The Princess and the Blade

[Emora Deen]

Laurius didn't even argue. He had no desire to take the first shift, not only because he was exhausted. "After we meet with Oberin," he agreed.

After brushing Lee's hair, he instructed the girl to go rest in one of the bedrooms. She eyed them both, appraising quietly before she chose the room near where she'd bathed. Laurius got up and closed the door behind her. "It was foolish to hold those conversations in front of her, but I suppose we have no worry of her telling Oberin or anyone else. Are you ready?"

[Soran Nightblade]

At Laurius's point, Havi's eyes went round. He hadn't even considered that a child might take an interest in their affairs or have the insight to use that information against them. This place was too different from what he knew. When they got to the professor's abode, he thought, he had best keep his mouth shut and let Laurius manage the deal. "I'm ready," he said, unusually contrite.

He looked back at the door where the girl had gone to rest, and then followed Laurius out of the apartment.

____

The street Oberin lived on was crowded with brick townhouses squeezed cheek to cheek on both sides of the narrow road. Here, the flickering of the magically-powered streetlamps and odd normalcy of the people walking on the street almost made the grimy air and eerie sky seem cozy.

Almost.

Havi followed Laurius without a sound until he turned up the front walk of one of the townhouses. This one was triple the size of those on either side of it, as if the building had swallowed up its twins in the womb. Perhaps they really had been combined and remodeled. The large brass knocker on the front door depicted a cobra with spread hood. Havi waited while Laurius grabbed the thing by the snout and rapped three times against the dark-painted wood.

[Emora Deen]

A few minutes passed before the door opened. A teenage boy answered it, looking pale and thin, but dressed cleanly. He inquired who they were without really saying anything, just a curious tilt of his head. "I'm Laurius Mar... Marnigan," he said, and motioned to Havitharon. "Havitharon Ruthe. We're here for dinner with Professor Oberin."

"Let them in, Harold."

The boy stepped back, opening the door more. They entered a dark foyer that gave way to a ornate stairwell ahead, a dining room to the right, and a sitting room to the left. "Welcome," Oberin said, stepping into the foyer and holding out his hand. There was a tightness to his face that Laurius recognized as disappointment. "I thought we might dine alone, you and I. But, I suppose its only fair that your man does his own bargaining." He then held out his hand for Havitharon to shake. "I trust little Lee satisfied your craving?"