Chapter 15 - The Pub

Carol was having a hard time putting on the tight yellow dress that Shawni had picked out for her, and together the two women struggled as it slid onto her frame. It had taken two days to reach the city of Elmsite, the home of Shawni and Ferald, and upon arriving they had told Carol a little about the city.

Elmsite was vast and governed by Lord Taivon, who presided not only this city but two others as well. He commanded one of the armies of the northern faction of Shrubeth in the civil war and was at the front lines for now, though his wife was still in Elmsite to make sure the city ran about in an orderly fashion with Lord Taivon’s absence. Elmsite was a large, well kept city with minimal crime rates and a very religious populace - a good place to call home, according to the two pub owners.

Finally the dress snapped into place, and turning Carol around so that Shawni could get a good look at her - Shawni exclaimed: “You are truly a beauty! It looks very good on you Carol!”

Carol blushed in embarrassment but appreciated the compliment. “Thank you so much, you are too kind. By the way, I have a question to ask of you. Why were you out selling textiles if you own a pub? The two don’t seem to go together.”

Shawni smiled sweetly, her aging face wrinkling with the act. “It was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up, a man here in the city was selling all his clothes for very cheap prices and so we bought what we could afford. After buying it up we went over to the next city to see if we could sell it for higher profits, as cities near the front lines of the war often lack supplies... Unfortunately it did not go as planned, and we only sold half of what was expected. Meanwhile one of our friends ran the pub while we were gone.”

Carol turned around and about while listening, watching herself in the large mirror hung against the wall. She’d borrowed a small ribbon from Shawni and had put her hair up in a ponytail. Her roots were still growing out since coming to this world, and you could now easily see the natural brunette color amid the blonde highlights. Ferald had already commented on it, saying that it looked quite exotic to have two different hair colors at once.

Looking about her room and finding the small strapped shoes the couple had given her, she sat on the bed to put them on.

This used to be one of their sons’ rooms. Ferald and Shawni lived in the pub they owned, having the front open to customers while in the back was a living room, kitchen and an upstairs with four bedrooms. Only one had been occupied recently by the older couple as the rest of their children were involved in the civil war, so they had given the room across the hall to Carol. They had told her that as long as she worked diligently and helped them run the pub that she could live there indefinitely until she wanted to leave. Food would also be provided for her, and she would be paid a small percentage of their earnings every day. Carol couldn’t have asked for anything more and was very grateful for the opportunity.

She looked out the window and down onto the street where people bustled about in swarms along cobblestone roadways. Smoking chimneys were scattered about the city’s horizon, and there was an upbeat rhythm to the way everyone presented themselves. “So what is it that you two want me to do here? I know you want me to help you run the pub, but how?”

A knock came at the door to her room, and Shawni went to open it. Ferald walked in with a huff and shut the wooden door behind him before his wife replied. “Your job is going to be what we call a bar maiden. You need to greet customers and make sure they have all the ale, mead, cider, wine, food and anything else that they want. You deliver it to them and collect their payments to give to us before you are done with work.”

Carol nodded and briefly thought back to her days as a waitress when she was in high school. It was pretty much the same thing, so she shouldn’t have a problem doing this either. “When do I start?”

“Well right now of course!”

Shawni and Ferald happily ushered Carol out of the room and down the stairs to the front. Three other bar maids in yellow dresses were already running about the room, filling up drinks and taking orders to tell the cooks through a small opening in the wall leading to the back.

This quickly clarified that this was almost exactly like her old job, so she really shouldn’t have a problem here. Eight long tables with benches took up most of the room, barrels full of different types of alcoholic drinks were lined up against the western wall and windows in the front let in light from the street. A bar of sorts was at the end of the room near the back entrance where the kitchen and upstairs were, and lastly a stone fireplace was built into the eastern wall.

Without warning one of the men in the corner got up and swung at the man sitting across from him. Within seconds there was a four man brawl, knocking over their food, drinks and benches as they fought. Yelling and cursing at one another, it quickly got out of control.

“Not again…” sighed Ferald with an irritated shake of his head. “A FREE DRINK TO EACH MAN WHO HELPS THROW THESE DRUNKS OUTSIDE!”

Quick to act, seven of the other customers got up and restrained them alongside Ferald who hauled them to the door and literally threw them out. Cheers and applause erupted with laughter as Ferald turned around and shouted: “By the way everyone, I’d like you to meet our new barmaid! Come over here and say hi Carol!”

More cheering as the drunken crowd’s eyes sought Carol out. Holding her head highly, Carol strutted over to Ferald and with a smile waved to everyone. “Hello!”

Ferald smiled and pat her shoulder with fatherly approval. “She’s new to Elmsite and New to Shrubeth, so go easy on her as she gets the job down!”

“You’d better or you’re gona answer to me!” yelled Shawni haughtily as the crowd laughed.

One of the men drinking nearby Shawni shouted out above the laughter. “Anything but THAT angry old hag! Last time she came at me she left welts the size of my fist!”

The laughter intensified as Shawni threw an apple at the man’s head, narrowly missing him by an inch and bouncing along the wooden floor.

After the introduction to the crowd the other bar maidens came up to hug her, shake hands and introduce themselves personally. Their names were Zyrie, Nemenor, and Nuen. Nemenor and Nuen were twin sisters, both were pale redheads and short with curvy builds. Zyrie was a thin foreigner with raven hair and black skin. She was slightly taller than the others and had a thick accent that was easy to detect right off. After introducing themselves, Nuen and Nemenor went back to work while Zyrie stayed behind.

“Would you like to follow me around for a while to see how things work here?” Zyrie asked softly with a kind glint in her eye.

Shawni nodded passively as she went back towards the kitchen to reprimand the cooks for messing up an order. “That’s a great idea. Carol, go follow Zyrie around for your first day and tomorrow you can start on your own.”

Awkwardly, Carol stood there eyeing Zyrie - not sure if the other woman wanted her to help or await her command. After another few moments of awkwards staring Zyrie giggled and took Carol’s hand, leading her behind the bar. Picking up some mugs she handed two to Carol and put three more on a round wooden tray. Leading Carol through the other side and over to the barrels, she pointed to the labels across the barrels and above the taps. “These are all labeled. Can you read?”

Carol nodded, “Yes I can read.”

“Good!” Zyrie exclaimed, “This will be much easier for you then. Some girls in the past haven’t been able to read, so they had to take orders by memory and learn which barrels are where every time we get new ones in stock.” Zyrie pointed down the line. “We have Mead, Ale, Cider, Boro Wine, Pent Wine and Lager. We also have water, milk and mixed juice for people who don’t want to get drunk.” Zyrie began to fill up the cups from the barrel labeled ‘boro wine.’

“How much do we charge them for drinks and food?” asked Carol.

Zyrie tapped the barrel to her right labeled ‘mead,’ “Mead will cost a little extra, you can give them two cups of mead for one silver piece. The others you can give three cups for a silver piece, that includes water. Honey is a bit pricey right now so mead is more expensive.” Turning to the back where the kitchen window was Zyrie said, “We sell food as plates, each plate has three things you can put on it. Your options for food are two carrots, two potatoes, grapes, cabbage, an apple, two slices of pork, mutton, beef, fish and… did I miss anything Nuen?”

“Bread!” Nuen called out as she sat down a tray full of drinks.

“Oh yes, I don’t know how I could have forgotten. Bread of course is available. All of the food is stored back in the kitchen.” Zyrie rolled her eyes. “Unbelievable that of all things I forgot bread. Anyways you sell each plate for one silver piece. If they have copper, ten copper is worth one silver piece. You deliver the food and drinks while collecting the money to give to Ferald and Shawni at the end of the day, and they’ll give you a percentage of what the pub makes. So if the pub does well, then you do well. Carol, could you fill those two cups with boro wine and follow me please?”

Zyrie waited for Carol to fill the cups then headed to the opposite side of the pub where she sat the drinks down.

Zyrie then addressed a young woman sitting across the table. “Hey! How’s the new baby doing, Sharett?”

“She’s doing great! My sister is looking after her for the rest of the day so I brought this stranger with me to go get some drinks!” Sharett said as she kissed her husband sitting next to her.

“Who had the boro wine?” asked Carol hesitantly. Two men a few seats down raised their hands amid the chatter and she quickly went over to set the drinks down.

“So they said you’re not from Shrubeth? Where are you from lass? After all you don’t see hair like that every day.” asked the older man with a graying, well-groomed beard as he began to chug the wine.

Carol faltered. “Um… well I’m from a place called Salt Lake City.”

“Salt Lake City… Never heard of it. Is it across the Jai Sea by chance?”

Carol shook her head. “Have you heard of Earth before?”

The man gave her a puzzled look, stroking his beard thoughtfully. “Earth… can’t say I have.”

Zyrie chuckled and crossed her arms with her brows narrowing to judge himn. “You old fool, Earth is another name for the fourteenth realm. Why do you ask, Carol?”

“Well, that’s where I’m from.” said Carol bluntly. She hadn’t told Shawni and Ferald about her situation earlier because she wasn’t sure she could trust them. Now she had grown slightly fond of them over the past few days, so there wasn’t any need to hide details any longer.

A younger man with a shaved head choked on his drink and accidentally spat it into the bearded man’s food. Standing up he yelled out across the room towards Ferald behind the bar, “You never told us she was an Earthborn, old man! Don’t you think that’s a detail you shouldn’t leave out!?”

The room of drunks flew into an uproar. Many of them shouted questions across to ask her questions about her homeland, some of them accused her of lying, while others just started shouting for the hell of it.

Ferald roared across the room to get everyone’s attention. “Quiet down everyone, you’ll get your chance to ask her questions when she comes around or delivers your drinks!”

He looked at Carol with a puzzled expression and scratched the back of his neck. “Not that I even knew. Your type is a rarity lass, you’re even more of a money maker than I thought! When people hear about this they’ll be bound to come more often!”

Chuckling to himself for his good fortune, he went to the back to let Shawni know of the good news.

Nemenor and Nuen walked up to Carol as Nemenor asked, “If what you say is true, could you tell us stories of where you’re from after the pub closes? We always get together after work anyways, you should join us!”

Zyrie agreed enthusiastically.

Carol brushed her yellow dress down and blushed. “If I had known it was so easy to make friends just by telling people I’m earth born, I would have been doing it much sooner! I’ll be sure to share my stories with you!”

Nuen paused, “... Are you going to apply to any of the wizard guilds? There’s actually one here in Elmsite, and they all compete heavily for any Earthborn they can find. It’s an honor to join, very prestigious.”

Nemenor interrupted, “No you should apply to Agnude’s holy order, the Vetteresies. They’ll train you in the magics too but you get better perks.”

Nuen frowned, pushing her red hair back over her shoulders. “Vetteresies are all brainwashed and very full of themselves. They all talk about Agnude’s glory but I for one have never seen Agnude in person, how do you even know he’s real?”

Nemenor was obviously shocked. “Don’t say such things Nuen! That’s very disrespectful.”

“We can debate about this later but we have work to do!” Zyrie said as the other two walked away grumpily to continue helping customers. “Now follow me Carol, you can watch and ask me questions if you have any!”