Chapter 3

As she sat there, the sunlight streamed in through the glass of the windows nearby, with their heavy curtains pulled open to allow the daylight in. She basked in its warmth, knowing that she'd pull them closed before the sun had set to keep prying eyes from disrupting the privacy of those who would come to enjoy the evening. There was almost always at least five clients at all times during this point in the year. Most chose to sleep on their ships or one of the other inns, but when certain ships came in from the sea she knew who to expect. She suspected that she actually pulled in more profit than Lloyd or Allek, but neither were willing to discuss the subject. Lloyd, at least, acknowledged her right to run a business, but Allek found her choices distasteful at best.

She could hear the sounds of Marcus quietly cleaning and stacking bottles and glasses. The man was meticulous, another quality that she appreciated in him. Her girls tended to be a bit sloppy when it came to keeping the place orderly, but she didn't push too hard on that issue as she knew that their talents were elsewhere. She leaned her head back, closing her eyes and listening. Beyond Marcus, she could hear the sounds of pots and pans being rattled in the kitchen, presumably cleaning up from breakfast and possibly preparing for lunch. She could hear the ocasional footsteps as one girl or other moved across the wooden floors of the inn, along with the occasional creaking board.

Of the forty bedrooms the inn had, 10 of them were used by the staff as quarters, and one was her own. Of the remaining twenty-nine, however, she knew that only 7 of them were currently occupied. Six of those were sailors who'd decided to spend their nights here during shore leave, taking advantage of the "discount" that it gave them on their entertainment costs. The seventh, however, was someone getting an early start, and if she listened hard enough, she thought she could hear him enjoying his time with Leet, who'd been happy enough to leave the chore of washing sheets to someone else while she accomodated his needs. It was rare to have customers before noon, generally, excepting the ones who stayed over.

The sound of someone coming up the step, caused her to open her eyes and adjust her dress as she stood up to greet them. She tugged lightly at her low neckline, making sure to maintain the appearance that her bosom could escape it at any time if she weren't careful. She knew it wouldn't, but they always seemed to think it might, based on the way their eyes always seem to end up there. She licked her lips and smiled at the door as it opened.

The smile, however, faded and her brow furrowed as she saw the Mayor's daughter Lynna entering with a nervous and wary look on her face. Mary was surprised to see the girl, as her father was one of the most pious people she'd ever met, and it was unlikely he'd want his daughter ever setting foot on the lawn, much less in Mary's inn itself. She waited, head cocked, while the girl approached somewhat timidly.

Finally the knock came at the door. With Marcus looking on from across the room Mary opened the door, trying to conceal her confusion at the girl's presence.

"Good morning," she offered the girl.

"Good morning Miss Stewart," Lynna said awkwardly. The girl looked around the room, trying--and failing--to be discrete about it. The girl had never been good at concealing her reactions to things, and Mary smiled at the thought of just how many things here could probably shock the girl.

"Um...is Aleena here?"

The girl kept observing the room. Curiosity showed in the girl's eyes. Perhaps she expected the room to be filled with debauchery, with coupling on every chair and couch, and perhaps a row of naked forms on display. Maybe the girl even expected to see girls in chains. Mary had heard quite an inventive variety of speculations by folk who had never stepped inside her building, and most likely would refuse to if invited to inspect it. Some of the suggestions had actually been very creative. A couple she had even used...

"Well, unless she's learned to fly I suppose she probably is. Come with me, and you can tell me why you're asking about her while we look for her," Mary said, dragging it out a little. "Surely she's here somewhere." Mary was looking forward to seeing the girl's reactions, to see how far her curiosity would take her.

Whenever Mary and the girl had crossed paths in town she had not seemed as judgmental as her father. Maybe the girl was actually just tolerant by nature. Perhaps, given her age, she was inherently curious about anything her father would disapprove of. There was nothing going on to corrupt the girl, but Mary decided to let her hear just enough to know what was going on. She expected it to prove rather interesting.

Mary indicated that Lynna should follow her, and closed the door behind her once the girl had stepped all the way into the room. Mary turned her back on the girl, and gathered the skirt of her dress in one hand.

"Follow me then, young lady." she said, in a tone she had found worked well in getting her girls to tend to their chores. "So what is it you want with Aleena then?" She could hear the girl taking a deep breath before answering, and wondered if the girl wasn't, perhaps, more pious than she had guessed. She led the girl upstairs, and started down the hallway of the rooms that were currently rented out.

"There's a medical man in town, and my father has given him permission to inspect the pregnant women to make sure their babies are doing okay." She said it all in a rush, the way some of her girls did when they were lying about their whereabouts. She'd had the occasional troubles with one or two of her girls sneaking off to the boats to make some extra cash, instead of arranging it through her. That practice was dangerous, Mary knew, and she'd heard of instances in other towns where the boats took off with the girl still aboard but then she'd never been seen again. Mary simply refused to allow her girls the risk of becoming a pirate captive or sold off into slavery, which was what the rumors were on what happened to such girls.

Mary stopped and turned to look Lynna in the eyes, and realized that there was more to the girl's nervousness than the sounds of Leet and her client moaning and the creaking of the wooden bed beneath them. Admittedly, Lynna's eyes had grown wide as saucers and were drawn to the door behind which the noises came from, but her hands were wringing the sides of the apron she had tied around her waist.

"What is he looking for?" Mary asked her, seeing her eyes snap guiltily back to Mary's face.

"What?"

"What is this medical man looking for? Why does he want to look at Aleena?"

"Well, she's pregnant. He's checking on the health of her and her baby."

"Is there some danger to Aleena and her baby's health then?" If there was some sort of disease going around, Mary certainly wanted to know about it. The last time a plague was going on, two towns upshore, she'd lost four girls from men on boats stopping here after they'd been exposed. Of course she'd heard that worse had happened on the boats they'd served on. At least she had the luxury of being able to quarantine if she knew in time.

"Well..." She looked uncertain of what to say, and the look on her face suggested there was much more to say. "It's only the babies that are at risk right now, and he's making sure that that's fixed before anything else could go wrong."

Lynna was still holding something back, although Mary suspected she was hedging the edges of the truth in what she said. Leet was getting louder, and the girl looked distinctly uncomfortable, so Mary continued down the hallway to the next flight of stairs leading further up.

"There's something you're not telling me. I can tell. So out with it girl, I haven't got all day."

The girl swallowed hard, and Mary wondered if the girl was trying to make something up.

"He's checking all the pregnancies. Some kind of trouble is coming, so there's reason for concern. My father is going to be gathering everyone together pretty soon to talk about it." She hesitated then, and Mary leveled a look at the girl's eyes. Either she was making it up, or trying to avoid saying something. Either way, there was more to it.

"Um, Miss Stewart?" Lynna asked tentatively.

"Yes?"

"Are there other girls here that you think might be pregnant? It really would be good if I could bring all of them. I know about Aleena, but might there be others?"

"There might," Mary conceded, "but until they choose to say something, that's their business and not yours."

"Um," Lynna started, furrowing her brow anxiously, "there is trouble coming, and Agmar thinks that all the babies might be in danger. It's important."

"Oh, and this Agmar is the medical man?" Mary raised her eyebrow skeptically. "And is he the one who says trouble is coming? Enough trouble for our friendly mayor to gather the entire town to talk about?"

Lynna nodded. "And the people within a few miles of town. There have been signs of what's coming, but nobody knew they meant anything until Agmar pointed it out. I think my father feels we're better off preparing for the possibilty of trouble, rather than ignoring it and suffering for it."

"What signs? What kind of trouble are we expecting?" Plagues and sicknesses were usually preceeded by symptoms, not signs. Mary realized, too late, that she'd pushed a little too hard on the girl, who was obviously frightened herself, as she saw Lynna's eyes get wider and blink as if she was holding back tears.

"I don't know exactly what's coming. I'm not sure I understood everything he said, but it doesn't sound good." She took a breath and continued. "I think someone is going to come tell you soon anyway, since they're bringing in people off the ships too, and they will need places to stay."

Mary realized that the girl's fear was rubbing off onto her, when she didn't immediately get upset at the prospect of the mayor potentially ordering her to open the doors to the rooms to people at no charge. She highly doubted that this was a profit situation, although if any of the sailors thought that her girls might work free of charge, they would have another thing coming. She supposed she might make up what she lost on the rooms in cost for the girls' time if her rooms were full to overloading with lonely, fearful sailors. She'd have to make sure that there were some rooms that didn't get filled, as business would be slower if everyone was doubled up. Most men who wanted time with her girls, wanted to do so in privacy.

"I think I'll just come with you and Aleena, then, and speak to this Agmar myself." She turned and led the girl down the second flight of stairs at the back of the inn, returning to the first floor again. She led Lynna to the kitchen, where she knew that Aleena would be, as her duties while pregnant had grown lighter over the months and she now mostly sat in the kitchen helping the cook prepare meals by slicing vegetables and kneading bread. Both she and the cook, Genla an elderly woman who the girls all seemed to turn to when they needed advice, looked up when they entered.

"Aleena, I need you to come with me. Genla, I'm going to be gone for a bit. There's a man visiting town who's seeing to the pregnant women, and I'm going to go with Aleena to speak to him. If you could make sure none of the other girls leave during my absence, I'd appreciate it. I may need to speak to them all when I return."

"Very well." Genla nodded briskly before returning to the loaf of bread she was slicing. Aleena stood up silently and took off her apron, hanging it over the back of the chair she'd been sitting on before coming over to join them.

"So, where is this man then Lynna?" Mary asked.

"They've let him set up in the dining hall of the Surf and Sleep."

Mary rolled her eyes. "Of course they did," she sighed. "Let's get moving then.

On the walk through town Mary put pieces together in her head. I s'pose she's gonna tell me there's some damn prophesy or something. This Agmer felluh is probably looking for babies with goat legs or something. That used to happen, right? Still, Mary did not see anything that seemed like signs. Sailors and fishermen were an even more superstitious folk than the townsfolk, and she hadn't heard anything from them. If they were worried, she'd know. They'd talk about it. They always talked.

Yet she had to concede that there was a tension in the town today. Old Man Jonkin's dog--normally placidly sitting on his porch panting in the sun--growled at them when they walked by, and then went back to gnawing at his foreleg. That leg was bleeding, Mary noticed with some alarm.

The streets were quieter, too. She looked first one way then another, but there were no children out playing. She saw garlic nailed up over Widow Lonna's door. The fishermen sometimes claimed that she could see the future, and that she had carved out her own eye so she would only have to see half of it. A silly story, Mary thought, but Lonna's porch was conspicuously empty of her rocker and ever-present basket of fruit.

After a moment she saw other people again. They were all gathering outside the Surf and Sleep. Mary's stomach grew heavy seeing Avern Mordan pacing on the inn's little porch. He really was gathering the town. She looked behind her and saw that Captain Alder's watchmen were leading groups of people this way from other directions.

Mary steeled herself as she approached. Although she was, by nature, a social person, she also knew that a good majority of the people living in this town did not approve of her choice of profession. There were a few of the men, however, who were carful not to take their criticism of her too far, for fear she would identify them as having graced the doorstep of her inn at the dark hours of the night, seeking solace in the warm arms of one of her girls. She had sworn the young women to secrecy and that was the one rule they knew was unbreakable.

Not all of those men had been unmarried at the time that they visited. Mary was not going to be blamed as the cause of their indiscretions, should their wives find out. But she did keep a mental list of who those men were, should she ever need to call in a favor. Especially Avern Mordan. The line between them was a thin and shaky one, as he openly criticized her. But he was the only man in this town she'd tended to herself when she discovered him half-drunk and weeping on her doorstep on the tenth anniversary of his wife's death. Whenever their eyes met his look was one of hard warning and regret, although today it was tainted with worry. Mary shivered despite herself. Avern was not one to let worry show on his face. He was usually the rock that the little community flocked around, safe in the assumption that he had everything under control. Today, his voice conveyed confidence, but his eyes told her a different story. She pushed through the crowd, and into the inn. She'd deal with this Agmar person first, then she'd find out what Avern had to say.

Inside the dining hall, there were mattresses laid down on the floor, and the tables and chairs had been mostly cleared from the room. She saw Margaret Gretch hovering over Emilee Rayton, who was curled up on one of the mattresses, in tears. Mary wondered idly where Margaret's daughter Elsa was, as the girl was always shadowing behind her mother, quiet but alert.

Standing with his back to them, looking out the window with a frown on his face, was a bald man Mary hadn't seen before. She went to him directly, giving a short nod to Margaret, who had noticed their arrival. She saw Lynna rush over to see to her friend, and the man turned, having noticed the movements off to the side of him. She watched his frown melt away to a more pleasant expression, and her eyes narrowed with the realization that he would be harder to read. He'd had need to learn to read people as she had.

"You must be Agmar." She stated pointedly.

"And you must be Lady Mary," he said in a deeper voice than she had expected from his thin face. It seemed the voice of a taller man, and his pale blue eyes were piercingly inquisitive.

"Lynna has probably told you enough to make you curious and vaguely concerned--suspicious, perhaps," he proposed. "Then you saw the gatheing crowds, and now you know to be concerned, but not what about."

"Look, Mister Agmar, I don't know what you--"

He interrupted her with just the simplest raising of his hand. "Please just call me Agmar, and I will not spend the next week or so calling you Lady Mary, and things can be just a little bit easier. Trouble is coming to this town, Mary. It is trouble that will affect everyone, although some more than others. It is not something that can be hidden from, or avoided."

"Now," he continued, "there are a lot of things that I am going to have to do. Some of them will not be pleasant. For right now, it is very important that I see all the women who are pregnant, including those who have not told anyone yet. I think that you know who those women are, Mary. You can either help bring them here, or I can tell you what will happen to them if you do not, but I can assure you it is not something you want to think to deeply about."

"Perhaps you can also explain the part where my inn is apparently going to be commandeered, as well?"

"That is something you can discuss with Mayor Mordan. He is handling the logistics of bringing people in for safety. I have other matters to attend to right now." He stepped to one side, getting a better look at Aleena, who'd been practically hiding behind Mary. He smiled and held out a hand to her.

"And what is your name, young lady?" he asked her.

"Aleena." She sounded frightened, and Mary took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. This was the girl's first pregnancy and she'd been an emotional disaster throughout, despite the fact that she was normally reasonably assertive. 'Headstrong' was the word most people tended to associate with her, but the pregnancy had managed to turn her into a timid, and frequently weeping, frightened girl. Mary was just hoping she'd spring back once the child was back, although she knew it sometimes took a few months for a new mother to re-adjust. There were already three children who lived at her inn with their mothers. Proving that the herbs Margaret provided were not entirely infallible.

"Aleena, why don't you pick one of the mattresses to get comfortable on, and Margaret will take a look and see how you and your baby are doing right now, alright?"

Aleena looked over at Mary, and she gave the girl a nod and gestured towards the mattress furthest from them, while giving her hand another quick squeeze. Aleena moved off and went to sit on the mattress. Mary lowered her voice and looked back at Agmar.

"What exactly are you planning to do to them?" She locked her eyes with his, almost daring him to try to lie to her.

"Those who can, need to give birth today." he answered, in an equally low voice. "Or else their children will not have a chance of living at all, except in some cases as mutated versions of babies, almost demonic in nature, who will die an early death. Assuming, that is, that they do not kill the mother trying to claw their way out over the next two days."

Mary felt her jaw drop open, and she shuddered involuntarily at the imagery that came to her mind.

"But - how?" She shook her head, not knowing what could cause such a thing.

"An ancient evil is about to move across the world, Mary. It cannot be stopped, and it holds no visible shape but through the evil molds of those within its path. Especially those who cannot resist it. Animals are the first affected. I have heard that some woman has already been killed because her chickens attacked her. Tomorrow, any child who has not been brought out into the world will change within its mother, and that evil warps and twists their minds and bodies to its enraged will."

She looked over at Aleena, who did not appear to have heard. Margaret and Lynna were helping her get comfortable. Aleena was not good at hiding her expressions of late, and her expression now was not what it would be if she had heard.

"How do you know all this," she stumbled over saying.

He responded with some explanation about studying old texts, but she heard little of it. There's more to this than twisting babies, she realized. Mordan was preparing for the worst, obviously. Standing in the room full of mattresses, and his simple statement that mothers needed to give birth today had a heavy impact on her.

She looked around, seeing the expression on Margaret's face finally. Margaret was one of the most rational folk in town, not superstitious like the fishermen and visiting sailors. While sometimes argumentive, once Margaret saw the logic in something she understood. Today Margaret looked afraid. She was trying to conceal it, but she was afraid. What did he say to her?

"What can I do," she eventually asked.

"Whomever is pregnant needs to deliver today." he told her, still speaking quietly. "Otherwise they will give birth tomorrow, and it is unlikely they will want their babies at that point. It would be too late for the infant, and some mothers would definitely not survive the delivery. If I am understanding correctly, the most likely to be pregnant and not know it or not say it are going to be the young ladies in your employ. If you bring them here, Elsa Gretch and I can do some tests to be sure. Margaret will be busy with delivering, although I will be helping there as well. There is also the matter of a need for rooms for those coming in off the ships docked here, but you should discuss that with the Mayor. I have been given only limited authority on such matters."

"Not - " she reached for words as a realization hit her as she looked over at Aleena and Emilee. "Not all of the babies are far enough along to survive being born." She practically whispered it, her heart knotting up in her stomach.

"Those pregnancies will need to be resolved as well." he replied flatly.

"Resolved?"

"Ended." He turned away from her, looking out the window again instead. "There is no better alternative, I assure you. I wish there was."

"I understand." She could think of nothing else to say. She did understand his reasoning, but knew that the mothers who would have to willingly miscarry would not. "What are you telling them?"

"As little as possible. For those who can deliver safely, we are giving them herbs that will help encourage their babies to come out naturally. I have not yet decided how to handle those who bear children that are sure not to survive. Margaret does not seem to know of a good way to tell them either."

"The people in this town are stubborn enough as it is. I know there are ways that can force a miscarriage. It's unlikely you will find many who are going to be willing at all. Perhaps if you just give them something and explain it after it's too late?"

"I don't want to be lynched later, Mary."

"Then you'd best tell them the truth and hope they come to their senses, or they'll find out what you meant tomorrow instead." She had to give him credit for not wanting to deceive the women, although she had no other solutions to suggest. "I'll go talk to my girls." She had noticed that Elsa had returned while they were talking, with Emilee's husband Josh in tow carrying some clothes and blankets in his arms. Lynna kept looking over at them as if waiting to speak to Agmar, and Mary decided she ought to get out of their way. "I'll just have a word with Aleena before I go, and I'll bring the rest of the girls back as soon as I can. We can test them before I explain the situation to any who actually are pregnant. No need to panic them unecessarily."

Mary turned away from Agmar, wondering what else he knew that he was not sharing yet. A part of her wanted to comfort him somehow, and for one rare occurrence she did not know what she could say or do that would help. She hoped he was a strong man. I've got to talk to Morden, too.

"So, how are you feeling?" she said to Aleena.

"What's going on?" Aleena asked, looking up from where she sat on a mattress. The poor girl was getting nervous.

"Most of it is stuff you don't have to worry about right now, dear. You just relax and think about your baby." And be happy that yours is reasonably far along, and will probably be just fine.

Out of the corner of her eye Mary saw Lynna walk over to Agmar. The two were intentionally keeping their voices low, and while Mary was curious, she could not hear what they were discussing.

She became aware then of other sounds. Some of them were the everyday noises of inn operations. She could hear Morden outside addressing the crowd. She wondered what he was saying to them, and wondered if she was perhaps better off not knowing.

She turned back to Aleena, who was looking over at Emilee a few mattresses away. She took Aleena's hand again, getting her attention.

"Now then, Agmar has suggested that it would be best for both you and the baby if the baby came out today, while he's here to help. Emilee is going to be having her baby as well. The both of you are very close to delivering and so it ought to be reasonably easy. He's also going to be testing to see if any of the other girls are pregnant, so that we know, which means that either one of them or myself can be here with you while you deliver." She smiled and gave the girl's hand another squeeze, trying to convey a calm confidence she wasn't sure she really felt just then.

"But it's not time. Is it?" Aleena shook her head, looking concerned.

"It's the perfect time. And Mrs. Gretch will be overseeing things, and you know she wouldn't let anything bad happen to you now, don't you?" Most of the town, including Mary's girls, had a reasonably high opinion of Margaret Gretch and her abilities to mend wounds, cure ails, and deliver babies. She saw some of the worry fade as Aleena nodded slowly.

"Well, if Mrs. Gretch seems to think so..."

"I do, indeed, young lady." Mary startled, not having heard Margaret come up behind her. She turned and looked at the woman, who seemed to be doing her best at keeping a calm smile on her face. Mary wondered if Margaret had been told more or less than Mary had learned so far. She suspected that Margaret would need to know as much as possible if there was any danger of injuries occuring.

"Well, Aleena, I leave you in capable hands then." She stood up, letting go of Aleena's hand after yet another squeeze. "I'll be back in a short while with the other girls, and I'll check in on you when I arrive, alright?" Aleena nodded up at her, and she smiled back before turning to leave, sharing a nod of acknowledgement with Margaret as she did so. Though Margaret had never approved of Mary's inn and what occurred there, the two had had an understanding. Margaret never turned Mary's girls away when they needed medical attention. She'd even helped Mary once when she'd been sick with a fever that had come in with one of the boats.

Mary headed quickly out of the dining hall, and through the foyer. Once out on the porch, she found she would have to push through the crowd in order to leave. She stood off to one side for a moment, contemplating a way past as Avern Mordan stood in the middle of the porch, trying to calm the crowd back down. She wondered what had been said so far, to make them all start asking questions at the same time as they were. She felt the hairs on her arm stand up, realizing how much hostility was in their voices. Avern was waving his arms, calling for quiet over the loud, demanding questions. She wondered if the mood was being caused by their concern or by whatever evil was coming to plague them.

"Listen, everyone," Avern Mordan said, his arms stretched out wide, palms out to the townsfolk. "This isn't something you can blame on anybody. It's just something that's going to happen." He paused, lowering both voice and hands from public speaking volume.

"Look, we're a fishing town. We've weathered hardships. There have been occasional fevers off a ship, and we've helped people. There was the year the town burned, and we worked together to rebuild. How many times have we gathered in groups large and small to care for a wife or wives waiting for a fish boat that never came home?"

"I know you have questions," he said, keeping his momentum going while his audience was quiet. "And we really will try to explain what we can, but we just have to accept that things are going to be a little strange for a while. And different. We're going to have to forget the little, old grudges. We're going to have to help each other with things we haven't done before."

"But when it all comes down to it, we're not just a collection of people that all live in one spot. Eagle's Harbor is more than just a town, more than just a mark sometimes made on maps. We're a family. And families help each other in the hard times. I've always been very proud of my great big family. Each and every one of you."

"So I know we're going to get through this. We'll do it by staying calm and strong. We'll do it by helping each other. We'll do it by caring. In other words, we'll do it by being the kind of people we've always been. And I know that when it's done, I'm going to be proud of you still. I'm right, aren't I?"

The crowd cheered a variety of agreements, and Mary looked at him transfixed. Even when the two had not gotten along as well, she had always thought him a good mayor. Just then she realized how lucky the town was to have him. A shame Lynna wasn't out to hear that. The girl could use to see more of the good he does here.

"Now there'll be another meeting tonight, once the fishing boats are all back in, and everyone is in off the ships currently docked here. At that meeting, I hope to be able to give you more details on what we can expect and what else we need to do to prepare. And, keep in mind, I'm planning to prepare for the absolute worst here and that way we'll likely come out feeling foolish for having gone all out, rather than having not done enough. For the moment, I need everyone to make sure that any loose animals are tied up or otherwise contained, ideally separate from one another. This thing is going to affect them, making them agitated and even hostile. We've already seen a couple instances of this already and I want it minimized before it gets out of hand. Lloyd and Mary, I need to speak with you about housing the men off the ships. Everyone else, we'll reconvene here just after dinner tonight."

Mary was startled at the inclusion of her own name, as she hadn't thought Avern had noticed her. Much of the crowd dispersed after that, a few taking a moment to try and ask a question or two of the mayor, but he stemmed most of them off by suggesting that more would be discussed at the next meeting. She found it amusing watching Lloyd Marks scowl at having to wait, although she knew that she would have had the same scowl if she hadn't already spoken with Agmar. Relishing the opportunity to look the better of the two, she stepped forward quickly, adopting a smile for the Mayor.

"How can I help Avern?"

Avern regarded her warily for a moment, as if he expected her to bite him next, and Mary briefly wondered if he wouldn't rather tie her up with the dogs as well. His expression changed to a worried smile instead, though and he nodded at both her and Lloyd.

"I need somewhere for the crews of the ships to stay for a couple of days. The waters are going to get rough and I'm having them anchor their ships further out from the docks, but they are going to need to be ashore themselves. It will mean food and beds mostly, although Jacob Bentz will be helping out with some of the food from his inventory. Can I rely on you both?"

"Must be pretty bad if Bentz is choking up free goods." Lloyd snorted. "I don't reckon I can say no, seein' as how yer the mayor an' all, but don't be expectin' me ta be givin' away free beer too now, ya hear?"

Mary chuckled. "Obviously, some of my inn's commodities are only available for a price as well, but the inn itself is open to all who need its rooms, Mayor Mordan." She winked and smiled at Lloyd, and his scowl deepened.

"Thank you, Mary," Avern said, deepening Mary's sense of victory. She shrugged nonchalantly, to which Lloyd's scowl deepened ever so slightly.

"I'll go get things ready, and let my girls know. It looks like there are still some people not gathered. I assume you have some plan to make sure everyone finds out what's going on?"

"Yes, it'll be taken care of."

"Alrighty, then," she concluded and worked her way through a crowd that was still only slowly beginning to disperse. A cool wind came off the sea, and the smell of it was comforting. In a flash she was reminded of the reasons she had always adored this little town after stumbling across it almost by accident. Ten years ago already?

She had always lived in cities before. The bigger the city the more crime and corruption she found, and hers was not an occupation able to keep its distance from the seedier parts of society. By nature it attracted it, and she still had the knife scar that had always made her reluctant to service clients herself. In the whole town she thought that only Avern had seen it. He could not properly explain to anyone the circumstances for seeing it. A week after the fact he had finally asked about it. He had always been a little easier on her after that.

But here were the sounds that reminded her that city life was behind her, that here, at least, was a cozy little town that accepted her, if sometimes reluctantly. The creaking and clanging of the boats and ships at the dock were a gentle music to her. She had on more than one occasion wonder if she would ever again be able to sleep without the sounds of the waves on the beach. She worried at the trouble that was coming, wondering if the town would ever seem so wonderfully peaceful to her again. The gulls were absent from the sky, their calls missing in the lunchtime air.