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=	[Dragon] 1.07 - The Black Boot Inn - Morning Part 2		=
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Tawas opened his eyes, and looked around.  It was the room he had just
ordered from the innkeeper. The sunlight falling through the open window
indicated that only minutes could have passed since he went to bed. Tawas's
headache was gone but the dream ... Tawas was uneased about such dreams.
He looked at the medallion, remembering the meeting connected with it. 
Tawas walked to the window and thought: will I ever see her again?

Then a person knocked his door. Tawas opened it to see that it was a waiter.
The waiter said, "Ah, did you just order some food?" Tawas was puzzled why
they made such mistake. He replied, "No, I didn't order it, you must have
the wrong room." The waiter looked back his small note and he said,
"Oh, I am sorry." The waiter left and Tawas thought, since my headache
is gone, I guess that I will look around the inn.

Thanin stretched as he rolled out of bed after a peaceful night's rest.
The weariness and aching in his muscles were relieved, and the doubts
he'd had about the group cleared from his mind.  The dwarf slipped down
the hallway to the bathing room to complete his morning ablutions, donned
a fresh set of clothing - which had been cleaned and pressed by one of
the inn's employees - and made his way down to the common room.

The dwarf's stomach rumbled as the smell of fresh breads and sizzling bacon
and sausauges reached his nose.  "Ahh," the dwarf sighed appreciatively.
"I could eat a horse."  Thanin, too hungry to bother waiting to be
served, approached one of the waitresses - a young human in her late
teens.

"Good morning, lass.  How about your breakfast special?" Thanin asked as
politely as he could manage.

The waitress wrote down the order and added that there would be a short
wait.  "Would you like anything to drink with that, sir?"

"Aye, a tankard of ale will be all right," Thanin added and seated
himself at a table large enough to seat the entire party.  The dwarf
would like to have waited for the others to arrive, but he would risk
his food to grow cold.  Humans seemed to require and inordinate
amount of sleep to Thanin's way of thinking, though he wasn't sure why
Adain hadn't risen already.

That wouldn't pose too much of problem in any case.  Thanin could order
another meal when his friends arrived to ensure they didn't feel too
uncomfortable eating in front of him.  Besides, the dwarf thought he
heard muted voices and footsteps approaching the landing down into the
common room.  "Damn, it looks like I may have to skip that second meal..."

Tawas closed his door and he walked down the stair.  He saw some of 
his companions eating breakfast.  He approached them, saying:
"Since I came before all of you,  I know that the next ship will come 
around this afternoon.  Do you want to leave this city?"

Adain answered to Tawas "Good morning, Tawas, don't you want to have
breakfast?" He stood up while he finished his mug of milk "Anyway, I agree
with Tawas" He said to the party "I think it's time to leave Pas du Mer for
the Island, if we all have enough equipment and provisions..."

Thanin sat back in his seat and assessed the drow - perhaps it was 
prejudice or the three mugs of beer he'd consumed earlier, but the dwarf 
felt uneasy with Tawas' abrupt manner.  It was as if Tawas had known for
sure that the party would arrive when they did - like they were following
someone ELSE'S preset schedule.  Thanin decided to keep his thoughts to 
himself, for now.

Adain walked to the door of the Inn, and looked to the light blue sea,
feeling the sea breeze in his face. "Well, what do you think?"

Brianna came in the door of the inn.  "I think it is going to be a nice
day..."

Prytzouth grinned mischeviously as he stepped silently through the door 
behind Brianna and brushed the petals of a white daisey on her ear.  
"Ah...but it is already a nice day."

Brianna jumped and turned, wondering how he had crept up on her.

He laughed.  "Pardon for my playfullness today, but the joys of a sun 
filled day and a morning stroll have lightened my spirits.  I only regret 
not sharing the morning sunrise with my friends, but I assumed you were 
all sleeping peacefully and didn't want to wake any of you from your much 
needed rest."

Brianna then realized it was the relaxing scent of ...flowers.  Lots of them.
Lots and lots of flowers...and something else.  Something like the smell of 
freshly killed meat... She looked at Prytz real hard for a moment.

"Adain, we're all as ready as we'll ever be," Thanin answered 
cautiously.  "But I think we'd all appreciate knowing what's in store for
us.  Wouldn't you?" Thanin asked, looking to the other party members.

"Aye," said Melmar, "fill us in."  

Brianna went and sat down with the rest of the party members.  The party
members looked concerned and uneasy.  "Yes.  Please do tell us what we are in
for."  Prytzouth smiled to the party, grabbed a chair, turned it 
backwards, and sat down with his eyes on the elf.

Before Adain got a chance to start speaking, Thwuck joined the group. Apparently
he had been running across the beach. He looked more human now, with the grime
removed from his skin and clothes. His hair was a positively shining brown, and
he seemed taller than before. It was as if a great burden has been lifted from
his shoulders so he could walk upright again.

"Morning," he said, with a hint of pleasentness in his voice. "What we do now?"

Adain looked at the party. There is something bad in the air this
morning, he thought. I don't know if it's for Tawas' strange manners or
something else... He took a moment to organise his mind and said, rather
seriously:

"Well, good morning, Thwuck, it's good to see you again, please sit
down." He started to play with his dagger as he spoke, something
he did when he was nervous. "Okay, mates, as I see the scene, we can start
the trip to the Island right this evening if you like. This morning, while you
were asleep, I walked to the port and looked for a ship. I found one that will
serve us, I think." The dagger danced in his hand and between his fingers,
flashing and lighting.

"So, if we buy the equipment we need this morning, there will be no
problem, I will go and speak with the Captain about the price and so on.
Once we arrive on the island, we can move to a town called Tiph. The captain of
the ship talked about it to me. From there we can travel to the East"

He waved his hand and walked to the table, seating himself in his chair.
"We could go to the region where Thanin and myself heard the rumours about
bandits and where Taur-Nu-Gul is located, the mountain where the king that
I mentioned last night, is buried. You know, the one who wanted to spend
eternity with his fortune".

"But I don't like to start the trip without saying something to you
all" He left the dagger on the table and pointed to the members of the party
one by one. "If we are going on a dangerous trip into Shedrat-knows
what kind of perils, I can do this without bad feelings. There is something
in the air right now here, and it ain't good. What is happening?...."

Thwuck pointed straight at Tawas, or more precisely at the medallion that he
had hidden under his shirt. "Medallion is wrong. Feels bad. Make all uneasy."
He planted himself squarely on a chair, folding his arms across his chest.
"Me not happy with medallion. Either put it in metal case, or Thwuck not go."

Thanin looked down into his ale, deciding he'd voice his concerns about 
Tawas after hearing Thwuck's comment.  "Adain, it just seemed so 
coincidental that Tawas knew exactly when we'd be coming.  I 
thought we'd discuss everything first - like we are now - before making 
any decisions.  Now that you've spoken up, I feel better about where 
we're going and how we'll do it."

"As for the medallion," Thanin added, this time looking at Tawas.  "Are 
you sure you can tell us nothing more about it?  I can't sense magic at 
all, but when I see things like that, I'm usually pretty wary."

"Finally, I know you've vouched for him, Adain," the dwarf said, still 
keeping his eyes on Tawas for any reaction.  "But dwarves and drow elves 
have trouble getting along at the best of times.  I trust him, but it 
will take some time for me to get used to the idea of travelling together."

Prytzouth nodded his head, his good eye fixed on the drow.  His good 
demeanor had discipitated rather quickly with the current discussion.  
Rather than vioce his opinion, Prytz opted for a more subtle show of his 
feelings to the group.  He slowly, noisily removed his bastard sword from 
it's sheath on his back, fished out a sharpening stone, and drew the 
stone emphatically across the blade.  All the while, never removing his 
eye from the drow, he wondered if the dark elf would devulge the story of 
his encounter with the female elf last night.

Brianna leaned back in her chair and loudly exhaled.  All of her thoughts 
had been aired.  She looked to Tawas and Adain to make the next move...

Adain started to make writings in elven in the table with his
dagger, as he let everybody say what they had in mind..."Okay, now that 
we start this I want to ask Tawas what he feels. What's the matter with the
medallion?"
 
He stood up and called the waiter to serve ale for everybody.
I prefer to discuss things in front of a good drink, he thought...