The woman was still screaming.
She smashed one of the men's heads into the tavern floor again, her voice cracking between fury and drunken grief.
"Those damn mages… why did they have to ruin it?!"
She staggered back, laughing and crying at the same time. The three men lay unconscious.
"Don't you KNOW," she shouted at them, "how hard it is to lose a friend, huh?!"
No one answered. No one dared.
Laxyie watched from his seat, unmoving. silently.
Mages? he thought.
So she's not normal.
Behind him, Tyke had slipped out of the room and followed Laxyie without a sound. The boy's hands were shaking as he pulled out his slingshot, eyes locked on the woman's back.
Laxyie sensed it instantly. Without turning, he spoke quietly.
"Don't."
Tyke froze.
The woman staggered, wiping her face roughly. "You can't even let me mourn in peace, assholes!" she screamed again, kicking one of the fallen men for good measure.
Then she noticed Laxyie.
She squinted at him, eyes unfocused but sharp. "Hey. You got a problem?"
Laxyie said nothing.
She frowned and stumbled closer. "Hey. I'm talking to you. I said I'm talking to you."
Tyke raised the slingshot.
Just then, Laxyie finally spoke.
"I've never spoken to a lady this beautiful," he said calmly, "so I don't know what to say."
The woman blinked.
"Huh?"
"Huh?" T