Tenser stared at the boardinghouse. "No, I don't think so," he
decided. "Come on."
They took a flight of stairs on the side of the building to a private
entrance on the second floor. Tenser knocked on the door before
entering a small hallway, urged Ehlissa to follow, and then knocked on
a second door to the left.
"Why did you knock on the outside door?" Ehlissa asked.
"It deactivates a glyph of warding. This may be an ordinary
boardinghouse, but that doesn't mean the people here have no
security."
The second door was quickly answered by a man with long brown hair, a
sharp nose, and a clean-shaven, round chin, wearing very fine clothes.
"Tenser, come in!" the man said. "Who's your friend?"
Ehlissa looked around a comfortably-furnished sitting room with a ring
of fabric-covered chairs circling a black bearskin rug on the floor.
The walls were decorated with a tall mirror mounted on one wall and a
wide decorative plaster frieze that took up over half of the opposite
wall. Besides the man who had opened the door for them, there were
two other men present. The second closest, a rosy-cheeked, balding
man with a short beard and fine moustache, was leaning back in his
chair and holding a glass cup. The man furthest from the door was
sitting by a table with some bottles of beer or ale and more glass
cups. This man was ruggedly handsome, with features as weathered as
the old leather jerkin he wore over much finer clothes.
Muddy boots were sitting in pairs inside the door. Tenser and Ehlissa
cast off theirs while Tenser made introductions. "Everyone, this is
Ehlissa. Ehlissa, this is Keoghtom, Heward, and my tutor, Murlynd."
Ehlissa was invited inside and offered a chair and a drink. It had a
smoky flavor and Ehlissa was unfamiliar with it. She was told it was
whiskey.
"Best not have too much if you are unfamiliar with it," Murlynd
suggested. He never offered her a refill and only one to Tenser,
while he was constantly refilling Keoghtom's and Heward's gl*****.
Except for this possible slight, Murlynd was a cordial host and
everyone else was exceptionally polite to Ehlissa except for Tenser,
who largely ignored her. He sat there, following every word that came
from the other three men like a puppy dog watching its owners.
"Why don't you tell us of an adventure?" Tenser suggested at last
during a pause in the small talk.
Murlynd looked around to Keoghtom and Heward. "Is there any story we
have Tenser has not already heard?" he asked them.
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