“Mind if I join you?”
The two dragonborn had difficulty placing the sound in the din of the noisy tavern, but eventually found the halfling, then looked at each other. They shrugged. “Sure.”
The young woman pulled a chair out from the table and hopped up onto it, her robes spilling over the edges of the seat. “Name’s Lidda.”
The two dragonborn waited a moment, neither wishing to be the first to answer. The larger of the two, of brass descent and clad in chainmail, broke the silence. “Zorgar.”
The other, lean and red, dressed in patchwork armour and with an aroma of salty sea air, narrowed his eyes almost imperceptibly. “Loric.” His brass companion’s eyeline darted sideways to him. The halfling smiled.
“Where you both headed?”
“Our business is our own.” The sailor didn’t make eye contact with the woman, swirling the contents of his cup, tapping it with one finger nail. His accomplice gave him a look.
“Layover. We’re merchants, just stopping in overnight.” Zorgar smiled at the woman, displaying sharp, draconic teeth.
“Ahhhh. Very good, very good.” She nodded. “Good trade to be in. I was just curious because I heard there was a couple of dragonborn princes, of all things, supposed to be travelling through here. One chromatic, one metallic, and, well, what I heard, and it’s almost certainly just a rumour, but what I heard was that there’s a lot of folk after them.” She widened her eyes and had a sharp intake of breath. “Lot of folk that want them dead.”
“Shame for them.” The brass fellow shook his head and gave a weak smile.
“Certainly.” The halfling stood up from the table, brushing her robes and preparing to leave. “Just wanted to check in case you knew anything. Guessing any princes that rolled through town from Scale wouldn’t know who to trust here. Wanted to lend a hand.”
“Sorry, afraid not. Where’d you find out they were passing through? Sure it’s not just a rumour? No offense, but it seems like a pretty backwater place to me. People must need a bit of excitement,” the red dragonborn said, as he continued playing idly with his mug. Tapping.
The woman paused just a fraction of a second longer than normal. “Heard it came from the docks.” The tapping stopped momentarily then started up again.
“Well, you can’t trust anything a sailor says,” said Loric, making eye contact for the first time. He gave a half-hearted smile. “Always making stuff up.”
The halfling chuckled. “Well, nice to meet you both. I shan’t take up any more of your time. Have a nice night.” She turned and made for the door.
“Did they have a name?” Loric called after her. She stopped and turned.
“Who?”
“Whoever started the rumour.”
“Maybe. Why?”
“Just curious.”
She smiled. “Well, that’s where it gets interesting.” The halfling turned the door handle, opening the tavern to the wind and rain outside. She called over her shoulder as she left.
“They said their name was Loric.”
