Orion wasn’t woken up by Sirius this morning; instead, it was Tam who shook her awake. Orion groaned loudly and rolled over.
“If you don’t get up now, you won’t have time to eat breakfast before we leave,” Tam warned. She sounded half-serious, half-amused.
“ . . . Fine.” Orion sat up on her side of the bed and stretched out her arms. She winced. She was definitely feeling the bruises from last night. The bounty hunter looked at Tam and then visibly grimaced.
Tam had a clear black eye now. Her hair was in a low ponytail, and rather fluffy. She strapped her sword to her belt, then headed downstairs with her saddlebag and small purse.
Orion took a quick bath, changed her clothes, and then headed downstairs. She put her stuff down at the table where Bas, Tam, and Hazel were sitting and bargained with the kitchen for some raw meat. She took the meat wrapped in reed paper outside to the porch and fed Sirius.
Sirius was a rather strange creature. She didn’t seem to actively get hungry, but enjoyed eating all the same.
With her friend fed, Orion went back inside and sat down at the table. She took one of the plates which looked similar to the breaded food she had last night; food that was breaded and fried reminded her of that other country in that other world she had lived in.
Bas had a bruise on his jaw, a purplish blue mark, from Orion’s first punch. He moved some more plates over to Orion’s side.
Orion would take the bruise over how her stomach still hurt. She nodded towards him and tried the other dishes. She liked most of the others, but openly disliked his choice for one of the dishes and argued with Bas about it.
“Everything going well over here? How was your sleep?” Janus, the owner, approached their table. She didn’t have a cigar, but instead was cracking some sort of hard candy between her teeth.
Orion opened her mouth to say something—probably bring up Bas’ taste in food—but wasn’t fast enough.
“It was wonderful,” Bas complimented.
“Your performance last night was also pretty wonderful.” Janus nodded towards Bas and Hazel. She popped another candy in her mouth and loudly cracked it open. “Consider your breakfast free of charge this morning.”
“Thank you very much,” Hazel said with a charming smile. He didn’t have his goggles on, but his bangs were long and covered much of his face.
Janus said goodbye quickly and started checking in with the other tables.
The other tables talked loudly of many things—the most common of which was the latest crazy happenings in the palace. The gossip was varied and occasionally insulting. Neither royalty nor nobility were revered topics in Malamut. A strange king with specific insistences led to good hygiene, but he only fooled around with his wives and his treatment of his potential heirs created instability for the future. Anyone with political ken believed that the fight for the throne would be the most bloody in the continent’s recent history, rivaling the Hrea Emperor’s rise to power.
“Hazel, where are you going?” Orion asked.
Hazel pursed his lips together. “Not entirely sure. I’m kind of a wanderer.” His hair had dried, revealing that normally his hair was somewhat curly.
Orion was still blanking on ways to check whether Hazel was a fellow transmigrator, so she shrugged and suggested, “You could travel with us if you want?”
“Thank you very much for the offer. I might be interested.” Hazel was considering it seriously based on his tone. “Where are you three going next?”
Bas hesitated but he came up with a plausible answer rather quickly. “We’re going East. It’s a family matter.”
“That works for me.”
“Okay.” Bas checked around the table and noticed how everyone had already brought their stuff down. “Let’s finish breakfast in a few minutes and then go. I have a quick errand to run before we leave but it won’t take long.”
The other three at the table muttered their agreement and continued to eat.
Hazel ate for another minute or two, until he finished, then brought up an important matter. “If we’re going to travel together, you should probably know about Scorpion, my oldest friend.”
“Scorpion?” Tam questioned. She tilted her head curiously.
Hazel reached into one of his coat pockets. He used two hands and opened them carefully to show the other people at the table what he was holding.
There was a small creature in Hazel’s hands, assumedly Scorpion. It had a hard, sand colored exoskeleton with black stripes. The tail was curled inwards, a large stinger was at the end. A pink bow had been tied with a ribbon around the circular thorax.
Tam leaned forward. “Isn’t that a chitan?”
Bas frowned at the sight of the creature. “Yeah, that’s a chitan. They’re from Maskiff.”
“You’ve seen other chitans before?” Hazel questioned. His lips were curled up a bit. He seemed happy to talk about his pet.
Bas shrugged. “I almost got killed by one a few years ago.”
“How long have you had Scorpion?” Orion asked. She did her best to hide her hope at the name, as well as her discomfort at anything with more than four legs. Scorpions, as a species, didn’t exist in this world. It would make sense for someone with memories of that other world to think of scorpion and call a chitan that.
“Ever since he hatched.” Hazel gently stroked the top of Scorpion’s head with a finger. He didn’t show any fear of being stung. “He won’t harm you unless you harm him, or move suddenly towards him. I’m mainly telling you three so that if he goes after some bugs or reptiles, you won’t get stung.”
“Noted.” Bas tapped on the table and stood up.
The four grabbed their things and went outside to the porch.
Bas and Tam went to the post office; apparently, Bas had written a letter last night and wanted to send it to the respective friend.
Orion and Hazel stayed at the inn.
Orion was surprised that Sirius wasn’t on the porch anymore and called for her. It didn’t take long for her furry and feathered companion to arrive from around the corner. Orion hugged Sirius quickly, quietly complimenting her.
“Who . . . What is that?” Hazel questioned as he took a step back involuntarily. His expression was complicated. Scorpion was riding on his shoulder.
“This is Sirius, my hunting partner,” Orion introduced.
“Okay,” Hazel said. His expression was still uncomfortable.
Orion had a suspicion that if he was a transmigrator, Hazel had been afraid of dogs or cats. She couldn’t complain much, however, as she hated arachnids or anything that looked like them.
When Bas and Tam came back, the four went to the stables and retrieved their horses.
The storm had stopped for now, but with the fresh mud, it was fortunate that the stone road from the capital still continued after the town of Bread Loaf. Tam likely knew how the place got the name, but Orion didn’t want to ask her. She had already triggered one of Tam’s history buff lectures a week ago.
Orion found the bad state of the roads distracting enough to deal with—without a lecture. She was focused on one thing right now: there was a chance Hazel was from the same world as her. It would take time to test him quietly, but she would do it.
She needed to know for sure.
A/N
Plot is really starting to kick in now.
