Summery: At the night before the battle against Azura and the Iron empire, after the party at the castle, Val and fellow soliders go out to a tavern near by. An invitation she shouted earlier makes the night take an interesting turn.
This takes place during Book 3, Chapter 13.
Loud music speared across the tavern, muffeled by even louder laughter and people’s cheering.
Val pushed harder and knocked an other guy’s hand on the table. “huh! Who’s next?!” she asked while cracking her knuckles. Another wave of applaud echoed through the tavern, as she danced a little happy dance in her sit. The guy who had just lost to her, stood up from his sit, face down.
“don’t be so hard on yourself! No one beats Val!” some stormholt troop yelled after him. “To val!” an other solider called, and a sound of drinks clinking came right after.
“well, if no one else is brave enough to face me in an arm-wrestling competition, I guess I’ll have an other drink,” she shrugged.
“I believe you still have one opponent left.”
A good looking guy, which Val defiantly didn’t know, had told her.
“yeah? And who would that be?” she grinned at him.
“me.” He said, as if it was obvious. “after all, you invited me here.” He took a sit in front of her.
“I-” she started asking, but then decided to examined him again. Tall figure, dark hair, brown eyes, clothes too fancy for this tavern, a warm smile and… “Milady mercenary” he added a familiar voice.
“NO WAY! Claudius? Oh my… gosh. I didn’t recognize you without all that purple-golden armor!” val exhaled.
Claudius let out a long chuckle. “knowing you, I might’ve made a mistake, taking on your offer without the armor.” He placed his arm on the table, ready for their match.
A group of people joined the stormholt soldiers already surrounding them, ready to watch them arm-wrestle. Val figured they were fydorian soliders, and a smile spread across her face. “let’s do this.” She said, taking his arm in hers, and putting her elbow on the table. His grip was firm and tight, as he pushed with all his might at val’s hand. It turns out to be no use, even though val’s hand is smaller than his, she’s far stronger than him, and after a few moments of struggle, his hand bangs against the table in defeat.
“I believe I won,” she says, mimicking his way of speech, and let a victorious chuckle following that. Their audience cheered again for Val, even the fydorian troops.
“Can I buy you a drink for that accomplishment?” Claudius offered. Val made a confused expression, and shouted “Two bottles of Ale! Now!” while banging her fist on the table again.
“I always say yes to a drink.” She answered now, more quietly, to Claudius. He looked slightly frightened and intimidated by her, but the good kind. He smiled and nodded. A waiter brought their Ale, and Val chugged hers all down, while Claudius sipped his.
“Don’t be so weak! This is not how you drink ale!” Val encouraged, and he downed his drink too.
As the night drifted away, everyone drank and sang, celebrating before the fight ahead of them.
They walked as a drunken gang back towards the castle, and Val fell behind in steps, closer to Claudius and the rest of the fydorian soliders. The moment he spotted her, he shook his hand out of his buddy’s shoulder, and paced closer to her.
“did you have fun?” Val asked, not waiting for him to engage in conversation.
“Yeah, and the guys did too!” he said with a huge smile. He was probably more drunk than he ever was in his life, Val figured, but since he was still on his feet and had at least half a night’s worth of sleep ahead of him, he’ll probably be back in shape by the time for fighting comes.
They reached the castle, and everyone around the dispersed into their rooms, leaving Val and Claudius the last standing in the grand hall.
“Well, this was fun. Let’s do it again sometime.” Claudius said, putting a hand on the small od Val’s back.
“yeah, we should,” Val smiled. “Although you’d have to make sure you don’t die tomorrow for that.”
“I’ll do my best. Milady mercenary.” He promised.
“It’s… just Val.” She said, maybe the millionth time.
he nodded and leaned down, now facing Val. His face was too close, and he brushed his lips on hers.
Her first intention was to punch him in the face, but she resisted that urge, letting the warmness filling her take lead instead, and wrapped a hand over his neck, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss.
“Good night, Val.” He said, and with that, walked away to his room.