again from @oh-no-another-idea thank you love. pulling from thieves this time but still featuring jack's daddy issues :)
“An old friend,” Jack laughs, and Arthur feels his chest twinge. “This is Arthur. I figured it was about time he tasted Meja’s cooking.”
“Mama will be happy to meet him,” the barmaid says with a twinkle in her eye. “Does this mean you’ll sing for us?”
“Oh, twist my arm,” Jack replies, and she laughs. Jack pulls Arthur down the bar towards the man and the older woman, an odd tension in his shoulders. The woman gives them a kind smile, mesmerizing golden eyes taking Arthur in with a critical gaze. The man’s smile hasn’t moved, but the lines around his eyes are tighter. Jack pushes Arthur forward, clearing his throat. “This is my friend Arthur.” He looks back at Arthur, that same odd tension in his eyes as well. “Arthur, this is Kamon and Meja. They used to let me sleep in the stables.”
The woman, Meja, laughs something in a language that Arthur doesn’t recognize. Jack’s expression doesn’t move and Arthur wonders if he knows what she said. Kamon’s eyes are still tight as he looks Arthur over, but his smile remains friendly. Meja says something to Kamon in the same language and the tightness leaves his expression when he looks at her, his eyes softening. She says something else and Kamon clears his throat, looking to Jack.
“You’ll play few songs for dinner,” he says with a thick trading accent, and some of the odd tension leaves Jack’s shoulders. He gives a sharp nod that Kamon returns, the two of them staring at each other for another moment before Jack turns back to Arthur. Kamon’s gaze moves to Arthur as well and he feels pinned under it, like a fish about to be clubbed. “Dinner for friend as well.”
Meja stands and disappears through a door behind the bar while Jack hops over it, rummaging through one of the crates back there. Arthur squirms a little as Kamon examines him. Jack emerges with a stringed instrument Arthur remembers stealing somewhere in Ivy Reach. He always thought Jack sold it. Jack hops back over the bar, all the tension drained from him, his wild grin firmly in place. “What do you think, Arthur, the ballad of Keelan O’Leyne?”
Arthur rolls his eyes. “I’ll throw myself in the lake if you play that one more time.”
tagging @lyssa-ink @zmwrites @dragon-swords-prophecies @mic-writes and anyone else who sees this :)
