“Just get in here,” the same voice called out, obviously exasperated. “Is he always like this?”
“Yes, he is,” Kitalia responded as he pushed the door open. “It is sometimes endearing, that naïve innocence of his, but it is more often than not frustrating.” She flashed a quick, friendly smile back at Kre as she said it, obviously trying to show him that she was making the comment in jest.
The third and only other person in the room was turned away from the two of them, pouring a drink at a small cart near the back of the dimly lit room. It was about half the size of the upstairs hall but still circular with four doors, the one that Kre entered through and three more doors all evenly spaced around the other half of the circular room.
Near the back, between two of the doors, was a small fireplace with some logs burning slowly in it. The floor was mostly covered by a circular area rug filled with dizzying black and white patterns. Three chairs were set on the part of the rug closest to the fire and Kitalia sat in one of them.
“It’s always uneasy to hear that folks are speaking of you without you being present,” he muttered, slightly annoyed.
“Speak up child,” came the voice of the one he assumed was Red. The figure at the bar cart turned and he recognized her as the woman who had guided him to the hidden settlement after Kitalia had left him.
“You?” he said, a bit taken aback. “Actually, no… nevermind. I’m not surprised. Why not you? You’re Red, of course.” Now that he could see her, albeit in the dim firelight, he figured that her bright red hair was the reason for her nickname. As he noted in the woods, she was a tall, solidly built woman and she wore her long red hair pulled back in a ponytail that she had wrapped around her neck like a scarf.
“Now,” Kitalia said, turning to face Red and using the tone she used when explaining things that were already known, “he is acting the petulant child. It is best to ignore him when he gets like this. He means no harm by any of it. I think sometimes the shock of everything starts to get to him.”
Red nodded and sipped at her drink. “Oh, I’ve already seen that side of him dear. He completely ruined the pacing of one of my favorite jokes with his ‘poor me’ tantrum.”
Kitalia groaned, “Not that stupid worm joke, was it?”
Red look offended, placing her hand over her heart as if she had been struck a killing blow. “I thought you loved that joke! Everyone loves that joke. The kids can’t seem to get enough of it.”
The Ylveryan girl swirled her own drink, “They are being polite. They simply do not wish you to kick them out from the settlement, so they make sure they laugh at all of your jokes.”
Red snorted, “Why can’t you be more like them? Would it kill you to suck up to me occasionally?”
“It might,” Kitalia mused. “Besides, you need at least one person around here that will tell you the truth and not what they think you want to hear.”
“Okay, seriously,” Kre said, holding up a hand. “Just what is going on here? How do you know each other, and more importantly, is there anything for me to drink or eat down here?”