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his feline exuberance, and no one dropped to all fours. Samm had a tendency to
slide down the street until Taj reminded the giant to pick up his feet. Surely
they had managed to blend in. How could they possibly stand out? True,
Mamakitty was more muscular than the average woman. And Taj blonder than the
blondest northerner, even in the dim gray light. As for Cezer and Cocoa,
though it pained him to admit it, it was difficult to tell which was the more
beautiful, or who drew the more surreptitious admiring stares from the
otherwise downcast crowd--from both men and women.
Come to think of it, of them all, he was the only one who looked remotely
average. This realization made him feel neither slighted nor overlooked. He
had always been commonly, even exceptionally, ordinary.
So it was fitting that when they finally settled on a slightly less than
funereal taverna in which to dine and restock their nearly barren store of
victuals, it was he who entered first, made hesitant but easygoing contact
with the proprietor, and secured them a table near the back. His mastery of
language might be lacking, but his inherent friendliness overcame the owner's
initial uncertainty. Maybe he was not as handsome as Cezer, but the
personality people had instinctively liked when he was a dog had carried over
to his human shape. It was a puzzled proprietor who wondered at his sudden
urge to reach across the counter and pat this scruffy, smiling customer on the
head.
While Mamakitty discussed the purchase of jerked meats, assorted fruits, dried
fish, salt and other spices, and assorted individual items from the slightly
bemused owner, the rest of them retired to a table and ordered food from a
jaded serving wench no less depressed than her fellow townsfolk. Try as she
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might as she recorded their order, she could not keep her eyes off the rakish
profile and lean muscularity that was Cezer.
As for their larger purchases, if the shopkeeper found any of them curious,
especially the large bag of fish heads that the dark woman ordered up, he kept
his opinions to himself. Not only did he find the handsome broad-shouldered
customer herself intimidating, but the man-mountain hovering wordlessly behind
her ensured that he held his peace. As the merchant filled and packaged the
order, he tried not to glance in the direction of the curious colossus. The
man-mountain's unconsciously intense stare was more than a little unnerving;
it bordered on the hypnotic. Didn't the giant ever blink? And why did he seem
unable to keep his tongue inside his head?
Mamakitty and Samm were still busy accumulating supplies for the journey ahead
when food finally arrived at the rear table of the extensive establishment. In
her absence it fell to Cocoa to hiss a warning at her two male companions.
"Stop that!"
Pudding in hand, Oskar frowned at her. "Stop what?"
"Eating like that. With your fingers." She cut her eyes sideways, indicating
nearby tables full of muttering, suspicious townsfolk. "Among humans, certain
foods can be eaten by hand, but others demand the use of utensils. Didn't you
two ever watch the Master and his visitors eat?"
The two men exchanged a glance. "Not really," Oskar confessed. "I was more
interested in following the path of overlooked table scraps."
"What does it matter?" Grinning defiantly, Cezer deliberately shoved his hand
into the middle of the large hot pie that presently occupied the center of the
table and extracted a heaping fistful of steaming vegetables and bits of meat.
This he conveyed with careful deliberation to his waiting mouth, thick gravy
oozing out between his fingers.
Struggling with unfamiliar knife and fork while wishing she could simply bend
over and shove her face into her plate, Cocoa lowered her eyes. "You disgust
me!"
"She ain't the only one."
The amused voice came from nearby. It was difficult to say who were the
roughest-looking individuals occupying the table across from the travelers':
the heavily bearded men, the women with their manifold painful piercings, or
the pair of horned mogs freely sharing their food and drink. Oskar opted for
the women.
Fumbling a piece of chicken into her mouth, Cocoa kept her gaze lowered and
her voice down. "Just ignore them."
"You ignore them." Grease and gravy threatening to stain his elegant tunic but
never quite adhering, Cezer rose from his chair, shaking off Oskar's
cautioning hand. "Excuse me, offspring of an indeterminate parentage: did you
say that I disgust you?"
It grew very quiet very quickly at the neighboring table. Still tugging at his
companion's shirt, Oskar growled his own warning. "By the Whiskers of the
Great Mother, sit down!" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]