"You're gonna be here a month at the rate you're goin," Jacob chuckled to himself, downing the remainder of his ale in one swift gulp. The inn, as per normal, held the full amount of regulars and was just as loud as any other day. Twill rolled his eyes at Jacob and took another swig from his tankard quietly.

     "You doin ok, Twill? You're lookin real down the past couple days."

     "It's that damn boy," Twill replied into his drink, before emptying it entirely.

     "You couldn't have done nothin."

     "I could of done somethin," Twill lowered his head and pushed his empty tankard forward, signaling Terry for a refill. Terry quickly obliged, filling both Twill and Jacob's drinks, before returning to a young red head at the other end of the bar, laughing and swooning away.

"Nah, Twill. This junk can't be helped, and you know it. Same as all the rest," Jacob buried his face in his ale,"especially with James," he added softly, attempting to drown out the facts with the suds that mumbled against his lips.

"Ma brother was a different story. This one could've been helped," Twill rose from his seat and grabbed his ale not looking in Jacob's direction and headed towards his room upstairs.

     Terry looked over and noticed Jacob drinking in silence with a glum look about his face. He watched Twill solemnly walk up the stairs to the room above, sipping on his ale with every step he took until he reached the top and vanished down the hall. He pried himself away from the red head drunk enough to ogle him and walked over to Jacob.

     "What's gotten into him today?" Terry asked.

     Jacob began playing with the condensation from his earlier drink, spinning it in a circle with the tip of his finger against the counter,"He's still on about that kid."

     "He couldn't have done anything,"Terry stated.

     "Everyone but him knows it," Jacob took a sleeve to the wet surface, suddenly disinterested in the suds spilled atop the bar.

     Terry leaned closer to Jacob, who had not broken contact with his ale,"this isn't like it was with Twill's brother James, but he still couldn't have done anything."

"You try tellin him that he couldn't do nothing," Jacob shook his head and took a long swig of beer.

     The door to the bar slammed open, the wood hitting loudly against the wall resting behind it. Terry flinched, nervous that he'd have to replace it in the morning. The regular crowd, Jacob included, spun around to get a look at a short round older gentlemen--clad in fine fabrics with a well endowed gut--hitting his expensive shoes that echoed against the wood planks of the inn. His black hair was plastered back from being well oiled and beside him twice his height stood a towering man with a certain blankness to his eyes.

"What can I do for ya?" Terry yelled from behind the bar, moving tankards around to look busy.

The small man walked carefully towards the bar, the barbaric man behind him in tow,"we're going to need two rooms."

"How long you gonna be staying?" Terry asked.

"Hopefully no longer than five or six nights,"the man looked around at the surrounding company, disgust clearly drawn on his face. Patrons throughout the bar raised their eyebrows and quieted down to a whisper.

"What's your name?" Jacob asked, slightly tipsy. Through his blurred eyes all he noticed was the clean cut clothes and dark hair.

"Not that it is any of your business, heathen, but my name is Tomas Hilder," he responded matter of factly. The surrounding patrons looked at each other shrugging. Jacob raised an eyebrow at the rude response given to him and questioned whether or not a good decking was in order. He looked at the behemoth behind Tomas and instantly decided against it, slinking down in his chair and bringing his tankard to his lips.

     "Shouldn't be a problem then. I have plenty of rooms," Terry said.

"I would think so," Tomas turned his nose up and faced his colleague who had not blinked nor moved one inch since after he'd walked in. When the beast had nodded his head in agreement he reached into his pocket--deep enough pockets to take a near millennia--and retrieved three large gold coins that he handed to Tomas.

"I'm expecting breakfast to our room by six, lunch by noon and supper by five. Any questions?"

Terry's jaw dropped and he shook his head back and forth. The crowd at the inn increased the frequency of whispers and giggles at the odd pair.

     "Splendid," Tomas said as he slapped the coins on the table next to Jacob.

After Terry had regained his composure he handed each of them a key from the rack behind the bar.

"Second and third room on the left," he said.

"Jeffrey, go grab my bags from the cart outside," Tomas said, taking off his coat and carefully placing in on the rack next to the entrance door--almost, "on second thought--," he pursed his lips and began fanning out his jacket before placing it back on for safe keeping.

The mountain of a man walked back in with at least six bags thrown around his wrists, still expressionless and none the less intimidating even playing chauffeur. The bar regulars had began to lose interest in the situation and increased the volume of their drinking and joking to what Terry viewed as a standard level sound. Tomas covered his ears and wobbled up the stairs as quickly as he could with Jeffrey trailing behind, entirely uninterested. Tomas's mouth was moving, but due to the amount of inebriated patrons his mumbles and cries went unheard. Terry chuckled to himself.

"That fella won't last here," Jacob said. He pushed his tankard forward, crossed his arms and rested his elbows against the bar.

"No kidding," Terry continued laughing.