Watching two men who had consumed copious amounts of beer try to fight each other with swords made of empty cans taped together was actually a lot more fun than Avery had initially given it credit for. Every time he'd finished a beer, he'd thought, none of them even suspect, of what I am doing, which is gaining their trust, not just getting drunk and having a kind of okay time. Not a one of them! I'm gonna bust this thing wide open! And he'd sort of giggled to himself, and now his own staff was three cans long with a cup on top, which he was currently drinking more beer out of, and watching a couple of guys he'd forgotten the names of battle it out for the right to be named the Grand High Wizard or something. Whatever it was.
"Heeeeey," Avery said, turning to Lyra and giving her a smile. "You changed. What did you find?" Lyra was looking pretty cute, actually, in all these bright colours, and he flicked at the curls poking upwards at the top of her head.