Floating on high, a heart blossoming on the breeze, my tears too far to fall.

  - From the diary of Lady Aeyah of House Sahaem.

  Despite their fearsome appearance, in terms of raw statistics, the twins were a joke in comparable power. The brother had only ten more points of Health than his mother and a small bump in his Stamina. It was either they were weak, or I had started to grow into a monster. Truly, my decision to spend all my ‘free’ points on Constitution was beginning to return dividends. Not only had it probably saved my life in the mines, but it had allowed me to train longer and fight harder, which, in turn, had boosted my secondary attributes.

  This was certainly something to keep in mind in my further dealings with them. It really came back down to the good old adage of never judging a book by its cover.

  With Larynda trailing once more behind me, we found our way to our wagon. Once there, I informed Kidu about our encounter and that we were going with Larynda to have a quick talk with Laes. Since I could not see people’s attributes directly, I assumed that she must have a retively-high Charisma to have opened up the recalcitrant twins. Her tagging along would probably be useful.

  Locking up our wagon, we found our driver, Ables, hitching up a pair of Ruar to the vehicle. The beasts, despite their rather fearsome appearance, were docile and accepted his calm yet firm instruction as they pcidly allowed him to attach their harnesses.

  Noticing our presence, he greeted us with a small bow of the head before continuing with his work. I sidled up to him to engage him in a quick conversation.

  “A good morning to you, Ables,” I began with a smile.

  “An’ a good one to you sir,” he replied, barely meeting my eyes, as he was busy with his work.

  “Just a quick question, my good man, and we’ll leave you to your work,” I started, politely waiting for him to finish tying a stubborn knot. “Where can I find Master Harevor at this hour?” It was a question I probably knew the answer to, but it behooved me to be polite to the help. If I kept at this for long enough, I might even be able to get a point in my Charisma.

  “The master be at and about his business, I am guessing. Best bet though, be in his tally wagon at this hour,” he said noncommittally, his entire focus on his morning task.

  Mumbling thanks, we made our way to find Harevor. On the way, we passed what could only be an old tinker or a smith mending an even older iron pot that had seen better days. Should we need to, my little group could probably get some simple repairs done from him. Perhaps they could even acquire some new equipment. It reminded me that I would probably have to do something about getting new pouches or bags at some point in the future.

  We made a small detour to check on Patches. As always, she was the very picture of equine gentleness. She gave Larynda a slobbering lick after she fed the donkey a small biscuit from one of her pockets.

  Twenty or so minutes ter, we arrived at the tally wagon. We soon heard the sound of Laes’ commanding voice cutting through the din of the camp, and alerting us to his presence. He was shouting orders to his crew, praising and haranguing them when necessary, all in an effort to squeeze some more efficiency from them.

  “Master Harevor!” I called out and grabbed his attention.

  “What is it, Gilgamesh?” he replied quickly, before giving a few quick instructions to another worker.

  “I have a few questions…” I began, almost feeling a little guilty for getting in the way and taking up some of his precious time.

  “I will answer them once we are on the move. Wait in my wagon, I must see to the day’s preparations,” he replied firmly, already moving on to his next task. When he saw that I was making no move to leave, he quickly added, “Which should be in about half a turn of the gss. If these shiftless yabouts get moving!” he shouted the st without any true venom, getting a few knowing grins from his workers.

  I felt that I had been summarily dismissed, like a child from the principal’s office. Turning to my companions, I searched their faces for their reaction.

  “Best we make our way inside, I’m guessing,” Larynda offered, shrugging her shoulders.

  This drew a simple grunt from Kidu who had nothing meaningful to add. With no other options before us, my small group made our way to the wagon, finding the door open, climbed in, took our shoes off near the entrance, and sat down on the opulent and thick carpets.

  There we waited for perhaps another twenty minutes before the rge caravan began to move, just as Laes’ head popped in through the door. Moving with one of his hands at the small of his back and groaning a little with old pain, he sat down opposite from me, cross-legged.

  “Apologies for being a little short earlier, but one is always a little busy getting these lugger louts to be off and about moving. Now, I am sure you have questions aplenty for me,” he started genially, a hint of amusement dancing at the edges of his mouth.

  “For a start, my companions and I would like to know the details of your retionship with Hamsa, and about that vow-knot thing or whatever. Also, I have a few more general questions about the road ahead,” I responded, looking him in the eye with every word.