She'd walked back through her apothecary, lugging her accounting books along. She deposited them on the table and opened them to the same page. They were identical in every way, one was for her own use, the other was to turn in monthly with her loan payment, to ensure that all was in order. She started at the top of the page, for she started a brand new page each day. This certainly wasted some of the pages, but it made it easier for her to keep it all organized and such. Her father had taught her to read and do basic math as a little girl using his own books to teach, so this always reminded her of those days.

[color=f6989d][i][b]"Tonic to reduce womanly cramps, 3 silvers, to miss Kyara. Salve to heal sunburn, 1 silver, to the Lefston twins. A sack of dried basil, 5 golds, to Shkara."[/b][/i][/color] This went on for a few minutes, her reading this aloud, checking her math. [color=f6989d][i][b]"Thirty-Five golds today. Definitely a good day."[/b][/i][/color] She finally set about to eating her food now that it had cooled. Just as a piece of fish entered her mouth, she heard a loud bang from her apothecary. 

Someone or something was in there. She grabbed a burning stick from the fire and her pan as well. She moved slowly, [color=f6989d][i][b]"Hello, is someone there? I'm armed and my husband will be home soon."[/b][/i][/color] The first part was barely true, and the latter was an outright lie, but if there was someone, she had hoped to scare them off. Her impromptu torch was out in front of her as she entered her apothecary, looking around. 

Over by her window, the one she'd closed earlier, was a man with fiery red hair dressed in dark colors. But rather than scream, she clammed up. She'd been hoping it was just another curious raccoon or cat. But it was a thief or assassin or rapist or some other horror. She gripped the handle of her pan tight trying to muster the courage to speak, but finding none.