Spring 53rd – Sharp Tongue Tavern
Zandelia was sat in her customary place within the Sharp Tongue Tavern, her form though colorfully covered in Nykan garb still partly shrouded by the irregular shadows cast by the light sources from above. Under the balcony it was not difficult to stay relatively out of sight so long as she did not move overly much, though the babbling talk that circulated the room did often break her cover in its sheer raucousness. It was not a drunken rabble though, far from it for they frowned upon a lack of self-control each and every one of them. The patrons merely enjoyed involving as many others as possible in their games, relishing the opportunity to test the intellects of those imbibing. She was beginning to reason that it was a way of gauging just how merry one was, that when they could not solve a simple mental quandry it was a signal they had had enough. She smiled as she listened to their verbal exchanges.
Oh how I have grown to love this establishment, a place where the main aim is to spar with one’s mind than to dissolve it in the wheat beer they serve. I could almost live here forever…almost she mused as she sipped from her first drink of the afternoon.
“Alright they Yeller, you’re turn seeing as you guessed it a’right! Give us something tough, something to stretch us” a group closer to the bar shouted, a challenge to the bartender whose nickname they had used. It was wise to ask Yeller for a real problem, he had heard them all before and usually did not intervene unless people were really stuck for the answer – to keep the games moving she presumed.
She watched him thinking, his eye were a window into a mental jig-saw that was infinitely complex in its nature. She was not much younger than her but she knew he could best her in the realm of riddles he could best them all. She rather enjoyed his ones over the others, he actually put thought into them rather than repeating one’s that hadn’t been heard in a few days or had been garnered in the markets of the city. Trying to solve his ones were almost like a badge of honor for the one who succeeded. She had spent a number of days within the building and had got a few, enough to earn her place there so long as she kept it up. Still, although her clothing of bright greens and reds gave the illusion of belonging they knew she was a foreigner and their respect was begrudging at best.
Still beat the lot of you a couple of times though you picky boozers she smiled at a two whom had looked back at her, eyes piercing as if daring her to take the challenge.
“I'm the part of the bird that's not in the sky. I can swim in the ocean and yet remain dry. What am I?” Yeller posed them his riddle, as silence followed, deep thought replacing revelry for a few moments.
She watched as they guessed periodically, drinking and slapping themselves on the back as they did so, Yeller shaking his head with a faint smile upon his lips. She knew his real name was in fact Alex Eolla as he had told her it as a reward for solving a few posers here and there. He knew she sought information, a few of them did it seemed as word spread quickly, but she was only given it when she ‘performed’ – like a puppy she observed wryly. She wondered how much it would take to actually formulate enough of a bond with the man and his patrons to make full use of them. Not that she hadn’t got a lot already,y even by sitting there and listening she had heard, and now possessed, a few decent tidbits of useful information. She knew their names, for example, their professions and – within reason – how affluent they were, all of that by listening and watching them. That served her well enough in some ways but was gratingly little in others.
Still, I got a few tip offs on disappearances and reappearances of people and a few notifications of unusual occurrences and even a few rivalries that want settled. Good enough she chuckled at that sentiment, good enough was not something she usually accepted.
“Oh alright then missy, if you’re so smart with your laughter why don’t you tell us what it is then?”
“Yeah, use that mouth for something other than lookin’ like a doll” came the responses to her audible chuckle, a poor slip of her demeanor that twisted her lips slightly.
She thought for a few moments as she was weighed by them all, yet again. She tried to ignore it as she rolled the problem about in her mind, head tilting to the right as she considered. Eventually a broad smile lit up her face and she gave them all a smug look that she knew would annoy them more than anything else.
“A shadow?” she asked Yeller, eyes locking to his momentarily as she paused in drying a cup and smiled, nodding slightly as the group at the bar rolled their eyes and cursed their lack of intellect at ignoring obvious truths.
“Oh come on! How can she get it when we can’t?” one of them asked the world in general.
“Because I use the brain in my head and not the one lower down” she countered, inspiring heckles at the speaker and laughter once more, the tension in the air dissipating.
“Alright, what’s yours then Your turn…Amelias” they asked her, finally using her alias name for the first time that afternoon.
“I run over fields and woods all day. Under the bed at night I sit not alone. My tongue hangs out, up and to the rear, awaiting to be filled in the morning. What am I?” she posed them.
She left them to their quarrelling as her attention was grabbed by something else – a newcomer.
