I awoke the next morning feeling refreshed, especially after I discovered the pitcher of clean water on the vanity. A quick dunk of my head in the water-filled bowl and I was ready to see the day.
A knock came from the door just as I was finishing drying my face. “Come in!”
The door opened and Tegan stepped inside. He looked me over and smiled. “You appear to be in a pleasant mood.”
I tossed the towel on the vanity and spun on my heels to face him. “It’s probably the sun. Now what about seeing the office?”
Tegan studied my person. “Perhaps we should make you presentable first.”
I followed his gaze and realized there was something amiss. In my hurry to leave my old world, I hadn’t packed an extra set of clothes and the ones I wore were now covered in all the offerings of the forest and mines. I winced and tried to rub off a particularly dark spot. That only smudged it worse.
“I guess I should get something,” I admitted.
Tegan stepped aside and swept an arm toward the hall. “I know just the place. We can go there after breakfast.”
We proceeded downstairs where the smell of fresh bread and sizzling meat wafted across our noses. A room off the lobby had its doors open and we ventured in there to find a large dining room. The place was packed with eaters except for the wall that overlooked the front street. Half of those were empty.
A young woman with bright red hair and an equally bright smile bounced over to us. “Are you guests or visitors?”
“Guests,” Tegan told her.
“Then please follow me.” She guided us over to the empty row and to an unoccupied table where we took our seats. The woman handed us each a menu. “Now what can I get you started with?”
“Your freshest milk for both of us,” Tegan told her.
The woman nodded and hurried away. I couldn’t help but watch her red curls bounce up and down. “Another of MacAlastair’s family?”
He nodded. “A daughter. He has five in total and I believe most are married.”
A group of six people appeared in the doorway and another woman, this one with blond hair, hurried over to greet them. “Guests or visitors?”
“Visitors,” the lead person replied.
She shook her head. “I’m afraid we have only room enough for half your party, sir, unless you’d like to wait for another table to come open.”
The man turned to his compatriots and they conferred for a moment before he returned his attention to her. “We’ll wait in the lobby.”
They disappeared back into the foyer. I twisted around and stared at three empty tables behind me which could have seated them. “How come they were turned away?” I asked my guide.
“MacAlastair’s food is legendary and many locals come here for their meals,” Tegan explained as he looked over the menu. “These seats are reserved for the guests of the inn and the others are on a first-come-first-served basis.”
I picked up my menu and studied the offerings. Par the course for a werewolf-owned eatery, there was every type of meat you could think of and then some. “This is a lot of boar,” I mused as I looked at a half page of only that meat.
“MacAlastair is fond of hunting the creature in the mountains north of here,” Tegan told me as he set down his menu. “So what are you having?”
After a moment’s more perusal, I shook my head. “I have no idea.”
“Then allow me to order for both of us,” he offered as our waitress returned with two tall glasses brimming with milk.
The woman didn’t spill a drop as she set them on the table in front of us. She also didn’t have a paper or pencil on her. “So what’ll it be?”
“The boar bacon with a classic panplate and your freshest strawberries.”
Her eyes twinkled. “So you’re usual, Mr. Tegan?”
Tegan grinned. “I couldn’t fool you, could I, Maeve?”
Maeve laughed and shook her head. “No, Mr. Tegan. Father told me you’d been here last night, but after the trouble of last time I didn’t think he’d be letting you stay here.”
“My bill is paid in full, but my stomach is empty,” he teased.
She nodded at me. “What will your friend here want?”
“The same.”
“I’ll be back in a few minutes.” And with that, she took our menus and bounded away to hand our orders to the chef.
I watched her springy step and slumped in my chair a little. “How can somebody be that bubbling this early in the morning?”
“Maeve has had a spring in her step ever since she was a little girl,” Tegan told me with a gentle smile on his lips. “And she’ll be that exuberant when she blows out the last candle tonight.”
I lifted an eyebrow at him. “You really know this family, don’t you?”
He swept his eyes over the room and nodded. “I’ve had a lot of good memories since before MacAlastair took over from his father, may his soul rest in peace.”
I set my arms on the table and leaned forward. “How long have you been traveling around?”
Tegan grinned at me. “Long enough to have heard that question many times. The answer you really want is my age, isn’t it?”
I shrugged. “I would like to know.”
“How old do you think I look?”
I studied him before I shrugged. “Thirty?”
“Would you be surprised to know I was twice that?”
I stared at him a moment before I shook my head. “Not really. In all the tales in my world, dragons seem to live a long time. So does that mean dragons usually live twice as long as humans?”
He nodded. “Generally, barring the usual accidents or war.”
An omission caught my attention. “But not illness?”
He chuckled. “The greatest benefit to being a dragon, aside from the ability to fly, is that no illness affects us.” I stretched out my hand and pinched his arm. He winced and jerked his limb away from me as he gave me an accusing look. “Was that necessary?”
I shrugged. “I just had to know if you felt pain like humans, too.”
Tegan rubbed his arm and smiled. “Unfortunately, that is most definitely a trait we share with humans, though our scales give us an advantage.” He stretched out his arm and scales sprouted from his flesh. “Now try.”
I tapped my fingernail on the scales and heard a hard ring. “I think I’ll take your word for it.”
“Your manners haven’t changed,” a voice spoke up and MacAlastair joined us at our table.
Tegan drew his arm back and grinned up at our host. “I try to fulfill everyone’s expectations.”
MacAlastair looked between us. “Do you still intend to go to that lot today?”
My companion waited for an answer from me and I nodded. “We’re going.”
“Then take this.” MacAlastair reached into his pocket and drew out a fisted hand which he held out to Tegan. Tegan accepted the gift and opened his hand wide enough to take a peak, but not enough so that I could see what he held. My companion pursed his lips before he looked up at MacAlastair. “Are you sure about this?”
“Even if I wasn’t you’re habit of finding trouble would guarantee it,” MacAlastair told him. He nodded his head at me. “Besides, I’ll be wanting to know more about this lass who doesn’t know much about werewolves. If I’m not mistaken, she’s a rare sight in these parts.”
Tegan smiled at me and pocketed the object. “You have no idea.”
“Coming through, Dad!” Maeve shouted as she slipped past him and set two huge platters in front of each of us. Both large plates were circled with scrambled eggs and inside those were slabs of thinly sliced and rounded bacon and inside that was a thick pancake topped with strawberries and smothered in some sort of syrup.
In essence, it was a cornucopia of breakfast goodies.
My stomach grumbled and I couldn’t pick up my fork fast enough. One bite of the mountain of scrambled eggs was enough to tell me I was going to eat too much and have no regrets.
“This is delicious,” I spoke through a mouthful of food.
Maeve grinned. “I’ll have to tell my brother you said so. He’s the chef.” She tugged on her father’s arm. “Come on, Dad. Let’s let them enjoy it.”
“You just remember what I said,” MacAlastair reminded him before his daughter dragged him away.
I stopped long enough to catch Tegan’s eye and nod at his pocket. “So what’d he give you?”
He jerked his head in the general direction of the crowd. “Not here. Later.”
I frowned but was too hungry to argue. I’d find out soon enough.