Reether rarely awoke any earlier than high-sun. It was too often he was up late the night before, whether it be from rowdy patrons, horrible demon attacks, or some sort of task for the Priests. It was about an hour after high-sun that he was roused. Bella's soft hand on his shoulder shook him awake, and soon he was shooing her away, ignoring what she was saying for just a bit of morning peace, and rose with a loud groan. He stood in the closet that they had turned into his room, as all but the handful of patron rooms on the floor above had been turned to storage, and fought with a pair of trousers to dress himself. After a few moments of cursing and flailing the middle-aged man emerged from his room with disheveled hair into the staff hall, and then went into the kitchen, where Bella had been waiting for him. He sat on a stool, a plate was placed in front of him, and he motioned for the girl to continue what she had tried to say before. 

	"One a' the Priests came by this mornin' -Reander? Reondo?, something like that- and said that we should be getting a cart full of wheat soon from the fields, one of the first from the Greenwood's farm this season, and we need to make some room for it." She rolled her eyes at his groan and kept on, "The Destructioners or whoever are officially not staying, so we can cancel the order to ready rooms for them... Which you hadn't heard since you slept all morning. Moving on, there's the meeting coming up in a week with the farmers... That's it. Oh, and Tori needs your help, apparently. Rex is at her section of the bar so maybe he has something for us? I dunno." The woman shrugged and moved on, after getting a glare at her rambling, going about her normal rounds to check on how lunch was turning out. Reether stood and put his plate in a bucket to be cleaned and swept out of the kitchen doors to behind the bar. 

	He immediately saw the group he would need to approach, and Tori rushing at him from their vicinity. He didn't like what he saw, due to three things; one, Tori looked perturbed, two, there was a pile of gold in her hand, and three, THERE WAS A DAMN ANIMAL WHERE PEOPLE WERE SUPPOSED TO EAT. Reether scowled, but reminded himself to calm down as the face he believed it belonged to -thanks to the matching ears- was completely unfamiliar. Tori approached him and started to almost ramble, "I-I've never seen so many new people at once! They're just throwing gold at me, and then there was an animal, and then Viv got to serve Rex and not me because I was trying to talk to Bella about it! And I think she took his money!" The girl, who he knew was very young and just as new, made Reether's eyes roll. He had stepped a bit closer, and noticed a whole dam bottle of his wines in one of their hands. His anger flared again. 
	
	"What have I said about serving full bottles?!" The girl's eyes widened, and she stooped a bit and looked at the floor.

	"She... She took it herself and then they gave me gold." Reether growled and held out his hands, and the meager pile of gold fell from her own pale grasp. [i]THAT WOULDN'T HAVE EVEN COVERED THE BOTTLE[/i], he thought to himself in heated disappointment. He had never taught the girls real prices other than a glass or a mug, because they rarely needed to know. He shook his head. The problem with gold was that it held very little actual value now that there was no government to back it up. It was pretty and shiny, but pretty was useless at this point in time. It was not rare to find one that accepted gold, many of the traveling merchants still used it, but in Urenda they had almost no use for it. They could sometimes trade with it, but the people they traded with and the things they traded for would cost exorbitant amounts in gold's devalued state. And alcohol? Getting shitfaced was the new national pass-time in the apocalypse. Alcohol wasn't cheap, especially that which Reether couldn't brew himself. Like wine. Tori took a moment to relay what the members of the group had told her, and what she had gathered from their conversation. 

	"Get the good dwarf what he asked and a breakfast, I believe he should be more your speed." He nodded to a sullen looking blond fellow a few seats down. "But four patrons is nothing. Get used to it." He spoke firmly, but not particularly harshly. The girl opened her mouth to defend herself, but ultimately nodded and ducked off. With furrowed brows, Reether shoved the gold in his pockets. Normally, he'd return it, as someone's first meals in Urenda were often free as to entice the wanderers into staying and lending their hand or sword, but that bottle, in these times, was worth much more than a few lousy coins. Yes, people wanted the gold, but not as much as they wanted food. He made a note,however, to see how much Vivianne had taken from Rex, as most of his normal costs could be covered by the furs and meats he sometimes brought back to the city. At that point, he sighed and approached them. His demeanor most likely ended their conversations. 

	As soon as he was close enough, he shooed the damn long rat off his bar counter. In the same bending forward motion, he leaned in at the older woman and snatched the bottle off her knee. With a deep set, unquestionable glower, his eyes hard enough to cut granite, he said, "I'd appreciate it if you'd stay on THAT side of the counter. I do not take kindly to those who would blatantly take from me. If you want a drink, you ask me or one of the girls. We ain't deaf." His voice, again, was firm, but not outright hostile. He swirled the bottom of the picture and grunted; just as he thought, what they had paid had not been nearly enough for that much of the bottle. He didn't know if that was their doing or Tori's, however, and didn't dwell on it. A thought in the back of his mind noted that Eletha should know of such behavior, even if it was just brash showboating.  His arm swung back and he replaced the bottle in it's spot by memory alone, turning his gaze directly at Aurora, not noticing or maybe not caring about the bit of distress on her face. "Animals DO NOT belong on my bar. Keep it on you, on a chair, on the floor, but not where people eat for the love of the light. That's just rude." he was shaking his head by the end of it, but his anger had also dissipated somewhat. 

	"Most of ya' look new here, so lemme tell ya some helpful bits." He crossed his arms as he addressed the group as a whole. "Don't try t' wave your gold 'round in here. Ya' didn't even afford what ya' took from that bottle, and that's just not how this works. If ya' want to eat, ya' need to work. Now, after your one meal you can waltz out, but if ya' stay and the Priests say you're alright, then ya' get fed. Simple as that." Reether had a strange dialect. He spoke with enough eloquence to be educated, but, now that he wasn't angry, it relaxed into a more casual inflection. "But excessive drinking, as in damn near a whole one of my best bottles, tha'll cost ya', but that cost is t' me. My girl Tori is new and messed things up a bit, so I won't go houndin' ya' over her mistake." As he spoke, he wiped down the counter where the fox had been walking. He finished and looked back to the elf with strange ears, "Tori tol' me you wanna' stay. What 'xactly ya' staying in town for?" he arched a brow at her, as her purpose really dictated whether or not she would have to discuss her stay with the Priests. 

	At that point, Viv returned the bar, carrying a mug with some concoction. He grabbed the girl's arm as she passed, and shot in her ear, "Never waste my alcohol on something someone will spit on the floor."  He liked the lycan, as much as he liked any of the other hunters that occasionally brought him meat, but his tendency to ask for (and the girls' tendency to go along with it!) strange drinks was not kind to his limited stores. It was one thing to ask for something special every once in a while, but Reether had to keep many more things that patron satisfaction on his mind. He let go and she moved on; Viv was experienced enough not to let his reproach stain her pleasant features. 
[hr]
	Tori shook her head as Reether walked away, and mocked a few of his words under her breath with a shaking head. Remembering what the dwarf had said before, she grabbed a bottle of dwarven fire-whiskey and filled the bottom of a wide-based glass with it. She placed it in front of him quietly, and grunted softly in case he hadn't been paying attention. She smiled at him, more at ease with one patron opposed to four. "Hello, sir dwarf!" She said cheerily, trying to lighten his mood, "You arrived yesterday, right? So I'm sure you've gotten the spiel!" She giggled a bit, and continued, "Can I get you some breakfast?" She didn't know his situation that well, but if Reether said to feed him, he must have some sort of plans.