“So um,” I started as we walked through the Dadafodd, “I’m Kinri and this is Digrif???—??you know that, I guess???—??but what about you?  What’s your name?”


    trusting you thing.”


    skeptical, dear.  You do not trust easily, do you?”


    She knows.”  The priestess shook her head.  “It’s nothing important, worry not.”


    And look how she repays that trust, that voice of mine-but-not-really-mine noted).


    bite.  The priestess???—??had???—??nursed tenderness in her tone... but clearly it wasn’t something she was beholden to.


    at me, with something like a smile.


    act, dear.  I actually care about you, Kinri, I do.  You’re lonely and homesick, working a dreadful job and struggling to keep a room at a ratty inn.  You’re so starved for friends or allies, that the alchemist is whom you turn to.  I see that, Kinri, and I dew for you.”


    this is where you want us to meet.”


    right, on every account.


    annoyed, is all.  If you’re so put off by it, why don’t you start making sense?  What are you all doing here?  What’s going on?”


    feminine.


    * * *