Manuel swirled the dark purple mead in his mug. He’d sat at the end of the bar and ordered a whole bottle, then downed it but it hadn’t settled his mind in the slightest. As the storm pounded down on the roof of the mostly empty inn, Manuel threw back the last of his mead.

“Bit early to be so deep in your cup, Manie,” Olena teased as she approached him from across the room. She stepped behind the bar and grabbed another bottle of mead, as well as a jug of water. “Care for another? I might even have some with you, this storm is sure to keep things quiet today.”

Despite his mood, Manuel always had a soft spot for Olena. She had a way of picking him up, even when he was in no mood to be picked up. In her twenties now, she’d taken over the inn when her father passed away a few years back. Beautiful and curvy, with bright green eyes and long brown hair braided down her back in a large braid, every farmer and field hand in Starstone had a crush on her. Too bad she has no interest in men, Manuel thought, as he stared at the bottle of mead and sighed.

“I saw something troubling in the fields today, before the storm hit,” Manuel began. “You’re going to laugh and call me a drunkard though, but I swear it was real.”

“Water then,” Olena responded, setting the jug down in front of him on the bar and returning the bottle to the shelf behind the bar. “So what happened? Bandits?” she smiled as she teased him. “Another pack of wolves? I really could use another pelt.”

“A dragon,” he replied heavily.

Olena chuckled cheerfully at him. “A dragon? Surely not! You’re right, you have had too much of my mead, delicious as it is.”

“I’m being serious!” Manuel shouted, pounding his fist on the bar. “It plunged from the clouds as I was leading the herd back to the village this morning and took one of my cows. I told Oskar when I came back, but he didn’t believe me either.”

“Well, I’m sorry for that,” Olena said, a bit ashamed of laughing at him. “Tell you what, I’ll make you some breakfast, and you can rest in one of the rooms upstairs for a while. At least until the storm has passed. It must be warmer here than in your house on a day like today.”

She turned from the bar before he could respond, and moved back to the kitchen. A short while later, a plate of eggs and toast sat before Manuel. He ate in silence, before quietly offering his thanks and climbing the stairs for some sleep. Maybe I’ll wake up and this will all have been a dream, he thought as he lay down. The constant sound of the pounding rain on the roof was soothing, and soon he was asleep.

===========================================

The day dragged on, the rain and wind never seeming to stop. Truly, this was one of the worst days to be an innkeeper. The inn wasn’t big, just a few tables around a large hearth at the back of the main floor. A bar in the front across from the front door with a few stools, and a kitchen hidden away behind a wall. Stairs rose along the right side of the building, leading to several rooms available for rent on the second floor, her own room among them, above the front door.

After sending Manuel to bed, Olena had wiped down all the tables, swept, and taken inventory of the remaining mead as well as the other ingredients she’d need to pick up after the storm.

Bit low on eggs, I’ll have to see if anyone is heading to town today after the storm she thought. Really wish I could talk the Elders into letting me build a coop out back, but they always complain about the noise and smell of livestock. It's a bit of a miracle Manuel still has a job here really.

She continued to move through her day slowly, trying to make each chore fill more of the day than it had any right to. Every mug was polished flawlessly, every table clear and pristine, every candle cut and prepared for use at a moment’s notice.

Finally, as the rain began to slow in the early afternoon, Oskar pushed through the heavy front door and settled in near the fire. He was tall and lanky, and carried a spear and bow with him. He removed these, as well as his leather coat and rested them near the fire, then took up a seat at a table near the hearth.

“What would you like?” Olena asked him as she walked over to his table. “Got a nice stew going in the kitchen, or if you aren’t hungry, you know I’ve got plenty of mead.”

“Some stew sounds wonderful. Still have some of the bottle you gave me last night,” Oskar responded, retrieving the half empty bottle from his coat.

“You sure have some restraint! Manuel stopped by earlier and drank a whole bottle earlier this morning,” Olena said cheerfully, as she left for the kitchen. A few minutes later she returned with a bowl of steaming stew and pulled up a chair opposite him. “Hope you don’t mind, it's been dreadfully slow today.”

“Wish I could say the same,” Oskar replied, as he blew on the stew and began to eat. “You said you saw Manuel earlier? How was he?”

“He was pretty off. Came in and asked for the mead straight away,” she replied. “I knew he liked it, he’d had plenty last night, but I never knew he was such a drinker.”

“He’s not really. Don’t get me wrong, he likes to drink but he’s not a drunk,” Oskar said. “He took the herd out to the field this morning before the storm hit and came back in a panic. Insisted that a dragon swooped down and took one of his cattle. Did he say anything about it to you?”

“Yeah, I managed to pull it out of him after a bit,” Olena said, frowning. “I didn’t think he was being serious though, do you?”

“I don’t know what to think,” Oskar replied after a moment. “I spoke with a couple of hunters the other day though, and they said that all of the prey out to the west toward the mountains had seemingly moved on. Said they were going to try further north, into the harsher mountains, but if they didn’t find anything, they’d be moving on. I don’t know about a dragon, but it sounds like something is out there disrupting the animals. Told Manuel I’d go with him to speak to the Elders when the storm passes.”

“Now you have me worried, I hope it turns out to be nothing,” replied Olena quietly. “I love it here, I would hate to have to sell everything and leave.”

“I know how you feel… but my gut tells me something is going on out there,” Oskar said. He finished his stew and stood to gather his belongings. “I know one thing though, the Elders won’t act on Manuel’s word alone.”

“I know, they’re so stuck in their ways,” Olena said, taking the empty bowl and returning it behind the bar. “I’ll be sure to hide the mead when Manuel wakes up, he’ll be sober when the two of you talk to the Elders at least.”

“Thanks Olena,” Oskar said, as he smiled at her and left a coin on the bar. “For what it’s worth, I think he did see something out there. I just pray it wasn’t a dragon.” He threw his coat on, and slung his bow over his shoulder before pushing the door open and trudging out into the cold drizzle.