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Adiatu
"I'll bet the first fellow who brewed this did it by accident, or because he was careless with his roasting," Gerin said. He took another pull and smacked his lips thoughtfully. "After you get used to it, it's-interesting, isn't it? A new way of doing things, as you say."
"When all this is done, I'll send a brewer to Fox Keep to show you the making of it," Adiatu
"When all this is done, if you're able to send him and I'm able to receive him, I'll be glad to do that." Gerin drained his mug of beer. Getting up to fill it with another dipper of that dark brew seemed the most natural thing in the world, so he did.
Van had other ideas about what the most natural thing in the world might be. If he got any friendlier with that serving woman-a lively redhead who, Gerin thought, looked a lot like Fand-they'd be consummating their friendship on top of the table, or maybe down in the rushes on the floor.
Gerin peered around for Duren but didn't see him. He wondered whether his son had found a girl for himself or was just off visiting the latrine. When Duren didn't come back right away, the first guess seemed more likely.
"A fine-looking lad y'have there," Adiatu
"That's so," Gerin agreed. He eyed the Trokm- with genuine respect. "You have your ear to the ground, to have got the news so soon."
"The more you know, the more you can do summat about," Adiatu
Gerin peered down into the black and apparently bottomless mug of beer. When he looked up again, Duren was coming back into the great hall, a smug look on his face. That eased Gerin's mind; after the boy had been kidnapped when he was small, the Fox wasn't easy about letting him out of his sight.
Turning to Adiatu
"It will that." Adiatu
"No more than I do of you," Gerin answered. "By the fight they made with us, they're brave and they're strong, but so are you Trokmoi-and so are we."
"I ca
"Yes, I've seen that," Gerin said. He remembered Kapich, his Gradi prisoner, sneering at the Trokm- gods. Whether that had anything to do with the woodsru
Adiatu
"I've been chewing on that very thing," Gerin said, noting with some relief that Adiatu
He asked for more than politeness' sake; Adiatu
"I do." Gerin nodded. "My chief worry is that your men won't follow my commands as quickly as they might, either because they think I'm trying to put them in more danger or just out of Trokm- cussedness."
"As for the first, I trust it won't be so, else I'd never have bent the knee to you," Adiatu
"I've heard other Trokmoi say as much," Gerin admitted, "but, of course, they're wrong." He brought that out deadpan, to see what Adiatu
The chieftain frowned, but then started to laugh. "Try as you will, lord prince-I should be saying that now, eh? being your vassal and all, I mean-you'll not get my goat so easy."
"Good," Gerin said. "So. You're flighty to us, and we're dull to you. What of the Gradi? You know them better than we do."
"Belike, and how I'm wishing we didna." This time, Adiatu
"Yes, that fits in with what I've seen," Gerin agreed. "They're very sure of themselves, too: they don't think we can stop them. That goddess of theirs, that Voldar-"
Adiatu
You fear her, eh? Gerin started to ask that aloud, but held his tongue. Dabbling in magic had taught him how much power lay in words; saying something could make it real. Voldar undoubtedly knew-or could find out-Adiatu
"Father Dyaus will prosper our enterprise," Gerin said, and hoped the chief Elabonian god was paying as much attention to him as Adiatu
He was distracted from such musings when a very pretty Trokm- girl less than half Adiatu
"And can I be finding you summat lively in the line of women?" the Trokm- chieftain asked. His hand opened and squeezed, opened and squeezed. "I'd not want you to think me lacking in hospitality, now."
"I don't," Gerin assured him. "Good food and good drink are plenty for me, and you've given me those. As for the other, I'm happy enough with my wife not to care to look anywhere else, though I thank you all the same."
"And what a daft notion that is," Adiatu
The Fox shrugged. "If that's how you want to live, I'm not going to say you shouldn't. It's your affair-and you can take that however you like. And since I'm happy enough to let other people do as they please, I'm even happier when they let me do the same."