The woman stared at Laxyie after his words, swaying slightly.
"…Huh?"
For a moment, it looked like she might swing at him.
Then she laughed."You're an idiot," she muttered, wiping her face with her sleeve. "Either that, or you've got terrible timing."
She dropped into a chair near his table, missing it slightly before correcting herself. Someone slid a mug towards her. She didn't ask who. She drank anyway.
The tavern slowly became alive again. People whispered, chairs scraped, and the innkeeper cursed as he dragged the unconscious men away.
Laxyie finally took a bite of his fish.
"You hit hard," he said.
She snorted. "They deserved worse."
Behind him, Tyke lowered his slingshot but stayed tense, eyes never leaving her.
The woman rested her elbows on the table, staring into her drink. Her voice was quieter now. "Before you came they were talking about things they don't understand."
"Happens," Laxyie replied.
"Not like this," she said flatly.
Silence.
She glanced at him sideways. "You're not from Selam."
"No."
"Nursa," she guessed. "Heard them mocking."
Laxyie looked her with calm but Pale eyes, empty, unreadable. "And?"
She smirked faintly. "Figures. You people don't flinch."
She drank again, then sighed. "Name's Lyla."
Laxyie nodded once. "Laxyie."
Her eyes flicked to Tyke. "And the kid?"
Tyke hesitated, then spoke up. "Tyke."
Lyla smiled faintly. "Rough Province for a kid."
"He'll manage,but he'll get a beating once we get home for sneaking out" Laxyie said with an annoyed face.
"Good," she replied with laughter. "Selam's kinder than most places—but it still bites."
She leaned back, finally looking more like herself than a storm. "I'm from the lands of Pyoin,Warrior city.The Province of Zorka breeds loud people and sharper blades."
"That explains a lot," Laxyie said.
She laughed again,. "Yeah. Guess it does."
They sat there for a while—ale, fish, noise, music. No danger. Just the low hum of a city that never slept.
Lyla raised her mug slightly. "To bad days," she said.
Laxyie lifted his ale.
Tyke copied them both.
For the first time since Nursa, the night didn't feel heavy.