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Kellan looked down at Grimm, then angled her dark gaze up to the man that had spoken to her. She smiled faintly, and winked at her dog. “Yes. I am sure that Grimm would enjoy some scraps…and perhaps a bowl of water, if it does not trouble you much? We have traveled a long, long way. He is weary.” The man nodded simply at the request.
“Anything for you then, miss?” the Innkeeper inquired, and the young woman thought for a moment.
“A cup of steaming water, and that is all. I will have proper payment,” Kellan trailed off, and the man walked away as she searched through her bag for her money. Kellan shuffled the parchments aside, searching valiantly for the last of her coins. Grimm sniffed suspiciously, his black coat twitching along his back and all the way to the tip of his tail, which smacked the ground in rhythmic thumps. Kellan sighed, pulling her papers completely out of her bag and shoving them onto the table and rummaging through her pack again. Finally, she pulled four coins from the bottom of her pack, realizing that she had very little money left.
Grimm barked, and Kellan sighed, nodding.
“I know, I know, Grimm. We do not have much left. I will find a way though, I always do,” the girl spoke to her dog but did not fret about strange glances, for there were few people in the Inn. Grimm barked again, but Kellan put a finger to her lips, wishing for him to be silent in the enclosed space. The dog quieted, and the girl went back to searching through her bag again. She soon withdrew a small sack, full of some brown powder that resembled desert sand. Smiling, she spoke once more to her companion. "I have not had a chance to use this gift from the east. It will be nice to find out what it tastes like." Kellan murmured, intending to use the powder in her boiling water. Her smile faded, however, and she began to pack her parchments back up into her pack. Then she looked to the windows of the Inn, still pouring hot sunlight onto the wood of the interior. "It is going to be a long day, Grimm. It will be a long wait for you and I."
The Innkeeper returned then, setting a mug of boiling, steaming water before Kellan. Then the man crouched down to place a bowl of cool water and a plate of different foods before Grimm. He smiled, rubbing his hand on Grimm’s head between his ears as the dog began to lap up the water. When the Innkeeper stood up, Kellan handed him the four coins. “I hope it is enough, Sir, and thank you.”
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