Stay

[Brian]

Bjorn: Mirallia leads you out into the hall, then shakes her head.  "I don't understand," she sighs.  "Too much ... and I'll think of it later.  Let us find our quarters.  I don't know about you, but I'm certain I could benefit from a bath."

So saying, she leads the way until a servant directs the pair of you to a side-room on the second floor, and leaves you there alone.

[Bjorn]

Inside the room, Bjorn pauses, just to one side of the door, crossing his arms and tapping his fingers on the forearm plate of his armour.  Abruptly, he looks up at Mirallia, his lips twisting in a sardonic expression.  "So," he says, conversationally, "what did you think?"

[Brian]

"I don't know what to think," Mirallia says, somewhat dazed.  She pulls a cord, and a moment later, a servant enters, mumbles something politely, and waits for Mirallia to explain that she wants a bath drawn before vanishing.

The quarters that Mirallia was given are pretty generous, really.  Almost a full-sized apartment.  The entry room has a pair of long, half-bed half-couch like pieces of furniture, a small fireplace, and a door between the main room and the hall.  You'd guess that that antechamber will be your room.

The main room has a table in the center, four chairs around it, and a writing desk near the window.  From there, another two rooms branch out to the left and right.  The room to the right is a bedroom (huge, four-poster bed, there) and to the left is a bathing chamber/privy, though it's more sanitary than anything you've yet seen here.  There's also a large, empty stone basin that you expect servants will begin filling with hot water shortly.

"This is all very confusing," she says, closing her eyes and rubbing at her temples.  "One bit of confusion stacked atop another, to build a monument of madness."

[Bjorn]

Bjorn exhales slowly, a faint smile tugging at his lips as he stares into empty space, still leaning against the wall.  "I don't trust him," he says blandly, as if commenting on the state of the stones in the wall.  "He is... convenient.  Just as convenient as the disappearance of Bloom's torc, or the orc ambush, or any of the other disaster," he empahsizes that word, slightly, "that have plagued us so far."

He shakes his head.  "If he was created by the forces I work for, why weren't we told about him before this started?  Why is his advice on how to go about success different than what we were told before this began?"

His smile widens into a mirthless grin, and he winks at Mirallia.  "A stranger who tells you the way to the bar is kindly, but one who gives you a sack of gold... he's untrustworthy."

[Brian]

"As that goes," Mirallia says slowly.  "He is still important to this keep, and more importantly, he sits court for Lord Kevin.  It is your friends, and yourself, that are in the greatest danger, I think.  We must be careful."  There's a knock at the door, and a trio of bucket-laden servants struggle in, pouring their buckets into the stone basin in the other room before promising to return again in a minute.

"What do you think we should do?" Mirallia asks, running her fingers across the symbol of Hamar on her necklace worriedly.

[Bjorn]

"I think we should do what's in front of us," Bjorn says, gently.  "Assassins are a real concern, so we'll watch for them.  And the Dreadmarch is undeniably real, so we'll deal with that."  He shrugs, but his eyes on Mirallia are serious.  "Confusion is doubt.  I don't doubt my goals.  I won't doubt myself.  That means the only thing I have to be confused about is what time will breakfast be, and exactly where I'll be sleeping."  He glances around the chamber in a quick mock search, one eyebrow raised, and a smile tugging at his lips.

[Brian]

"I suppose," Mirallia says hesitantly.  "Ah ... when I finish bathing, I will leave the water for you, if you'd like it.  Otherwise you will need to go to the basement for the public bath ... and I'm not sure I like the idea of you so far away at a time like this."

[Bjorn]

"That sounds like a good idea," Bjorn says, wryly.  "I can't imagine that I smell very good."  He grimaces.  "And lacking a change of clothes doesn't help either.

"Anyways, I'm just going to study the layout of this place while you bathe.  I'll stay nearby and in earshot."

[Brian]

"You lost your casual clothes?" she asks, just before round two of the bucket brigade files in, sloshes their water into the bath, and troops out again.  "Drat.  I suppose we'll need to find something for you ... we can't have you wearing armor about the entire day, like Lord Kevin.  At least, not before the battle."

[Bjorn]

"Hmph."  Bjorn grunts.  "No, I'd forgotten those.  Thank you for reminding me."  Conscious of the bucket brigade, he asks, deferentially, "Is there anything you would like me to deal with while you bathe, Madame?"

[Brian]

Nodding, she orders (while they are listening in) "Make yourself familiar, and comfortable in this area, so that you may serve more readily, should it be required."  Deciding that this is neither gossip-worthy or about them, the bucket brigadeers vanish again.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn nods.  "Anything else, before you bathe?"

[Brian]

She purses her lips.  "No," she says after a moment.  "But ... should we hide the draughts of life, do you think?"

[Bjorn]

Bjorn frowns.  "They expected us to bring them, right?  Better, instead, would be to hide some of them.  We don't want to draw suspicion by not seeming to have any, and there needs to be some convenient, for emergencies.  The ones not hidden will act as bait, and keep anybody from searching for what we have hidden, with any luck.

"The question is: where do we hide them?"

Bjorn studies the room, looking for inspiration.

[Brian]

The furniture is pretty sparse.  If this were your cell back at the Workshop, you'd know exactly where to put them.  As it is, you're not sure.

The fireplace seems like it might have a few loosenable stones, but you have no idea how these potions hold up to heat.