A place for the pants materialized in front of me. It was Warden Hallum’s outstretched hand.
“Thanks!” I plopped the pants down, like his hand was a hook I could hang them on. He shook them out, then carefully folded them into a tight square before placing them on a chairnear the door. “Now jacket. And put the gloves inside the sleeve this time,” he advised sternly.
“I keep losing them,” I explained to Tasha and Shiloh.
“If you do lose them, we certainly have extras,” Tasha said.
“If she needs extras,” Warden Hallum said, watching me closely to make sure I didn’t toss my gloves into some dark, forgotten corner, “then I will make some for her.”
“Fair enough,” Tasha said. She and Shiloh glanced at each other.
“Hello, Doctor!” Xennet tumbled into our little group, closely followed by Dorn.
“Hi, Xennet! You look great!”
“I am wearing my tuxedoroni!” he said proudly.
“I can see that! I remember it from our first meeting! Fabulous choice,” I said, patting him on the chest approvingly. “And you too, Dorn!”
“Warden Hallum,” Xennet said. “You must make a tuxedelilah of your own. For important events such as this dance celebration!”
“My uniform will suffice.” He took my jacket – with the gloves inside the sleeves – and placed it on top of the pants. Then, he removed his hat, completing the little pile.
“I assure you it will not suffice,” Xennet said gravely. “It is not party appropriate!”
“Don’t bother, Xennet,” I said, casting a teasing grin Warden Hallum’s way. “He’s being very stubborn about everybody’s outfit choices tonight. Besides, I see that Warden Tenn has got his uniform on as well.”
Warden Tenn was standing in front of the bar, speaking to Rivven, who stood behind it.
“Come on,” Shiloh said, taking my hand. “Let’s go get you a drink.”
“Perfect,” I said. “Just so everybody knows, I am one hundred percent off doctor duty tonight.”
“You got it,” Shiloh said. “Rivven! Can you get Lualhati some of that new batch? A human-sized portion, please.” She grimaced at me. “Alcohol doesn’t really affect them. They drink it like it’s water or milk or something. In these big giant beer steins.”
I hadn’t tried any of what Rivven had on tap yet. But I had seen him drinking large glasses of it. He passed such a glass over to me now, filled less than a third of the way to the top.
“Go slow and sip it,” Shiloh advised. “It’s fairly strong. It’s like a fermented bracku milk liqueur. But in this latest batch, we’ve added a bit of tuhla fruit preserve to it.”
I took a small sip. “Ooh. That’s dangerous!” I said, savouring the sweetness of the drink. “It’s so good. I could drink way too much of it.”
“I know, right?” Tasha said.
“This is why I warned you,” Shiloh said with a giggle.
“Good thing I ate dinner before I came!”
“Definitely,” Shiloh replied. “You’ll have energy for dancing, and hopefully won’t be too hungover tomorrow! We also have snacks.”
Hearing his wife’s words, Rivven pointed his tail towards some trays of dried fruit and cheese at the far end of the bar.”
“Excellent,” I said. I took another big gulp of my drink. Syrupy warmth was working its way through my veins. “Alright, ladies.” I put down my glass. “I’m going to dance. Join me?”
Join me, they did. We all gathered in the centre of the saloon’s dining room. The tables and chairs had been pushed aside to make room for the dancefloor.
“Oh, I love this one!” Tasha said as a catchy song with a heavy bass beat started up. She tapped her toe almost primly, bopping her blonde head along.
“That’s not dancing!” I cried. “Come on, don’t make me do this on my own!” I started shaking my hips and raising my hands over my head. Shiloh followed my lead, getting into the music, and even Tasha started loosening up a bit.
