A medium-sized, pretty nondescript town near the Ratterlin.

Oliver-

It was sunset when I spotted the town, having followed the road north along the Ratterlin. It wasn't walled like Roble's Town, but was about the same size - maybe a little smaller.

It was getting dark, which meant it would be getting cold, and I decided to find an inn; I could look for work in the morning. The first place I passed looked pretty expensive, and I finally settled on a smallish inn with a faded sign: The Full Flagon Inn. It suited my temperment. After engaging a room for the night, I sat at the bar and ordered a drink.

~Sorienne~

Mawbor and I were quite contentedly enjoying a meal at the inn. It hadn't been hard to find out where our first target was, and once we'd located him we'd just booked rooms at his inn. We'd need to know our way around the place well before we put our plan into action.

I looked up as the inn's front door opened - and stared. Only for a moment, though. I quickly looked back down, and gave Mawbor a slight grin.

Mawbor-

I looked up, and the last person I expected to see was talking to the innkeeper, and then sitting at the bar.

I turned to Sorienne. "Is that who I think it is?"

~Sorienne~

'I believe it is,' I said quietly, continuing to eat my meal whilst watching Tindall out of the corner of my eye.

Mawbor-

"So he did stay," I muttered, staring at the ex-scout. "Wonder if the girl's around too..."

~Sorienne~

'Stop staring at him,' I hissed. 'He might notice you. Don't worry, I'm keeping an eye on him.'

Oliver-

I downed my second flagon of wine, and then checked the money in my bag. I had enough to last a few days, but just in case I ordered one of the cheaper meals. When it arrived it was hot and filling, and that was all I cared about right now.

The room was quite crowded, but nobody bothered me, for which I was grateful. I stared at the bottom of my third flagon of wine, and ordered another.

"You're going through those pretty quickly," the bartender observed, but after I glared at him he gave me my drink.

~Sorienne~

I watched Tindall go through quite a large amount of wine, and grinned to myself. 'Looks like he's thirsty,' I remarked to Mawbor. 'And I don't think the slut's with him. I've told you what that innkeeper did to her, so do you really think she'd come back here?'

Mawbor-

"Oh, right," I said. "Well, his arrival changes things. Are we still going to stick to the original plan, then?"

~Sorienne~

'Yes,' I replied. 'Now we know this town pretty well, I think it's time to send a message to the slut, asking for her help, just like I said before. The fact that Tindall's here without her evidently means that they're not actually together, so that won't affect things much. Don't worry,' I added, smirking. 'I think we can still have our fun with him.'

Mawbor-

"When should we make our move?" I asked nervously. "We're staying in the same inn as him - if he recognizes us -"

~Sorienne~

I took a folded piece of paper out of my pack and held it up. 'I wrote the letter when we first got here,' I said. 'We can send it tonight, and when the slut arrives, we strike.'

Mawbor-

"Right," I said, nodding. Sorienne always thought of everything. "What do we do about Tindall then?" I asked, turning my head to look at the ex-scout.

~Sorienne~

I thought about it. We couldn't make ourselves obvious before we'd carried out our plan, but who knew how long Tindall would stay here? I didn't want him to just walk off before we could do anything with him.

'I'll see if I can overhear what his plans are,' I said, carefully letting my hair loose so it could slightly cover my face. Tindall hadn't seen me with my hair down before anyway, so with any luck he wouldn't recognise me. I didn't usually risk things, but still...

Once I'd sorted out my hair, I casually made my way over to the bar.

Oliver-

I'd thought the meal would be enough to offset any drunkenness, but obviously after six flagons of wine that became rather difficult. It was starting to become a bit difficult to balance on the barstool.

"Staying here long?" asked the bartender, filling my seventh flagon.

"I don't know," I admitted, tracing scratches on the bar. "I'm looking for work, actually."

"Well there's a lot of stuff around here," said the bartender, pushing the drink towards me. "I'm sure you'll find something. If you were thinking of settling down, Aelford is a pretty good place to-"

I snorted, and took a sip of wine. "Settling down? I just need enough to buy a horse, then I'm out of here."

~Sorienne~

I sat down at a barstool, leaving one empty seat between myself and Tindall, and listened carefully. He was looking for work?

The bartender looked at me and asked what I wanted, and I put on a slight accent as I ordered my drink, just in case Tindall recognised my voice. I didn't look at him, at least not directly, but I kept my ears keen for whatever else he was saying.

Oliver-

"Where are you headed?" asked the bartender after he'd finished serving another customer.

I shrugged. "Anywhere. Doesn't matter. Further north, I guess."

"Are you running away from something?" he asked, a bit too shrewdly for my taste.

I gave a wry smile. "You could say that. Though it's more of a 'someone' than a 'something'."

'Aaah..." The bartender nodded, then motioned at my drink. "That one's on the house."

"Thanks," I muttered.

~Sorienne~

I was very tempted to look over at Tindall when I heard that. Running away from someone? Could he possibly mean the slut? I eyed him carefully out of the corner of my eye, making sure that I was looking through my hair. He was drinking rather a lot. Maybe even enough not to recognise me... Best to wait for a bit longer, just to wait and see.

Oliver-

"We're closing the kitchens soon," said the bartender. "You want anything else to eat?"

I shook my head, then downed my wine and tapped the empty flagon.

"You're having quite a lot," the bartender noted. "Am I going to have to cut you off?"

"Not until I drink myself into oblivion," I answered.

The bartender winced. "Buddy, no woman is worth that."

I lowered my head. "This one was." The bartender said nothing, and soon my drink was re-filled.

~Sorienne~

So he had been referring to the slut... I felt sure of it. And if he really did get himself that drunk, he would be so much easier to play with. I glanced at him again, and saw that he was deeply buried in his drink. It was time to risk it. I waited until he had drained his wine, and then reached into my purse.

'I'll get you your next one,' I said sweetly, keeping up the accent. I turned to the bartender and ordered a couple more drinks.

Oliver-

I glanced at the woman sitting two stools over, then shrugged. "Thanks," I said, "but I like to pay for my own."

~Sorienne~

I gave him a flirty smile and slid my money across to the bartender. 'Maybe you could return the favour afterwards.'

Oliver-

I sighed. "Look, no offense, but I'm not looking for any company tonight." Despite the large amount of wine I'd consumed, all I could think of was damn Idriel. It was most annoying.

~Sorienne~

I laughed softly. 'I was meaning, you could buy me a drink,' I said, still smiling. 'It's understandable that you wouldn't want to... be with anyone tonight, if you're upset over another woman.'

Oliver-

"Upset isn't the half of it," I sighed, then shrugged. "But I'll buy you a drink."

The bartender filled our glasses.

~Sorienne~

'She must've been a special woman if you're that worked up over losing her,' I said, giving him my best sympathetic look.

Oliver-

I laughed and almost choked on my wine. "Special? Yeah, I guess you could say that..."

~Sorienne~

'You want to tell me about her?' I offered. 'Or would you rather forget her?'

Oliver-

"You can't forget someone like her," I said, taking a few gulps of wine. "She was..." I shook my head, "absolutely insane."

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