"Hmm..." Othen murmured more to himself than towards Branna or anybody else. It was a sound indicative of him thinking too much to produce anything more meaningful.

"I have a few things to pick up before I can leave the city, but I know precisely where to go so I don't have to search the proper merchants first. Given the current progress of the day they won't be available until early tomorrow I think, but after that I'd be ready. How does that sound ?"

Othen realized that he was in a bit of a situation: He just [i]had[/i] to buy some stuff that he had not intended to buy originally. If he would come back to Branna without at least one bag filled with some stuff that looked like metal or minerals she could very well grow suspicious. So him saying that he'd have to visit some merchants tomorrow early wasn't even a lie, but he'd have to make sure that whatever deception he'd buy would be as cheap as possible. He needed coin for food and water and there also was a stable's owner to pay for keeping his horse supplied.

"Are you going by foot or on horseback ? I'm doing the latter, but we could just as well meet at the east gate instead of the stables."

Othen hoped that Branna would not burst out in laughter at this point. Experience told him that people tended to turn their heads a lot when seeing him riding, so he couldn't rule out that she might find the mere thought of him doing so amusing.

"We could also meet pretty much anywhere else. I suppose you wouldn't have much trouble finding me even in a crowd, would you ?"

The big man smiled as he put up the rhethorical question. Nobody had ever had much trouble finding him in a crowd, except maybe if said nobody was a dwarf who couldn't see anything else than the groins of those standing around him. Branna was not a dwarf though, and if she truly was an experienced adventurer there was no reason to mistrust her abilities. Othen felt like he'd be in good hands with her, but he was unsure if he could do the same for her. His smile inadvertently faded as Othen found discomfort in these thoughts.