The bar is filled with many patrons tonight. Oddly, there are quite a few Solus… who squawk like Vartans joining in. In the back of the room, a Siamese Kattha and some musicians are setting up to play.

Envoy enters the pub, and looks around for an open seat in the crowd. She's never seen so many Vartans in one place before!

The Khattha's musicians consist of two male Jupani. One with a lute and another with a mandolin. The third musician is a Female Naga with two small drums resting in her coils.

Roho pauses outside the door, then shrugs and walks in. He walks up to the bar and takes a seat, trying to puzzle out how to find Zoltan in amongst all the other Vartans.

In a corner, a figure huddles, surprised at the business in the bar tonight. She tosses back her cloak to look around, her sharp eyes peering at the ensemble.

"Great," she mutters in the quick twitter of the Kavi, "nice distraction being… "

A winged plantigrade leonine walks into the room, scrawking in Vartanspeak. His garb has an exotic look to it, made all the more so by painted designs around his eyes. Unlike Solus to be found in these parts, his wings are not dark in color. He spies the well-polished mugs and makes a beeline for them, showing that he has shekels to spend … and apparently little sense of how to spend them.

The Khattha smoothes her hair back and motions for the musicians to play. The two wolves begin strumming a soft whispering tune, followed by the gentle tapping of the Naga's drum. Lilith's voice almost slips unnoticed into the harmony, the blending of instrument and vocals is an easy one.

The black Vartan is nowhere to be seen (or scented in Roho's case) among the crowd.

Envoy decides to look for a seat near the bar, so she can see the musicians better. It's then that she spots a familiar looking set of ears, and moves towards Roho.

Lilith sings softly, "You're cold that way, and that's why you say the things that you say."

The Kavi calls over a serving-wench, requesting some meat, and a light drink. She looks at the cloaked figure skeptically, since it's quite an expensive meal, and she doubts the little weasel has that sort of money. But a clink of coins changes her frown to a smile. Quicksilver smiles back. Business is good…

A few of the Vartan-speaking Solus pause, listening to Lilith's singing, obviously entranced by her voice … though it's questionable by their expressions whether they can understand the words at all.

Roho hears a lighter gait coming his way, and turns his head. He grins at an unusual but familiar scent, "Hello, Envoy… "

"You can't attract, the things that you lack." The Khatta sings. "You're trying in vain"

The two wolves join in. Their deep voices combine with hers to form an eerie trio. "It seems it's always the crazy times."

The door opens once more to let two more customers, and unusual ones at that for the Shiny Mug. A tall Savanite slave with distinctive red hair, and an even taller andbulkier Titanian. The slave has her collar covered by a scarf, but wears temple robes, and the wolf with her is a temple guard. Strangely, the slave enters first.

"You find, you wake up and realize," they sing. "It takes more than your saline eyes to make things right."

Quicksilver finds in hard to pay attention to the music, and chooses to watch the quick moving crowd, their actions suiting her short attention span. She flicks her eyes and watches the slave enter. Odd… very odd… but her attention is gone with the clanking of a glass as her beer is set before her…

Envoy smiles and takes a seat next to the Zerda. "I'm glad to see you again, Roho. I was afraid I'd sent the Freedom's Dream off on a wild goose chase."

Lilith pauses and sways back and forth to the music of the wolves and the Naga. After a few moments her lips part and she sings on "You spiral down, you've broken your crown. You don't feel like a queen"

The Titanian is visibly nervous, fidgeting with his uniform as if he were an actor on stage. Still, he has the gait – if a bit clumsy – of a Guard.

The Khattha's voice flows like honey, "You've seen the proof, but you're still crying wolf. You'll never believe."

Roho chuckles, and shakes his head, "Wild goose chase, no… it was quite profitable for Boghaz. But was nothing like we expected." He faces the bar again, "Do you see Zoltan anywhere?"

"It seems it's always the crazy times. You find, you wake up and realize, it takes more than your saline eyes to make things right." Lilith sings on.

The musicians pick up the tempo of their music while the Siamese colored Khattha sways and dances in time.

Envoy stands up to look over the heads of the crowd. "I don't see anyone like him."

The red-haired Savanite looks around the room, her hand going to her scarf as she recognizes the singing feline. Trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, she heads to an empty spot by the bar, then looks back at the Titanian.

Roho sighs, "Too bad. I wanted to buy some of that tea he gave me on the Freedom's Dream. I wonder what they drink here… "

Lilith continues to sing. Her deep green eyes dart around the room, they rest uncomfortably upon Leeta for a few moments before glancing away. "Try to climb a broken ladder, grip the missing rungs and fall down down down down… "

Quicksilver takes a deep drink. The beady black eyes searchagain, flitting like birds on any flash of color, or interesting conversation. She fiddles with her tunic. Very plain, as the server noticed, but as a wenches eyes could hardly be expected to realize, very well tailored. She listens as the tone of the song changes subtly

A Vartan bartender with bright red plumage looks to Roho. "You wants drink?" He squawks in choppy Rephidim standard.

The Titanian leans over next to the slave, and tries to quietly say, "I hope this don't take long. This is a bad time, with the war and all." He looks about, his ears flicking to betray his agitation.

"Seems some time ago you said this wouldn't last, but now you sit there crying." The feline purrs with her silken voice.

The kavi's eyes watch the large eared fox stand…

The tempo slows again as the chorus begins. Lilith sidesteps to allow one of the wolves to play in her place, and then dances around the group. Her whirling steps are precise and graceful. As the chorus plays out, the music seems to rise and fall to the Khattha's whirling.

Roho nods to the bartender, "Please. Give me whatever your specialty is."

Roho waits for his drink, hoping he hasn't just bought himself a night of indigestion.

The bartender squawks and vanishes. A mug of some very pungent drink is places under Roho's nose. "Two shekels." the bartender squawks.

Finally, the wolf steps back into place with his lute and Lilith resumes singing,

The slave nods back to the Titanian, taking out a folded piece of paper and opening it for him to read. Her own tail is held tightly down by her ankles and the rest of her body language also betrays her discomfort at being here.

Envoy sets her own coins on the bar, "I'll have one too, please."

Roho places the coins on the counter, and scoots the mug a little closer to himself, sniffing curiously.

"Beside your bed, you feel left for dead. You kneel in the dark." Lilith whisper-sings, running a hand across her cheek.

The Titanian furrows his brow, speaking under his breath as he reads it in halting words which are lost in the din.

Both Roho and Envoy's coins vanish and a second mug appears. The drink seems to be some fruity concoction, hard to tell what fruits though

The Kavi, far off on the other side of the room from the slave, betrays similar things in her body language, her thin, blacktipped tail twitching. Her white face melts back into the hood as her meal is set before her. She pays as she gets it… hers is the discomfort of waiting…

The Titanian's brows furrow so much that he can barely see, then shoot up. He looks to the cheetah incredulously.

Envoy has a sip, her ears tracking whatever conversation is near her as well as listening to the music.

The Khattha sings, narrowing her eyes. "It takes more than your saline eyes to make things right."

Roho takes a cautious sip… and then coughs slightly. He takes another polite sip, and then turns back to Envoy. "What have you done while we were searching for Paradys?"

Lilith's voice starts to fade invisibly into the music again as the song nears completion. "It seems it's always the crazy times. You find, you wake up and realize… it takes more than your saline eyes to make things right."

The red-maned cheetah looks back at the wolf, and nods. She waves her hand in front of her mouth, opening it as if she was speaking, and also making an upwards gesture.

The Titanian whimpers, and walks over toward the musicians, his tail hanging low, frequently casting glances back over his shoulder at the Savanite.

The wolves and snake play on while the Khattha sways softly, dancing out the final notes. The foursome bow and exit the stage.

The Savanite watches the tail-dragging Titanian, and nods encouragingly at him.

The Titanian waits as the stage begins to clear … looks both ways, then hops up, clutching the paper tightly in his hands, his ears flushed red. "I have a poem to read!" he barks loudly.

Envoy chats with Roho, "Oh this and that. I visited a Zelak hive, and was sort of adopted by the Queen, so now I'm a Scout for Shkarkin Hive. I also just recovered from a magical accident that killed a mind-mage, and I'm still trying to piece things together from that."

Quicksilver groans. "SURE! BETTING IT GOOD… RHYMING CAN EVEN NOW? MUM MUST BE PROUD!"

Roho blinks, "Sounds like you've kept busy… " He chuckles at the heckling Kavi, "Quite a lively place, this." He sips slowly at his drink.

Lilith's musicians scatter to other sections of the bar while the Khattha herself sits uncomfortably close to Leeta.

The Kavi smiles as scornfully as possible…

The Titanian swallows, then closes his eyes tightly, opening his mouth to speak. Then, he clamps his mouth shut again, blinking, squinting at his paper, muttering under his breath.

Several of the Vartans squawk amongst themselves at the Titanian's announcement.

The slave smiles as the Titanian guard makes his announcement. Then she looks at Lilith sitting beside her. The feline's presence doesn't seem to be making the cheetah any more comfortable.

Envoy says, "I like this place. It's the only way I can learn about Vartans in groups."

Quicksilver groans inwardly… great… so this is the signal. How the heck is she going to pay for tonight's meal? Well, better have fun with it… "Woo hoo! Love po-OEM for little slave toy??"

Envoy blinks and looks at the heckling Kavi, wondering if she is part of the performance.

Lilith holds out three fingers to the Vartan bartender. He brings her a drink in a faceted glass goblet and she places a few coins down on the bar. She sips the liquid quietly.

The Titanian starts to speak, then GLARES at the Kavi.

Quicksilver smirks. She sits back, tail twitching…

The slave tries to curl up very small on her seat, and edges away from the Khatta. The kavi's words aren't making her feel much better either. She looks at Nebo through her fire hair.

The Titanian reads over the paper again, then closes his eyes tightly and howls, "There once was a Naga named Jake… "

The Kavi oooh! "Boyfriend! Boyfriend!"

The Titanian peeks one eye at the Kavi, and growls, "When mad, his rattle would shake!"

Quicksilver nods. "Even rhyming are… "

"A bite from his fang … it really sure stang… " the Titanian barks, then stops and squints, holding the paper closer to his nose. "So you know he … really … wasn't a … fake." He wrinkles his nose.

A table of Vartans playing some kind of game with colored marbles. They stare blankly at the Titanian until one of the marbles rolls off… then all five of them go diving down after it, causing more marbles to scatter across the floor. "Shiny!" "Mine!" "Gimmee!" "SQUAWK!"

Envoy blinks at the poetry, and asks Roho, "Do you understand that?"

The big wolf crumples up the paper and tosses it in the direction of the Kavi. "Didn't say it was a GOOD poem!" He growls and leaps off the stage.

Roho nods, "I… I guess. Seems a bit frivolous for all the buildup he gave it."

Quicksilver makes a few gagging noises! She bounces on to her table, makes a flourish of a bow, winks at the slave, and leaves with a swirl of her cloak during the scuffle. Some times the best way to hide is to be conspicuous…

The slave anxiously watches the big wolf as he comes from the stage, straightening up. She still doesn't look at the feline beside her.

The Siamese Khattha applauds loudly, although a sneer decorates her face.

Nebo walks back toward Leeta, his body slumped such as to make him as small as possible for a Titanian … which would still be fairly impressive if he weren't in the company of Vartans.

Envoy notes the odd-looking Savanite to herself, but doesn't see anything odd about her being there or with the hirsute Jupani.

The room bursts out in squawking laughter.

Envoy asks Roho, "How did you like your voyage? Find anything unusual? Did Zoltan discover anything more about Shokar?"

Roho nods to Envoy, "Zoltan learned quite a lot… and found quite a lot. As for me, I found a few new herbs on Paradys. I took some cuttings, I might try to get some to grow here on Rephidim. I want to see if they have any medical use."

Leeta slides off her seat, turning away from Lilith as she does. She waits, her head bowed, for Nebo to come closer, her whole body saying, "lets leave".

Nebo's body as much says, "I wish we'd never come," as he heads over to Leeta and grabs her arm, tugging her toward the way out.

Leeta feels the Khattha's tail brush against her ankles as she exits.

Envoy says, "You're back here for awhile then?"

Leeta stumbles after the guard, letting him drag her along. At the touch of the Khattha's tail, she looks back with a startled expression.

Roho nods, "I'm going to try to stay a little longer… though I don't think I'm really cut out for city life. Maybe I'll start a small office here."

Lilith just smiles at the Savanite as she sips the blood red liquid from her goblet.

Envoy has another sip of her own drink. She hadn't expected Vartans to like such sweet tastes.

A younger Vartan, his wings not fully developed enough to fly, zips past Envoy and Roho from the other side of the bar as he wipes it down with a cloth. Obviously the mugs aren't the only thing shiny here.

Envoy says, "When you got to the island, was it where we predicted it would be?"

Roho nods, "From what I understood, the prediction was quite close."

Envoy's drink is sweet… but also has a strong sour tang to it as well as just a hint of alcohol.

The temple guard drags the Savanite out, and both of them seem much happier to be going, than they were to be here. They can't exit quickly enough.

As the Savanite and the guard depart, Lilith rises from her spot at the bar and moves to a seat next to the female Naga drummer. Her seat also puts her a few spots away from Envoy.

The strange game with the shiny marbles resume, although the Vartans playing it grumble to one another about what the score was. Apparently the winner gets to keep the shiny stones.

Envoy smiles to the Siamese bard. "Good performance."

Envoy whispers to Roho, "I had tried to use the same information to locate another island, and failed. Paradys may follow the same course over the span of a year."

"I thank you." The Khattha says, bowing her head.

Roho whispers back to Envoy, "I don't know… might also be that we got extremely lucky."

Envoy places a hand on Roho's shoulder, and whispers, "I'd like to hear the whole story sometime. How did Zoltan like the trip?"

Roho considers for a moment… "I believe Zoltan was glad for the trip. It wasn't at all like any of us expected, really, but I think he's glad he got a chance to pursue the legend anyways."

A Rath'ani in an apron and a tray loaded with shiny chitin mugs rushes behind the bar and disappears behind a curtain.

Envoy grins, and whispers, "When he tells his story, you'll probably be famous among the Vartan for finishing Shokar's quest."

Roho chuckles and takes another sip of his drink, "We'll see… "

Envoy downs more of her drink, and blinks a bit. The mug really does look shiny… even shinier as she drinks more. Maybe that's why it's the preferred drink here.

Envoy begins to wonder what effects Roho must feel, and asks him, "Does the drink alter your senses in any way?"

The Khattha finishes her own drink and orders a second. The Naga next to her has some kind of small, trussed up wiggling animal placed in front of her.

Roho shakes his head, "No more so than it should… I don't generally drink alcohol, it dulls my nose slightly."

Envoy confides to the Zerda healer, "I may or may not have been given a drug that alters brain chemistry in the Temple. Do you know of anything like that? Could it have used alcohol as well?"

The Naga slowly swallows her meal. The squeals of the young yiffle stop abruptly as it vanishes headfirst down her throat. Lilith looks away as she sips from her goblet.

Roho looks slightly taken aback by that… "Do you think you should ask that in a public bar?" he whispers hoarsely.

Envoy blinks. "I hadn't thought of that. Why shouldn't I though?" She's beginning to feel pleasantly foggy.

Roho huddles back over his drink, "I don't know. It just might be unhealthy."

The bartender zips by and refills the pair's mugs. Apparently refills are part of the price.

Envoy ahs, as if this is a supremely wise concept. Some part of her mind begins to wonder at how a drink tailored for a much more massive Vartan would affect someone significantly smaller.

Roho only toys with his second round, starting to suspect Zoltan may not be around for a while.

Envoy finds her mug empty. Could she have drank it all so soon? And just when she was starting to figure it out…

"Are you alright, Young lady?" Lilith asks.

Roho places his paw over Envoy's glass as the bartender comes by again, "She sounds like she's about done with drinking tonight, I think… " He gives Envoy a reassuring smile, and hopes she doesn't start blabbing about more Temple issues.

Envoy smiles to the Siamese, "Oh, I'm just fine… " She tries to bring the Kattha's face into clearer focus, but even her eye muscles feel too relaxed to go to much effort.

Envoy turns her head back slowly towards Roho. At least, it seems slow to her. She has to be careful not to move too quickly, or she'll lose her gravity.

Roho rasps, "Envoy… are you all right?"

Envoy asks Roho, "With such large ears, how do you keep all of your gravity from leaking out through them?"

Roho blinks, "My… " He shakes his head and puts a paw on Envoy's shoulder, standing, "I think it's time to get you home."

Envoy frowns, "What time is it?"

Roho starts nudging Envoy towards the door, "About an hour after dark. And about time for you to get to sleep." I've never seen someone so affected by so little alcohol! I'm half her size, and I barely even felt that drink

Lilith waves goodbye to Envoy.

Envoy blinks, "Sleep? But I'm not tired." She looks at the door, miles and miles away. Rephidim must be falling, because the floor keeps trying to drop out from under her.

Roho tries to steady the swaying Aeolun, with limited success, "Envoy, help me out here, I can't carry you!"

Some of the Vartans chuckle as they watch the Zerda struggle with Envoy. "She too drunk to fly home… you going to need designated flier." One of them hoots.

Envoy blinks, and straightens up. "Oh, I can help you, Roho." She closes her eyes, deciding it will be easier if she can't see the floor moving, and tries to pull Roho across the pub.

Envoy takes very heavy steps, to make sure her feet touch the ground.

Roho shakes his head emphatically as he gets dragged, "No… you just… agh!" He tries to pull his wrist from her grasp.

Envoy pulls up short as Roho resists, and has to spread her wings slightly to keep her balance. "Are you alright, Roho? My clothes are too dark."

The sound of Shekels rattling against the wooden tables fill Roho's ears. "I bet she won't make it out the door." One of the Vartans whispers.

Roho sighs and tries another tack… he roots around in his bag, coming up with a small yellow herb. He crumples this under Envoy's nose, causing an extremely pungent scent, and hopefully focusing her.

Envoy hmms, something just doesn't seem right about her thinking, and she's pretty sure it isn't a dream.

Envoy wrinkles her nose, and opens her eyes as they begin to water… "Ewww… what is that?"

Roho takes the herb away, "Envoy, can you walk okay?"

Envoy holds a hand to forehead, "Just give me a moment… " She calls up the event-tree she's been developing, full of four-dimensional event nodes linked by various lines of probability. It takes a good bit of brainpower to visualize it properly, and that helps to flush some of the alcohol haze from her synapses.

Envoy opens her eyes and looks around. Distances seem correct again, but her limbs still feel heavy. "Okay, I can walk now Roho. I think."

Roho nods skeptically, "Sober just like that? Perhaps I'd better see you out… "

Envoy nods. Then a moment later says, "Yes, please do."

The betting Vartans wait anxiously.

Roho guides Envoy towards the door, steering her as best as a blind fox can…

Envoy helps Roho past the more crowded areas until they get to the door.

Envoy whispers to Roho, "If I ever do this again, remember to bet on me making it through the door."

Roho gives Envoy a little less steering as she seems to find her way now. As she weaves to the door, he merely follows, grinning a little as he anticipates the mingled cheers and groans from the waiting Vartans. "I think the odds might be tipped next time, Envoy… but I'll remember that!"