Rhedara had been sitting at her desk all day, reading through documents related to her boss’s work. She’d been given more responsibility, and she was downright chuffed. It felt good to be so lighthearted, especially with all the downs she’d had that year. Keelan Morrigan really had saved her in more ways than keeping her off the streets by giving her a job. The work was good, too, and she was good at it, too. However, as much as she loved her job, sitting for hours at a time was surprisingly rough. Lunch had been the last time she’d stood, so when she was finally done with her work for the day, her legs ached as she stood from her seat.

Usually, she would have gone home, but she didn’t feel like it. Maybe it was the warmer air, or maybe she wasn’t ready to get back to her landlady’s home where she’d be reminded of him. She was in too good a mood to let anything sour it. So she went to a nearby tavern for a drink.

The place was crowded as it typically was that time of day, which was fine with Rhedara. It was a little easier to get lost in a crowd. She wasn’t quite up for a great amount of socializing just yet. She sat at the bar and ordered some mead. Ale never did sit well on her tongue. She’d taken only one sip of her drink when another women walked up next to her and ordered…wine? Rhedara figured the witch was a noble. Wine was pricy…or it was pricy for her anyways, although she supposed that she’d be able to afford more with how generously Keelan paid her. Still, it wasn’t everyday she saw someone order a wine at this tavern. Was she here to meet someone? Was she slumming? Oh! Now that would be exciting! Would it be strange if she stayed to see who this woman was meeting up with? Rhedara pictured a very good looking dock worker or fisherman. She would try to be covert in her staring as she tried to figure out what the other witch was doing there.

Before the wine even touched her lips, she regretted her order. The smell - or should she say stench - alone told her all she needed to know about the red liquid. Nithya slowly put the glass down, happy she had caught just how awful this wine was before she had tasted it, and pushed she glass away from her, slowly, so it wouldn't tip over. She wrinkled her nose, without realising she had done so while the barmaid looked in her direction. "Are you okay, miss- uh, my- my lady?" the young woman asked. It was obvious that nobles didn't frequent this tavern, and the maid didn't know how to address Nithya properly.

"Oh, yes, no worries", she said with a kind, soft smile. The maid shrugged and walked away, to serve a customer. Nith sighed, very quietly, with relief and stated at the glass for another second. How could she make this wine disappear without offending anyone?

Rhedara tried to be subtle as she watched the noble’s reaction to the wine. Goddess, Rhedara could smell it, too. Nasty stuff! She thought about just leaving the noble to her rancid vinegar—for that was surely what the glass was full of—she decided to instead try to make conversation. Working with Keelan had made her realize that attempting connections was not such a bad idea. One never knew what a single connection could do to help.

So when the noble looked at the glass as if she were trying to will it to disappear, she decided to attempt a little conversation, “You don’t want to drink your vinegar, my lady?”

A voice next to her made her look up from the glass. A soft smile was on her face as she looked at the young woman next to her. "So that's what that was", she said. "I already suspected something wasn't quite right." She pushed the glass a little further away from her and looked at the woman again. "Is this a well-known tavern trick that I'm simply unaware of?" Nithya asked, laughing a bit.