“I’m tired of sleeping outside,” Wren said. Orme and his companions had been travelling for a year and it was true they hadn’t stayed at a lot of inns. Money was a bit tight but the main reason was, after so long outside, Orme felt constricted between 4 walls.

Iyona yawned. “I wouldn’t mind a real bed, for sure.” Thus, they aimed for the small inn in the center of the village. It was made of bricks, with a hay roof, small and as wrong looking as everything else.

The village spread over the low hill it was perched on, displaying an arrogance it didn’t deserve. The bricks and mud houses were decrepit, and not a single cat roamed the streets. It was, for lack of a better word, a beat-down village. Yet here they were, after long hours of walking, and it seemed they would stay.

They entered. The inside wasn’t much better than the outside. It didn’t even have a chimney. It was almost empty, with only a couple kissing in a corner and the maid at the stall. She looked up, and Orme came forward with a smile. He’d been there before, he knew the girl. “Cheetah! Good to meet you again. How have you been?”

She greeted him fondly, and he introduced his companions. “This is my child Wren, the archeologist. I told you about them before. And this here is Iyona, who desperately tries to teach them to use a sword. For now, all she got out of it were bruises, even after a whole year of trying.” They each inclined their heads in turn, and Cheetah returned the gesture.

“So what can I do for you, Orme?”

Orme asked for 2 beds and dinner for all of them. She sent them to a table and disappeared in the kitchen.

“I’ll never not be in awe of how many people you know, and how you manage to remember their names and faces. I’m 10 years younger than you and my memory isn’t half as good. What’s your secret?” Iyona teased as they sat down around a round table.

“Never let them out of your mind,” Orme answered.

Cheetah returned soon with their dinners, and all 3 of them tore into the food without another word. After so long on the road together, they didn’t need to talk as much.

In the beginning, Wren and Iyona asked so many questions they made Orme’s head spin. Now, finally, they ate in comfortable silence and he got to fully enjoy his food. He was never fond of talking while eating. Call him grumpy, it made it taste less good.

Dinner that night was a simple roast chicken with potatoes. Orme hadn’t had that in so long, he couldn’t remember the last time. It was delicious.

Once the food was gone, Cheetah returned with a key. It would be 3 single beds in the end, all in the same room. That suited them just fine. Orme said he just needed a pillow to fall asleep. Iyona and Wren didn’t fuss, so up they went to find their room.

It was barely big enough to fit the 3 single beds and a table that rocked on its feet, with a basin and a jug full of water on it, 3 napkins to wipe faces, and a couple of chairs around it all. That was largely big enough for them, though. The covers were clean, the mattresses smelled nice, the pillows were fluffy. Perfect. Wren put all their stuff at the foot of the bed nearest to the door, and went back outside to breathe clean air for the last time that night.