Yue turned to Avan, still holding the two new weapons tightly. "Thank you, Avan! That was... the best gift I could have imagined! And I didn't do anything to deserve such a thing..."

He turned to her and placed both his hands on her shoulders with an encouraging smile. "You're very welcome. You've helped me more than you might know. Whereby you now know my precarious situation. I just didn't know much about Aorus, Eos or Cyntha, and you answered some of my questions. And even if it didn't come directly from you, we got to know Luria and now Balgur through Eve and her people today. So it's a series of coincidences, but nevertheless, it all started with you and our meeting, don't you think?" He smiled at her and squeezed her shoulders to punctuate his words. "Besides, it feels right to give you something back, because money isn't worth as much to me as being able to make people like you happy. And also remember that Luria's potions will bring in VERY much gold. As well as the many other herbs and resulting potions, all of which will bring in sales revenue for me. Your two new daggers really don't matter, even though it's a big part of my current wealth." With a final squeeze of her shoulders, he let go of her and teasingly tousled her hair until it was all messed up. "Enough already, Yue! On to more joyful topics. Let's get something to eat and maybe something to drink. After that, we can slowly make our way to the guildhouse, if I'm reading the coming sunset correctly." He said to her and grinned at the theatrical pout she made while trying to fix her fiery hair. Her fluffy fox ears wiggled around animatedly and her unruly tail swung behind her as always from left to right like a pendulum clock.

With a sudden burst of inspiration and an equally theatrical pose in which she put both fists to her hips, she spoke to him in a mock-serious tone. "Avan! I'll choose where we're going to eat this time! As compensation for my... now useless hairstyle. For us women, our hair is sacred, you know... Isn´t it the same in your homeland?!" She told him and moved her arm forward to playfully and annoyingly wave an index finger in his face. The man just grinned mischievously and suddenly pulled her outstretched hand to grab it and throw it over his shoulder. "Gotcha! So tell me where you're going!" He laughed with the wriggling and squealing Yue on his right shoulder.

"Whoa, put me down you ogre!" She shouted loudly and hit his back, only to slightly injure her hand once again. The people nearby looked at the two of them like crazy and started to move on quickly. Avan lowered her as elegantly as possible and set her down on the cobbled stones, only to bow foolishly to her while he continued to laugh. With a suppressed grin on her part, she slapped him once on the head while he was bowing.

Standing upright again, he smiled mischievously and offered his arm for her to hang on to. As a noblewoman would do, she accepted his arm and puffed sideways, playfully annoyed.

"Up, my faithless and dishonorable companion! Let's rid my favorite restaurant of all food!" She said, pulling him through the still gawking and annoyed people who had been watching both of their theaters.

Yue pulled Avan through the crowd to head south and out into a less crowded side street. The houses, he observed more closely as he simply let himself be pulled, were similar to European medieval architecture and mostly similar to the half-timbered houses he had seen time and again in Europe. They were located in one of the more middle-class neighborhoods, most likely inhabited by merchants and well-off craftsmen, if it was anything like the European Middle Ages. The people they encountered were all going about their daily business, hurrying in both directions along the wide street that could certainly accommodate two carts side by side. A guard patrol eyed the strange couple as they whizzed past, and the supposed head of the guard just shook his head and mumbled something about "tourists" as best Avan could understand as they passed.

While Avan let Yue pull him through the streets and alleys, he couldn't quite shake off the feeling that the fox girl was still in danger and that they were both walking along naively, enjoying the day.

What Yue didn't know until this point, however, was that he was very much intent on keeping his dungeon senses working at full speed all the time, casting little glances here and there into dark side alleys and looking intently at the other passersby.

Ten meters is not exactly enough, but I hope we make it to the guild building without any incidents... he finished an internal monologue, and smiled again at the euphoric young girl

Soon Yue turned into a smaller side street that was much less crowded, but still not lacking in cleanliness. Here and there, clotheslines with and without fresh laundry hung from the upper floors, and a few children played with wooden toys in front of an entrance.

Suddenly, Avan could detect a smell in the air that reminded him of fresh hazelnuts and bread, with a hint of spices of all kinds. Further ahead, he spotted a two-story building with inviting windows and a freshly painted white facade. Between the floors, a large sign hung on the wall with the letters "I N N" and a bed with a mead jug underneath. Although he was quite sure that the signs were not English, he could still read them and decipher it as an inn. And that's exactly where Yue was headed with him in tow.

A grim-faced lion man, if Avan interpreted it correctly, stood with his arms crossed in front of the entrance and looked at the passers-by with narrowed eyebrows. He soon spotted Avan at almost six feet and his shoulders tensed slightly, as if he were bracing for trouble, only to deflate again like an inflated balloon as soon as he caught sight of Yue.

Said person stopped right in front of the man and jumped up to give him a good squeeze while making a not lady-like squeak. "Bass! You wouldn't believe all the things I have to tell you!" She gleefully gushed with her arms wrapped around the lion man's burly neck.

Avan stood a little awkwardly in the alley and waved a little clumsily at the lion-man, who still wouldn't quite disregard him with his sideways glance.

After a short time and some squeezing later, Yue dropped back down onto the paved stone floor and waved Avan closer to introduce him. "Let me introduce you to Avan, the one I told you about! The one I have to thank for my escape from the goblins and my imprisonment. Bass, Avan. And Avan, Bass." She introduced the two, who eyed each other suspiciously at first.

Only to shake hands with an appreciative nod and a grin on their faces, just to engage in a brief test of strength. Seemingly pleased with the performance, Bass laughed and unabashedly slapped Avan's shoulder, tapping it several times. "Thank you for bringing the little foxy back here in one piece! I was about to go out and see what was going on myself! First round of ale is on me, Avan!" He explained to him with a growling but friendly laugh. The lion man turned and pushed open the door behind him, shouted something about "First round of ale..." and waved them both past. With a final nod to the man, Avan followed Yue into a cozy and homely room full of tables and laughing guests.

A few of the guests turned briefly at the bouncer's call to the new guests, but were content to glance at the new arrivals and turn their attention back to their own tablemates and drinks.

Avan looked around totally fascinated, as he had never experienced anything like this in his home world, but had always wanted to visit LARP festivities. The light in the room came from a bronze chandelier on the ceiling in the middle of the room, which was decorated with a lot of candles. At half of the tables sat guests, drank and joked with their comrades together, while left back at the bar was built a small stage, where certainly a bard or the like could perform. At the bar itself, a big burly lion man stood and looked at the two newcomers with interest, while he scrubbed glasses and mugs with a towel, just as Avan had always seen in movies.

With a glance at Yue, his eyebrows lifted slightly and he appeared relieved to see the fox girl alive and well.

Yue walked towards the barman with a dancing step and greeted him halfway with a waving hand. "Baslo! I'm back!" She shouted and jumped onto one of the many free bar stools directly in front of the jug-scrubbing lion man. Scratching at his temples with one hand, Avan went after her and sat down next to his energetic companion with a wry grin. A quick wave and a "Hi, I'm Avan" directed at the barman, he looked at her and waited for her next outburst of joy, which was probably less euphoric this time, but still joyful.

"Baslo! This is Avan, Avan this is Baslo, the best innkeeper in town! Which also happens to cook my absolute favorite food! Lentil soup with the freshest and tastiest bread you can find in this part of the continent!" She continued unexpectedly, introducing the two men to each other. The lion-man, already used to Yue's outbursts, nodded to Avan with an understanding grin and without comment placed two jugs in front of them, which he had filled along the way.

"On the house. You heard my brother. And welcome to Cyntha, if I read your facial expressions correctly. Knowing Yue here, she wants to eat another big bowl of soup and almost a whole loaf of bread. And what can I get you? The food's not on the house, of course, sorry." He explained, turning in Avan's direction, the towel hanging over his right shoulder.

Avan just sat there for now, sipping the ale and letting out a sigh of relief, which earned him a knowing look from the girl next to him. He drank the ale completely and leaned back as best he could on a bar stool to enjoy the taste on his tongue and in his stomach. After weeks of drinking water, he simply lacked another drink and taste.

After a moment of closing his eyes, he opened them again and looked at the satisfied looking bartender. "Two more ale, please! I have missed this soooo much. And I'll have the same as foxy here." He shared with a nod to Yue.

"That'll be twenty-six copper coins, ten each for the food and three coppers each for an ale." With another satisfied hum, the man slipped the coins Avan had placed on the bar counter into his apron and called out behind him toward the kitchen, where the wonderful smells were coming from. "Annabell, two large lentil soups and two loaves of bread please!" And received a vague call back, which he probably took as agreement.

Baslo, meanwhile, turned and tapped two more mugs of ale, which he placed on the bar in front of Avan, collected the empty beer mug again, and set about washing more mugs and drying them with his towel.

Yue next to him let out a fully satisfied "purrrr" and even belched briefly and quietly, only to quickly turn to him to see if he might have overheard the faux pas. With shoulders hunched and head red, she quickly looked in the other direction when she realized that he had indeed heard it and grinned cheekily at her. After a muttered "dumb-ass" that was clearly directed at him, they both drank their ale in amicable silence.

After a short time and only a few minutes if that, a strong and somewhat broader built lioness came out of the door behind the bar with several plates and bowls full of steaming food and smiled when she saw Yue. "Ahh, I thought so. Only little Yue could be so hungry for my lentil soup with a whole loaf of bread! Ahaha-ha!" She said and placed the two bowls full of steaming soup and two loaves of bread in front of Avan and Yue. With a nod and a friendly "Enjoy your meal," she quickly disappeared back into the back room from which she had come.

The lentil soup had been delicious and the freshly baked, warm bread had tasted like a feast to Avan, as if he hadn't eaten anything real for weeks, which wasn't entirely wrong.

After Yue had gratefully declined the third ale jug, he had drunk this one as well. With a well-filled stomach, a satisfied feeling and the approaching sunset on the horizon, the two of them soon set off in the direction of the guild hall to attend their last appointment for today. They had, of course, asked Baslo for rooms beforehand and had already indicated that they would most likely return in the evening. Or rather, Avan alone, since Yue, as a guild member, could probably spend the night in one of the small guild quarters.

With quick steps to arrive on time for the agreed date, Yue walked ahead and Avan followed her.

Avan suddenly stopped in his tracks, and goose bumps rose up his spine, as if he were being watched. Before he could say a single sentence and just as Yue turned into a darker side street, which she had designated as a shortcut, something shiny flew past her cheek and banged against the wall of a building behind her with a metallic sound.

Two hooded figures with their hoods down stood at the other end of the alley and a taller guy appeared behind them in the alley they had just entered.

Fucking shit! Avan cursed inwardly and whirled around to get an overview of the situation.