Dusty Roads, Dusty Inns

The young woman bounced around from table to table with trays on her arms and one rested upon her head. Despite the load, she moved with ease. There was no care to anything that she had one. Every energetic turn she took caused the patrons within the building to cringe and wince in the anticipation that everything would come toppling over with the wrong movement. A large man sat behind a counter watching her, occasionally puffing at the pipe in his hands. She could be quite the show. The new arrival in the inn caught his attention. Instead of getting up to assist her, he instead called over to the woman on the floor.

“Shizuka,” he spoke in a raspy voice, “there's another one by the door.”

The girl turned. The tray upon her head spun and caused a nearby patron to stand with his hands up, ready to catch what never actually fell. The girl remained oblivious to this. “Oh yes!” she cheered, “Right away Junpei.”

The girl practically bounced over towards the new arrival. A tray was set upon the table and a cup pulled from it. The pot of tea had been perched upon the tray upon her head. She started pouring a cup for the foreign woman. “Hello traveler. I've never seen you around here before. Are you new here? I can tell you're new here actually. Welcome to The Axe and Flute.”

The woman wasted no time in taking a drink of tea. She must have been really thirsty. Shizuka lifted up her other tray and had been about to walk away but the woman spoke. "We serve food and drink?" The woman replied. Her mind was blank for a moment until she realized that she might be interested in a little bit more of a menu. "Oh! Yes. Right now Junpei's mother is putting together miso. I've had it a lot. Its one of my favorites actually but it's nothing like what my mother makes at home and then she's also serving pickled eggs. Not a fan really, but I don't like pickled stuff much. Well sometimes I do."

“Umm..” The girl's voice trailed back as she looked towards Junpei who sat behind the counter. He looked a little bit bothered by the request, but he wouldn't turn down a customer's request. Shizuka was his best... well, she was the town's idiot. He had suckered her into doing his work for him and the other customers seemed to always enjoy when she was around. It certainly brought life to this place. With her time in the army and the pegasus farm, she wasn't around too often. He would end up paying her a quarter of his pay for the time she work at the very least.

Junpei gave a long sigh. It meant he would need to get back to his job. “When she brings you food.” He replied. It would give him enough time to finish off his pipe.

Shizuka gave a nod and turned to the other customers. She filled their drinks and a few of them were served their lunch. By the time Shizuka returned to Mai, the trays had been removed from her arms and head. The only thing that remained was two bowls of miso soup and a plate of pickled eggs. “What did you need me for Miss? Are you from the capital?” Perhaps she was being asked to take on a bounty.

“Mama?” Shizuka's voice carried as she asked that, curious as to why this woman was calling her mother. “I'm from the country too!” Her eyes glistened at that statement. It wasn't often she could actually relate to somebody else who worked with the farms. “My family owns a big pegasus farm not too far from here. It's really fun to help out with the horses and everything. I've actually been flying before I could even walk.” The woman nodded energetically. “But I've taken a break and I sometimes go visit the capital. You see, I'm kind of part of the Hoshidan forces. I've trained here in the schools in Kitsuki a lot and as soon as I was old enough, I enlisted in the army because that's kind of what happens in my family. You either farm or you fight. I guess I chose the fighting route. But I do come home a lot. I don't get to see much action yet. Ume and I just run errands from time to time. That's the good thing about riding on a pegasus.” Her words all seemed to come out in a single breath. Shizuka had no problem rambling on about her life and everything about her. “So what do you do in the country Mai?”

Shizuka proudly puffed her chest out with the woman's slight praise in calling her a soldier. Yeah! That's what Shizuka was indeed. It was always wonderful hearing it from other people. “I get that a lot!” She cheered. “People think I'm joking all the time, but nope! I'm a real soldier from Hoshido.” The girl then leaned in as the other's tone lowered. She was listening to her secret, her eyes widened slightly and a sly smile crossed her face, like she knew something that she wasn't really supposed to know. Unfortunately, this woman was out of luck. The Axe and Flute had been around for, gosh, probably forever. People came here and liked it how it was and they stayed because it was safer than the others. At least, that's what Shizuka had grown up believing. Living in Kitsuki, she never actually had to stay here.

“You can't set up here,” she said quietly. “They've been here forever. It's like this whole loyalty thing. Everyone who comes to Kitsuki ends up staying here.” The girl leaned back and tapped her lips. “Come to think of it, every other inn that sets up around here doesn't last too long and close in the first few months." She frowned thinking about the time the Black Fire closed after everybody staying kept getting ill. The family run bed and breakfast didn't last long either when a candle went haywire and burnt it down in the night. She sighed and took a bite of her food. "It's like some omen or something. It's just a bad place for business.”

Huh. Shizuka wasn't quite expecting the woman to give up on it so easily. She nodded along with her words, slightly interested in her interpretation of her stories. "Uh huh, uh huh. Oh! Are you a priestess then?" She looked over the woman's dress with wide eyes. It didn't look too special. "Do you use those special seal cards and chase demons away from temples? I've only heard that stuff in stories. Never actually seen it for myself. I've only ever heard of these spirits though. I don't think anyone has seen them in action. I can take you to one of the closed inns if you would like! You can really do that? Wow!"

The girl looked at this woman and only blinked. The way she spoke was a little bit confusing and Shizuka didn't quite get it. Was she a priestess or not? The wheels could visibily be seen turning in Shizuka's mind. Some of what this woman said was toned out while she thought until she finally hit her fist onto the palm of her hand once realization hit. "I get it! You're a ghost hunter. You could have just said that." Shizuka grabbed the other woman's hand and started to rush her off to the other inn.

Junpei stood up to protest, "Hey you need to pay!" He shouted out, but Shizuka had already been gone. Junpei instantly recoiled as a large fan hit him in the back of his head. "No, you need to work," his mother scolded.

Shizuka led Mai down the street to what was once a proud inn. The windows had been busted in and the building was lightly charred in some places. It was a little ominious standing outside of it now, but the door was pushed in with ease and Shizuka stood in the lobby. "I remember hearing this one all the way from my home one night. There was a giant bang. The innkeeper told me it was like the whole kitchen got swallowed up." Shizuka stepped very lightly in the building feeling as it might collapse under her feet. Remains of where the kitchen once stood could be seen past the splintered wood inside a large pit.