"What, on to business already?" Lorena gave a toothy grin, one hand
reaching out for the bottle of wine seated on the table. "Greetings
first. We can't ignore the etiquette your kind enjoys." The bottle gave
one hearty thunk as the cork top was yanked off.
Wilhelm lifted his hand, halting Lorena's advance. "I'll have to pass on the wine, ma'am. Thank you."
"He's too young for it anyway."
Lorena
turned her head towards Mirrah, who hadn't taken a seat yet. In fact,
she hadn't moved from her spot by the door, arms folded behind her back,
a placid look on her face that didn't quite suit her. "Mirrah! What are
you doing over there? Come, sit! Have a drink!"
Mirrah, like her charge, simply lifted her hand, a slight grin across her face. "Sorry, but I'm also too young for that too. I'm going to have to pass. Besides, being drunk doesn't really help me protect Sir Wilhelm here."
"Aw. You guys aren't any fun." She then proceeded to pour a glass for herself.
Mirrah
cast Wilhelm's new client a sideways glance. Given now that the
situation had calmed down some, she had some more time to observe the
woman's features. She was dressed in a strange myriad of belts and
maroon fabric underneath the gray cloak she kept wrapped around her
shoulders. Aside from her white hair and golden eyes, she looked
basically human, only Mirrah couldn't quite agree with that conclusion.
Where had the woman come from? Was she hiding somewhere? Behind the
couch? The table? There wasn't much furniture in the room to hide in
anyway, and besides, why bother hiding at all? Especially if she came
flying at them as they were about to leave?
"Well if there's
nothing more for greetings, then I suppose I should get straight to the
point." Lorena leaned back, pulling her arms up to prop her elbows on
the back of the couch, wine glass in hand. Mirrah couldn't help but
notice how thin she was. Even more unsettling than that were the knives
strapped on her person. Sheathed and well out of the woman's reach, but
that did nothing to calm Mirrah. Mirrah frowned, quickly taking her
place next to Wilhelm rather than besides the door. If Lorena noticed,
she made no comment.
"I'm not looking for any particular item of
yours Wilhelm. I'm a little more interested in what you know. Rumor has
it that you're an information dealer as well. I happen to be in need of
information and, of course, I'm willing to pay for it." She paused,
taking a long sip from the glass of wine. "Her name is Phsara Ikarvoi.
She's a potion maker as well as a philosopher. Perhaps you have heard of
her?"
It was then that she produced a book from a pouch at her
side, tossing it to the table. A leather bound book that didn't look
like it was mass produced like most books nowadays. The book had no
title on the front cover nor the spine. Only the author's name was
printed on the spine in black ink. The pages looked worn with age,
browned and crumpled from use. Wilhelm had taken the book into his
hands, flipping through the pages. The words looked hand written.
Lorena
continued. "Not a very popular author, I'm afraid. Last I heard, she
retreated into some mountain somewhere and disappeared from the face of
Gaea. I'd like to have a nice long chat with her." She gave a smile.
"Would you happen to know where she is?"