The Forgotten Inn

"My name is John Pompidou. I am an outcast." He said this without flinching. 

John Pompidou looked like an old man. His hair was shoulder height,turning grey and was sprouting from under a cowboy hat, brown and made of leather. His chin was covered by a dark brown beard, not very long, but dense and  which continued up his lips to join a bulky mustache. 

He sat on a chair, his right foot crossed over his left, his hands draping down backwards. He didn't look at Virelda or Kripp, but kept chewing on a piece of straw. 

"I have seen you looking around the Grand Cave. As if lost. Are you lost?" He now lifted his eyes from the ground and looked intensely towards Virelda. 

"Sir, I...I am not lost. My friend here, is showing me around." Virelda looked at Kripp concerned. Kripp grinned slightly and moved towards Pompidou. 

Kripp whispered. "She's a highborne. A daughter of the skies!".

John Pompidou jolted slightly backwards on his chair and almost toppled over. 

"Interesting." He said. 

His chocolate brown eyes, although the same colour of his skin and everything else he wore really, were bright and intent. He examined Virelda closely. His eyes moved up and down three or four times before he said a word.

"You look pale, child."

"I am pale." Said Virelda. "We have travelled for two days now, and I haven't ate much."

"I see, but your skin. It is not tainted."

Virelda looked at her skin and then back at him. John's skin was the colour of his leather hat. Brown and rugged like that of Kripp's. She now looked back at her skin and was amazed at how delicate it looked, fragile even.

"What do you mean by tainted?", she asked.

"By the Mist is what I mean." John now spoke in a solemn voice. It was as if something boiled in his heart and he moved a hand to hold it. "The Mist has ruined us all. Cast us away from the light. In this dirty hole. We are pitiful. Outcasts."

"We are NOT outcasts!", snapped Kripp. "We live here by choice. It is you who feel like an outsider. It is you who does not feel like you belong."

"Very so," said John, "I am not a child of this land. I am not a Mole."

Virelda looked at John with empathy. She felt like an outcast as well. Her departure from Skyscapes was not a planned excursion. For all she knew, she might not even be able to return to the City in the Skies. Her heart ached, as John's did a few moments before. She put her hand to her chest.

"I escaped the City in the Skies", said she, "after the High Mayor sent an Elite Force to arrest me." She was honest, clear in her words. She hadn't talked to anyone else till now, except Kripp, and a tear rolled down her eyes.

"I am not sure of what happened to my father. I am not even sure of what might happen to me." She was now shedding tears as she made an effort to continue. "This is not my home. I want to go back home and live in the sky."

"Virelda." Kripp held up an arm around her shoulder. "Home is far away, it is. But this is my home. And soon it will be your home too. The Nest is as good as the City in the Skies believe me. I will show you around and we will meet many people. You will have new family here. New friends. This will be your new home."

Virelda masked away her tears as she looked at the boy beside her. He was not very smart, she thought, but he had something far better than that in him. He had empathy. His words soothed her fears and she hugged him dearly.

John Pompidou was still looking at the two from the far side of the Inn with interest.

"So, you two have reconciled? May I continue?". Virelda and Kripp were slightly embarrassed as they turned back to John to see what he had to say. "As it be, the Forgotten Inn is not a great place to talk in. We shall now move out and meet again in twenty minutes in the Grand Cave, East of the Pool."

He stood up from his chair as he threw the straw from his mouth on the table. "I am to show you the Lungs of the Nest. If, of course, you desire to do so." He looked at Virelda waiting for an answer.

"What are the Lungs of the Nest?", she said. In truth, she did not even know what the Nest itself was. But from what she could understand, it was the name given to these caves and tunnels buried underground. It was the city of the Moles.

"The Lungs of the Nest are the tribal homes. Nine tribes live in the Nest. All swore to protect the Queen. And you, if you wish to become part of the Moles, must meet the leader of each and every tribe. Only then shall you consider the Nest home."

"Very well." Said Virelda. As she did, John Pompidou quickly hurried out of the Forgotten Inn and disappeared.

"He said we have to meet him in twenty minutes." Kripp said, "It is better to hurry up."

"Thank you Kripp", she said. Kripp looked at Virelda and then turned to the door.
"You're welcome", he answered ever so faintly as he hurriedly made way for the door.