They were clearly waiting for someone, the quartet in the courtyard.

  Ushai paid them another visit to see if they needed drinks refilled or more snacks, and took orders for another full round.

  None of them were willing to leave the tavern’s stone-paved courtyard with its central fountain.

  It didn’t seem to be the decor, although that had been admired before: the stone central column of the fountain was six-sided, patterned with hexagons, and here and there one was missing to let water spill out. Bees made of brass studded it, and the stone basin was carved with countless flowers set with glittery coloured gems. A lumina stone at the top was simply sparkly during the day, but brightened the courtyard in the twilight. The tables were stone with hexagonal central pilrs, but the chairs were wood with soft cushions, and of course the furniture could allow for customers from felids to jotuns, with or without tails, with raised and padded ptforms at the edges for their four-legged customers.

  Striped canopies shaded part of the courtyard; three of this group were in the sun, one in the shade, and they’d moved twice to keep it that way.

  A near-white felid woman wore the typical minimal clothing, all in yellow, and yellow goggles that were less typical; she gnced around now and again like she was looking reflexively for something, then brought her attention back to the others. A human man with dark skin and curly ocean-blue hair had a book out on the table and was reading through it, sometimes reading bits out loud and scrawling things in the margins that might or might not be in response to things his companions said; his clothes, in copper and green, hovered somewhere between practical for travel and practical for an urban job.

  A human of non-obvious gender had long violet hair braided with ribbons that matched the pinkish-red and aquamarine and cream clothes, which were a mix of sturdy-looking above-the-knee boots with less practical-looking heels, leggings under a loose filmy skirt that was much shorter at the sides than at the front and back, an off-the-shoulder top with sweeping sleeves but a ced sleeveless vest over it, dangly gold earrings and bright neckce and several gold bangles and delicate makeup... Ushai wasn’t sure whether that was meant for travel or gmour. That one had a sketchbook out, and Ushai had caught a glimpse of a drawing of the fountain, another of the Axis visible in the background past the buildings.

  The fourth was a jotun woman, small for her species, with blue-and-green gradient hair and a beautiful body-art painting of a waterfall and rainbow, exposed by her minimal pink-edged bck halter. Jotuns from the Highnds often found other areas too warm until they’d had time to acclimate, and the halter, the loose lightweight trousers open all the way up each outer leg, the simple sandals, her desire to stay in the shade, suggested that to Ushai.

  They’d made sure there was room for two other people with them; oddly, they hadn’t actually brought chairs over for those spots. It wasn’t likely that there would be any shortage, of course, but if you knew what friends would need, why not have them in pce already? Well, whatever. Maybe they only knew one of the people coming, or something.

  They were all friendly, but the jotun woman’s smile just made the whole world feel right, somehow. It made Ushai want to run home to her workbench and create the most beautiful bead jewellery anyone had ever seen, and it felt like she could. She tucked that feeling aside for ter. The cousin who owned the tavern needed her to do her job, and she could spend the next couple of hours until she was done thinking about designs.

  Ushai delivered the drinks and snacks, and as she turned away with an empty tray, she saw two figures come into the archway that led to the street. One of them was holding a bck and white cat, or at least had been: the cat leapt out of her arms and ran at high speed to the near-white felid woman, who scooped it up with a cry of joy, sharing cheek-rubs and purring so hard the air practically vibrated.

  The taller of the newly-arrived pair was... was that a dragon? Ushai had heard about them, but never seen one. There were some simirities to a saurid like her, but those curves were beyond anything a saurid woman had, and that height was comparable to a jotun. And the colours of her scales were just breathtaking, all that so-vivid red and the bck and near-bck purple markings and those dazzling white stripes that caught the eye. Purple-bck boots with red ces reached halfway to her knees, dark grey leggings had cutouts to show off the white markings and of course accommodated that graceful tail, and her red-patterned white top was high at the front but swept down to avoid her shoulders. White straps suggested a backpack of some sort.

  In her shadow was a woman with braided rose-pink hair in green leggings with darker green boots, a barely-green low-cut blouse, and a vest of multiple greens ced snugly. A brown and green satchel rested on one hip. Those were absolutely travelling clothes, the kind of thing Ushai associated with gatherers and wagoners and performers who were not currently performing.

  The felid woman stayed where she was, engrossed in the cat, but the other three all bolted to their feet and a considerable tangle of hugs and kisses and maybe a few tears ensued. Ushai hung back, waiting for a good moment. And maybe just looking at the dragon woman in fascination. She’d partly spread her wings for those hugs, even wrapping one around a second person while hugging one, and while they matched her scales, they also had comparatively small markings here and there in startling blue and green and yellow.

  Wait, there was something about a red dragon woman in the news that had come out of the shocking devastation of Drumsong Cascade. Mosslings and zombies were less immediate an issue in the Midnds, but she had family on the Grassnds. What had happened wasn’t entirely clear, only that the Moss Queen had been defeated by the newcomer healer who had given them the Purification potion formu, working with the Zombie King. That was hard to believe but wardens were insisting it was accurate and the actual Zombie King was actually helping with the actual cleanup in Drumsong Cascade while keeping the actual Moss Queen under his control as an actual zombie. Stories conflicted about what the newcomer healer looked like, but at least some said she was a red dragon woman. And this one had a paramedic star, even if it was almost lost against the sheer wonder of her.

  It was tempting to ask her.

  But the dragon looked tired, if saurid physiology was anything to judge by, and maybe a little sad. If she was right, then it would be poor gratitude to put her on the spot. Better to just stay professional and give her some space.

  She should ask her cousin the owner who was also the cook, though. They should refuse payment for meals, that would be appropriate.

  Both the new arrivals did lean down to give the felid woman a hug before joining the rest at the table, and the felid returned them enthusiastically, letting the cat simply sit in her p for that long.

  It seemed like the right time. Ushai approached and smiled at them. “I’m gd your friends made it to join you.”

  “So are we,” said the violet-haired artist, one hand over the dragon’s and gripping it tightly. “Something to drink?”

  “Food, please,” the dragon said. “We took the short way down and around, and flying makes me hungry even without carrying someone else. Myu was very good about it. What’s tasty here?”

  They had a brief discussion, and Ushai nodded and left to tell the kitchen.

  As she walked away, she heard the jotun woman ask gently, “Are you all right?” She paused at the door in, curious.

  The dragon woman ughed, though it had a catch in it. “No. But I will be. Is there somewhere in this town we can find a band pying something good to dance to, and just wear ourselves out completely tonight?”

  “We’ll find somewhere,” the artist said. “And I’ll see if I can come up with something that does justice to whatever you decide you want to be for it.”

  “Can’t wait. How are you?”

  “Waiting for the end of the story,” the felid said, as the bck-and-white cat hopped on the table to investigate her cup of milk. “We missed the very st bit due to being dead.”

  “You’ll be telling it a lot,” the rose-haired woman said wryly. “And people are going to doubt whether it’s true, even though it is.”

  “I’ll see if there are pces here that would like me to tell it. I can probably finish it before we leave. I can polish it over time, before we look at recording it.”

  That was definitely the newcomer healer.

  Ushai shook herself into motion and went inside. She could ask the felid ter about a chance to hear the whole story from a source who would know what really happened.

  That bead neckce should be red with bck and dark purple and touches of white. And should maybe have a paramedic star.

  But right now, the best gratitude was to not rudely leave hungry travellers waiting for food.

  Prysmcat