A request had been sent to the man called Black Jack Barclay, captain of the Ark and councilman of Torchline. The slightly damp note had been signed by Hadama, King of the Mer, asking to meet at the Hanged Man at sunset.
It was not a place the mermanta had ventured to often; the liquor of humans was light and strange to his tongue, lacking the heavy density of merfolk libations, and he was not much given to drink in any event. But a few judicious questions of Ray and Harper led him to believe the human captain might be more comfortable there, and so Hadama had swum up to the bar on the water side and ordered a Halovian coffee.
The sweet cream liquor offset the bitterness of the coffee nicely as he nursed the mug as he floated at the seaside counter and waited for the other man to arrive. The twilight outside matched the bar's magical ambience and the light breeze was a pleasant change from the stronger winds of Deepfrost that cut across the ocean's surface. And it gave Hadama time to peruse the menu, considering which of the bottles might make an acceptable gift for his sister's boyfriend.
He could no longer get away with the sugar-coated pettiness Melita had helped him concoct for the man the year before the War; the mantle of kingship was a sobering weight and he tried not to abuse it.
But maybe he could bring back something with a heavy dose of bitters. Or perhaps the absinthe...?
It was not a place the mermanta had ventured to often; the liquor of humans was light and strange to his tongue, lacking the heavy density of merfolk libations, and he was not much given to drink in any event. But a few judicious questions of Ray and Harper led him to believe the human captain might be more comfortable there, and so Hadama had swum up to the bar on the water side and ordered a Halovian coffee.
The sweet cream liquor offset the bitterness of the coffee nicely as he nursed the mug as he floated at the seaside counter and waited for the other man to arrive. The twilight outside matched the bar's magical ambience and the light breeze was a pleasant change from the stronger winds of Deepfrost that cut across the ocean's surface. And it gave Hadama time to peruse the menu, considering which of the bottles might make an acceptable gift for his sister's boyfriend.
He could no longer get away with the sugar-coated pettiness Melita had helped him concoct for the man the year before the War; the mantle of kingship was a sobering weight and he tried not to abuse it.
But maybe he could bring back something with a heavy dose of bitters. Or perhaps the absinthe...?
