Book One – Chapter 19

Now staring at the empty bowls, it struck him that he did not even know for whom he was preparing food. For the borman and the krynn, surely — but for how many more? How did any of this work? Did people … order? Should he go outside and … ask? But that would mean he had to talk to them. To the guards. To the guests. To all those who hid their ulterior motives and criminal intentions. Even if they did not suspect him in return, if they thought him just some feather-brained servant, Harrow’s group would surely press him with all sorts of questions about the witch encounter and the injured travellers. It would be all of them against him, and with that, it would only be a matter of time until Yu slipped up. He would spill his suspicions before even messing up with the first bowl of food. The thought alone was pure stress.

_{Run now. They ^will know.}    ^{Ig_nore them. Go to HER.     
Keep pretending.}    
_Pretend, pretend, pretend.

Pretending that they were perfectly normal guests, and that he was a perfectly normal novice guard amongst real guards, and that all of this would go just how it should — Did people pay? Surely all of this was not for free, was it? Was there a set price per meal, or some sort of tally, or was it all bound up in the board? When they arrived, everyone had simply eaten. At least Yu had not paid. Then again, he had not paid attention either. It might well be that the others regular Albweiss travellers would have settled their dues with their rooms, or would do so when leaving. Though, there was one thing Yu did remember: when they had arrived, Harrow and several others had given Bubs parcels of rations. Was he supposed to believe these were for safekeeping until their departure, or for the guild to use? Was this a pretend delivery or a trade? Did guilds work on some sort of give-some-to-get-some system? Had Tria ever mentioned something like this? Yu tried to remember, but found nothing to retrieve, not even the echo of her tone. He had never bothered to listen to her talks of trading or to be present when she discussed the Harbour Guild’s dealings with other officials. He had never cared to learn how it all worked.