I’m trying not to gape, truly I want to pretend like I am currently unimpressed, but I am absolutely failing. There are just so many people in such a small room. There were only ever about a dozen priests, even at our best, but this room houses at least twenty individuals sitting at the tables, a bard plays a flute in the corner. Ladies dressed in clothing that doesn’t match the weather weave in and out of the tables.
“Stop staring,” Laellina hisses, leaning closer to me. “This is a small inn in the middle of nowhere. It houses travelers, pilgrims, and hunters. It is not worth gaping over.”
Says her, this is the first wooden building I have ever been in, at least what I can recall. I can’t much speak for what buildings I was in when I was an infant before I was left at the temple. I can’t believe that the wood does a substantial job at stopping the blustery mountain air and yet it is warm in here. One could even say uncomfortably so. The wind howls outside and yet the building doesn’t topple over. The thatch roof doesn’t blow away. We are safe and sheltered.
Well, as safe as two Higher Elf girls can be in the world of men.
The man behind the counter, I assume that must mean that he is the keeper of this inn, looks at me and then Laellina. His hair is the color of fire and I can’t help staring at that as well, I have never seen hair so bright. All my life I have been surrounded by other Higher Elves, which means that we all share the white hair of our kind. The priests told me that humans have different colors in their hairs, and that those colors actually disappear over time until their hair is as white as mine is now.
I always found it hard to imagine, but now I am looking at a man whose hair is as red as the poppies that sometimes spring up through the cracks in the platform during spring time. This whole room is full of different hair colors. Golden hair like Magnar has, dark hair like I have heard most Lower Elves have. Red hair. Hair the color of the dirt. There is such a splash of color and the noise, and the chatter, it is marvelous really but it also makes me want to slip back out to a place where the only sound is the howling wind.
Wind I understand, these people I do not.
The innkeeper’s equally bright eyebrows furrow as dark mistrust flashes through his eyes.
My foot falters. All my life I have heard what a hard time Higher Elves have in the world of men, but I never actually experienced any of it. It was one of the bright points to growing up secluded away from most of everything.
It kept me secluded from the hate as well.
Still, I can’t believe that my first interaction with a human is going to garner this. No wonder so many of my people are outcasts or servants—how can you become a merchant or something more respectable when you are mistrusted for simply existing?
“What can I do for you, girls?” he asks with a frown that negates his cordial greeting. “Not often we see two Higher Elf girls traveling on their own out here. You aren’t necromancers, are you?”
At least he didn’t ask if we were sorcerers in general. Just necromancers. Both are illegal, but one is certainly feared more than the other. Some folks have a problem with you tampering with the dead.
“No,” I draw out, stepping forward. “We are travelers. We’re looking for someone actually. A golden-haired Lowlander magicker, goes by the name of Magnar. Has he been through these parts?”
“What are two Higher Elves doing looking for a Lowlander anyway?”
Laellina slides into the bench. “Look, I know you are suspicious of us, without reason, but the sooner you give us the information the sooner we will be out of your way and business can continue as normal.”
“I could just as well throw you out into the night and not have to worry about any of this.”
Laellina smiles a small cold smile. “You may be immune to our sorcery, Highlander. But your inn would not be.”
The innkeeper leans his elbows on the counter. “Are you threatening me?”
“No,” I say nervously, glancing at Laellina. “We just need to find this magicker. I’m trying to save his life actually.”
His eyebrows lower. “I don’t know what you two are on about, but I’ve never even heard of the man. Might be he passed through here, but I have a lot of folks passing through.”
“What about Popov?” I ask, grasping at the other name that I heard in the vision. My heart rate picks up. I never thought that I actually wouldn’t be able to find this Magnar. I assumed since I was in the vision that I, you know, found him. But this is an awfully big world.
And I know so little about it.
“Aye, now that’s a name I’ve heard. He’s a lord been making a lot of noise, wants to hire an army. Funny you should mention him now I seem to recall a blond headed Lowlander making the same inquiries. Maybe he is this Magnar you are talking about. But yeah, Popov is looking for folks to protect him, claims his family home was destroyed by—”
“Werewolves,” I murmur, drawing a surprised look from the innkeeper.
“Aye, that’s the story. Why am I telling you all this if you know it anyway?”
“Where is Popov now?”
The man shrugs. “Last I heard he was holed up in old Ironsburg, at the base of this mountain. Anyway, that’s where I sent that magicker.”
“Thank you,” I say, smiling at him. Perhaps humans aren’t so bad after all. I mean this man did eventually give us the information. Sure, Laellina did threaten his inn to get him to talk, but at least he came around.
“So you’ll be leaving then? You said you would. I can’t have you staying the night. It’s bad for business, makes folks uncomfortable.”
The smile falls off my face.
Then again, maybe humans are just as bad as everyone says.
Laellina moves off of the bench and gestures for me to follow her. Which I do even though she leads me outside. In the middle of the night. That harsh mountain wind I was talking about? Yeah, it’s still blowing.
I wrap my arms around myself and glance over my shoulder. At least the green and blue lights dancing across the night sky provide enough light to continue traveling by.
“Is it like this everywhere?” I ask, my breath fogging around my face. It isn’t winter yet, but I can feel its cold fingers beginning to grasp the world as it edges in. Winter always starts in the mountains first.
Laellina glances at me, her eyes weary. She was only a child when she found sanctuary in the temple, but obviously she still remembers how her family was treated. “Some places it is worse, but there are some places that are better. In the larger cities Higher Elves are free to move around much more easily due to the fact that many serve important masters who shopkeepers don’t wish to anger. And some groups of Higher Elves have created their own villages, sanctuaries for our kind much like our temple was for us. This inn, it’s isolated, I’m sure that they have experienced more than their fair share of dangerous and threatening people here. We could have been necromancers seeking out sacrifices, or bandit scouts. The fact that he so readily told us where he thought your Magnar would be means that he was afraid and wanted to give us a bigger target.”
“He isn’t my anything,” I grumble. At least not at this moment. There’s no knowing what happens when I finally meet him. Or if I’m actually able to save him or not. After those are out of the way, well… he’s a Lowlander and I’m a Higher Elf so actually he would probably never be my anything.
But stranger things have happened. I mean, I’m a Higher Elf and I’m off to try to save a Lowlander’s life.
I almost laugh into the night at the thought.
No wonder the innkeeper didn’t believe us.