Adventurers all over the inn had stopped in their tracks to stare at the two as they continued to talk to each other in overly loud voices, gaping in shock that they would openly admit who or what they were."Did you ever get your lab up and running?" asked the dragon sitting down at the table.
"Of course. I went down into my lower bas.e.m.e.nt a decade ago, to run some experiments and research some things in my library, only to find out adventurers who had moved into town, were filching in my upper rooms, and this tiny village had exploded into a full city."
He settled his large frame into a chair at the table, stretching his long legs out near the fire. Throg shook off the stupor everyone seemed to have fallen into, and charged at them with his great axe held high over his head, letting out a loud battle cry. He had only taken two steps when he flew into the air and out the door of the inn, barely missing the heads of three women who were stepping inside.
"Very nice! I like the defensive magic cast on this place!" exclaimed Fred in appreciation.
"It"s Alastair"s doing. The mage seems to have taken a liking to the owner here, not that I can blame her after having met him myself. He is quite intriguing."
"Come now, you are pretty old to be going after a mere man, no matter the power level of him. You"re well past your clutch raising age!" laughed Fred.
"A dragon is never past their clutching age," she sniffed, looking slightly insulted.
Fred laughed even harder, and Bob turned to greet the confused women who had stepped into his inn. As he started moving, so did everyone else. The workers started back up on the bar, and the adventurers clumped together in small groups, shooting glances at the odd pair, or headed outside quickly.
"A dragon and a lich! This will be rich!" muttered Royce excitedly, hurrying over to a corner.
"Good morning," Bob said, trying to act as if it were normal for a dragon and a lich to sit in his inn reminiscing.
The three glanced at each other, not entirely sure what was going on, but taking cues from him, they smiled.
"We heard that you were looking for workers in your new inn?" asked the first one. She had thick black hair that was tied back with a ragged ribbon, and wore a dress that was obviously recently washed, but very ragged as well.
"I am. I need people to work in the stables, and with the animals, along with here in the inn. What do you think you would be able to do?" he asked the black-haired woman, noting she had dark eyes as well.
"I know how to make a bed, and sweep a floor. I can carry food to the customers, too."
"Alright. I can pay you by the day, and will need you to start tomorrow morning at dawn. Will that be alright?"
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She frowned but nodded. "Will I be working the whole day?"
"I"m not sure just yet how long I will have you be working. It really depends on the number of people I will need and when I will need people the most. You will probably be working all day, from dawn to dusk, and probably later, because of the number of adventurers who will be drinking at my bar. Will that be a problem?" he asked, pulling on the limitless amount of information available to him.
"I have kids…" she said, hesitantly.
"What age?"
"The youngest is four, but the others are seven and eight."
"Bring them in, and I can have them working too. They won"t make as much as you, because they can"t do as much, but that way, you can keep an eye on them too."
She nodded, looking pleased and uncertain about it.
The second woman stepped forward. She smiled at him sweetly and said with a honey voice as she twirled her straw-colored hair, "My name"s Tina, and I would love a job working here at your inn. I can work all day, without any problems. I know how to please the men, serve "em their food and drinks, and clean off the tables when they"re done."
Bob shook his head. He knew about girls like her. "I won"t be having any of that nonsense here. If any of the men want companions, there"s a perfectly fine establishment near the center of town. If you want any of that stuff, it will not be on my time."
She nodded, getting wide eyes, as if surprised and shocked at his words.
"Do you know how to make a bed? Take off dirty sheets, put on clean ones? Wash laundry?"
"No, not really. I can take "em off, but I don"t really put "em back on."
"You may need to learn. You will need to be here at dawn tomorrow."
She nodded happily, and stepped back for the last woman to step forward. Her wrinkles attested to her age, though she looked hale and hearty.
"Are you wanting to work here in the inn?" he asked.
"I was actually wanting to know what animals you were going to be having? I lived on a farm, until I married and moved to this city. My husband died a couple of years ago, and it"s been tough."
"Well, the adventurers will probably have horses and such, so there"s those. I"m planning on getting some milking goats today. A farmer from outside of town is bringing them, so I need someone who can tend them and milk them. I"m not sure what else I should be getting. I"ve lived here, in the city, my whole life."
"Oh, well, I know all about horses and goats. My pa had those and chickens, pigeons, geese, quail, and even some cattle for meat. It"s been a long time since I"ve milked anything, but I would be willing to give it a try."
"That would be great! Would you be willing to start today? My builder guy is around here somewhere, working on the pens for the goats right now."
She nodded, looking very pleased, as the other two women looked at each other and turned to leave.
"What"s your name?" he asked as they headed towards the door leading to the kitchen.
"My name"s Katherine Winston," she said softly, causing him to pause with his hand on the door to the kitchen.
"Any relation to the Winston family?" he asked, turning to her.
"My husband was the brother of Lord Winston. He left the family when he was younger, and met me. He married me to spite his brother and because he loved the way I was not a n.o.ble, but a "real person". I didn"t get along with Lord Winston"s wife or the eldest daughter, Lily, so we lived comfortably on the edge of town. When my husband died, they took everything, claiming as a low born, I didn"t deserve to live on his wealth."
Bob nodded thoughtfully, and led her through the kitchen, introducing her to Liam, Charlie, Benjie and Cookie, then on out to the area behind the inn. Sam was there, looking very confused with Farmer Joe and four dairy goats.
"Bob, I thought I knew what I was doing, but this guy tells me I did it all wrong," said Sam, pointing to the simple shed he had built and the fence that was only about four feet high.
"That"s because you did it all wrong," laughed Katherine.
"Sam, this is Katherine. She knows a lot about goats. Let her explain to you what you need to do, as she"s the one I"m hiring to tend them."
"Aunt Katherine?" asked Farmer Joe taking off his hat.
"Joe, it looks like you"ve grown up well. Are these goats yours? They look to be nice ones. Their udders are well formed and should hold a lot. Did you bring this morning"s milk?"
He coughed in embarra.s.sment, because he hadn"t, and Bob laughed.
"Why don"t you leave those goats here, for these two to take care of, and I"ll see to it that your wagon is loaded with that manure?" said Bob.
Once Farmer Joe was happily getting his wagon loaded by several adventurers not afraid of a little labor, Bob headed back inside to check over the other people who had shown up to get jobs with him. He made sure that the five other people he hired, knew that if he didn"t like the way they worked, or it ended up he didn"t need them, they wouldn"t last long. They all seemed so happy to be given a job that they didn"t mind the warning.
"h.e.l.lo beautiful, are you busy right now?" asked a shady looking man as he stepped up next to Dianna. She was sitting at a table, finishing some soup.
"Oh, Tommy!" she laughed. "I see you! What are you doing here?"
"You mentioned wanting to open an orphanage, so I wanted to check out what you meant," he said, giving her a wide grin, which caused her to laugh again.
"You were drunk at the time! How did you remember that little bit?" she asked with a blush.
Bob smiled and stepped up to join them, saying, "Tommy was actually coming to talk with me, but saw you and forgot all about it."
Tommy looked him up and down and nodded. Dianna looked at Bob in surprise. "You know Tommy?"
"Of course! His little brother works for me. Timmy would be lost without his brother always keeping him safe from trouble."
Tommy"s look widened just enough for him to give away his surprise, then he smiled at her and said, "Why did you think I was so interested in an orphanage? My little brother is everything to me! Why don"t we get together tonight and talk about it some more? I would love to help you out some?"
"That sounds wonderful! What time? I have to go see a woman in the poor section about some babies that are sick."
"How about dusk? At the same place as last time?"
"Alright, it"s a date!"
She left after giving him another smile, and Bob wondered if she knew Tommy was in the Thieves Guild. He probably didn"t want to steal only her heart…