Meeting

Haeddry adjusted the straps of his pack and walked through the common room, past ragged-looking men in the throes of inebriation. Haeddry didn't meet anyone's gaze and started whenever someone moved even slightly.
"Looking for me, maybe?" a woman not yet forty asked, coming from the kitchen with a loaf of hot bread and a plate of cooked meat of some sort. It was small and could only either be rabbit or fowl. She deposited the meal in front of a grizzled old man, who dug in without hesitation.
"Are you the proprietor?" Haeddry asked, expecting to be corrected.
"Aye, that'd be me. Reyabella. Just in from the road, are ya?" the woman asked, smiling and wiping her dry hands on her brown apron.
"Um, yes. There's two of us. Do you have any room?" Haeddry asked, trying not to appear surprised that she ran the establishment; he supposed no one out in the middle of the wilderness would care who ran the inn, as long as they provided beer.
"Aye, couple of beds upstairs still empty. Where's your friend?" Reyabella asked, peering over Haeddry's shoulder at the rest of the room. In her heeled boots, the hostess stood taller than Haeddry and made him feel even shorter than he knew he was.
"He might have taken a seat already," Haeddry said, turning around to look for Nydedrilar. The man was easy to pick out by his white hair. "Right over there," he said, pointing straight at his bodyguard.
"Have you boys eaten yet?" Reyabella asked, ready to plunge back into the kitchen.
"Does dinner come with the cost of our stay?" Haeddry wondered, trying to remember how much money he had.
"Oh, yeah," Reyabella said, nodding her head; the brown curls bobbed like snakes and Haeddry realized she was lying. "Let me just run back in there and I'll bring your food right out."
Haeddry watched her go before sinking down at the table across from Nydedrilar. "Are you sure this is the only place around?"
"It is," the swordsman said, bobbing his head once. "Asked some people. They all said the same thing. It's the only damn place. And expensive as hell."
"Then why don't we just camp? I don't have an endless supply of money. What I do have, I've spent on you. I really don't think we should waste money here," Haeddry said quietly, afraid the money-mongering hostess would reappear at any moment to overhear them.
"I'm hungry. I won't work like a slave for you," Nydedrilar said, his sharp eyes cutting Haeddry's courage.
"So why don't we just pay for you to eat and then we can go camp outside somewhere? Nyd–"
"Don't call me that," the man snapped, glaring at Haeddry. "I told you not to."
"Sorry." Haeddry sat slumped on the bench and finally slid his pack off his shoulders. "But what do you think about camping? The less money I have to spend here, the more I'll have for other meals. You know, you could go hunting from time to time and save us some gold..."
"I don't hunt, kid. You know I don't. You hired me as your bodyguard to protect you from attack, not your servant or hunter or something. That's not what I'm being paid to do."
Someone cleared their throat a few feet away. "Excuse me."
Haeddry and Nydedrilar glanced up, the latter slowly, to look at the speaker. "Pardon me," the young man at the end of the table said, turning to face them. He was only a few inches taller than Haeddry and looked very young under his poorly mended old clothes. He was wearing a leather bracer on his left forearm but his bow was nowhere to be seen. "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting, but do you need a hunter?"
"We don't need a hunter," Nydedrilar said, rolling his eyes. "You would do well to mind your own business, boy." He turned away, his face fixed with a dour expression.
"I just thought that maybe...if you were traveling–" the boy continued carefully, persistent. "I'm not asking for any money. Right now, I'm doing a lot of wandering by myself. I know this area well–"
"So why did you come to the inn?" Nyd shot suspiciously, glancing ice at the boy.
The hunter looked surprised at Nyd's hostility but blinked a few times and recovered. "For company...and beer. There's not much of either in the woods."
Nyd snorted and turned his back to the boy again, clearly bothered by his offer for whatever reason. Haeddry wondered briefly whether he was jealous or if that was just how he treated people in general; he never spoke much, even with Haeddry.
"Well..." Haeddry began slowly, looking the hunter over. He looked healthy and strong and his boots appeared sturdy, even under the scratches and marks of long wear. "I think it would be beneficial to have a hunter along with us."
"I can also guide you, if you like. Where are you going?" the boy asked. He suddenly looked mortified and sprang to his feet to bow. "How rude of me–I've been offering to go along with you and I haven't even told you my name. I am Ruhr Valret, from the Nrosek Forest in Kemani."
"Kemani? That would explain your accent," Haeddry said, looking at the hunter in a new light. "Please, sit with us. I'm Haeddry, and this is my hired bodyguard Nydedrilar," he said, nodding towards his companion.
Ruhr looked embarrassed as he sat back down. "I didn't think I spoke with any accent..."
"It's very slight. You hide it well. I know a few languages, so I have an ear for those sorts of things," Haeddry explained.
He noticed Nydedrilar steal a short glance at Ruhr, the faintest curiosity in his eye. Haeddry allowed himself the shadow of a smirk as soon as the swordsman looked away again and asked the question he thought Nyd might have been wondering. "Which tribe do you belong to?"
Ruhr's eyebrows jumped up in his young face. "I've never met anyone in Seraal who knew about the tribes, or asked me about them at any rate."
"All this boy does is read," Nydedrilar said, and Haeddry felt certain the man had rolled his eyes.
"They write books about Nrosek?" Ruhr asked, even more bewildered. "That's odd. I didn't know we were that interesting..." He blushed self-consciously and a small smile appeared on his face.
"The books are ancient," Haeddry said to clarify. "Nothing is current, but they have provided me with a lot of history. I've spoken to a few elves from Nrosek and they kindly taught me some of the language and related more of the current goings-on. I hear some of the tribes aren't...how should I say...getting along."
"That's one way to put it, I suppose," Ruhr said; his expression had darkened considerably. "It's my own tribe at war, Evisas. I haven't been in Nrosek since I was seven. I was sent to live with some acquaintances of my father. That's where I learned how to hunt and I've been doing it for years. But I've moved on from the family I had grown up with; it was time for me to live on my own."
"And you would travel with us?" Haeddry asked, afraid that Nydedrilar's sour disposition would scare Ruhr off.
Ruhr nodded emphatically, but before he could speak, Nydedrilar had rounded on him.
"Do you have your own weapons? I don't see a bow on you, or any arrows," the swordsman said, his eyes sharply scanning the immediate area.
"I do. They're at my camp, not a quarter of a mile from this inn," Ruhr said, appearing slightly wounded. "It's a fine bow. I made all the arrows myself."
"That's all well and good," Nydedrilar snarled mockingly. "We travel by horse. Have you got your own horse?"
"Actually, I do. She knows the woods just as well as I do. She's got a nose for water and would also be a benefit to you if you spend much time out of doors," Ruhr said, trying not to sound the braggart.
Nydedrilar turned away to hide his disappointment and said no more.
Haeddry smiled brightly at the hunter and held out his hand. They clasped hands as Haeddry said, "I would be glad to have you along."
"Thank you! I'm honored that you want me to accompany you."
"We have bedrolls," Haeddry said, looking directly at Nydedrilar. "I suggest that we camp with Ruhr tonight that we might save money for an emergency."
"God forbid," Nydedrilar drawled, crossing his arms over his chest.