“I could really use a mellow yellow right now,” Peter groaned as he leaned back in his chair.

“You could always do with one,” Bayani reminded him. “You’re always tired from something.”

“And some hot Cheetos,” Peter added.

“The spicy ones with the lime flavor. We know, we know,” Bayani replied. “As soon as we get back to Earth, you can eat chips while my mom cooks you a big Filipino feast.”

“As long as you don’t try to convince me to eat balut again,” Peter said.

Bayani chuckled. “I told you, my father thought it would be funny to see you try. You took it pretty well, though. A lot of people get pretty upset about balut.”

Peter only gave another one of his famous shrugs.

The barmaid brought a loaf of bread along with the drinks. Everyone was glad to have something to snack on, and they ordered cheese and stew to go along with it. The woman look like she had been hoping that they would order more, but they figured that if they were going to be visiting the other tavern, it would be important to still be interested in ordering something while they were there, too. They didn’t tell her that of course. Whether they seemed cheap or not so hungry, they did not care.

A couple of them had some leftover biscuits from their walk, and they ate those in the process, as well. They finished off the last of the traveling rations, figuring that they could either buy more, or that their guide would have some. Once they had eaten, they finally felt as though they had enough energy to look around for someone who seemed to be waiting for, well, someone.

Most of the people having lunch in the tavern look like they worked in the shops in the city. Possibly craftsman, shop keepers, maybe a blacksmith or a cobbler. Nobody of terribly high class, but also nobody who looked like they should be working the farm fields. Actually, Cerys realized after awhile, I have yet to see any farm fields in this part of the new barony.

They were further along, she told herself after another moment of though.

“How did James describe him again?” Bayani asked after a while.