Feyra had almost forgotten to go out and go to the restaurant. She had said she would help old André but then she had sorted her thoughts for too long and almost forgot the time.
When she arrived she hurried into the restaurant and apologised. Old André told her it was fine given she had just arrived. He walked slowly to the bar and showed her everything she needed to know.
"There are some rules. They're official ones from the government of the Alliance. We may not directly lie in their area but sometimes it's a point of discussion whether or not we should follow the rules of the Alliance or not. Many people who live here have work in the Alliance or are retired workers. So most of us just follow them. Ah... I'm talking too much again... I should prepare the kitchen.", Old André said before walking as fast as he could to the kitchen.
"Before I forget it... If someone wants to pay I'll do that. That way you don't need to do everything."
Feyra looked at him and nodded. She was a little scared if she would also be able to do everything. She had never worked in a restaurant and hardly ever eaten at one.
"No need to be scared. The people who often come here are patient and cheerful.", Old André said noticing the slight unease in Feyra before he finally made his way to the kitchen.
Is he the cook? Does he have another helper in the kitchen?
Feyra wondered about a few things before she looked around and started to familiarise herself with the place and layout.
Soon after the first customers came.
"Hello! Oh? A new waitress? Or are you a helper again?", one of the middle-aged men asked. They went over to a table and sat down.
"Would you already like to have something to drink?", Feyra asked.
The men looked at each other and all ordered beer.
"So you're a helper?", the middle-aged man from before asked.
Feyra nodded. "I'm helping out old André. He isn't getting younger either so if he had to do everything alone it wouldn't be good."
The men laughed in agreement. "That's true. Are you a philosoph or just a kind person? You're a bit peculiar. We come here often but never seen anyone with such a hair colour."
"I'm not a philosoph but I like to help people. As for my hair colour... Well I can't change it.", Feyra said with a smile before she walked off to get their drinks ready.
The men continued talking and shortly after more people came in the restaurant.
Most of them asked similar questions and did some small talk. They seemed all very familiar with each other and the whole place gave off a sense of a family gathering.
Old André occasionally came out to bring the ordered food and also answered some of their questions.
The day was quite uneventful besides the usual chit chat of the people and the newest information that went around. Feyra didn't gain any new knowledge on either the Alliance or anything the Kingdom did.
"Cleaning up is always so horrible. I'm glad I don't have to do it all on my own.", old André said bringing some plates into the kitchen. Feyra was already washing the glasses and afterwards also helped washing the plates.
"Now go rest. I can handle everything else."
Feyra nodded and made her way back to the inn where she collapsed on her bed.
Before doing anything she looked at her wrists and took off the bandages. Her wounds were almost healed although it hadn't been that long. Her body was healing faster than that of humans. She took some new bandages and put them around her wrists to keep them safe and let them heal once and for all. After that she collapsed on her bed again.
Nothing new on the Alliance or the Kingdom. A little bit of a shame but I suppose there are more days. I hope I can overhear some things.
The next two days were just as uneventful with most customers being old people who loved chatting with old André.
Feyra watched and smiled while she was already washing some glasses again to have something to do and reduce the things that needed to be done after closing.
Less customers came this day but two men were peculiar.
"You've heard about the Alliance?"
"Yeah. Must be pretty bad for the Kingdom if even the Alliance is now getting in trouble."
The men tried to whisper but they were still louder than most people.
"A criminal that had been detained for hundreds of years should be free now? The Kingdom wants the Alliance to help but we... You know how they are."
"Unless proven to be guilty with enough evidence we will not sell someone out.", the other man did an impression of someone who was likely speaking for the Alliance.
"Oh waitress! We both would like a glass of water.", they called over to Feyra who was drying some glasses.
"Coming right away."
She prepared the glasses and went over to the table to bring it to them.
"The Kingdom wants to push the Alliance into helping them which even stirs up the people now. It's annoying. We don't even know if this person has fled to the Alliance or even the Empire. Perhaps they're still within the territory of the Kingdom.", the man continued not noticing that Feyra had brought over the water.
"Shhh! Keep it down. The waitress just came over to bring the water and you speak of these political matters? Till now nothing has been confirmed and the Alliance will make an announcement after a conference how we will fare."
After that the men shut their mouths and only talked about mundane daily tasks.
The Alliance and the Kingdom? Doesn't seem like they're on good terms. Perhaps even worse than imagined. But... Didn't they say something just now that seems odd?
Old André had told me the Alliance would stay neutral unless someone is wrongly accused... Yet these guys said that unless there is direct evidence the Alliance won't sell them out. It seems odd. Or were they just speaking of the current case? If so...
Feyra thought further about how she could proceed once she would travel further. If what these customers had said was right then she should wait for the announcement of the Alliance and hope she wouldn't get in trouble. If the Alliance would check the case again she may even have a chance to prove her innocence.
The evening that day was calm and only two customers came in total. Feyra was exhausted but she finished everything before heading back.
A few days passed like this without any news. The announcement hadn't been done yet and almost no one spoke of anything related to the Alliance.
Some farmers occasionally complained about their crops not growing or the weather being horrendous.
Feyra sometimes drifted off in her thoughts thinking of ways to help these farmers but ultimately she couldn't come up with a solution. She was unable to influence the weather or the growth of plants and also didn't know as much about agriculture as she knew about medicine.
What a shame. I wish I would know a little more to give some tips.
One day though a lot of people came to the restaurant and all were talking about one thing: The announcement the Alliance had made.
"Have you heard already?"
"The announcement is typical for the Alliance. Though I'm unsure how they want to get stuff from that long ago."
Feyra was a little confused as barely anyone spoke of the matter directly so she only hoped that she could get into some small talk and get to know about the announcement.
"What would you like to order?", she asked the customers who sat at the table. It was an elderly couple who was still fit.
"I would take some beef.", the man answered plainly and showed with his finger on the menu.
Feyra by now knew the menu pretty well so she didn't need to look that long anymore to recognise what beef he wanted.
"As for me I'll take some sea soup and roulade with only a few potatoes.", the elderly woman said seemingly looking at Feyra.
However, Feyra had long noticed the woman was blind and her eyes had turned a little glassy so she suspected it was either out of respect or because the woman was used to it.
"Aya... Before you go... Have you also heard of the announcement?", she continued as Feyra wanted to leave.
"I heard of some parts but I don't know its exact contents.", Feyra answered honestly taking the menus from the table.
"The Alliance has stated they'll reopen this case and look into it themselves again rather than trusting the Kingdom's judgement. In my opinion this is right. Who knows if this 'criminal' isn't just someone who is blamed for it? That case was so long ago that even the Kingdom may have lost some information.", the man said and the elderly woman nodded.
"And you know... If the Alliance can prove the innocence of this so called criminal then that criminal can go everywhere and get the support from other nations too! I doubt that the kingdom would accept the truth though. So all the Alliance will do is see if this so called criminal is innocent or not.", the woman added talking with enthusiasm.
"Are you familiar with the process of how the Alliance does this?", Feyra asked out of curiosity. This woman seemed to know quite a lot and from what she knew quite a few people who are retired workers from the Alliance live here.
"You have a keen eye. I once worked for the Alliance and often had to bring various documents from the archive to others and back. Trust me... The Alliance isn't joking around when they say they look into a case. Unless they have enough evidence they won't stop."
The man nodded and started to talk about various things. Before he could talk too much and get into too many different topics Feyra went back and gave the order to the kitchen.
The Alliance needs information about the case... I should see if I can help. I know the events that happened but I'm lacking the evidence. Perhaps we can help each other. I can gain some information they have and they can get to know more about the events from 721 years ago.
The rest of the time she worked as helper nothing interesting came around. It was the same old lament from farmers or people who were getting older and had pain almost everywhere.
"Ah there you are!", Old André called out as Feyra walked into the restaurant rubbing her eyes.
Next to him was a young woman with glasses and her hair was in a ponytail.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Alisha. I'm the waitress here. Thank you for helping out Old André in the time of my vacation. I'm glad he didn't have to do everything by himself. But I have to prepare some things now.", Alisha said before walking up to the counter and then into the kitchen.
"Alisha is a kind woman. Alas... Here. This is your payment.", Old André shoved a bag of coins towards Feyra. She took the bag and looked into it.
Isn't that way too much!?
Old André smiled and stood up. "Those are 5000 coins for your travels. I also found the letters my wife had written me. Let me get them. Oh and the bag you requested at the inn is also paid by me. No need to feel guilty. You were a big help."
Old André left for a room in the back and came out with a box full of letters again.
"I hope they can help you. I have no one to share them with anymore. Not only because they contain some sensitive information occasionally but also because we have no children. Old age is really something that isn't nice.", he complained holding his back and stretching as much as he could before sitting down again.
"Now then... Shall we see if there are some useful information for you?"