Chapter Text
Tataru is having a lovely evening. She has returned to the hostelry after Hancock's tour, and is doing what she does best. There are two hingan locals absolutely wrapped around her finger feeding her all kinds of good info about kugane, and othard as a whole.
and- wait, is that Eyra looking around with that haunted look in his eye? Yes, it is. She almost didn't recognize him without his distinctive red robes, but it is; and he seems lost.
"Eyra!" She yells over the loud evening conversation, waving her hand back and forth until he catches sight of it. He immediately beelines towards her, almost tripping over his newly-acquired local garment the process (a Hakana, she thinks it is called.)
He eventually reaches the table, and then just stares at her. Her conversation partners seem somewhat uncomfortable, but they don't matter; what matters is that Eyra has that 'I-need-to-talk-to-you-right-now-but-we-have-to-go-somewhere-private-to-do-it-please-help' look.
"Now I'm terribly sorry you two, but it looks like I am needed elsewhere!" She offers to the others seated at the table once she had gotten off of her chair. They look disappointed, and maybe a little angry, but Eyra matters way more so she doesn't care.
She leads Eyra out of the crowded hall and into the quiet evening Kugane air.
"What's the matter Eyra?" She wonders what he would need her specifically for, maybe his outfit needs repairing and that's why he's not wearing it? No, he really looks like something's wrong...
"It happened again."
It is a simple, short answer that tells her nothing.
"What happened again?"
She looks for the telltale sight of his extreme discomfort, and sure enough she can see his toes clenching and unclenching in his eastern shoes.
"It! It... like In Ishgard." He says, almost painfully forcing out every word.
In Ishgard?
Oh. The other time he urgently needed her, that one night in Fortomps manor. She could hear him shouting about something and came over to check on him, only to find him weeping about-
"Him."
Him, G'raha Tia. He's been recovering, but grief never truly goes away, especially after just a few months.
Okay, she knows how to deal with this.
"Do you want to go back to your room to talk about it? Or the noise too much for you?"
He squirms a bit, and put up two fingers.
It's not unusual for him to get like this; he once confided In her that he's so quiet all the time because he only learned Eorzean a few years ago, and what started as not speaking to avoid miscommunication became a habit, and it gets especially bad when he's nervous or overstimulated. But it's calm and quiet out here, so it must be really bad right now if he's like this.
"Distraction." He spits out as fast as he can say it. There we go.
She smiles cheekily, hoping to encourage him a bit.
"I just got told about the perfect place. Come with me."
She's learned a lot in the past few hours of shmoozing, the two most pertinent points to this situation being: 1, easterners tend (generally) to be quiet and polite unless alcohol or violence is involved. 2, there is a very good restaurant not a third-malm away famous for good dinners, a relaxed atmosphere, and being foreigner-friendly.
She leads him through the directions she was given: foreword down this street, right through that one, left at the one with the fish logo, right down this alley.....and boom! There they are. Dark blue curtain, gold symbol, delicious smell... it's the place.
She looks at Eyra, and he nods. He already looks a little better just from the walk. They push through the curtain and find themselves and an almost checkpoint-like area, where a waiter greets them with a bow and a "welcome".
Tataru is always surprised by how good these hingan's eorzean is, it's always accented of course, but very rarely mispronounced.
Then again, kugane is the only open port in an entire nation, so it makes sense the locals would know so many languages.
The attendant shows them to a table and, after making clear that a corner table would be better, the two sit down. The table already has a menu on it (hingan with several translations, eorzean being one of them. Descriptions included!)
Eyra scans the menu before putting it down and nodding. Tataru takes a bit more time. She's interested in the 'chicken in a sweet and savory sauce', but also the 'fish and vegetables rolled in rice' she's not sure she could eat both of them though.
"Pork gyoza, donburi, wakame, sake sashimi, chirashi.”
The waiter looks a little worried, but nods and asks a follow up.
"What kind of donburi, sir?"
Eyra gestures for Tataru to order while he looks back at the menu.
"I'd like the cucumber salad and teriyaki chicken, if you would." The waiter writes that down and Eyra puts down the menu.
"Gyodon, please. with the vegetables.”
She nods, and hesitates for a moment before speaking.
"Sir, you’re asking for a lot of food..."
Eyra nods, and smiles brightly.
That's good to see. Eyra always seems proud about how much he can eat, he told her once that it was because he used to be very underfed back before he left his homeland, and it showed how far he had come.
It makes sense, she supposes, fighting burns a lot of fuel, and Eyra one of the most proficient (and active) warriors in the world. She's an accountant, and a lalafell besides, so the side dish and an appetizer is more than enough for her.
The waitress bows and quickly leaves, and Tataru tries to think of a conversation topic, he's already looking and acting much better, and more talking seems like it could be the solution.
Food seems like the obvious topic, but the only question she has would be about the food where he comes from, but that seems like a bad topic considering his past. (She's not exactly sure what led to his malnourishment, but it seems better not to bring it up either way.)
Hhmmm...
she hasn't really talked to him very much since he went to Ala Mihgo, but that's also probably another bad thing to bring up....
It's strange trying to make small talk with the Warrior of Light, even if he is her close friend.
Hm.
Ah!
"That ship's journey was right bloody terrible, wouldn't you say?"
He nods, and actually speaks!
"Yeah!. Twelve, remember that time it rained?"
"I do! I don't understand how anyone could live on a ship!" She leans in as much as her small body allows.
"And those hammocks? Awful."
He opens his mouth, then shuts it again, and looks sad.
Damnit! She messed up again! She's not sure how, but she has. She's got to bring this back into safe territory quick!
Uhhh-
"Food! I know it hasn't gotten here yet, but I'll be excited to hear your opinions on it when it does. Come to think of it, you never did tell me what you thought of the food in Ishgard, or anywhere else in eorzea for that matter. I'd love to know."
He regains some of himself, and thinks a bit.
"Ishgard, huh?"
He nods. She's doing it!
"Well, the bread is good. I've been buying a muffin and a croissant every time I'm in foundation."
Gosh, isn't it?
She has input on the topic of ishgardian pastry as well.
"I found this little shop that puts chocolate filling in them, and it is truly marvelous!"
He nods again.
"I'll pick one up when I next go to ishgard if you like?"
She would like.
"That sounds great! Thank you."
He smiles.
"The meat is also quite good, ishgard is the only place i have yet found in eorzea with easy access to lamb. Thanalan doesn't have it because it's too hot, la nocea is too far west, and meat is hard enough to come by in the Shroud anyway."
That matches pretty well with what Tataru knows. She grew up quite affluent, so she did try lamb once or twice, but it just wasn't too her liking.
"So you like lamb then?"
He nods.
"Lamb was basically the only meat we had back where I grew up, so it was very strange coming to a place that didn't really have it."
The waitress returns with a few bowls and plates on a tray, she moves them to the table and takes the tray with her.
Eyra has ordered a truly prodigious amount of food. If Tataru didn't know any better she'd think the Viera was ordering for three or four people instead of just himself.
There's a set of dumplings, two very large bows of different meats and rice, some kind of salad, and entire platter of what looks like raw fish. That he can eat like that and still be so lithe and muscular is a true wonder that can only be believed about a man that fights primals on the regular.
And then off to the side is her chicken and cucumber salad, both of which look delicious.
"That's a lot of fish."
He looks a bit sheepish. Just embarrassed though, not tortured like earlier, which is good.
"Is it too much money?"
She waves a hand.
"Oh, no, perish the thought. I was just wondering what your thoughts on fish are?" She says, waving a hand to dismiss the worry.
He takes a piece of fish in his chopsticks. (How does he know how to use those?) and very quickly eats it before speaking again.
"Fish was a rarity back when I still lived in the village, one of the neighboring ones had a river so we sometimes traded for some."
He puts another in his mouth, savoring it fully this time with a happy look on his face.
"Not a lot of that after I presented. None actually, I had to hunt anything I wanted to eat."
He looks at the massive amount of food before him, and smiles.
"Not any more though."
Tataru isn't sure what 'presenting' is, but she's glad he's doing better now.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I need some time to truly dig in."
And dig in he does, Tataru does as well, but he's only about halfway done by the time she's finished. The waitress was kind enough to also provide a fork, so she uses that instead.
Good gosh he is really going to eat all that food isn't he.
She watched as he methodically works through the meal, taking a bite of one thing, then another, and moving down the line (paying special attention the the fish.), until eventually it is all gone.
He leans back, visibly full Benitez his robe.
"Why are you wearing the Hakaba, by the way? Is your robe damaged?"
He looks a little out of it from the meal, but answers slowly.
"I... wanted to not draw too much attention, youknow? Not be the Warrior of Light for a bit."
She giggles a little, and nods towards one of the waitstaff, who was staring almost slack-jawed while he ate.
"We you've definitely failed the first bit with how big that meal was, but I don't think any of these people have even heard of the Warrior of Light. Regardless, I hope you had a nice evening."
It is getting pretty late...
He nods again.
"I did. You're a treasure, Tataru. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"I home you're feeling better now."
He smiles.
"I do."
A pause
"Alphinaud once told me that grief never really goes away, but that the rest of your life gets bigger around it. Thank you truly for being part of that."
That is just so sweet she feels like she is going to burst!
Well, it looks like they're done here, time to break out the secret technique!
She raises her hand and calls enough to be heard.
"Su-me-ma-sen!"
The waitress returns, and looks at the empty dishes with a look halfway between horrified and impressed. Tataru puts the requisite Gil on the table, and the two of them leave out into the crisp night air better then when they walked in.