Spouse Aggro

Rikoo pulled up to the dock and threw the rope to the dock-hand. The man wrapped the rope around a massive post, and stood smiling at Rikoo. The man looked familiar, an older human with a large gray cap on. He was bent over but had obvious strength in his forearms. Rikoo admired old sailors like him, able to work in the world that they loved well after most would have retired.  He smiled at the human, and the man suddenly put his hand on Rikoo’s shoulder. “Sir?” the human asked.

Rikoo recognized the voice! It was Boon, someone that Rikoo had become so accustomed to seeing over the nearly 4 years of delivering goods.

“Boon! I..I almost walked by you!” exclaimed Rikoo. The old human smiled, his face bent down almost low enough to be at eye level with Rikoo. “Almost, sir. And it took me a moment to recognize you, even on such a bright night.” The human laughed, raspy and dry.The two shook hands and Rikoo could feel the strength in the human. The details were returning to him: the old sailor had worked on the docks there for nearly 20 years, and before that had a trade route much like Rik’s. In fact, Rikoo had learned a lot about trading from Boon, and he never had a chance to pay him back for saving him so much money with his advice.

“Let me buy you a drink, old human!” Rikoo ordered. The old man looked around, concerned.

“But, your boat, sir.” The human said, “She’s neat, right and tight. She needn’t be out alone without a guardsman! This dock is only as safe as I leave it!”

“Leave it safe, but leave it for now. She’s good here, and Bette will do her best to protect her, and that should be plenty to ease your worry! Let’s go into the city!” Rikoo laughed. It felt good to remember something, and felt even better to remember why he was fond of someone.

With a nod and a double checking of the ropes, the two slowly made their way into the great gates of the city. It was night-time, but the people of this desert town actually became more lively in the cool of the evening. They practiced a reversed schedule from the rest of the continents, sleeping mostly during the day and living the rest of life at night. And Rikoo understood why, with the cooler night and the festive feeling that the lights and activity brought. Each night in that city felt like a holiday…exciting, bright. Rikoo felt wave after wave of nostalgia for this place, his eyes almost began to water. It felt so good to take this small trip back into his past, before he made horrible mistakes and before everything went dark. He felt better back then, happier. Now he felt the weight and the worry of the eventual end of life lift from on his chest.

He was happy that this place reminded him of an alternative to that horrible, dark feeling. For the last few months he had considered becoming a local drunk, for when he drank (and only then) did he seem to snap to reality and stopped worrying about dying again. But now, in this city with it’s multi-colored lanterns underneath a beautiful desert sky, he knew he would not need the drink or the worry. At least for the duration of this walk with this old human friend he felt true relief.

And then there it was, the old tiny tavern that he used to love to visit. It was the size of a normal room in a house, the bar barely fit the bartender behind it. There were 6 tables in the place, but most of the time the 20 or so attendees would stand or crowd outside of the door. The smoke was so thick that those that stood looked like headless ghosts, and the conversations were so many and loud that it was easy to forget what you were saying because you were lost in what your neighbor was saying. If you came very  early or very, very late you might find the place quieter and emptier. But it was right at 9 in the evening, and the place was just getting started.

There were extra tables outside! Some patrons sat on blankets with tiny lanterns sitting on saucers! A dwarf played songs on a flute while a couple danced! It warmed Rikoo to see that the place not only remained but seemed to be thriving. And as with tradition (one that Rikoo never knew how it started), they both twice tapped a green stone that was embedded in the lower bricks around the door-frame.

At some point a wall had been taken out, and the bar was now two tiny rooms instead of one. The usual conversational noise erupted in Rik’s ears, but patrons moved aside for the old human that accompanied Rikoo. By some kind of magic there was a table waiting for them, red cushions sitting on the old chairs. Rikoo could not fathom squeezing through the crowd to get a drink, but was thankful for that. The old human looked over his shoulder and waved a finger and someone in the bar set a small drink in front him. If Rikoo remembered correctly, everyone knew this man, and everyone had dealt with him on the docks.

“Boon! And what of the boats!” yelled out a goblin from three feet away. The green creature was smiling broadly, yellow teeth gleaming in the soft light.

“I’m off for now, and will not be back til morning.” Boon answered. A few people that watched the conversation laughed. No one cared, and no one was in the mood for worrying. In fact, Rikoo looked around the room and saw the few that might be trouble to the security of the boats, and they all had a drink in their nimble hands.

“You have a pipe, yeh? ” Rikoo asked. Boon lifted his hand into a coat pocket and pulled out a tiny ancient bowl at the end of a stick. Rikoo laughed when he saw the old pathetic thing. They both packed them and lit them, and Rikoo listened to the hundreds of words flying around him.

There was someone worried about an ex-lover of theirs, and they were confessing as much to a friend that reassured them that forgetting was in order.

There was a dwarf that boasted about his golden sword that he kept at his house. But, when the others asked him at which house he kept the thing, the dwarf asked “Kept what?”

Two goblins were talking so fast it was hard to make out that they were absolutely thrilled to have found a housing plot to buy. They talked about digging out a basement to store wine in, and giggled when they planned a garden filled with weeds. After all, goblins do not garden.

At this point Rikoo started to re-think what he was in the desert to do. He wasn’t sure he wanted to look for the solution to his questions at the end of another creatures life. He almost felt like forgiving the beast, for moving on with what life and the situation he was in now. He went back and forth in his mind, feelings of regret and pain to feelings of a new life, a new future. A future that didn’t involve any more death.