Page 85 of Morel Dilemma

“Does your dog like elves?” Rylana asked.

“She likes everyone,” Bixtok said.

“Then I guess I’m only modestly flattered that she rushed up to lean on my leg.”

A squad of uniformed gnome peacekeepers marched out onto the dock. Would they escort the queen and her entourage to the diner? And stay to maintain the peace? Maybe Rylana didn’t need to worry about anything. With so many law enforcers of various types present, who would dare start trouble?

She’d no sooner had the thought than she spotted a pair of elves lurking in the shadows of an alley. When they noticed her noticing them, they pulled their hoods up and slunk out of view.

Rylana’s stomach twisted. There was going to be trouble. She was certain of it.

“Why don’t you three—four—come back to the diner with me now?” she suggested. “I’ll make sure you’re seated at a table before it gets crowded. You’re able to call golems if anything against the laws of Tranquility happens, right?”

Bixtok pointed to one of his comrades, who nodded and patted a pouch on his side. Maybe it contained something for summoning the great stone-skinned protectors.

“Good.” Rylana set a brisk pace back to the diner but slowed when she spotted someone familiar outside. Their landlord, Aztor.

She braced herself to deal with him, but Jildarin opened the door and spoke to him before she arrived. He pointed upward to the flower-dotted vines dangling from the rooftop terrace. Aztor looked up at the foliage as a hummingbird swept in and visited a trumpet-shaped flower. Maybe it was Rylana’s imagination, but his expression seemed more one of wonder and appreciation than a cool businesslike demeanor that might have suggested he’d come to kick them out.

Jildarin glanced at Rylana as she approached, leading the gnomes. His expression was harder to read, but the hard set of his jaw made her believe he hadn’t changed his mind about spiking the food, and he probably wasn’t pleased that she’d suggested it. She lamented that she’d given him a reason to be disappointed in her, but she didn’t think her plan had been that egregious. Only a chef would have been that mortified by it. Besides, all she wanted to do was protect her friend.

Rylana glanced at the windowsill. The morel was gone.

Damn it, who’d taken it, and had Sylin spotted it in time?

All she could hope was that Sylin was watching the area from afar and had seen all the elves arriving, elves that had best be avoided.

“The queen is on the way,” Rylana told Jildarin, “and these three fine gnomes would like to partake in the evening meal.”

In the dining room, Zalani walked into view carrying a tray. Rylana caught her gaze and lifted three fingers, then pointed at the peacekeepers.

Willow woofed and wagged her tail.

“Four would like to dine,” Rylana said as Bixtok smiled and nodded.

Jildarin’s eyes narrowed. “The hound may eat outside behind the storeroom.”

Disappointment hooded Bixtok’s eyes, but he said, “That’s fine. May I take my meal out there too?”

“There are no tables back there,” Jildarin said.

“Willow and I don’t need a table. We often eat perched on logs or sitting on some fine moss in the woods.”

“There’s nice moss on the rooftop now,” Rylana said. “Maybe that would be an acceptable area for a hound.”

Jildarin grimaced. Maybe she shouldn’t have suggested that, but she wanted the peacekeepers close.

“Oh, that’ll be lovely.” Bixtok pointed toward the corner of the building. “Are the stairs around there?”

“Yes,” Rylana said as Jildarin said, “No.”

“Yes,” she said again.

Jildarin folded his arms over his chest. “No.”

“You can’t deny their physical presence over there,” she murmured to him, then waved the gnomes toward the corner. On the off chance that the rooftop terrace would appeal so vastly to their landlord that he wouldn’t dream of evicting them, she also pointed him in the direction of the stairs. “Do you want to check out Plant Master Chalora’s work, Aztor? And try exotic coffee samples?”

“I… yes.” He nodded and followed after the gnomes and Willow, her tail wagging as she trotted around the corner.