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The Heartwood
Bordertown
Sunset
Ramaday the Twentieth Day of Horse

Daxia, Darian, Cesare, Mikal, Dean, Kadri and Romana and Jankin

The Innkeeper stepped away from the door, dusting off his hands. He simply shrugged his shoulders, as if it were something done by rote for a very very long time.

" ... just making sure trouble stays where troubles belong. But don't you worry. There's stew in the hearth, last call and bed is when the first of the two moons set, and then a good night's sleep. That'll get you to breakfast and you can be on your way.

"The forge? I'm sure Daniel will let you borrow it for a few coin come the morrow. Though I recommend you get your business done and on the road again by noon."

He settled back behind his bar - a simple set of polished wood planks set across a pair of barrels. The commons seemed very empty - not enough tables to fill it, and they seemed to be the night's only patrons; or at least the only ones who haven't already retired to their rooms. The barkeep set up a row of pewter mugs.

"As for the critters? They'll be fine."

He tapped a keg and filled up the first couple mugs.

"Most folks passing through drink.

"A lot."

There was a short pause, however, as he looked at one of the group sternly.

"Red hair, eyes of sea-color. Wearing a sword. Tcha. The last thing you folks need."

Turning he snared a small pouch and tossed it to Daxia.

"Country girl riding south dropped this off, sayin' you'd be following."

Inside was a small carven tablet.

Upon one side was a broken circle, shattered into a handful of gray arcs.

The exact same color as this evening's mists.

Mikal

He listens and nods to the innkeeper, though still a bit concerned about the worry that seemingly had him locking, and barring, the door.

He takes a mug, asks after a bowl of stew, and finds a spot to sit as he watches the man hand Daxia a small pouch. He waits for Daxia to explain before asking her any questions about it's contents.

He looks at the innkeeper as he takes a sip of ale and says, "How are things lately hereabouts? Do the Johansson's still farm their land?"

The Johnasson's had a medium sized plot of land about a half day's travel further along the road. He'd stayed with them once or twice. The wife made a mean shepherd's pie and an apple cobbler he could still taste. Not to mention they had a very pretty daughter a couple of years younger than he was.

Jankin

Asking for some hot water, he steeped his tea, humming to himself under his breath. Grabbing a bowl of stew, he polished it off quickly, then sat with a second cup of tea while he carved a small horse by the fire, tossing the shavings into the flames...

After making her own team, Kadri moved over next to jankin, sitting nearby. After seeing what he was carving.

"A horse."

She looks at it critically.

"Looks a bit like a Terilanquel mare to me - proportions good."

She nods.

Cesare

"Not sure what are plans are for leaving yet but who is this Daniel and where will I find him?"

Cesare isn't satisfied with the man's explanation, intending to dig a little more later but not before he has a drink.

"I'll take one of those."

He points to a filled mug.

Darian

She looked about the latest in curiously, noting the innkeepers - not hostility but, perhaps, nervousness. The barred door spoke volumes of itself. And as the others asked their questions, she went to acquire a mug.

"Bowl?"

Daxia

The redhead just raised an eyebrow at the innkeeper, watching him fill the mugs from his keg. When he made his comment to her, she raised the other eyebrow. Plucking the pouch from the air, she asked, “Goodman Innkeeper, are you saying my presence puts my friends at risk?”

She looked at the pouch in her hand, “I thank you for delivering the gift.”

Daxia politely waited for the innkeeper to answer her question, then filled a bowl with stew and sat down before opening the pouch. With a puzzled look on her face, she mutters, “Hoi, Kisa... ta, but what is? Always want Dazi see different thing, huh?” Shaking her head, she set the small tablet on the table in front of her.

“Does anyone recognize this symbol?” she asked of her travel companions. “And what it means?”

She set to eating her dinner while those who wished to look at the tablet did so.

The Heartwood
Bordertown
Sunset
Ramaday the Twentieth Day of Horse

Daxia, Darian, Cesare, Mikal, Dean, Kadri and Romana and Jankin

"Daniel? He's the smith. He'll be here about halfway to noon tomorrow; but he'll leave about halfway till dusk."

The Innkeeper just shook his head, however, looking to the Dayalan as he sets out a bowl for Darian.

"No more than anyone else ... nor any of any kind, one can hope. One can always hope."

He turned turned to Mikal,

"Ja, they still hold the farm, down by the other half day out Inn. Maize is maize, it doesn't matter who the taxes go to. Though come midsummers, his daughter's getting married, done all proper betrothing and courting and all. Here tell they've cut themselves some acreage further west."

Cesare

He nods to the man, thanking him for the information, thinking that the innkeeper might well have the right of it with regard to Daxia, but he is starting to respect her decisions. It is a strange feeling doing some good in the world, taking personal risk to do so. Very different than his people teach, so it goes against the grain for him, but in a strange way he has been more at peace with himself these last weeks.

He could do with hanging around here for a day, clear his debt, make a little extra maybe and maybe he can turn Daxia to his advantage, as well as do some good here, so he heads to look at this symbol. He doesn't expect it to mean anything to him but he is well travelled, always a chance.

So he ends up standing behind Daxia's chair, leaning down towards the symbol for a closer look and also so he can murmur quietly in her ear. And he pays her the compliment of being up front with her, not so Rhoni maybe?

"Daxia, there is more here than meets the eye. The innkeeper is too hurried to bar the door, the smith travels only in daylight. Something or somone plages this place at night. I think we should take some time and find out what is happening. It would work for me too, I am short of coin, spent my last coin investing in my new crossbow ands I owe the smithing of a dagger to Mikal for lessons in its use."

Jankin:

Nodding at Kadri's remark, he replied.

"To me it is just a horse. I don't know the different kinds of horse, though I have seen many kinds of horse. Usually when I make a horse it looks like this."

He started to refine the carving, and left a slender peg sticking up from the center of the back.

"For the rider I will carve tomorrow. Not comfortable for him or her, I fear.

Leaning forward - and closer to her - to take a big sip from his tea, he said in a low voice...

"It seems something is not fully right. Should we be wary do you think?"

Kadri:

"Always should be wary. World plays tricks, and if you are not ready for them, the world will have you."

She nods.

"Act like they are on deathwatch, or waiting for the sky to drop on them. Not normal, healthy paranoia."

Daxia

Daxia nods slightly. “Da,” she says in agreement to Cesare’s first statement. She pushed the small tablet with her finger to the left, then back to the right, then turned it around to look at the pattern from another angle.

She sighed and looked back over her shoulder at the Rhoni. “What is it, do you think, Cesare, that has us walking into situations such as these? Situations where there is more than meets the eye?” she asks quietly. “Your Fates? The will of the Gods? Or do we simply have bad luck?”

She turned to look at Kisa’s gift again. Propping her chin in her hand, resting her elbow on the table, Daxia studied it for a heartbeat or two more before muttering, “Or is your Knight simply following the Path you see better than I, my Lord Kisa?”

Darian

She took the bowl and went to fill it at the hearth then set it down for Longtooth to eat his fill. While he ate, she collected two of the mugs and returned. Once he was done, she poured the contents of one mug into the bowl for him. Her furred companion seen to, she looked to her own needs next.

A quick, cursory scrubbing of the bowl later, she deemed it was suitable for her own use and put it to such. An empty mug went back to the bar, while the other and a refilled bowl went with her to the table where the others had already settled.

She spared a glance for the item Dazi had, and shook her head. It was not familiar to her.

Jankin:

He nodded at Kadri's words, and then went to return his dishes to the bar. He felt much more relaxed, though not sleepy. Certainly, he'd be able to sleep with ease if need be, but it sounded like he might be better served to chew a few seeds from one of the pouches in his bag, that increased alertness. Sighing inside, he stopped on the way to the fire to take a look at the item Dazi was holding.

Mikal

Finishing his bowl of stew and draining the mug he nods to the innkeeper. "Too bad. She was someone I might have been able to settle down with. Still", he shrugs, "probably best for her to stay away from me."

He frowns as he absorbs the information. If the farm is doing well, and just a half-day down the trail, that whatever is causing the innkeeper's odd behaviour is a localized situation.

"Might I ask why you don't want anyone staying down here? I must admit I almost always use the common room when I stay at an inn, and more often than not a small spot by the fire large enough to curl up in a blanket is all I require."

Cesare

He pauses for a moment considering her last questions, or maybe framing the right words for the answer. Finally he says simply.

"You follow your star, we follow you, but the Fates still swirl around us all."

He has nothing to offer on Daxia's tablet but tapping it asks rhetorically.. "Fate or direction?"

With a nod he moves away to get some some food but changes his mind and gets a second ale and joins Darian with a smile whilst he listens to Mikal quiz the innkeeper. He adds his own pearl of wisdom to the man.

"You might as well tell us what is going on because we are going to find out anyway - and it will stop us keep questioning you. There are those here who will not stop before their curiosity is satisfied. Besides, we might be able to help."

He shrugs, his eyes and his expression showing a faint disinterested sympathy for the plight the innkeeper is in, a suggestion that he might save himself.

The Heartwood
Bordertown
Sunset
Ramaday the Twentieth Day of Horse

Daxia, Darian, Cesare, Mikal, Dean, Kadri and Romana and Jankin

The Innkeeper shook his head, walked from behind his counter and looked out the window.

"First moon's about to set. Finish up ... you should go to your rooms by the time I finish shuttering up."

One by one he goes to each window, shutting them up and battening them down.

"Fogs thicker than usual ...'

Is a simple mumble to himself, before he turns to Mikal.

"Nothing I can do, if'n you want to get out of your room and come down to the commons after I go to my rooms for sleep.

"Can't stop you from stabbing yourself in the foot, either."

He then shuts up the last window.

Daxia

A look of sadness passed momentarily over her features as she shrugged in answer to Cesare’s question.

She continued eating her stew, but between spoonfuls asked Jankin when he came over, “What say you, Jankin? Have you seen such markings before?”

Kadri sneaks a look at it when Dazi brings it over.

"Dazi, what do you think ... Should we hide and cower in our rooms? Sounds like the man is giving us a warning, but I also don't like having some unknown danger lurking on the other side of my door at night."

Daxia

Daxia finished the last of her stew, soaking the last bit of gravy up with a piece of bread. She looked over at Kadri, brow furrowing as her gaze moved to Mikal and Cesare, and then back to Kadri.

“Hide and cower? I’ve never heard getting a good night’s sleep described in quite that way before,” she said with a raised eyebrow. “While I doubt that’s actually going to happen — the good night’s sleep, I mean — it is my desire. Danger is danger, whether known or unknown... so I will sleep lightly.” She looked at Romana, and a smile slowly formed. “If sleep is possible when blankets are stolen as easily as the wind moves among the trees.”

She sighed, stood and carried bowl and mug to the bar, returning them to the Innkeeper. After walking back to the table, she simply leaned on it, palms flat on the old wood and eyes on the tablet sent by Kisa.

“I can’t shake the feeling that this is the other end of the story begun in Bordertown,” she said softly. “The Flowered Path began — or does it end? — at the Temple on the Border. We know the brutal truth of that place. I’ve caught sight of the Flowered Path more as we traveled closer and closer to the Silk Creek...

“...where the last battle of the Second Age was fought.”

The Dayalan was quiet, an almost haunted look on her face.

“But if any of my Sisters were here so long ago, no tales remain. None of Morning Star’s Brothers were here. So it’s not my tale to tell. Or, perhaps, to even seek out.” She shook her head as she picked up the tablet. “Celi might have found a way to tell the tale,” she whispered.

Jankin:

Shaking his head in response to Daxia's question, he took his seat once again.

"Should we have one of us stay awake, taking it turn by turn throughout the night?"

Cesare

"I suggest we all sleep down here and see if we can curb our curiosity enough not to open the shutters to peek out."

Ok so he is baiting the innkeeper, but he is frustrated with the man's unwillingness to speak. If they don't get answers tonight, maybe the smith will talk in the morning.

Daxia

Daxia tucked the small tablet into the pouch at her waist, then shook her head as she rolled her eyes at Cesare.

“Go upstairs, try to get some sleep. If you feel the need to keep watch...” She looked at Jankin and shrugged. “...well, I can’t stop you.” She looked between Mikal and Kadri. “And if you feel the need to explore the common room after our host has advised against it...” She lifted her hands as well as her shoulders this time, palms up. “...I can’t stop you from doing that, either.

“For myself, I will sleep lightly as always.”

The Dayalan picked up her gear and started for the stairs. “Romana come with DaziDaziDaziDazi?”

The Heartwood
Bordertown
Sunset
Ramaday the Twentieth Day of Horse

Daxia, Darian, Cesare, Mikal, Dean, Kadri and Romana and Jankin

The tall, black haired woman looked to Daxia, nodding slowly.

"Romanas understands Romanas guest in Innkeeper's house.

"Romanas does not wish to be troubles, not brigands or thuggers or rabidmerebeastlets ..."

She gathered up what little she owned herself and followed Daxia upstairs.