“No, it was just the Bishop of Pelor. But I think it went well. She said she would speak to the King about it. I’m hopeful!”

The Baby Dragon Inn’s tavern was full, even this late at night. It seemed to be slowly becoming something more than a run-down tavern, and that wasn’t only due to the daily work that was being done to repair it. While the coffers weren’t exactly overflowing - the clientele was still too poor to expect that - Kreet and Marge had done some calculations and they had become profitable again. But tonight was something different. After the mob had dispersed, the majority had gone back to the tavern. There had been some talk of insurrection, but Kreet and Kallid’s return had put a stop to that.

“But we’re tired now. My thanks to you all, I know you meant well, but let’s have no more incidents like tonight, okay? At least, not in my name.”

Marge spoke up then. “She’s right you rabble! We’re not an all-night tavern out in the wilderness here! Go home. It’s time to close up shop. Gerard, Sigmundurr, help us get these drunkards out of here!”

Kreet smiled at that. Marge knew her craft. Gerard was a well known man, formerly a blacksmith, and could rival Sigmundurr in size and strength and was one of the chief instigators of the mob that had formed. By including him as a ‘bouncer’, at one swift stroke she had turned a potential problem into an asset. The crowd began to disperse.

“Marge, can I talk to you for a minute?” Kreet asked later as the former owner began to clean up the tables.

“Sure Kreet. What can I do for you?”

Kreet motioned her into a back room, out of earshot of the others.

“Marge… you’re good at this, aren’t you?”

Marge rarely smiled. But instead the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes increased a little. “Good at what? Keeping this place going? I damn well should be by now!”

“Are you really going to leave? Go to your mother’s place? Do you want to?” Kreet asked while moving a box to make for an impromptu chair.

“I suppose so. I got a letter from my sister. She’s asking when I’m coming. Why?”

“I don’t want you to leave, Marge. You know these people. They like me and Kallid. I can see that. But it’s not the same as you. It’s like you’re their crotchety grandmother. They respect you. Is there any way I can keep you on here?”

“Ain’t nobody’s grandmother. But… Let me think about it. We’re going to need more help though. It’s getting harder to do everything around here. But that’s a good thing. Would you consider hiring a barmaid?”

“Can we afford one?” Kreet asked. Though they were making some money now, it wasn’t very much.

“I think so. We’re going to need to eventually anyway if we’re really going to turn this place around.”

Kreet smiled inwardly. ‘We’, she’d said. That was good.

“Got any ideas who?”

“I’ll have to eat some crow, but June was good. Very good. We just couldn’t pay her and things got a little ugly at the end before you showed up.”

“Think she’d be willing?”

Marge shrugged. “Don’t know. But she wouldn’t need to be trained. Depends on how bad I pissed her off really. I could go talk to her tomorrow morning.”

Kreet nodded. “Thanks Marge. Let’s see if she’ll come back then. Do you owe her back-wages?”

“Some. Not too much. With your permission, we have enough to catch her up.”

“Go ahead. Sounds like a good investment if she’ll come back. But Marge, whether she comes back or not, I don’t think I can run this place without you.”

Marge’s crow’s feet re-emerged. “I don’t think you could either. Let me think about it for a day or two.”

Kreet nodded and hopped off the box. She felt the landing more than she used to, both in her belly and in her breasts.

“Ugh. I don’t think it’s going to be much longer.”

“You be careful, little Mama,” Marge said, holding her shoulder to steady her. “You’ve done enough these last few days. Maybe it’s time to settle down a little. They’ve got the roof repaired and the third floor is almost done. Let me handle things round here for a bit. I don’t know anything about kobold births, but I figure pregnancy is pregnancy. Got no kids of my own, but I know you need to slow down some.”

“I will,” Kreet vowed to herself as much as to Marge.

*********

The next few days Kreet did try to stay out of the way. June came back and, though at first she was somewhat leery of the kobolds, she soon got used to them. Kreet continued to train Kallid on the use of a stave, but the sparring was cancelled. In the afternoons she would retire to their room and watch him in the courtyard as he continued his archery practice. The sound of the workmen overhead had become commonplace as they finished restoring the third floor.

June was, in all respects, a very good barmaid and in the evenings Kreet was able to do less. June’s return had been roundly hailed by the old customers as a return to the ‘good old days’. Someone had bought the abandoned stable next to the Inn and it too was being refurbished in anticipation of better days to come.

She was sitting behind the bar, a common place for her these days during the hot afternoons, when a robed figure stepped into the bar. Avelyn. June went to offer a seat, but he saw Kreet and she climbed down off her barstool and waddled over to him. She hated that, but it was becoming more and more pronounced as the days went by.

“What brings you here, Guildmaster?” she asked as they stepped into the back room. The title was perhaps premature, but she hoped it was appropriate.

“It’s been quite some time since I’ve been in the slums personally, Kreet. But I must say things really are looking better around here. Did you hear about the murder last night? Whole family of three back in block one hundred six. That’s pretty close.”

“Thieves?”

“Yes. We know who it was.”

“Are you going to do something about it? Aren’t you supposed to be running the thieves guild now? Sounds like you’re not doing a very good job.”

“Already have. He’s in custody. But we’re not going to go public with it yet. The city watch is going to investigate. And they’re going to miraculously find him too. Such a heinous crime in the slums can’t go without justice. The King’s going to announce the return of the Watch.”

Kreet’s brow furrowed. “You didn’t orchestrate this did you? The murder of a whole family?!”

Avelyn shot her an angry look. “Kreet, no matter what else you may think of me and my Band, we are not wanton murderers! Nor is the King, if you start thinking that way too. The guy just went blood-crazed when the father tried to defend his family. We had him two hours later. We’re just using this as an opportunity to return to patrolling the slums and to give the Watch a little boost in credibility. You should be happy.”

“Sorry Avelyn. Something about living in a city. You get suspicious of everybody. You’ve been honorable enough with me. I shouldn’t have gone there.”

“No, you shouldn’t have. Anyway, I just came down here to let you know. The watch begins again tonight. Taxes will resume next month though.”

“Nothing too onerous?”

“A pittance. Symbolic really. But things do seem to be picking up down here. There are two other places being restored I saw on the way down. It won’t remain a pittance once things get moving again. As soon as word gets out that the watch is returning, I expect things will start moving a lot faster too. You’re lucky. You got in on the ground-floor of the renewal.”

“Lucky? I made the fucking renewal!”

“Kreet! Really, I must insist. Try to show me some respect.”

Kreet apologized. “Sorry. I think it’s this pregnancy thing. Has me on edge all the time. I don’t suppose you know anything about kobold birthing? I suppose I’ll figure it out, but it’s a little scary, not knowing what to expect when I’m expecting. I didn’t really do much research into it, and haven’t been around other kobolds enough to ask. Kallid isn’t a lot of help.”

Avelyn put a hand to his chin. “Your Bishop has quite an archive under the cathedral. It could be there’s something in there. I’ll have the archivist do some research and gather what he can find when you visit on holy day. You are coming?”

“Avelyn, I told my own Bishop I was. I am a Cleric too, remember? I don’t think you need to worry me forgetting that. I’ll be there.”

The Cleric of Avandra left the tavern, and Kreet emerged from the back room. She decided not to tell anyone about the return of the watch just yet. They would learn soon enough, and her foreknowledge might jeopardize the King’s excuse to reintroduce them. She should be happy. Things were going well. She was going to the Cathedral and it’s archives the day after tomorrow. The repairs on the building were nearing completion. Kallid was improving day by day in both martial arts and archery. The slums were being rebuilt day by day too. So why did she have an impending feeling of doom?

It must be the pregnancy, she decided. She went back upstairs to her room. But as she lay on the bed, she couldn’t get comfortable. Eventually she gathered up all the blankets and bedclothes she could find and piled them up into a corner, and then curled up on top of them all. It was much, much better. She thought back to her earliest childhood and realized this was similar to the pile of leaves and straw her mother and father slept on back in the cavern. She was not, after all, human. She was a pregnant kobold and damned if she was going to sleep on a slab of a bed when she could make a proper pile to sleep on top of.

She was happily snoring away within minutes.