The Barbarian’s Kitty

Early mornings sunrises in the glorious Free-Trade City of Erevanis are considered to be quite the site to behold. The orange sun rises over the sprawling metropolis, accentuating the brightly colored rooftops that showcase a city segmented not by walls, but by a diverse array of colors. The river Suvira, reflecting the rising sun, is itself a bright swirl of orange and purple hues. The colorful backdrop of the sky accentuates the vibrancy of the city, despite the fact that most people usually don’t have the luxury to relax and relish its splendor. Most people who were awake at this time are not milling about, as they are usually getting their businesses ready for the day.

Shegol the Brewer was one such business owner. As the proprietor of the popular café, ‘The Arcane Bean’, she and her employees were working exceptionally hard and fast, in order to prepare for the morning rush of customers wanting their early fix of artistically crafted coffees and teas. A pure-blooded orc, she stood tall at 6 ft 3 inches, with green skin showing its age, greying black hair that was closely cropped, and a proud set of lower jaw tusks that are indicative of her race. Her bulky and muscular frame, covered by her comfortable clothes and a rainbow-colored apron rather than battle armor, did little to hide the fact that she was a retired adventurer. Though she had been a skilled and experienced barbarian, but she was more famous for her abilities as an alchemist.

It had been nearly three years since she retired and used her life savings to open her café. What had initially been merely a hobby had turned into a burning passion for artisanal coffees. She had managed to get her hands a run down and abandoned two story building that she was barely able to afford, the hefty price tag due to it being located in the Sky District. So called for the sky-blue color of the building roofs in the neighborhood, the Sky District was considered to be one of the most bustling and happening areas of Erevanis. Right next to the Suvira, it was located in a nice and relatively upscale part of town, not too far from both the local University and the Adventurers guild. A popular marketplace was also within walking distance, on the other side of the river. Turning the upper floor into her residence and the lower floor into the café, she spent the next two years rebuilding the place and setting up all of the required equipment. She had difficulty attracting customers initially, as one looking at her weathered and face and gruff expression would be hard pressed to consider her suited for customer service. It had not been an easy start, but she persevered, and soon after she finished her second year as proprietor, started to see an increase in business. Word of the Arcane Bean spread across the neighborhood, and people came to love the selection of coffees, teas and snacks available, the riverside ambience and the customer service, which word of mouth claimed was unparalleled.

This morning, like most mornings, as her employees were almost done sitting things up for opening, Shegol stood next to the river and absorbed the morning ambiance. From the front of the establishment, she could see the sun rising over the river, creating a very scenic and serene picture that she relished, letting the cool morning breeze emanating from the river flow over her. Taking in her last chance at serenity during the day, before the neighborhood turned into the bustling area it was known to be, she took a deep breath and turned to open her establishment. She flipped the sign on the front from closed to open, and as if on que, her two favorite customers walked up towards the café, arriving at their usual time like clockwork.

One of them, Mantho Beastkiller, was leisurely walking up the river towards her café. As a six foot 8-inch-tall goliath, he was an intimidating sight to behold. A semi-retired barbarian himself, he had the gear and armor to match. Like all goliaths, he was hairless from head to toe, with ashen grey skin adorned with dark contrasting war tattoos across his face and body. He looked every part the stereotypical barbarian, the weathered and savage look on his face, accentuated by the war tattoos, gave away his age and experience as a warrior. Needless to say, most people gave him a wide berth.

The other was perched comfortably on Mantho’s bald head. Fluffy, the ginger tabby cat, was spread out over the goliath’s head, soaking in the morning sun. She was a regular sized cat, but in contrast to her gargantuan best friend, she looked like a small kitten in comparison. Her full name and title, given to her by her favorite person, was Lady Purrina McFluffykins. As they neared the café, Mantho raised a hand in greeting. Fluffy meowed loudly and leaped from his head and landed on Shegol’s shoulder, immediately nuzzling against her neck and purring with excitement.

“Hiiii sweet girl!” she said, almost cooing in a deeper than average voice, as she happily scratched Fluffy behind the ears. “You havin a good morning?”

Fluffy meowed in response, as if trying to have a conversation with her, while Mantho cleared his throat.

“Yes, yes,” she said playfully, smiling from ear to ear, as she always did when she saw her favorite kitty. “Good to see you too Mantho. The usual?”

“Yes please,” he replied in a deeper and courser voice that hers, as he sat down at a veranda table that faced the river and the rising sun reflected in it.

“And what about you sweetie?” she asked Fluffy. “The usual for you as well?”

Fluffy meowed happily in response, and Shegol walked back into the café and up to the counter.

“Valandrin,” she said, calling out to the raven haired young half-elven man she had manning the counter. “Mantho and Fluffy are here on schedule, please prepare and bring out the regular order.”

“At once Ma’am,” he replied, reaching out to scratch Fluffy behind the ears and talking to her as well. “Don’t worry Ma’am, we will have your usual order ready.”

Fluffy meowed once again in response to Valandrin, as he moved to prepare their order with a grin on his face. Shegol returned outside to the table her goliath friend was at and sat in the chair opposite him. Fluffy leapt off her shoulders, did a few circles of the table, stretched and yawned, and laid down in a position where her tummy was getting a full blast of the morning sun. She began to purr again as Mantho began to absentmindedly pet her and scratch her behind her ears. They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, soaking in the peaceful atmosphere, before Valandrin came out with their orders on a tray, setting each order down in front of their intended recipients. Mantho got a large cappuccino, Shegol got her pour over, and Fluffy got herself a nice large bowl of warm and frothy milk.

Shegol took a sip of her coffee, savoring the complex flavor, strong and slightly nutty, with a hint of wolfberry Today’s pour over was made from ground beans that came from a village in her homeland, not too far from her ancestral village. Mantho took a long slurp of his cappuccino, leaving a foam moustache to form, which rather than licking or wiping it off, he let sit. Fluffy, rather than drinking her milk normally, stuck her upper snout into the milk in an attempt to mimic the goliath’s frothy upper lip decoration. The two of them chuckled as Fluffy proudly meowed, showed off her ‘moustache’ to them, and both gave her scratches behind her ears. She purred again and returned to drinking her milk.

“It’s your turn today,” said Shegol, taking another sip and letting out a content sigh. “Tell me a story.”

“Hmm, let me think” replied Mantho, taking another sip of his coffee. “We’ve told each other most of our stores.”

“Don’t mind if it’s an older one. Tell me a story I haven’t heard in a while,” she said, absentmindedly stroking the tabby. “I know! Tell me again how you met this orange angel.”

“Was about 3 years ago,” he said. “I was a month into my second attempt at retirement, and it wasn’t going so well for me.”

“Ha!” she barked. “You were quite the mess. Drunken brawls, public outburst, anger issues, the works. You were arrested what, 10 times, right?”

“9 times, I’ll have you know, but you’re right, was a huge mess. Anyway, this one night, I was on my way back home from the bar…”

“As usual,” she interrupted, smirking.

“Yes, as usual,” he continued, with an exasperated sigh. “Was on my back from the bar when three dumbasses tried to mug me. Might have been shitfaced out of my mind, but I still beat them up and sent them packing. Though not before one of them broke a bottle over my head and stabbed me in the arm. Decided to cut through an alley when I heard a soft squeak. Took me a couple of looks to find the source, cause again, I was piss drunk. I heard the squeak again and shifted a barrel that was in a corner of the alley. That’s when I saw her, this tiny little creature, covered in dirt and grime, and malnourished as all hell.”

Mantho took another long slurping sip of his coffee, let out a large sigh, and continued his story.

“Now, I’m a scary guy. Not to brag, but I have sent beasts twice my size running for the hills with just a look. I’ve more than lived up to the name ‘Beastkiller’. So, imagine my confusion and surprise when this tiny little thing, smaller than my palm, gives me a once over, squeaks once more, and tries to climb me. No fear in her eyes, just pure curiosity. I must have stared at her for a good few minutes before I decided to pick her up and take her home with me. Cleaned her and fed her and whatnot. All the while, she just wanted to play with me. Again, no fear whatsoever.”

While he took another deep sip of his coffee, Shegol noticed the first set of morning regulars begin to enter the café, each of them wishing her good morning on their in. She took a deep sip of her own coffee and waited for him to continue.

“Where was I?” he asked. “Right, decided to pick her up and take her home with me. The next few weeks were admittedly a little stressful. I’d only ever killed beasts, not raised or nurtured them. Feel I maybe got the hang of it once I noticed her feeling a lot more comfortable around me and trying to follow me whenever I left the room. She wanted to spend every moment with me, which I was happy to oblige, and started taking her everywhere with me. That was around the time I first brought her by this place, though I’m sure you’ll never forget that day. She made retirement bearable. I had something to keep me occupied, to work on, to look forward to. I quit drinking, cold turkey, not long after I took her in. Probably the most challenging thing I’ve ever done, but it was worth it. Didn’t need the booze anymore.”

He took another sip of his coffee, looked at Fluffy happily drinking her milk, and let out a content sigh before continuing.

“She could tell when I was about to lose my temper, or have a panic attack, and she would easily calm me down. Once she started sleeping next to me at night, the nightmares stopped. Daresay she even saved my life. Safe to say I fell in love almost immediately.”

Mantho was interrupted when Fluffy, who had finished her bowl of milk, let out a content meow. He produced a kerchief and wiped the remaining milk off her mouth, as well as the foam moustache coating his upper lip. He then produced a sling that he tied around his chest as Fluffy let out a lazy yawn. He helped her climb into it, and she promptly fell asleep. With a content grin that mirrored his, Shegol downed the last of her pour over.

“How’d ya end up half coming out of retirement for your current job?” she asked.

“Well, some time after I started taking care of Fluffy, I realized that I enjoyed the feeling of being a father. Not only did I enjoy nurturing, I felt I might also be good at it. I remembered that the guild-master had wanted to start a program to teach kids some self-defense. Talked to him, and he agreed to let me give it a try.”

“Wouldn’t most kids be scared of you?”

“Usually are at first. Decided to use that as a lesson in overcoming fear. Teach them that as kids, they aren’t expected to fight scary things like me, but survive long enough to escape with their lives. It certainly helps that Fluffy is always with me. I let the kids play with her after class. Unsurprisingly, a cute kitty is great motivation.”

They sat in a comfortable silence as he finished his coffee, and Shegol began to notice more customers flooding into her popular establishment, as her employees were rushing around to serve them. She took out her pocket watch, checked the time, and moved to get up with him mirroring her.

“Getting to be that time, huh?” he asked.

“Yup,” she replied. “Looks like I’ve got a busy day ahead of me.”

“Don’t you always?”, he retorted.

“True, but it’s about that time of the semester where the uni students have their mid-terms. I make bank of sleep deprived students, but it’s a stressful time for us, and I don’t want to leave my team hangin.”

She reached over and stroked Fluffy a few times, who purred sleepily in response. Not wanting to wake her, she let her be, and pushed the chairs back in place and collected the empty cups and bowl.

“See ya later brother,” she said, waving goodbye with full hands.

“You too,” he replied. “Don’t forget, tomorrow’s story is on you.”

“Never do. Have fun teaching the kids today.”

“Always do.”

He waved in return and set out for work, soon crossing the bridge to get to the other side of the Suvira. She let her gaze linger on her friend, carrying her niece, already looking forward to the next day. Deciding to put any distracting thoughts away, she switched her mind to work mode, turned around and reentered the café, ready for the busy day to come. Smiling and greeting every customer on her way in, she took over for Valandrin at the front counter and began to take orders and prepare them for her customers with a professional, but genuine, smile on her face.