The patrons at the inn all stood as Munich Kassel entered. A few enlisted soldiers even stood at attention. Munich knew they would pay him no mind and only did so because the General was his cousin. Or like the General himself put it: The son of my mother's half brother.

                     The young zebra nodded his head and made his way over to the counter as the horn of the distant wind train echoed over the mountain tops.

                     Ortensia looked around the inn. Patrons dined and conversed and some were being entertained by a child doing card tricks. Above a large fireplace, that seemed to be the focus of the room, hanged a large portrait of the emperor in all his pomp.

                      The clothing she wore was itchy, a lacy bonnet like hat with a high collar to match and booties with spats. Her coat and yoke tied at the neck and was made of heavy wool. It did keep her warm however. Already a snow was on the ground in Mount Lions.

                     "What will it be, Sergeant?" A hefty boar asked from behind the counter.

                     "A room please." Munich said opening his bill fold. "For one." He added and the boar looked up at him. Ortensia couldn't help but notice how large his tusks were as he looked down at her.

                     "Never thought I'd see you with a slave, Sergeant." 

                     "Nor did I." Munich said putting the money on the counter.

                     The boar  took the money with a sigh. "At least you dressed yours proper," he said and gave Munich his change.

                     "Thank you." The young sergeant said and took Ortensia firmly by the paw. Stuffing the bill fold into the pocket of his large coat he took her upstairs.

                     The boar's wife who had seen the whole thing sucked her teeth and shook head as she watched them climb the stairs. "You should have thrown them out." She said in a nasally voice.

                     "And have the General burn down my establishment?" Her husband said. "Slavery is legal...by royal decree."

*****

                     Munich pilled out of his coat and let the heavy burden drop to the floor. "You would think as much as they rented out these rooms that they could afford to heat them." He rubbed his forearms and went over to a gas heater in the corner of the room and opened it. Black coals and charred wood were all it had inside.

                     "Right," he said, then looked back at Ortensia who was looking out the window. "I'll need to go down and get some wood for the heater," he said. "Don't leave the room." He pointed at her until she nodded then picking his coat up off the floor he dressed and went out.

                     Ortensia stood at the window for a while then went over to the door. Standing near it she could hear all the voices from downstairs. Cutlery clicked and people laughed. Oh laughter, she hadn't heard laughing in a long time. It made her smile though she didn't know what the conversations were about. She could smell bread, warm and sweetened with honey. She could also smell a broth and craved the vegetable soup she used to eat with Posey on cold days in Eshkope.

                     Facing the room she saw it only had the basics. One bed with a red and green quilt. There was a pillow but the sham didn't match. It was blue with tiny yellow flowers. The floors were solid wood like the rest of the room.

There was a table with one chair and an oil lamp. Curiosity led her over to the stove and she looked in at the ash. Reaching into it she took out some of the coals. It had taken them a long time to reach the inn and she was very hungry.

                     Her master didn't starve her but his diet disagreed with her stomach and she ended up throwing it up in the end. She had heard of Queen Rose eating coal once so it couldn't be that bad. And with the smell of the honey and breed beckoning she needed something on her stomach. She gave it no other thought and attacked the coal in the heater. Stuffing the chalky sustenance in her mouth she took a deep breath and forced herself to swallow.

                     She stopped suddenly when she heard the door open. Spinning around she found her master standing there with a pile of wood in his arms looking surprised.

/

                     Munich slapped the bell on the counter when he realized the desk clerk was ignoring him behind her magazine. Finally she put it down and gasped when she saw Ortensia.

                     "Where can we wash?" Munich asked.

/

                     "I can't say I feel sorry for your master for having to pay a fee for the hot water." The boar said as Ortensia sat in a basin on the floor. She rung out her clothes and hanged them on a line near a fireplace. She also put a nightdress there. "Now let's see those paws," she said and Ortensia held her paws out of the water. Gently the boar, called Cally which she explained was short for something, scrubbed them clean. She watched Ortensia quietly play with the suds then shook her head.

                     "Child," she said. "Does your master treat you right; does he feed you at all!"

                     "He feeds me," Ortensia said not making eye contact. "I just do what I'm told. That's what a slave does."

                     "But does he hurt you?" Cally asked.

                     Ortensia sighed and felt for her wash rag in the water. "Mounts are supposed to hurt people that's why...everyone I loved is dead."

                     Cally looked down. "I'm sorry to hear that," she said. "You know...not all of us Mounts are bad...not all of us support the emperor."

                     Ortensia looked at her. "But why do you have his picture in the diner?" she asked.

                     "All business owners must do that," Cally said. "You'll even find him in most houses these days. But enough of that, let's rinse." She  picked up a bucket next to the basin. Pouring it over Ortensia's head she helped her out then dried her and helped her dress.

                     A rattling sound passed over the roof and windows, seeming to shake the inn.

                     "What's that?" Ortensia asked as she put her arms through the sleeves of the pink nightdress.

                     "That's just the old mountain giving a yawn," Cally said. "Well I better get you back to the Sergeant before he suspects you've run off." She took Ortensia by the paw and led her back to the room. Hesitantly she knocked on the door which quickly opened.

                     "I was just about to come get you," Munich said. It was late but he was still dressed in his grayish green uniform. Ortensia didn't think she had seen him in anything else. "Thank you," Munich said to Cally after he had taken Ortensia. " just charge it to the room."

                     After shutting and locking the door he led Ortensia to the other side of the bed and sat her on the floor before a plate of food.

                     "You took too long and now it is cold," he said. "If you were hungry you should have said so." He sat down at the table with his back to her and scribbled something down in his logs. Ortensia ate her fill then stretched out on a blanket on the floor. The room was warm now and the glow of the oil lamp was like a lullaby putting her to sleep. She was close enough there when she heard the sergeant blow out the lamp and get in the bed. She rolled over, listening to the mountain yawn.