La Taverne Forge au Feu - The Forge Fire Tavern.

Zaraen topped off the two men's drinks then told his bartender that he'd be in the back. If he wanted these rings finished by the end of the week he should get started now. After all it took time to draw up sketches and mold materials.

"She's well...she is...uh, well, uh, for starters, she is far better with words than I am, and I am certain if you were to ask her she would have a long speech describing how wonderful I am. The best description I can give is that she is perfect for me, and I can not imagine a single woman who could hold a match to her, let alone a candle."

Nowhere near as eloquent or thoughtful as Lord Seryl's speech had been, but Soult preferred to let his actions speak for him. He had rescued her from bandits after all.

"That is indeed all he can ask."

They spent the rest of the time chatting and swapping stories of screwing over snobbish noble people and war stories as well as getting a good buzz on.

<Exit>

Alli took no notice of anyone of either gender in the Tavern, she had found over the years that the best partner was herself, as it allowed her to most quickly get back to what she was doing previously, usually reading or training. She knew Feru had been sad after her boyfriend had disappeared, and had tried to cheer her up, but to little avail. A smile.crossed her face as Feru mentioned leaving Gauldin behind, as she had been entertaining the same thoughts, albeit for different reasons.

"I'm glad you said that, I decided I was going to go find what remains of my people, I heard most of them went to Isra, so I was thinking about heading there. I was trying to find the right time to tell you, but since you are thinking of leaving too I thought I might make that decision a bit easier."

"I will have the Dying Embers and the Saumon, thanks!"

She handed the menu over to the barmaid and returned to her conversation with Feru.

"One last job? What might that be Feru?"

"You're incorrigible," she said in response to Feru's winking, although she said in a light-hearted, affectionate tone.

Her drink was as she expected it to be, delicious. After a few months in Gauldin she had learned this was the best Tavern around, bar none. Sucked it wasn't in Bayonne.

"Why are children always disappearing at magical schools, but never in normal schools? Wouldn't children that can't throw fireballs be easier to kidnap?"

“Ehm, thank you.”

Sliding into the seat that is pulled out for her, some measure of the confidence Naoki approached the table with leaves her. She supposes she should have expected it, really: meeting individuals with preconceived notions of her. That sort of comes with being a public figure of such scale. But yet, she failed to account for it, and it sort of throws a bit of a metaphorical wrench in how she intended to handle this encounter. Making a note to keep that sort of thing in mind next time, Naoki resolves to simply play this by ear and cringes inwardly at her own accidental pun.

Gesturing to the approaching barmaid, Naoki indicates Feru’s drink, “I’ll have one of those, thank you.” Whatever it is, it smells somewhat pleasant, so Naoki simply hopes that it isn't extremely alcoholic.

Now properly seated, Naoki takes a moment to eyeball the pair that is now her dining companions, now that she has the opportunity to. One of them- with the regular ears, is a tall one. It isn’t often that Naoki meets women who are taller than she is, but there she is. The way she’s built, Naoki finds it to be somewhat similar to the way Kate is structured, albeit significantly scaled up. Seeing as how she seems to be Aaedenian, that makes a fair bit of sense, Naoki supposes. (Their men tend to be pretty big as well, Naoki has found.)

The other woman, Naoki reflects as she ogles her, probably looks an awful lot like herself. (Or vice versa, depending on how you might like to consider it.) She seems to be ever-so-slightly shorter, her hair less red and more chestnutty, green eyes instead of amber, and she seems to be a bit more toward the muscular end of the Muscular to Curvy Spectrum, but otherwise… Actually, she supposes that actually, most of the resemblance comes in the cat features, and otherwise they’re more or less their own individuals, and decides that that’s quite enough aimless contemplation in that regard.

Naoki also notes the... large weapons the pair of them seem to be toting. Some questions regarding the practicality of these weapons come to mind, but they aren’t nearly as interesting as the other questions Naoki has, so she dismisses them.

Launching directly into it, Naoki takes into account that she had just been introduced, and inquires, “If I might, who do I have the pleasure of dining with tonight, and what would each of you suggest in terms of something to eat?”