156 Tall Tale (1/2)
It wasn't difficult to find Chris Pint's tent. All we had to do was look for the biggest and most extravagant ones, the kind you'd see at an outdoor wedding party.
Luca and I were let in through the double-doors-sized tent flap by two viseres in their resplendent silver armor.
The sight of them made me jealous of the wealth that their master flaunted. I would love to outfit the entire Foolhardies in similar gear.
As expected, the interior space was huge, enough for a dozen people to lounge about while maintaining their social distance. The flooring was fur carpets of all kinds of Fayne beasts. Plush couches and divans filled the space. And that bed at the far end was at least two king sizes big.
At the moment, only three people occupied the tent, but signs of a recently concluded party were evident. Bowls of half-eaten fruits and mugs lay scattered on the floor.
\”I invited your friends to join me for lunch but they declined,\” Chris Pint said as he lounged on the plushest couch in the tent. \”I don't think they like me much.\”
There was an easy smile on his face as he invited me and Luca to join him.
The red-headed she-elf Thea was attending Chris Pint, feeding him grapes with her hand while she sat next to him. There were also two other females lounging on seats behind him, a dark-haired pixie and a human blonde. Both of them, like Thea, were dressed in the skimpiest, most revealing outfits I'd ever seen.
My cheeks burned at the sight of these scantily clad women, and I was almost certain they'd turned the color of apples. Luca was no better. His own face looked flushed as he tried his best not to stare. We were quite the inexperienced pair, my brother and I. It was a fact that made the Lord of Stars laugh out loud.
\”You two really are kids, aren't you?\” he asked as he caressed Thea's shoulder.
\”Um,\” I racked my brain for a way to change the mood, \”You said you wanted to talk, right?\”
Chris Pint nodded. Then he took his arm off his companion and leaned toward me and Luca.
\”First thing's first, I like to know who I'm dealing with… Is it true that you jumped into the Fayne of your own free will,\” he glanced first at me and then Luca, \”so you could save your little brother, here?\”
I nodded wordlessly.
\”Like I've been saying, you've got cahones, kiddo,\” he said, leaning back into the embrace of Thea. \”Now, you two tell me a story, a good one, and maybe I might just tell you what you want to know.\”
\”What kind of story?\” Luca asked while looking uncomfortable with the intimacy being displayed in front of him.
\”I want to know your story… the story of the fiery brothers' Dapper, who, from what I hear, are the Trickster Pavilion's prodigies of war. The genius strategist older brother and the fearless warrior younger brother,\” Chris Pint revealed.
\”Ha,\” Chris Pint laughed. \”Bet you two didn't know you were getting famous, huh? Well, that's to be expected… at least among viseres, your names are starting to spread. So let me hear your story and I'll tell you mine.\”
Luca and I glanced at each other. He shrugged, and I agreed. There was nothing to lose by telling our tale to this extravagant man since he promised to share information we wouldn't learn from anywhere else.
So, I began the tale while Luca butted in to correct my embellishments, and we were well into the night before we finished.
Weirdly enough, at the end of our long story, Chris Pint was on the verge of tears.
\”Man, I love that underdog story. Really shows your strength of character,\” he wiped at his eyes with the back of his arm. \”Especially about that part with your mom getting cursed like that… rough, bros.\”
\”Wait… what?\” My eyebrows rose up, up, and away. \”You think our mom was cursed?\”
\”Oh, yeah, for sure,\” he said, glancing toward Thea for confirmation. \”Those symptoms definitely sound like a fay curse, right, love?\”
Thea nodded.
\”There are elements of mind flaying and enchanted sleep in your description… at a guess, I would say some advanced form of thrall curse has been done to her to keep her in that near-vegetable state,\” Thea explained. \”Although I'm uncertain… such things are very hard to diagnose.\”
\”B-but none of our healers in the Pavilion could figure it out…\” Luca reasoned. \”They never said it was fairy-related…\”
\”They never ruled it out, either,\” I said, sounding defensive of Aura's attempts to cure mom. I turned my gaze on Thea. \”Would you… would you know how to cure her?\”