Venturing South

Carleen moved her horse closer to Horknath, lowering her voice. "What a shame. If you're not too tired tonight after dinner, come to the moon garden. There's a few things I'd like to teach you. Oh, and... let's keep it a secret ~" He then winked at him and moved forward, to innocently join with her father again, as they arrived to their palace, which stood in a green area.
Yvan quickly caught up with Horknath after Carleen had left though, going "Dude, that's like, the longest time I've seen you spend with a woman that's not Serah. What happened ?"

Horknath.exe stopped working. Please come back later- "... man I don't know. I- I am not even sure she was actually talking with me. ...was she talking with me?", he blurted out as they reached the palace, his face burning fiercely. His eyes were still glued to Carleen's back, as if he was trying to convince himself he didn't have that whole talk with her just in his own head. He kept his mouth shut about the last bit of their conversation, though. For now.
Man, he definitely needed to cool down a bit.

Yvan looked at Horknath suspiciously, but then laughed kindly. "Dude, you know, women are just like you and me ! Except with boobies," he whispered, in a really serious voice.

"But- but she is so pretty", Horknath almost whined. "You know I get nervous when someone pretty talks with me!" But the observation about boobies made him at least smile a bit.

Yvan shook his head, rolling his eyes. "You're a desperate case. I thought after all those times I took you to a tavern you'd have learnt how to deal with women." He had to shut up about this soon though, because some of Sakrish men soon came to them to help them down their horses. And Sakrish himself walked to them. "Gentlemen -milady-, this has been a long journey for us, so if you'll excuse me, I'll ask some of my servants to take you to your rooms. You're more than welcome to use the baths, and take a walk around my domain. My only request would be for you to dine with me in the main garden in two hours. Is that alright to you?"

Horknath listened carefully, his ears finally stopping burning too. He nodded politely. "Sure! No problem", he answered. Then he whispered to Yvan, "I thought so too, but apparently I am NOT!"
Serah was clapping excitedly. "Food, free food, good food~", she sang happily. Yes. She had managed to make the horse stand at least once before they got down.

Valdyr had thus wonderfully fallen on his back, and was now cursing in his beard about litterally any woman that ever lived.

Sakrish hadn't noticed Valdyr's misfortune though, so he did not focus too much on his bad mood. "Very well! if you ever feel lost, please feel free to ask your way to anyone around. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go to the baths. I'll maybe meet you there," he smiled, before finally leaving.

Serah snickered before showing his hand to Valdyr, to help him up. "Alright, I had my fun. I'm sorry", she said, not really sounding that much sorry - not with that grin on her face.

Horknath rubbed his hands together. He was honestly excited about taking a bath. For him, it was a luxury!

Valdyr glared at her. He accepted her hand to stand up, but made no comment about it. His pride had been wounded. And he was a dwarf, so it was a big deal until his next beer.

Yvan smiled as he looked to Serah and Valdyr. "Maybe we should take baths soon too. I mean, Mr. Grumps-a-lot might need one to relax."

Serah already know how to make the grudge fall away, of course. "C'mon! I swear the next beer we buy, it's on me. Kay?" She patted him on the shoulder.

Horknath chuckled. "I agree. I will be happy to slump in a bath", he sighed, stretching. "I can't wait to wash away all this dust from the horse riding!"

Valdyr grunted again, pushing her hand away. "Don't think you can just have fun at my expense and think this is okay," he grumbled, as he walked towards the building.

"Same !" Yvan smiled, and sighed as he turned to Serah. "Hey. Everything okay between you two?"

Serah blinked as he watched Valdyr walk away. She retracted her hand, putting it in her pocket, and shrugged at Yvan's question. "It was just a joke", she she simply answered, defensively.

Horknath scratched his head. He truly preferred not to put his nose into Valdyr and Serah's bickerings. He awkwardly shrugged at his two other friends as he followed Valdyr in the building.

Yvan sighed. "Oh, well. The boys and I are probably going to check out the baths after we've been shown our rooms. I guess we won't be able to go at t he same time," he told Serah, as he waited for her to walk into the building.

Serah walked with him, stretching a bit. "Yeah. Well, guess that's the downside of being the only girl of the group. I get to be the prettiest, but I have to stay on my own", she half-joked with a small smile.

Yvan smiled back. "Well, at least there are a lot of women here. Maybe you'll like their company better than ours," he joked.

Serah smiled at him again. "Dunno. I'm not at ease with strangers. But I guess at least you guys will enjoy some intimacy or something", she added, shrugging. "Can't wait to see my bedroom! I bet it will be great!"

".. You know, we don't wait for you to be busy so we could have 'boy talks'," Yvan snorted. "Horknath is an awkward bean and Valdyr talks more when you're around."

Serah grinned. "Ah? Well, that's something new. I thought boys enjoyed awkward time spent together in manly silence", she laughed. "But well. Good to know my presence is liked, I guess!" She clapped her hands together. "So. Where is my room."

One of Sakrish servants walked to Serah and smiled to her, before showing her her room, and telling here where she could find the baths - which had specific rooms for women, and so on. Do you want us to go a bit later?

Yop, we can skip to whenever you want!

Right after the dinner maybe? When Serah and Valdyr are left awkwardly alone by their friends since Yvan goes to wander around and flirt shamelessly with a few people, and Horknath - maybe - goes to meet with Carleen ? êvê

êvê oki!
Horknath was as tense as ever as he walked to the garden where Carleen had told him to meet with her. He clutched his shirt nervously, scoffing at himself. What was he, a teenage boy? Far from it. Why was he always so damn awkward... he found himself into the moon garden before he even knew it. He looked around, gaping at the beauty of the nature.

Serah distractedly played with her half-empty glass, humming a soft tune to herself. Well... that was awkward. She avoided to look at Valdyr, still not really up to talk with him after that afternoon. He probably preferred that anyways. "Hey, sorry, can I have more beer?", she asked loudly. Serah and politeness never met in their lives.

"Nervous ?" Carleen asked as she came to him, bursting out of nowhere. She was smiling kindly though. Which made up for her 'casual' clothes, which kind of made her look like a princess, to be honest.

One of the servants - oddly enough, an elf - arched a brow, but poured Serah some more beer. He didn't make any comment, but he was clearly bewildered by her manners.
Valdyr grunted and started gathering his things.

Horknath hid his startled expression as he turned to look at Carleen. He openly admired her form, all clad in that rich dress. "And you say you're not a princess?" He grinned, trying to show some confidence. "I am ok. I was admiring the garden", he added, gesturing around.

"Are you going to sulk on your own room now?" Serah couldn't help herself to let out, not even looking at him as she still played with her now refilled glass. She bit her tongue to refrain from saying more.

Carleen held back a laugh, and stood by his side. "Let me show you around, then. And I'm definitely not a princess. I'm just a rich merchant's daughter, she smiled to him, as she showed him around.

Valdyr stopped as he was about to stand up, and glared at her. "Do you know how I value relationships, Serah? On trust and mutual respect. Today you've proven me again that it's never going to exist between us," he spat, and finally stood up.