1 - After Breakfast
<p>=Mayheart Sanctuary=
 
 
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Nik dipped the last piece of his fruit bread into the nearly empty bowl of tula breakfast stew, savored the flavors, then drank the remainder of the stew straight from the bowl. He wiped his mouth as the last of the community members and other travelers put their dishes on the bar, and headed out into town to go about their morning work.
 
"Can I take your dishes for you, sir?" asked Arun as he walked up to Nik.
 
"Thank you," Nik replied.
 
"Is there anything else I can get for you?"
 
Nik recognized his opportunity to meet Griegg, "Yes, I have question, and I think your not-dead friend might be able to answer it for me. Could you arrange a meeting?"
 
Arun laughed a bit. "So formal! Yes, of course I can introduce you to Mr. Capita. May I enquire as to your name and the nature of said meeting?" said Arun with a touch of mockery.
 
"My name is Nik Worther, and my--"
 
Arun had dropped the bowl. "Worther!?"
 
"Uumm.....yes?" Nik Replied, confused as to what this Hobb was getting at.
 
"As in Cerugum Worther? The historical legend Cerugum Worther? That founded half the country?" 
 
"Umm...I've heard the name, but I don't know what he did." Nik was now distracted. "He was nearly a thousand years ago, right?"
 
"Yeah, he could do every kind of magic, he's the reason this place didn't close down."
 
"You have a good knowledge of your town's history," Nik said.
 
"Studying is important, Mr. Capita teaches me. Sorry, distracted, you wanted to meet with him, I think he'll be eager to meet one of the Line of Worther!" Arun ran off to the back room, having forgotten the dropped bowl, which Nik carried up to the bar himself a moment later.
 
Nik, had studied the past few generations of his family, but he hadn't looked back that far, he had no idea what Arun was talking about, but it peaked his interest, and wondered if there might be a connection.
 
Nik sat down at the bar for a few minutes, waiting, expecting Arun to have sent Griegg out to meet him right away, but Griegg didn't come out of the kitchens, nor did Arun. Nik sat for half an hour before deciding he would call upon his hosts and the non-dead later. He returned to his room to dress properly for the day.
 
 
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Raain brought a bucket of left over stew into the stables where she found Griegg at work removing cobwebs.
 
"Sorry for the mess, Griegg," she said while pouring the stew into a food trough.
 
"Eh, it's not so bad," Griegg said, and looked around again. "Well, maybe it is bad."
 
"Yeah, it wasn't easy adding your duties to our own, never realized how much work you actually do out here."
 
"Arun was that busy guarding room keys?" Griegg chuckled with exasperation and sarcasm.
 
"It's amazing how much time depression takes up. When someone as young as him thinks his best friend has died, it takes a toll. He couldn't stop talking about you and how much he missed you, and how much he regretted not giving you a proper goodbye before you left, he felt bad for acting that way," Raain told him.
 
"I get that he was upset about having extra duties, but he's not that young any more, he's ready for more responsibility, he's holding himself back."
 
"Yeah, well, you try convincing him of that--"
 
"I did try, I have tried. He still thinks he's young and incapable. He has no idea how much potential he has. If he'd just slow down a little, he could do amazing things, absolutely amazing!" It was an old conversation.
 
"Well," Raain replied, "he is a Hobb. They are not known for their attention spans or for taking responsibility."
 
"That's hogwash," Griegg said with a touch of anger. "Anyone is capable of making the choices to act right and to focus on one thing at a time."
 
"Though I get where you're coming from, and with my training I definitely am of the same mindset. But the more I look at him, and the more I meet other people, or hear stories of other people, the more I tend to disagree with that philosphy. You must have seen a lot of, shall we say, short attention span people in your travels."
 
"None of those are near as gifted at Arun," Griegg replied sternly. There were few topics he'd get stern about, a person's potential was one of them.
 
"That doesn't mean a thing. It only shows that there are variables in all people. Some are brilliant and focused, some are idiots incapable of anything, and then there are all variants between."
 
"I suppose," Griegg sighed, "but I still think he could do better than he has been. He's still too wrapped up in fun. I might take him with me back to Kaillic," Griegg said thoughtfully.
 
"Back?! You're going back, but you just got here? Why are you going back to a place where you were almost killed?" Raain sounded almost panicked.
 
"Matthew sent a bird scroll," Griegg said.
 
"Already?! When did he find out you were alive?"
 
"I don't know, perhaps when I showed up back in town. I don't know how he didn't know that I was alive, he usually has a pretty good handle on things like that."
 
"Did you get anything that covered your head?" Raain asked.
 
"I did get a new cloak after losing the green one, I kept it on the whole journey home, it was raining most of it."
 
"How powerful of a cloak is it? You should take it up to the Sanctuary to get it examined. If that one blocks Matthew's mind, there could be other people hiding from him purposefully, like the ones that tried to kill you."
 
"That's a scary thought," Griegg said and Raain nodded.
 
 
Raain returned to her duties of cleaning rooms in the inn, and Griegg spent a better part of the day cleaning the mess in the stables, he skipped lunch.
 
 
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 </p>