Rouen raised his eyebrows as Naida spoke and looked at the drink suspiciously. 

[i]“Eh, she is probably jesting,”[/i] he thought and raised the mug up, eyeing the amber ale. Still, he took a small sip and placed it on the bar table.

[i]“Doesn’t taste too bad, a little sour end but the flavor is unique. As long as it is more palatable than revolting I suppose,”[/i] he thought. 

He ate a spoonful of the soup that was placed in front of him. [i]“Hog’s meat, now this is a fine stew. Worthy for the court,”[/i] he thought and a smile grew on his lips. He quietly finished the stew and began sipping on the brew.

Content and satisfied he leaned back. He pulled out a small white piece of paper, an ink vial, and a quill from his belt satchel. Hundreds of little black lines crossed the surface of the paper.
  
[i]“Let us see one…two……forty-five….one-hundred….,”[/i] he thought counting the lines on the paper. [i]“273, that makes nine-months. Goddess have I really been gone for that long?”[/i] Brushing the quill into the vial of ink he added another line to the piece of paper.

He leaned back on his chair and closed his eyes. [i]“All this time, and still no sign of what I am looking for.”[/i] He thought remembering visions of the black hulking being in the dark forest. He swept his left hand to his right arm, feeling the scars that lined it underneath the leather jerkin. 

Rouen hadn’t felt terror like that. It was an experience that he wished to erase from his mind but at the same time refused to forget. It was something that was forever scarred into the landscape of his subconscious. The trauma echoed in the walls of his psyche. Sometimes he would dream of the encounter, and wake sweating feverishly. 

He opened his eyes, and lightly shook his head trying to think of something else. Sighing, he reached into his satchel and pulled out a small ring with a red garnet etched into its center. 

[i]“I wonder if she still remem-,”[/i] he thought, but it was interrupted as he overheard someone say, “The Remnants haven't been stirring up trouble lately,"

[i]“Remnants?”[/i] he thought. The mere word alerted him and he brought himself to a level position. 

He looked behind him and saw the man who spoke, he was pasting something up on the board.

Rouen immediately grabbed his paper, vial, quill, and ring then stuffed them into the satchel. He sternly walked up behind the man.

“Excuse me, did you mention something about Remnants?”  Rouen asked.