[center][b][h1]Bork[/h1][/b][/center]

Bork had questions.  Oh, boy did he have questions.  Not to mention a few observations.

The guards at least hadn’t misled him about the abbot and everybody else being at the inn.  And the abbot seemed glad to see him, so this wasn’t some trick to jam him up.  None of this, however, lessened how annoying this whole thing was.

He plunked down at the abbot’s table with an exasperated look.  [b]”The guards told me something had happened.  Someone attacked Drom?  She alright?  What’s going on?”[/b]  It took a moment to process that Drom was there in the room.  [b]”Oh!  There she is!”[/b] he noted astutely.  He would want the details.  He would in return tell Andrew about his meeting with Kriltra, about her two propositions, and about her threat.

He showed the abbot the herb samples the catlady had given him.  [b]”She said these grew around here, and she’d pay good money to get the stuff shipped out of here.  I wanted to show you because you know more about herbalism than I do.  What are these?  Why would she want to pay so much money?  Are these valuable?”[/b]

Bork had mixed feelings about helping out with the herbs.  If it could bring in money, wasn’t that a good thing?  It was just a question of who they had to do business with to make it happen.

The bowl business, on the other hand, stank to high heaven.  Kriltra had threatened to spread rumors that *he* had had something to do with wanting the scribe offed.  He made sure he told the abbot everything about how that interview went, what Kriltra had said, what his response had been.  He had no reason to lie, and every reason to make sure his few allies here knew everything and were clear on where he stood.  As an afterthought, he said to Andrew:  [b]”Oh, thanks for warning me.  That made a difference.”[/b]

The dwarf looked at the bowls.  [b]”I’ve had a lot of trouble on account of those bowls,”[/b] he observed to Drom.  He tried to make his tone joking, but a sour note crept into his voice in spite of himself.  [b]”I was supposed to get it for her.”[/b]  He shrugged.  [b]”I told her I’d ask the clerk to ‘do the right thing’.  I think those were my exact words.”[/b]

The engineer gave a curt nod of acknowledgment to the harbor master when he came in, frowned when the Captain shooed him off.  Apparently Nelthurin wasn’t on the list of people the Captain or the abbot trusted on this.  Bork turned back to Andrew.  [b]”What do we do now?”[/b] he asked.  [b]”Why are those people moving on *me* so fast?  They started making threats before they knew enough to know what might actually scare me.  I’m no criminal mastermind, but to me that suggests they’re in some sort of rush.  Do we just wait here to see if they make another move?”[/b]

He looked glumly around the common room.  The census thing was proceeding apace, albeit with a tension you could chop with an ax.  And he was stuck here.  He had an idea.  [b]”Did you bring my book?”[/b] he asked the abbot.  [b]”There’s work I could do.”[/b]  He had notes about Colmarh looking at extra brewing capacity, and he realized he should tweak his waterfront to include a cooper.  He also looked to see if Findir the farrier would show up.  He wanted to talk to him.