The day's work finally done with the hanging of the dish towel, Nathan Errald re-settled at the kitchen table.  He still tried to digest what Garrick and Marissa told him of their trip and the subsequent Council meeting.  After dinner, Garrick beat a hasty retreat to the barn, not only to get out of doing dishes but to give the two of them time to talk.  The reason for the barn was also two-fold.  Even though there was an extra bedroom in the house, thin walls did nothing to promote privacy and his and Marissa's talk before they left town still played in both their minds. Distance would be a good thing, tonight.

"So what's on your mind to do, Missy?" Nathan asked his daughter.

That evening the Plowman's Rest Inn was packed to the rafters. Almost everyone in town had gathered there to hear of the goings on in the world outside of the Four Rivers. The Polarchs (the proprietors) were busily moving back and forth to the kitchen and between the tables, serving up the evenings meal. The smell of the mutton stew and baked apples filled the place, and everywhere there was the incomprehensible murmur of dozens of conversations going on concurrently.