Young Writers Society

Welcome to the Karnis Inn, where all are welcome. Our lovely landlady, Elouise, has a few rules for those who wish to enter, and please, keep to them. Her friendly dragon out back is not so friendly when it comes to troublemakers.

1. No foul language.
Elouise wishes to keep her inn friendly for all.

2. No destroying the inn.
Elouise is looking at you, users of magic and elements.

3. No fighting.
Elouise asks you to do so outside.

4. Enjoy yourself!

So, pull up a chair, have a drink!

Oliver
I walked through the door up to the front desk were a woman sat.
"Do you have any rooms available?" I asked her.
"Certainly, how long do you plan to stay here?" She replied as she looked at the room keys.
"I'm not sure, I'm waiting for a friend. He should arrive any day now." I only have one bag of luggage, I prefer to travel lightly. To my name all I owned were the clothes on my back, a spare shirt, a small sword, and a few gold coins.
"Do you have a name?" she asks. It suddenly occurs that I have not yet introduced myself. Embarrassed at my rudeness I apologize and reveal my name.
"My name is Oliver, I'm from the city," I motion towards the east. She responds with her name,
"Elouise, here, yours is room number three." I take the keys and thank her, placing my coins on her desk. I then retreat to my new room eager to rest my tired body.

Jet

My initial thought on the inn was how friendly it looked. But knowing my luck there would probably be something, just one thing that made me want to leave. Like someone I knew. Which of course meant someone who hated me or someone I owed money, seeing as I had no friends. I walk in and up to the front desk, just as a man, presumably another traveller, takes his key and leaves. The lady at the front desk looks at me with a combination of expectancy and kindness, the latter being something I'm not used to. Which makes me nervous.
"Uh.... Any rooms free?"

"I don't know about you, Mirayah, but Birul and I are tired as hell. Look, there's a town down there. It could be big enough to have an inn. Do you want to land?"

"I am not so sure about this, Ash. I do not want to leave Limok alone, crouching in the hills while we have a drink and get comfortable. Besides, she is very heavy..."

"All the more reason for her to stop and rest! Here, circle with us while we talk. We'll use this cloud for shelter if you're uncomfortable with lingering. Blech, it feels like a rain cloud. Might be rain coming. See? We should stop! Look, to the west. There's a copse of trees. We can land there and walk to the town, see if there's an inn. You and I need a night in a mattress and they need a night on the ground!"

"But..."

"Hey, we get a say in this too, right? And Ash is correct, I am very tired. My wings can barely support my belly at this point! Mirayah, I am not going to go into labor just because we have landed. We all need to rest, then we can push on to the mountains."

"Fine then. I suppose you want to scold me too, Birul? Because this is everyone's last chance to get a word in before we have to land and set up camp."

"No, I am content to let you suffer defeat in silence. Besides, we won, did we not?"

"'We', Birul? I did all the talking, you big lug!"

"I know Ash, I was teasing. If you payed attention at all you would know that."

"Oh. Well it's hard to tell with you."

"I am your partner, you know me better than anyone else in the world!"

"And it's still hard to tell."

Two dark shapes descend from the sky into the trees, nothing more than silhouettes against the stars in a moonless and cloudy night. One dives, the other circles awkwardly. A half an hour later, two people in travel-stained cloaks and carrying quarterstaffs walk down the town's main street. They stick to the shadows on the sides and go mostly unnoticed. One of the two keeps looking over their shoulder and twisting their hand on the staff. The other grabs them by the elbow and pulls them sideways into the inn just as the rain begins to fall. Inside the inn, they put their hoods down. The slightly taller of the two turns out to be a cheery young man of maybe twenty five, with a mop of blonde hair and sun-tanned skin. His blue eyes take in the details of the room quickly, then focus on the woman behind the counter, who is talking to another patron. The second, slightly shorter person reveals herself to be a woman of similar age to him. Her long, jet-black hair is tied back from her face, but many of the curls have escaped. Her skin is much darker than her companion's; it is the shade of coffee that suggests mixed race. Her startlingly gray eyes continue to examine the room suspiciously even after her companion has turned his attention to the barkeeper.

Captain Pugwash!
Arrrr me heartys, we arrr going to that yonder inn, and then onwards to the city, where we shall plunder all the gold we want!
(General murmur of discontent and unpleasantness of sleeping alone)
Scuttling cuttlefish! I'll do it myself then!
Finally the well renound pirate captain set off on the first steps to the inn and wealth. He had taken five steps when he trips and proceeds to roll downhill.

Ember

My gears connecting my delicate, autumn-colored wings to my back creaked menacingly. Dang it, I thought. I had to land. If I didn't, I could end up rusting and fall 2,000 feet below onto the hard earth. I soared low, and spotted what looked like an inn. I gave my creaky wings one last flap, then walked into the inn. It was warm and cozy. I walked over to the lady at the counter, delicately running my long, spindly fingers over my eye patch nervously. If anyone saw my eye, I think I would be embarrassed for life. Then again, if I hadn't ignored the other engineers saying that I should give up on working with mechanics on the human body, I wouldn't have been able to fly above the explosion when my brother blew up the house in a kitchen fire.
"Um, can I please have a-a key?"I whispered, looking at the ground. "Sure, darling. May I have your name please? Also, how long do you expect to be staying?" She asked, smiling. "Uh, maybe, uh a-a week? If that's okay..." I mumbled. She nodded, saying, "That's fine. Now your name was-?" "Ember," I replied. "Okay, well, here is your key, you are in room 5." I took the key and croaked, "Do you have any dragon oil?" She seemed a bit taken aback by the question, then said, "Actually, yes. I'll bring it up to your room, okay?" I mumbled my thanks, then ran up the stairs to my room.
I hastily removed my wings and gently placed them on my bed. I opened the window, let my fire-colored hair free from my usual tight braid, and sat on the windowsill, gazing at the sunset. I was to tired to realize there was a gigantic dragon sleeping below me.
I sighed and closed my eyes, bathed in the last light of day.