“Just make a list—or recite a list for me—and I’ll check the prices at various merchants to get what you need.”
“Check the prices?”
“Yes, to ensure you get the best deal.”
“Quality and trustworthiness are more important than price when selecting a supplier.”
Rylana was about to say that he was in debt to his landlord and not turning a profit, so he couldn’t be picky aboutquality,especially for practice dishes, but he spoke again.
“One disreputable half-orc with a grudge toward dragonspoisonedthe ingredients I ordered from him. He mixed in wolfsbane, a substance as deadly to my kind as yours. The peacekeepers have no way to detect a weapon such as that. If not for my superior olfactory senses, I might have consumed it and also served it to others.”
“Er, did you report it to the peacekeepers?”
“I did, even taking the ingredient with his label on it, to them. They accepted it and claimed they would investigate, but the half-orc has not been arrested and continues to run his store. The gnomish authorities here are quick to suspect dragons of improper behavior but do little to defend them against the same.”
Rylana doubted the gnomes wanted dragons in their peaceful city and wasn’t that surprised. When the founders of Tranquility had built it, writing on the main entrance pillars that all species were welcome within its borders, they probably hadn’t expected their kind to be drawn to visit. If the poison incident had been recent, it was no wonder Jildarin was on edge and suspicious of her.
“Tell me the name of that store so I don’t order from it,” Rylana said. “Though I doubt the owner would poison me.”
If the half-orc proprietor was still in business, he presumably didn’t poisonmostof his clients.
“I’m friendly and charming and hardly ever roar at people,” she added.
“Instead, you shoot them with your bow.”
“Yeah, but I can’t do that here.”
“You will avoid the establishment, regardless. The word will soon get out that you are shopping for a heinous dragon.”
“So far, I haven’t heard anyone call you that.” Rylana didn’t mention that no fewer than three people had referred to him asgrumpy.
“Once I have won the Golden Whisk and satisfied the tastebudsof many in this city, they will be eager to visit my diner and won’t call meanything. Except perhaps talented.”
“And sophisticated?”
Jildarin squinted at her, perhaps trying to decide if she was teasing him—maybe a little—but said only, “Yes.”
“Since you’ve decided you’re not going to kill me tonight,” Rylana said as they reached the intersection near the diner, a fountain in the center gurgling next to a pillar, “I’m going to ask if I can spend the night.”
“Spend the night?” Jildarin stopped and stared at her.
“In your diner. It’s raining, cold, and I don’t have lodgings. Also, I’m short on funds. You haven’t suggested that you’ll pay me anytime soon, and there aren’t many vacancies in the city anyway. My friend and I checked several hostels earlier.” Rylana wondered where Sylin had found shelter for the night and also hoped she hadn’t run into any trouble. What if the elf who’d seen her in the coffee shop earlier had reported her presence to the other elves in the city, and they’d objected to her visiting? Like Jildarin, they might also know of gaps where the peacekeepers’ magical coverage was incomplete.
“Why would you want to sleep in the lair of a dragon?” Jildarin's tone had shifted from thoughtful to suspicious.
“Like I said. Rain, cold, and nowhere else to go. It also seems fair that you would give mesomethingfor the time I’ve put in working for you, at least until you’ve got enough funds to start paying me a salary.”
“You’ve put inone day.”
“It was alongday.”
Jildarin looked past her shoulder and toward the diner and didn’t answer. Someone tall and wearing dark clothing with a hood pulled up against the rain—or against beingseen?—was peering in the window by the door. Whoever it was turned enoughto see them, then scurried off down the street in the opposite direction.
Again thinking of Vormalt, Rylana grimaced. “Should we chase that person down?”
“To what end?” Jildarin walked toward the diner but didn’t look like he had chasing in mind. The person disappeared into the same alley that Rylana had fled into that morning.
“To learn why they were peering through your windows?”
