend Hawke are empty. Let me go refill them for you,” she said, and he found himself already handing her two bottles before she even finished her sentence.
It was… less quiet, but since she was upset, it was okay this once.
➽──────────────❥
“Cabot, what’s the word out there?” the Inquisitor asked.
“Quiet. Too quiet,” Cabot said, keenly aware that she was late today. Not that he’d been checking or anything. But since she’d started working at the apothecary a week ago, she’d been around the same time every day. Just not today. Not that it mattered. Did it? “No wait,” he added. “Just quiet enough.”
“Hmmm…” the Inquisitor hummed. “So, where’s Flissa?”
“I don’t know, I don’t keep track of her.”
“Right, right.”
A harried-looking messenger entered the tavern. “Inquisitor! Come quick! There’s been an explosion at the apothecary!”
The sound of breaking glass alerted him to the fact that he’d dropped the glass he’d been cleaning, but it hardly registered. When the Inquisitor hastily left the building, he was hot on his tail, keeping up with the man’s giant strides.
Smoke was coming out of the building, people standing outside coughing. Where was she? Why couldn’t he see her?! Heart hammering in his chess he moved through the crowd, anxiously searching until he saw her standing to the side, calmly talking to the Spymaster as if she hadn’t just given him a heart attack.
Relief still flooded through him when she looked up, and her eyes met his. Feeling suddenly foolish, he turned around, briskly walking back to the tavern, the knowledge startling in its clarity.
He cared for her.
How or why, he didn’t know, but he did. It was a total disaster, how could he have let it happen?!
It wasn’t long before she followed him into the tavern, slipping onto a stool before she quietly said, “Heya, Cabot.”
“You hurt?” he asked tersely.
“No.”
“Anyone else?”
“No. Why are you angry at me?”
“I’m not.”
“You seem angry…”
“I said I’m not!” he protested, even though he was, and even though it wasn’t her fault.
“Okay.”
He sighed before he passed her a drink.
And then got a yellow umbrella to add to it.
“Are you done with that then?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said sadly. “You know, I just really wanted to serve, really wanted to make a difference. I lived all my life, and what have I ever meant to anybody? What had I ever done to help?”
He shook his head. “You still don’t get it,” he said, before he turned around and walked to the stockroom. It was easier than having her big eyes watching him so intently.
Of course, she followed him. “What don’t I get?”
“You’ve never asked me why I wanted this job,” he said. “Why I agreed to it?”
“Why did you? Oh no! Cabot, I never meant to say that your job was not important, I… Is that what it sounded like? Like I thought you didn’t matter? What you did, didn’t matter? I’m so sorry! I never meant to say that, because you really are so wonderful, and I…”
She broke off, suddenly shy. He couldn’t remember ever seeing her shy before… Flirty and coy, sure, but never shy.
“I never took it that way, because I don’t believe that,” he said, and she fervently shook her head to show she agreed. “The thing is, if I could fight, I’d be in a helmet. If I was a mage, I’d throw fire. And probably be dead. But I can’t do anything. Just like the hundreds of people who can’t do anything, who make sure the thousands who can do something, can do it.”
Quiet fell between them, and he looked at her again, only to feel her gaze blazing hot on him.
“It makes sense. I understand it now, because I believe that for you. I never saw that for myself, but I see it for you. That this matter, that the soldiers needing a place like this matter, and that doing the small jobs so the people with the big jobs don’t have to worry about it, matters. Because if ain’t getting done it wouldn’t be so small anymore, would it…?”
“No, it wouldn’t,” he said, finding himself shuffling closer in spite of himself.
She was a beam of sunlight, and he was the grumpy dark, and he was helplessly drawn to her light.
“Thank you for helping me see that,” she said, moving closer as well.
The moment rested heavy between them, the quiet just too much to bear. “You can’t have the tavern back,” he broke it, watching mesmerised as she threw her head back to laugh.
“Can I work for you then? You can’t pretend that you don’t need my help most days.”
“I do not!”
“I can do procurement, and you can deal with the customers!”
“No, I’ll do procurement. Back here, where it’s quiet and I can think.”
“You’ll do procurement in the front where you can see people and not become a hermit.”
“I can’t believe you’re already bossing me around!”
“Not bossing! Helping!”
“Fine… we can see how it goes,” he said, knowing by her smile that he’d already lost.
“Were you…” she started, suddenly looking shy again.
“What?”
“Worried about me? Today? It’s not like you to leave the tavern, even that time when the Chargers blew up the training dummies, you just stayed inside.”
There really was no point in denying it. He wasn’t sure that he wanted to. “Yes.”
“Cabot…” she said, her voice trailing away in a whisper.
She looked at him like she knew his secret, because she was harbouring the same one. He was grumpy, and she was sunshine, and it would never, ever work.
He leaned forward at the same time she bent down, and they sealed their deal with a kiss.
➽──────────────❥
“Heya, Inquisitor!”
“Flissa! You’re at the wrong side of the bar.”
“Not anymore, I’m not! Cabot and me have… come to an arrangement.”
“Oh really, you’re sharing the tavern now?” he asked, and couldn’t help smiling at how happy she looked.
“Something like that!” she said cheerfully, retreating to the backroom at the same time as Cabot entered, bending down to give him a cheeky pinch on his bum, laughing at the shock on his face.
He couldn’t help looking at the dwarf in astonishment until his glare hastily made him shut his open mouth.
“Cabot, so what’s the current mood…?”
Cabot looked at him before he sighed, apparently giving up whatever struggle was going on in his head. “Today, Inquisitor, it appears to be love.”