Night at the Tavern

“Ooo… you know what I need to do?”

Osric stopped in front of Evony and the tavern door, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone, then powering it on.

“I just told Oliver to call my phone if he sees anything strange out there,” he uttered, the phone screen brightening. “Might help if the thing is actually on first…”

Evony squinted at the phone in his hand, then at him. “Have you had your phone off all day…?”

“Oh… absolutely,” Osric replied. “I can’t enjoy a getaway if my phone’s on. Believe me, it’s impossible…”

Evony ogled him. “What if somebody at the lodge has to get a hold of you…?”

“Well… the call automatically diverts to Oliver if my phone happens to be off,” Osric shrugged. “It’s quite convenient.”

Evony shot him a double-take. “That’s what voicemail is for.”

“Oh… I never got around to setting that up,” Osric uttered dismissively, stuffing his phone away. “That’s just tedious.”

He pushed the door open and stepped inside, Evony still giving him a baffled look.

“Okay… so… it’s easier to build a robot butler and connect your phone to it than it is to just set up your voicemail?” she muttered with a laugh as she followed him inside. “Wow…”

“Well… maybe not easier , exactly… but it’s certainly more fun,” Osric replied happily, both of them stopping as the door swung shut behind them.

They stood there, gazing around and examining the inside of this very backwoods tavern. The interior looked, if possible, even dingier than the outside; the walls were comprised of un-sanded wood, lewd girly posters and neon beer signs posted up on all of them, a single pool table sitting unoccupied in the far corner, music playing from a nearby jukebox, and the air was dim and shrouded in brief clouds of dispersing cigarette and cigar smoke here and there, the smell of tobacco and acidic beverages lingering in the atmosphere, a long bar counter stretching across the room to the left, and a number of round tables spread throughout the room to the right, some inhabited by customers. The patrons of this establishment looked nothing like the people that Evony regularly saw in town or in the lodge; these people appeared rougher somehow, with harder expressions and grizzlier faces, isolated mountainside folks who lived on Silverhollow’s furthest outskirts, many with beards, hats, and thick flannel jackets.

Evony’s eyes ventured over to the left, spotting Cally, Thomas, and Javari sitting at the farthest end of the bar, a tall, lanky bartender with a backwards hat on speaking to them.

Osric, however, was gazing to the right at the people sitting at the round tables—many of whom had turned their heads, staring intently at the two newcomers who’d just strolled into their bar.

“Uhm…” he murmured quietly, leaning over to Evony and gently patting her arm. “Are they… are they staring because they recognize me? Or because they don’t want us here?”

Evony blinked and followed his eyes over to the glaring customers, then averted her gaze from them at once, placing a hand on Osric’s back and nudging him over toward the bar.

“Doesn’t matter,” she decided for him. “The bartender looks nice… so let’s just go over here…”

Both of them stopped near their friends, Evony and Osric claiming the two stools nearest them, Evony now seated snugly between Osric and Cally. Thomas and Javari were at the edge of the bar beside the wall, immersed in a conversation with the bartender about the many drinks they had available.

Evony glanced down the bar at them, choosing not to speak yet, and she could practically feel the eyes of the other customers burning into her from behind, swallowing a disdainful sigh. During the rare moments of her past when she’d go out to a bar, she’d come across places like this in the city a handful of times—as well as on the outskirts—and these types of bars always had their own little community inside. The customers were usually always the same people, and they became strangely territorial and wary whenever newcomers would show up. It always made her feel more vigilant, just out of instinctive habit—especially since it sometimes came to violence. This was one of the many reasons she’d stopped even trying to visit these kinds of places long ago.

“Okay, so… that stuff is homemade? ” Thomas was saying, gesturing at the bartender as he talked.

“Oh yeah,” the bartender nodded, cleaning out a shot glass with a rag. “I don’t make everything myself… that shit’d take fuckin’ forever… but I do make the pine shine.”

“Pine shine,” Javari grinned, glancing over at Thomas and smacking him on the arm. “Listen to that. I like that.”

“Well… it ain’t actually made of fuckin’ pine trees ,” the bartender added, warranting a couple of laughs from them. “I call it that because it came out lookin’ green and Christmasey as hell. It’s pretty fuckin’ good, though, I ain’t gonna lie.”

Thomas and Javari faced one another, both with the same devilish smiles.

“No… hey… hold on,” Cally interjected, practically reading their minds. “We still never picked a designated driver. We need to do that before anybody orders anything.”

“One two three—not it!” Thomas and Javari declared in unison, laughing and trading a high-five.

Cally planted her forehead onto the bar with a thud .

“Awww,” Javari said through his snickers, patting her on the back. “Come on… it doesn’t automatically have to be you. We have Oz and Evony here, too.”

“Oz is my boss , stupid,” Cally reminded him, shooting upright and giving him a glare. “I can’t ask him to do it for me—and Evony doesn’t know how to drive a blaster, so guess what? Yeah, it does have to be me!”

As the three of them argued, Evony turned to Osric, expecting him to add his input—but she was surprised to find that he was already lost to a conversation with someone else.

On the other aside of the inventor—a young woman sat on the stool nearest him, wearing a sleek blue flannel jacket, cozy black gloves, and a dark beanie fitted over her head of long, blonde hair. She had a gorgeous face, and a much kinder expression than any of the other homebodies here.

“Are you really…?” the young blonde said, smiling at Osric and gliding her finger around the rim of her shot glass.

“Yes… um… pleasure to meet you,” Osric replied politely, tipping his hat to her. “And you are?”

“My name is Ashley, sweetheart,” the girl introduced, offering her hand to him.

Osric shook it. “Nice to meet you, Ashley.”

“Nice to meet you , Osric,” Ashley said kindly. “What brings you way out here…?”

“Oh, just… trying something new,” Osric shrugged.

Ashley said something in response, but Evony didn’t care to hear it. She merely turned back toward her friends, rolling her eyes and sighing.

For a while—a stretch of time that seemed oddly long to her—she waited for a moment to join the conversation, but no such moments ever seemed to present themselves. Thomas, Javari, Cally, and the bartender simply continued talking. At some point, the decision was made that Cally would, in fact, be the designated driver—then, they all talked about the menu.

So—Evony sat in silence for a long, dull time.

To her left, Osric and that Ashley girl were trading long life stories about everything they’d ever done for a living, Ashley occasionally slipping in a compliment about his hat, or his interesting goggles. To her right, Cally, Javari, and Thomas decided on their drink orders, then they all started telling stories about the wildest nights they’d ever had in the Silver Hollow, resulting in a few snickers from the bartender. The other patrons in the tavern had long since lost interest in glaring over at them, and this all carried on for what felt like forever.

Eventually—after an hour and twenty minutes passed by, and after she heard Ashley offer to buy Osric a drink—Evony stood from her stool and quietly left the bar without saying a word.

Nobody seemed to notice—except for Cally, who turned in her seat and perked up, gazing across the room and watching as Evony strolled out the front door.

She slipped off her stool and hurried after her.

Then—Thomas and Javari glimpsed to the side as well, only just realizing that the girls had walked out. They traded glances with each other, then looked to Osric, who was still rather distracted by his own conversation, having not noticed a thing.

“Ah… we’ll be right back,” Thomas told the bartender, patting the bar once before reaching his feet.

“I’ll finish that story in a minute!” Javari promised him.

Both of the boys marched across the bar and pushed the door open, stepping out into the blisteringly cold night. They nearly ran into Cally the moment they walked out; she was standing still right outside of the front door, staring over at the blaster.

All three of them gazed across the clearing, one single light shining over the area in front of the tavern from the edge of its roof, everywhere else nearby now submerged in darkness. They were quiet, their breaths escaping them in visible icy clouds—and they spotted Evony, sitting sideways on the seat of the blaster, facing away from the tavern, and simply gazing out at the trees and the darkened overlook.

“What’s wrong with her…?” Thomas asked, swatting his sister on the arm.

“I don’t know,” Cally replied. “That’s what I came out here to ask her.”

“Well… ask , then,” Javari urged, motioning for her to go forth.

Cally didn’t move, looking down and fidgeting hesitantly with her jacket sleeves. She glimpsed back at the tavern door, then faced forward again, sighing heavily.

“Okay… I… might know what’s wrong,” she muttered, lowering her voice and trying not to shiver. “We’re kinda being bad friends right now and not talking to her very much. She’s just been sitting there bored all night…”

Thomas and Javari exchanged glances, both frowning.

“Well, shit. I didn’t even notice,” Javari mumbled, running a hand over his face.

“Me either,” Thomas admitted, nudging his elbow into Cally’s. “I’m used to you always just forcing your way into conversation all the time. I’m not used to quiet people.”

Cally turned and stared at him. She looked to Javari, then back at her Thomas, nodding and making a sarcastic sort of smirk.

“No shit,” she said.

Her brother laughed, and Javari’s face fell flat.

“Okay… well…” Thomas uttered, wiping his nose and looking across the clearing again. “Somebody needs to talk to her.”

He then pushed Javari forward.

“Here… you do it,” he said.

“Nonono… I don’t want to,” Javari muttered, making a wary face and resisting his shoves. “She scares me…”

“Oh my God ,” Cally groaned exasperatedly, rolling her eyes and breaking into a hard stride across the clearing of frozen dirt and snow.

She headed directly toward the blaster, and Thomas and Javari glimpsed at each other before deciding to simply join her.

Evony sat still, rather expressionless as she stared into the dark, snowy night—but, strangely, her eyes were watering, feeling an annoying sadness weighing on her, and she didn’t know why at all. Sure, it was a bit annoying to sit with friends and be ignored for such a long time, but it was certainly nothing to cry over. She couldn’t think why it was bothering her so much.

The second she heard the crunching of snow behind her—she sniffed and wiped her sleeve over her face, straightening up and turning toward whoever was approaching, trying to appear as casual and unbothered as she could.

Cally stepped around the blaster and faced her, Thomas and Javari standing just behind it with pocketed hands, all of them merely staring at her.

Evony blinked, giving each of them an odd look. “What…?”

“Um… we’re sorry,” Cally said sheepishly. “We weren’t trying to make you feel left out.”

Evony fell silent, eyeing all three of them strangely again, and feeling a bit surprised now. She hadn’t expected any of them to even notice—much less come out here and talk to her about it.

“Well, don’t… don’t worry about it,” she replied awkwardly, somewhat at a loss for words. “I’m not upset or anything. Just kinda bored… and…”

She then faced forward again, folding her arms over her knees and sighing, and gently shaking her head.

“And I… don’t… know,” she realized, her brow hardening.

Cally tilted her head, stepping closer and leaning against the blaster beside her. “You don’t know…?”

Evony shook her head once more. “No, not really.”

Cally gazed at her, Thomas and Javari quietly walking around the blaster and standing nearby them.

“Something’s bothering you, and you don’t know what it is?” Cally tried to clarify.

Evony nodded. “Yeah.”

There was a long silence, nobody knowing what to say.

Thomas leaned closer, hunching and gathering a good look of Evony’s face, and then he cracked a smirk.

“You’re not used to people actually trying to talk to you when something’s bothering you, are you?” he remarked.

Evony choked out a laugh. “No…”

There was another pause.

Then, Evony made a more thoughtful expression, turning to them again.

“You know what it is…?” she said. “I feel like a freaking floodgate opened ever since I moved here. I used to just not feel anything. But now, it’s like… every little thing is setting me off somehow. Dreams, and people, and situations, and… just… literally… everything. And it’s way smaller stuff than anything I went through before. It’s random little everyday life things that make me feel all this crap. It’s just not… it just doesn’t…”

She shook her head again and tossed up a hand.

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “Just doesn’t make sense…”

“Yeah it does,” Cally replied. “You’re healing.”

Evony stared at her in bewilderment.

“Okay… basically,” Cally started. “When you go through something super traumatic as a child… then, sometimes… your brain will dissociate and just check you out of reality. That’s how your brain learned to deal with hardships, so… that’s just what you’ve always done. But now, you’re here, and you’re actually getting close to people, and getting into situations that make you care more, and feel more… so… it’s just naturally breaking that wall down. You’re probably having a lot of emotions come up that you never dealt with for a lot of years.”

Evony continued to stare at her, totally befuddled, and a little shocked to hear such a pointed explanation come out of her. She glanced up at the boys, wearing a confused face.

“Our mother is a psychiatrist,” Thomas explained with a shrug.

Evony made a slow, quiet nod, turning back to Cally.

“It probably feels like all your feelings are too big, or too amplified… but they’re probably just regular emotions,” Cally added. “You’re just not used to feeling them.”

Evony looked down, sighing heavily and swallowing, suddenly remembering that day—the first day she visited the top floor of the Silver Peaks Lodge, when she gazed out the windows, and she recalled it clearly now, how truly magnificent and vibrant with wonderful color this very mountain looked on the horizon. She hadn’t seen anything that way since she was a child—and now, something inside her was healing enough for her to finally see and feel things in full again.

“I’m not dead inside anymore,” she mumbled thoughtlessly.

“Well’p… welcome to the world of the living, m’lady,” Javari smirked, removing his hat and making a fanciful bow with it, then standing and planting it swiftly back atop his head. “It sucks. You’re gonna love it.”

Evony sputtered out a laugh again.

“Yeah… y’know what? Nothing sums it up better than that, right there,” Thomas sniggered, wagging a finger at Javari. “It sucks, but you love it. That sums up like… all the feelings you could ever have in life.”

“Ohmigod… it so does,” Cally agreed, tilting her head at Evony. “Do you wanna come inside and play pool or something? Or… would you rather just call it a night?”

Evony glanced at her, sighing and flashing a smile.

“You guys go ahead. You don’t have to stop having fun just to take me home,” she told them honestly, facing forward again. “I’m not gonna be able to do what I wanted today, anyway.”

Cally raised her eyebrows. “What did you wanna do?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Evony mumbled.

“Whaaat?” Cally teased, leaning over and bumping her arm into her. “Tell me.”

Evony let out another breath. “I just wanted to be able to talk to Oz about something alone at some point today… but that’s not gonna happen , so…”

Cally, Thomas, and Javari all fell momentarily silent, trading glances with one another.

“I knew it. I fucking knew it,” Javari said, rounding on Thomas. “You owe me ten bucks.”

“What? No way,” Thomas protested, swatting over at Evony. “She could be talking about something job-related!”

“Buuull—fuuucking— sheyt ,” Javari said loudly, lunging forward and cocking his head at him. “She wouldn’t be this upset about it if it was just job-related! ”

“ Hey ,” Cally shouted at them. “Can you both stop being males for one fucking second? Learn how to feel a room!”

“What in the hell are you talking about?” Evony inquired, her eyes flickering between the boys.

“I bet this fat flaccid slut ten bucks that there was a little thing going on between you and Oz,” Javari announced, jabbing a finger at Thomas. “And he swore up and down there wasn’t—”

“There isn’t ,” Evony said sharply.

Javari suddenly went quiet, slowly lowering his arm.

“Oh,” he uttered. “Well… then… never mind.”

“That, um… wasn’t the bet, by the way,” Thomas muttered, scratching his eyebrow. “The bet was that they liked each other. Not that they were actually together yet.”

“P’shit… then I should win by default,” Javari griped, turning to Evony. “Right? I’m right, aren’t I?”

Evony took slightly back, her mouth drifting agape, and her heart beginning to throb, suddenly feeling more on the spot than she ever had before.

“Shut—”

Cally leaped forward and planted her hand into Javari’s face.

“UP!”

She shoved him back—making him stagger and nearly fall.

Thomas and Evony instantly exploded with laughter, Cally straightening up and snickering as Javari’s hat went flying and toppling across the snowy terrain. He dove after it and scrambled to catch it as it thumped downhill, slipping on the snow and falling flat on his stomach, making everyone else roar with laughter even more.

“HA!” Javari bellowed victoriously, rolling onto his back on the ground and proudly raising his hat in the air. “Joke’s on you—I got it!”

Thomas ran forward and kicked a lump of snow over his face—making him spit and sputter as he frantically tried to reach his feet again.

Suddenly, the boys found themselves wrestling in the snow by the overlook and the wooden fence, the girls giggling as they watched from a short ways away.

Then, Cally glimpsed over at Evony, squinting curiously at her.

“ Do you…?” she said softly.

Evony turned to her. “Do I what…?”

Cally’s smile grew, and she leaned a little closer, lowering her voice to a whisper. “Do you like Oz?”

Evony didn’t speak, glimpsing over at the tavern, then facing her again, smirking and letting out a laugh.

Honestly—she definitely liked him quite a lot. She enjoyed his personality, his voice, his mannerisms, and several other things about him. She looked forward to seeing him every day, and she’d considered it plenty of times since meeting him, wondering if what she felt was what she truly thought it was.

But, ultimately, she always landed on the same answer.

“It wouldn’t really matter,” Evony shrugged, folding her arms atop her knees again, gazing over at the boys as Thomas shoved a handful of snow into Javari’s mouth.

Cally stared at her. “Why wouldn’t it?”

Evony huffed out a sigh, then turned back to her. “Well… why would it? He’s literally the best inventor on earth… and everybody knows who he is. I’m not…”

She paused, her smile weakening, gently combing her hairs over her face.

“I’m not… a match for that,” she tried to explain.

Cally’s eyes narrowed strangely. “You don’t think you’re a good match for him…?”

“No… no, that’s not what I mean,” Evony sighed. “Actually, I kinda think the opposite… but he’s like… way above me.”

Cally barked out a laugh. “Oh my God , no he’s not. Do you know what he’s actually like? He came from poverty , Evony, and he is so much more antisocial than you think he is. He’s not gonna go around looking for some perfect pinup wife he can wear on his arm. He just wants…”

She stopped for a second, glancing over at the tavern.

“Honestly, it seems like he just wants you,” Cally realized.

Evony made an odd face, scoffing out a laugh. “Where do you get that…?”

“Because… I told you, I freaking told you, right when you told me he hired you as a personal assistant,” Cally ranted, smacking her palm. “He… does not… do that! He doesn’t want anybody that close to him! Do you know how big of a deal it is that he’s even here with us today?! Do you know that he’s never come to hang out with us like this once before now?! You’re the reason! You’re making him wanna do stuff like this! And he never wants to do stuff like this! He’s probably in there dying of social anxiety right now!”

Evony gaped at her, glimpsing at the tavern for a second.

“Really…?” she muttered.

“Yes!” Cally exclaimed.

Evony tried to reply, clearing her throat and gulping. “I thought he was just talking some girl up…”

“Oh my God… no, no, bad Evony,” Cally panted, sinking her arm into her sleeve and using the limp sleeve to swat her like a dog. “Bad… bad Evony! No! You can’t think that! That girl is tryinna talk him up! See, that’s part of why he’s so antisocial. Nobody’s ever liked him for who he is. They act like that because he has money! And you don’t! Hellooo?! Of course he likes you better than everybody else!”

She continued slapping her with the jacket sleeve.

“Oh my God… stop… screaming ,” Evony sputtered, rearing back and shielding herself as she gave the tavern another glimpse. “He’s gonna hear you…”

The girls suddenly found themselves getting pelted by snowballs, jumping up from the blaster and rounding on the boys. Thomas and Javari pitched several more snowballs at them before Cally launched herself at them and tackled them both into the snow.

Evony watched them all topple over, laughing in amusement at their sprawled, awkward landing.

When the three of them stood up and dusted themselves, they all traded looks, shivering and shaking the snow off.

“M’kay. I’m ready to go back inside,” Thomas said with chattering teeth.

“Me too,” Javari agreed.

The four of them turned and marched back over to the tavern.

The moment Evony pushed the doors open, and they all stepped inside—all four of them stopped at once, staring across the room in surprise.

Osric was standing in front of the bar, and everyone in the tavern was surrounding him now. He was in the center of a small crowd, Ashley still in the stool nearest him, sipping on a drink and smiling as she watched the commotion, the bartender leaning on the bar and eyeing the situation interestingly.

“Oh hell,” Evony breathed, her heart jumping as she broke into a brisk stride toward them, her friends hurriedly following.

But, moments later, she slowed to a stop near the crowd, quickly realizing that her urgency wasn’t necessary.

There was no confrontation going on; instead, Osric was smiling, his sleeves partially rolled up, revealing the two thick metal contraptions around either wrist, his compartmentalized firework gauntlets. He raised both hands, showing each of them to everyone around him, then he tapped the side of his left one, holding this hand higher—allowing everyone to watch in amazement as a rapid metal skeleton formed around his hand in a matter of seconds.

Ashley, the bartender, and all seven men gathered around reeled back in awe.

Osric stretched out his fingers—and the small metal plates began to construct around his hand next, forming the shiny metal gauntlet in mere moments.

“Wow!” Ashley beamed, clapping excitedly.

“Holy hell!” a skinny man yelled.

“That’s some voodoo shit!” a bearded man remarked.

“How the fuck …?” the bartender uttered.

“Ehe,” Osric grinned, jutting his hand upright and extending the tiny barrel out from the knuckles of the gauntlet.

Suddenly—a blast of colorful sparkler fireworks shot up from the gauntlet in rapid succession, thankfully not high enough to hit the ceiling. They all reeled back again, howling with impressed surprise—and then, everyone started applauding him.

Evony, Cally, Thomas, and Javari stood by and simply watched, smirking and saying nothing for several seconds.

Then, Evony leaned over to Cally and muttered to her. “He’s really not that antisocial.”

Cally shrugged and made a sideways nod. “Well… this is just crowd-pleasing. Totally different.”

“Hey!” Osric smiled, only just spotting his friends and instantly approaching them, tapping the side of his gauntlet and making it retract again as he did. “Where have you been…?”

“Ah… I just needed some air for a second,” Evony replied.

“Yeah… and then I followed her,” Cally added.

“And… then we did too,” Thomas chimed in.

“And there was a snowball fight,” Javari laughed.

“Heya,” a skinny man interrupted, raising a hand at them. “Any of y’all play pool?”

Thomas and Javari looked to one another.

“Yessir,” Javari nodded.

“Well’p… come on over!” the man said with a friendly smile, a cigarette protruding from between his crooked teeth. “We can play teams if three of ya’ wanna play. 8 ball?”

“Oh yes!” Thomas smiled, rubbing his hands and marching off with the skinny man.

Javari followed them, and Cally moved to do the same, pausing and glancing back at Evony. She made a subtle nod towards Osric, then wheeled around and pranced off to the pool table with the others.

Evony narrowed her eyes at her from behind, then turned around to see Osric now leaning on the bar, speaking to the bartender about his inventions.

“Are you ready for another shot?” Ashley asked, gingerly tugging on the elbow of Osric’s sleeve.

“Hm? Oh,” Osric mumbled, looking down at the three empty shot glasses in front of him. “Hah. Apparently I am.”

Evony approached them, glancing over at the girl, then down at the empty glasses, sighing disdainfully.

“Have you really never had alcohol before?” Ashley asked, resting her chin on her palm.

“Nooo… I haven’t,” Osric grinned, leaning towards her. “And you know what? It tastes awful . It’s just antiseptic and poison.”

Ashley smiled smugly, tilting her head and giving the bartender a look. “It sounds like he needs the thing.”

“Alrightly… gettin’ him the thing,” the bartender nodded, turning and marching into his back room.

“Fuckin’a…” Evony exhaled, moving closer and yanking on his sleeve. “Hey. Oz. Can we talk for a sec?”

“What? Oh… hi!” Osric turned and beamed at her, reaching out and fidgeting with the zipper of her jacket. “Oh, I thought you were playing pool now… hello.”

Evony shook her head and motioned over to the corner pool table. “No… they are. But I need to talk to y—”

“All right,” the bartender announced, placing a slightly larger shot glass down on the counter, this one filled with shiny green liquid. “Here is the thing, my friend. Pine shine. It’s the strongest and the best-tasting drink in the house.”

“Ooo… hah, heeey, lookit that,” Osric said with a childlike smile, raising the glass and eyeing its contents. “It looks like my tonic. How odd…”

“Bottoms up!” Ashley yelled, raising her fist.

Osric smirked at her, then nodded and shrugged, raising the glass to his lips.

“ Oz ,” Evony growled through gritted teeth.

He didn’t seem to hear her—and he upturned the glass, chugging all of it in a few swift gulps. Then, he wiped his mouth and slapped the glass down, making a face and smacking his lips a few times.

“Oh, that is… sweet ,” Osric remarked, running a hand over his mouth again. “What is that… vodka and straight pine sugar?!”

“No… moonshine and straight pine sugar,” the bartender corrected. “And that’s some strong, sneaky shit.”

Evony lost her patience; she reached out and repeatedly snapped her fingers in front of his face until she managed to gather his attention again. He turned more toward her, tilting his head and staring at her.

“We need to go outside,” she stated. “ Now .”

Osric raised his brows. “Why…?”

“Because—I need—to talk to you,” Evony said flatly and clearly, giving him a hard, firm look.

Osric seemed to read her expression, then made a few loose nods and pushed off of the bar. “All right…”

He started walking toward the exit, slowing to a stop and glancing down at both of his hands.

“Where is my…?” he mumbled.

Evony grabbed the cane from where it had been placed against the bar, then marched over to him and planted it in his hand.

“There you go,” she said, pushing him gently toward the door by the back. “C’mon.”

She took him to the exit and shoved the door open, both of them stepping out into the cold night together.