{11}
Paying the PriceSantha sat in the local alehouse, glad to be out of the cool and blustery afternoon, but bored witless. Her early dismissal from lessons with Dandon at midday had left her with nothing to do. Apart from a handful of customers in the inn’s main room sipping mugs of beer and ale, everyone else was still hard at work. For want of something to occupy her, she looked through the big window by her table at the town on the verge of dusk but still in full thrall.
Fallen leaves littered the town square, blown haphazardly by winds stirred up in hazy skies. The heart of alban-elved had passed the Silver Valley in the blink of an eye. The harvest was at hand, and she watched the usual bedlam with more resignation than usual. A Vaerese merchant lost control of his pack mule long
