Light streamed gently through the window when Zerith awoke. She grunted and rolled over to escape the disturbing luminescent rays, she hated mornings with a passion. It was certainly a blessing for her that she was a thief, and naturally preferred the cool darkness of night. Pulling the covers over her head, she so desperately wished to slumber for a few hours more. Alas, the brightness of the sun and the morning air had won the battle. Frustrated and grumpy, Zerith sat up, sighed and threw the covers aside.

Clumsily pulling on a dark shirt and leather trousers, she dragged a boar bristle brush through her slightly notted but straight copper-ginger hair, grabbed her pocket belt and made her way downstairs to procure some breakfast.

She passed the innkeeper yet another gold coin, she continued towards the chafing dishes near the hearth. In the three iron containers was a selection of breakfast paraphernalia, in the leftmost dish resided some thick pork sausages, seasoned with rich dwarven spices. Alongside them, in the same dish, lay some thick bacon cooked to utmost perfection. In the second dish lay a pile of potato cakes, flanked by some fried eggs. In the final dish was grilled tomatoes, cut into halves and three large loaves of bread. Feverishly hungry, Zerith set upon the buffet as though she hadn't eaten in months. Helping herself to no less than; three sausages, two rashers of bacon, two potato cakes, an egg, a tomato and two thick slices of bread.

Content with her feast, she scuttled back to the booth she occupied the night before and attacked her meal. Once the culinary carnage had subsided, she headed out into the village market. Making her way up the well walked dirt road, she picked up some supplies for travel from some local stores. Items such as rope, extra clothes, dried meats and berries are essential when travelling along the open roads. Zerith also took time to stop by Aleric's smithy on her way back to the inn.

The air was smoke filled and hot in the forge, as one would expect. After all, they melted metal here! With his back to the entrance, the Minotaur worked tirelessly to hammer a particularly stubborn breastplate back into shape. Humming as he worked, his baritone voice filled the forge like a stodgy buzz. Seeing his mind was elsewhere, Zerith decided to play a trick on her friend. Quietly she crept forward, searching her immediate surroundings for something to use for the express purpose of humiliating the beast. She scanned, to her left was a cobblestone worksurface, to the right of that in the corner was the forge itself, burning bright, worked by the colossal bellows. To the right of that, and dead ahead of her stood Aleric, still humming away as he picked up a half forged claymore and began hammering away, sparks flying as his hammer brutally tamed the glowing steel into the required shape. To the right of him stood a cabinet of pikes, halberds and battle axes, then the wall. To her immediate right was packaging materials for Aleric's more noble customers, Zerith assumed. She rifled through a box of particularly feminine adornments, until she found it. A pink ribbon!

Struggling to keep herself from laughing, she crept ever closer to the Minotaur, who was now in the throes of a Stethian folk song, roaring the tune to himself. She tied the ribbon into a bow around the Minotaur's tail, and stepped back to admire her handy work. Scoffing to herself as she watched the “monster”, if she could even call him that after this, jig around singing to himself with a ribbon around his tail.

By the time Aleric had stopped singing away to prime the new blade in a barrel of oil, Zerith was doubled over on the ground clutching her sides in hysteria at the ridiculous sight.