Part 8: New Company

Gilly listens and then shrugs to show she has no complaints.

"I don’t know where we plan to find a troupe of armed warriors though! Not with our reputation.

Might just be us and that Elmo again."

She didn’t relish the thought.

"Do we need a cart?"

"Are you alright there, friend?" she calls to the man she spots staring at her.

"Is he alright?" she turns to ask the innkeeper.

"I’ve no got something on my face, do I?" she rubs the sides of her mouth hastily. She expected to see her fingers come back purple. Lunch was a few berries off the bush while on the road. No one minded that, did they? Taking a few berries was alright. They didn’t belong to anyone, did they?

Eltrezar snaps his fingers, apparently the idea of a cart had escaped him! Of course, he'd never admit it. Hrmph! "Yes, something to carry back all of the equipment. That would be ideal! As for the warriors, I believe Elmo would do wonderfully. He performed admirably before, and seems to have a trick or two up his sleeves."

Luban catches himself gawking at the woman, sometime after she had asked Ostler about him. Was she really talking to him? "No, no, nothing on your face! I must apologize for staring, it's not often someone like you comes to a town like this. Manners! My name is Luban, and I'm a trusted companion to a group of great warriors here in town! Might I ask your name?"

"Three silvers. It must be the gods’ own honey! I can hardly wait." she exclaims as she counts out the three pieces and hands them over!

"A trusted companion of great warriors! My my… And who are these great warriors then? Ones I might have heard of?"

"He’s not out of town is he? Not on one of his… outings?" the last few days were a blur and she couldn’t quiet recall when last they had seen the man.

"Don’t tell me we have to deal with those crooks at the store again. We’d get a wagon with square wheels and a knife in the back for good measure." she whispers that last part!

Luban finds himself listening both to the innkeeper and to the new woman, and paying not enough attention to either. He doesn't notice that she had avoided giving him a name. "Well, the company of Maloria Stoneforge, of course!" He points out the table where the group has gathered. "Maloria herself is the mighty one over there, along with her... lover... and her... daughter? Don't mind the difference in hair. And finally, her old family valet!" He points to Thurig, Gilly, and Eltrezar respectively.

Eltrezar scratches his chin through the ancient beard.
Hmmm. "I believe he said he'd be around by now, though one would expect him to be here in the tavern. We can ask around tomorrow, and perhaps the innkeeper might know of other options should he prove unavailable. By the way, does anyone know of the man by the counter pointing at us? I believe he tried to beg for money earlier."

Mal looks at the man Eltrezar is pointing out,

"Oh. That's Luban. I hired him to help with the keep. Not the best specimen but the pickings are slim and he seems able enough."

Thurig roll his eyes at Maloria's statement.

"Orc blood."

"Ora! Rusk!" she throws a hand across the bar to be shook.

"Sorry. Just remembered that you’d asked. Long day. Not a busy one, mind. Just long.

An adventuring family? Fascinating. And that must make you… what? The little one’s uncle? A step sibling perhaps?" a joking smile.

Gilly didn’t have much in the way of opinions on long held views such as blood, and lineages. That was the realm of elves and dwarves in her view. Humans too, if they got up in age. A look at the old wizard then…

"So long as it stays inside him, it can’t hurt much, can it?"

Thurig snorts at the joke despite himself and shakes his head ruefully as he finishes off his tankard.

Hrmph! "I don't care for him, not do I trust him. He looks as shifty and untrustworthy as several others we've recently employed." At this point, Eltrezar sighs and looks into his empty tankard. Lately he had felt much akin to this cup, old and used and empty. But tomorrow was a new day for him, and a trip to the bar was another life for the tankard.

"Oh, no! Clearly I'm not family. I'm just the hired... well, I guess I'm just a trusted expert in many things considered untoward. It is truly a divine pleasure to meet you, Miss Rusk!" He takes her hand and shakes it rather daintily, as if he were afraid it might fall off.

"You were saying?" Mal says through raised eyebrows to Eltrezar.

"Not only do I not trust him around children... or Gilly... but I am also certain he is hiding a secret from us. I am torn between keeping him close and keeping away."

Eltrezar looks over to Elmo who would be towering over Gilly had he not just sat down. "He is quite able to handle himself, and should be proficient if we keep him away from the drink tomorrow. Besides, I feel as though we can trust him. His suspicious nature is too glaring to be secretive. I like that."

The old man takes a long sip of his ale before turning slowly to look at all at the table. All of them... wait... his eyes squint at the newcomer, not in anger or suspicious but out of poor eyesight. Hrmph! "Have you been here this whole time?" he asks of Thurig.

"Hmpf" grunts the dwarf, staring out at the wizard from under bushy eyebrows.