“Then what is the magic here?” Rowena asked warily.

Finnegan looked around at all of them, hands on his hips. She couldn’t tell if he was becoming more amused or getting annoyed by their questioning.

“It seems to me that the four of you could have skirted the Inn easily enough. You came here.”

Rowena pressed. “Did— did a young man with dark, curly hair– a MAGIC USER– wearing an expensive cloak come through here about a week ago?”

Finnegan looked at her oddly. “Why don’t you come in and have a drink of ale. On the house. You can decide if you want to stay the night or not. We only have a couple of other parties here, so we have rooms for coin. Or, you can camp in the stable for free if you help us care for the horses.” His tone was easy enough, but his voice was firm. This was clearly a man used to dealing with problems quickly and efficiently.

Rowena realized her companions were looking to her to make a decision, and hesitated. She didn’t like ale much, but she was thirsty.

“Dada!” A high pitched voice called out as a small child– perhaps three or four– came running out from behind the Inn. Although it was curly, he had hair as dark as Finnegan’s, and his green eyes matched his father’s. Finnegan scooped him up in his arms for a kiss.

A pang in her gut twisted sharply as Rowena looked at the little boy. Younger than Tommie, for sure, and he didn’t look much like her blonde brother, but this was enough to decide her. No one who loved a little child like this could mean them much harm, she figured.

“We’ll gladly accept your invitation to ale,” she said as formally as possible. Accepting hospitality formally was an important part of Innkeeper’s codes, she vaguely recalled, though she supposed she’d have to make sure she did so with his wife as she must be the main Innkeeper.

Finnegan gave a friendly smile and nodded. “Alright, then. Go right inside and tell Thea I sent you. She’ll be glad to see some young faces on the road. I need to stay here for a moment and deal with this… pest problem!”

With that he flipped his son over and shook him playfully, the little boy giggling and shouting, “I’m not a pest! I’m Colin!”

Even Sorel smiled at their antics, and they went up the short walkway to the front of the Inn. Large windows were built into either side– on the left, they were drawn, but the right showed them a preview of what was inside: a large, cozy-looking dining room.

Rowena felt a wash of relief come over her, and knew almost as soon as they’d opened the door that she didn’t care how much it cost of their meager savings, they’d be staying in proper beds tonight. She knew they should take Finnegan up on his generous offer for free camping in the stable to care for the horses, but firstly, that duty would almost certainly fall to Sorel as the only one with farm experience and secondly…. a real bed!

A woman with auburn hair piled up on her head looked up from behind a bar she was polishing with a rag. She paused, and gave a shake of her head and a smile. “I suppose ‘Finnegan sent you’?”

Presumably, this was Thea. She looked a little familiar, though Rowena couldn’t place why.

Rowena nodded, running her hand over her thin blonde hair a little shyly. The woman had a strong presence, which she supposed was necessary for an Innkeeper.

“That’s right, there was a promise of ale,” Kieran piped up.

“Oh, I’ve no doubt there was,” she replied, but took down a few tankards from a shelf that came down from the ceiling and ran the length of the bar. It was covered in vines and dried herbs, which gave the Inn a pleasant, homey smell. “My husband will drink us out of house and home– not that he ever touches the stuff. More drinking by proxy.”

She finished filling the four tankards and set them out. “Well, come on, then. Sit a while. Tell us your news. I’m Thea, by the way.”

“Thank you,” Rowena said as Mattie and Kieran clambered onto some bar stools on either side of her. She and Sorel remained standing, the tall girl standing behind them. “We don’t have any news.”

Thea’s eyebrow arched. “No news? Don’t you know that’s the primary method of payment for Innkeepers?”

“Really?” Mattie asked, intrigued. Rowena was glad that so many new experiences were still sparking her interest. It had been hard to see Mattie so subdued the day or so after the incident with Ayla.

From the main area of the dining room off to their right, they saw several individuals clustered in two groups, the larger group of five particularly rowdy while a smaller group of three huddled in a corner. One of them looked rather poorly, with a thin, gaunt face surrounded in a cloak that he kept clutched tightly around his entire body. He looked like he’d been sleeping when they’d come in, and didn’t appreciate being woken. His two companions were playing at dice and Rowena saw that one carried a wicked-looking dagger. She didn’t like the look of them.

Thea laughed and poured herself a tankard, as well. “Sure, in a sense. Coin is always useful, to be sure, but information? That’s real value.”

Rowena considered this carefully. No doubt Thea meant it mostly as a joke, but as a Secretseeker, this struck a chord. She’d never considered the value information could have as a commodity.

“What’s the magic on this place?” Kieran asked suddenly, pulling out Leo’s necklace from under his shirt and absentmindedly rubbing the pendant in his hand.

“What a rude question!” Thea said jokingly, but her eyes narrowed a little. “But I suppose I can share a few secrets given those beautiful eyes.”

Kieran blushed furiously and looked at a loss for words.

Thea winked at him and said in a dry tone, “Don’t worry so, lad, I’m married.”

He took a swallow of ale uncomfortably.

Rowena was amused to see her friend behaving so awkwardly in the presence of a beautiful woman. He’d always been very self-assured amongst the women of Tunehlan– women who’d seen him grow from an adorable boy into a charming youth, and therefore constantly indulged him.

“If you don’t mind sharing,” Rowena said to rescue her friend. “I’d like to know where… what kind of place we’re staying in.”

Kieran looked at her gratefully, and Mattie leaned forward eagerly.

“It’s a straightforward, but complicated spell,” Thea shrugged and downed her own ale. “The Inn only appears if you’ve been here before, or if you’ve need of it.”

“Only appears?” Mattie asked with great interest. “Does that mean it’s invisible? Or that it occupies a different place? Are we even in the forest anymore?”

She turned and peered out the front window as though she expected to see a new landscape outside.

“Woaaaah my dear, calm your questions. I can’t tell you the details,” Thea waggled a finger at Mattie. “I appreciate the enthusiasm, though.”

Rowena’s ROGUE senses pricked up– she felt someone looking at them, and looked over to the dining room to see the sickly man peering intently at them. Suddenly, she wasn’t so sure they should stay in this place, kind though Finnegan and Thea seemed.

“Now. Rooms? Or the stable? I presume Finnegan offered you such. He’s been a soft touch for youngsters ever since we had Colin,” Thea said with affection, feigning annoyance.

Kieran, Mattie, and Sorel looked at Rowena hopefully.

She sighed, and said, “We’ll take a room. Or two, if there’s not enough beds in one.”

Thea nodded. “I have a few two-bed rooms available. I’ll just need to see all of your Sigils and you can go up and rest a little– then I recommend coming down for the meal. It was Finnegan’s night to prepare it. He’s the better cook of the two of us.”

Rowena’s breath caught. Show their Sigils? She looked around at her friends, who were already pulling back their cloaks and sleeves and showing the inside of their forearms to Thea. How casually they all revealed such an intimate part of themselves!

“Manipulator?” Thea said with a raised eyebrow when Kieran proudly held up his arm.

“You recognize it?” He asked, seeming a little miffed.

She shook her head. “Not exactly. Intake Guest is an Ability a lot of Innkeepers choose. It tells us what your Sigils are and creates a log so that we know exactly who is staying with us and– well, it informs a few other Abilities. Helpful for my line of work.”

Kieran brightened up. “So you’ve never met another Manipulator?”

“Nope. But a word of advice– don’t be so quick to boast about your, ahem, uniqueness,” Thea said with a frown. “I don’t know what a Manipulator does, but I can promise you that someone would find a use for it, whether you want them to or not.”

Rowena looked around a little fearfully, making a fist and rubbing it against her lips. The large group had begun singing a folk song she recognized, a bawdy tune called The Lover of the Butcher’s Wife. The sickly man was no longer staring at them, but she thought that she could still feel his attention like an invisible wave.

Kieran was nodding at Thea, though Rowena doubted he’d take her advice.

“Now you, dear,” Thea looked expectantly at Rowena, who hesitated. She liked Thea, and didn’t relish the thought of the look on her face when she learned that Rowena was a ROGUE.

Mattie put a hand on Rowena’s shoulder and squeezed. Shamefaced, Rowena pulled off the wrap she wore around her Sigils and glanced at them before holding them up for Thea, realizing she hadn’t even looked at them in at least a few days. They were almost imperceptibly darker, a reflection of the new level she’d achieved. She cast her eyes to the side, staring at a point on the bar, and tried to angle her arm away so that no one else could see them.

To her surprise, Thea said nothing at all and her face betrayed no thoughts, disgusted or otherwise. Rowena felt a slight tug at her Sigils, and then nodded decisively. “That’s done. You can pay me before you leave in the morning– why don’t you go up and have a rest now?”

Rowena nodded with relief.

“Up the stairs, last two rooms on the left-hand side. Your Sigils will serve as lock recognition to enter your room– I’m presuming you two and you two?” Thea nodded at Kieran and Rowena, then Mattie and Sorel, respectively. “Hold your arms up to the peephole of the door. They don’t have to be uncovered; that’s not how the magic works.”

“Thank you,” Mattie said gratefully.

Rowena looked at her in surprise– she hadn’t heard a single word of complaint from her friend since they began their journey, but she suddenly realized that she and Mattie were probably feeling similarly drained. Sorel, being from a rural family, had probably spent plenty of nights in the fields; Kieran had been craving this adventure since he was a child.

“Dinner will be in about an hour– everyone in the Inn eats at the same time as it’s just Finnegan and I. And Colin, but he’s not very useful, yet. Keeps things organized and easier to tidy.”

“Is there– would it be possible to bathe?” Rowena asked hesitantly.

Thea pursed her lips, but nodded. “Since there’s four of you, I’ll pump a fresh bath. There’s a special bathing room at the back of the Inn on this floor. You can use the towels you find in there.”

Rowena steeled herself. She was going to have to get better at interrogating people if she wanted to bring justice for her brother (or be a Secretseeker at all, a nasty little voice in her head said, though she was pretty sure it was her own and not the Fog).

“One more thing,” she added in what she hoped was a confident tone. “Have you seen the man who murdered my brother?”