Pio was amused, and a little flattered at his discomfiture. In her earlier days she would have played on it, but now she saw it caused him some small degree of suffering, and she put him at his ease. ‘Derufin, is it not?’ She smiled, offering her hand to him that he might help her up. ‘Tonight you are in luck. There are many rooms available, and for a few coppers only.’
He dug in his pack for the pouch where he kept his coins. But his fingers fumbled in his search and he could not find it. She stayed his hand, saying that he might find her tomorrow with the coins.
It was growing quite late, and the staff of the Inn had already gone to bed. ‘Come, I will show you to the stairs, and direct you to your room.’ She pointed the door of it out to him, and putting an extra blanket and pillow in his arms from the linen closet at the head of the stairs, she bade him good night.
When she returned to her companions, she found that the day had taken its toll on her also. She was weary, and tomorrow would be a long day. Pio showed them also up to their rooms, and told them if they wished they might sit in the Common Room, enjoying the warmth of the fire. She would see them tomorrow, she said with a half suppressed yawn, as she went quickly down to her rooms.
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Eldest, that’s what I am . . . I knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless - before the Dark Lord came from Outside.
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