“That went well.” the orc housekeeper muttered, while shaking her head, still frowning. The others remained silent and I wasn’t quite sure how to deal with things myself, instead I decided to take care of my face, which felt like I had some serious sunburns. Closing my eyes, I focused on the mist that still filled the room, using the connection I kept with my Astral Power to gather it up, letting it swirl around me. The cold mist felt like a balm on my face, especially when I added a little regenerative Blood Magic into the mix. Moments later, the discomfort was gone, and I drew the cold mist into my clothes, letting it play over my body.

“Greetings, Travellers. I hope you can forgive the commotion that just happened and won’t let it spoil your stay.” the housekeeper said, the smile on her face appearing a little brittle to me. It made me wonder just how bad the rumors had been, while a plausible source for them appeared in my head. Harms had died in the fighting and I was reasonably sure that his respawn-point was in town, foolish as that might be, and if he was as miffed as the forum-post made him sound, he could easily be it. It would be incredibly foolish, rumors that could be traced back to you could backfire in a major way, but without information, there was nothing to do but speculate. Which I could do later.

“Greetings. Let me introduce my companions and myself.” Adra stepped forward, giving the housekeeper a polite nod before giving out our names.

“My name is Gera and, again, I welcome you under this roof. If you would like, I will show you your rooms so you can store what you need, before I show you around?” the orc introduced herself, her smile turning a little more genuine as she spoke. Adra gave a short glance to the rest of us, before focusing back to the orc, giving her a nod.

“Certainly, that would be a good idea. I’m not quite familiar with your customs, how does a guest-house like this one work?” Adra asked, falling into step with Gera, who was leading the way.

“Oh, just act like you are at home, while you stay here. In a moment, I’ll show you the dining-room, you can eat three meals a day there. If you need anything else, don’t hesitate to ask, you are guests here.” she stressed, waving towards one of the doors to the side, while walking towards a staircase.

After sharing a short look with Sigmir, still a little confused about the situation, we followed after the others. Up the stairs we went and I was able to hear Gera inquire about our preference for rooms. Adra asked for two rooms, adding that double-beds would be preferable, which caused me to snicker to myself. For a moment, I wondered if there would be any reaction to that, depending on the local moral code there could certainly be a reason, but the orc simply took it in stride. It turned out that they hadn’t rooms set up with double-beds but it would be easy to move the bed-frames, giving us something akin to double-beds, if we had something to cover the gap between mattresses.

The rooms we were shown to were quite close to the landing of the stairs, not terribly large but from what I could tell, everything was clean and well-made. Each room had a window, overlooking the river running through the valley, a pair of beds set on either wall, a footlocker for each bed, a single desk and a pair of tables. If not for the rustic construction, it could almost have been a hotel-room on Earth, much to my surprise.

“Why don’t you take a minute to lighten your load? Afterwards, I can show you the rest of the house and you can freshen up in the bathing chamber before dinner.” Gera suggested, after Adra confirmed that the rooms would be perfectly sufficient.

“We can certainly do that, if you don’t mind showing us around. You have to be quite busy after all.” Adra agreed, only to have Gera wave her concern off, telling us we shouldn’t worry at all. The radical shift in treatment was seriously confusing me, at first, Gera had been angry at Dura Firebringer but once the anger had cleared and the shaman was gone, I would have expected normal, yet polite, behaviour but not the level of obsequiousness we were shown. Part of me wondered what it would take to bring back the backbone she had shown earlier but, at the same time, the idea of being deliberately impolite, simply to make the housekeeper angry felt wrong to me. It would be a bully’s act.

Shaking off those thoughts, I stepped into one of the rooms, with Sigmir on my heels.

“We can move the beds later.” Sigmir decided, shedding herself of her cloak and the carrying-harness for her Lok’nar.

“Certainly. Either we do that, or we simply use just one bed.” I replied, stepping over to the window, taking a closer look at the glass. Again, I was quite surprised just how clear it was, unlike anything I would have expected at a place with the level of technology the Orcs had shown me so far. But then, Magic.

Turning around, I noticed Sigmir fiddling with her magic bag, trying to get her Lok’nar into it. She normally never did that, preferring to carry it openly, due to the time it took her to get it into the bag and back out, far too long during combat.

“You don’t trust them?” I asked softly, her desire to remain as combat-ready as possible without making said readiness obvious.

“I don’t think the orcs will harm us, not after granting us guest-rights.” she replied, speaking just as softly, before continuing, “At the same time, I don’t like the way that shaman has been looking at you. If she tries something, I’ll show her!” The last part was said with quite a bit of vehemence, mixed with possessiveness. That tone, in combination with the heated look in her eyes, sent a pleasant shiver down my spine, the kind of shiver that made me want to pin her to the bed, before letting her pin me to the bed. But those kinds of grappling-techniques would have to wait for later, giving the orc standing in front of the door that kind of concert wasn’t something I was willing to do.

Regarding Sigmir’s observation of Dura Firebringer’s behaviour, there had been moments when she had made me uncomfortable, not by active actions but simply the way she had looked at me. At the time, I had reasoned that it was due to our opposite affinities, similarly to the times I had felt an instinctive hatred well up from within me, alongside a desire to crush her, to snuff out her light and leave her broken, alone and in the dark. Given that those flashes had come shortly after feeling uncomfortable in her presence, the connection seemed to be obvious. But now, Sigmir was telling me she had observed something similar, making me wonder. It might stem from the same cause, opposite affinities, given that I shared a bloodline with Sigmir and she had quite a bit of Frost-affinity, even if I had been unable to teach her any magic, at all.

“You might be right. Better be cautious.” I admitted, starting to take off my weapons. Packing them into my magic bag, which I wouldn’t take off anyway. There were just too many interesting things contained within, the last bit of Eternal Ice and the newly acquired, if frustratingly uncooperative, Tear of Anguish. Both materials had something in common, namely that I had no idea what to actually do with them. Sure, I had made progress with the Eternal Ice, but not so much with the tear. It would take quite a bit more study to figure that thing out, if I managed at all. Maybe once we had left the orcs behind and I could experiment more freely with it, something I hadn’t allowed myself while a skilled Spellcaster like Dura Firebringer was nearby.

“Let’s go.” Sigmir decided, once my weapons were adequately stowed, pushing open the door. Outside, Gera was making friendly conversation with Adra and Rai, who had been a little quicker than Sigmir and myself. There was another orc with them, a woman who either had a very curious physique or was pregnant.

“Ah, there you are.” Gera said, once Sigmir and I had left our room. “I apologize, but there is something urgent I have to attend to. However, Sari here will take over for me and show you around the house. I hope that meets your approval?” she asked, looking over to Adra, who, in turn, gave a glance to me, a glance Gera followed with her eyes.

“Certainly, I wouldn’t want to keep you from your duties. I thank you for your hospitality.” I replied, feeling silly at the idea to give a signal to Adra.

“Excellent, I hope you have a wonderful stay.” Gera said, adding a deep nod, almost half a bow, to her statement, before hurrying off, leaving us with a slightly wide-eyed orc.