“You know…” I said, looking toward my bag in the storage room. “There is some buttertap…”
Rio hummed. “Normally I don’t go for such sweet liquor, but let’s be honest. We could all use some.”
I nodded, digging into my bag and pulling out the only slightly drained bottle. Rio stood and went to pester Kewyn for any cup-like containers. He came back with four things that looked suspiciously like halves of oilcans. I tried not to think about it, and as they were clean enough. I poured an equal amount of the amber liquid into each.
Spreading the buttertap so thin made it so hardly more than two mouthfuls for each of us, but it was still delightful to be able to share. Kewyn and Rio accepted their cups and downed them quickly. Taking a sip from my own cup, I went back into the storage room and held one up for Levent.
He glanced at it from his position on the floor, shaking his head.
“No thanks,” he muttered, returning to the task that lay in front of him. He removed his cloak again, and was now running his finger along the cuts I had made in it.
I retracted my hand. I was disappointed that he did not want to partake, but the greedier part of me was pleased that I could have twice my serving of buttertap, now. I sat on the floor across the room and slurped down the sweet alcohol.
It took me a few minutes to realize that something was happening when Levent ran his fingers along the cuts in the cloak. Little puffs of smoke drifted up from where his hand met the cloth, and above the smell of the blood I could now smell burnt fabric.
“Are you cauterizing your cloak?” I asked, slightly bewildered.
Levent said nothing, but lifted the cloak up so I could see the gap beginning to close. He was producing just enough heat for the fibers to glue back together.
“Very nice,” I commended, and he returned to his work. By the time I gulped down the last of the buttertap, Levent was finished. He tested the seem by pulling on the fabric a little, then swung it around his shoulders and fastened the buckles.
Now that I was full of the pleasant tingle of liquor, I realized how late in the day it was and how inviting the idea of sleep was becoming. I stood, walking out to the cupboard and pulling out my bag again. As I shuffled through it to find some clothes to sleep in, I heard Kewyn call Levent and I from the front of the ship.