Manis was late arriving for breakfast, but not as late as Vala had expected. She had heard him when he returned to their shared room in the early hours of the morning, and it took no guessing on Vala's part to know where Manis had spent the hours before that. It only just now occurred to Vala as she watched the Breton approach her table that Manis had probably left the woman's bed at the same time the Redguard woman had left it to begin to prepare the Inn for the new day, and the clients that would arrive soon and ask for their own breakfast.

He looks happy, Vala thought as she watched him as he arrived and sat down. She had thought the same thing of the serving woman, whose name Vala learned was Saadia, when she had brought Vala her spiced tea and sweet cakes. Saadia still seemed happy, though possible suffering from lack of sleep, and the smile she had been wearing since Vala first saw her widened a bit when she caught sight of Manis.

"If you are expecting sweet cakes you have missed your chance," Vala said as she smiled before hiding that smile behind her mug of tea, "but fresh baked bread and jam are an excellent consolation."

"I am in no need of consolation this morning," he replied.

"Really? I am shocked to hear you say so," Vala said as her smile turned into almost a leer.

"Gods, do not turn libertine on me now, nor prude neither. I did not spend all the hours since we last saw each other in her bed. And while those hours before can in no way be compared to the hours that followed, they produced much. Your own mood will improve once you have heard what I learned.

It will not improve a jot compared to both your moods, Vala thought as Saadia approached their table to exchange smiles and brief touches with Manis before taking his breakfast order.

"I will wager you that your breakfast costs you nothing," Vala said before hiding her face once again behind her mug.

Manis consumed his breakfast with a vengeance. Roast fowl with potatoes, and half a dozen small crusty rolls with fresh butter, all washed down with a summer beer that Manis complimented when he was not going into great detail about it's floral undertones, and how the addition of citrus or pine could have improved it.

"Tell me what you have learned, but first wipe the butter off your face."

"I must begin by stating clearly that while some of this information came to me from Saadia that was not my reason for..."

"I take your meaning, friend, you need not put it into words, especially when they stick in your throat so firmly," Vala said while Manis was searching for those words.

Gods, are all men so shy when they talk of love making? Sharn's talk is baudy in the extreme compared to this bashfulness.

Manis took a long pull from the dwindling contents of his mug before continuing.

"It was not even I that played the first card. It was the scouling Nord at the next table that did that."

"I recall her. Did she think to supplant Saadia? Or perhaps that she owns a bed big enough for three?"

"No, at least I do not believe so. Her name is Uthgerd. She asked if this was my first time in Whiterun."

"Gods, have you never visited a sea going village or town? It is the very first thing a wench asks a sailor in an Inn," Vala said with a laugh that drew some attention.

Their table was positioned so that Vala could simply look over Manis' shoulder and see the now empty chair where the Nord woman had been sitting the night before. Manis chose to ignore the barb as he continued.

"I said it was indeed my first visit, and then asked why there was an upside down longboat next to the Inn which brought the conversation to my intended topic. Do you know she tried to join the Companions in the past, but was rejected?"

"Why was she rejected. She seemed just the sort to fill their ranks."

"She killed the boy she faced during her test. She still harbors a great deal of animosity towards them for denying her."

"Killed a boy."

"She calls him a boy, but according to a man named Vignar her opponent was as old as she was at the time; another aspirant like her. At any rate, she was deemed unsuited due to her temper, and her loss of control."

"So not everyone in Whiterun thinks highly of the Companions."

"And the Companions do not think highly of everyone in Whiterun," Manis said as he finished his mug of beer before wiping his face on his sleeve.

"What do you mean by that?"

"There are several residents of Whiterun that are not in favor in Jorrvaskr. One of those residents is a Companion himself."

"How can..." Vala began before stopping herself.

"Thane Aric of Whiterun is not in favor in Jorrvaskr?" she asked with such shock that Manis thought the entire Inn could hear.

"Keep your voice down."

"How can this be?" she whispered, "he is one of their number. He recovered a fragment, and killed many of our number in doing so."

"He has friends in Jorrvaskr, certainly, but some members never warmed to him, good looks or no. Skjor and Aela, two members of the Circle, like him not. Others do not like him by reason of his daughters, who they see as a wedge in their group."

"His daughters? Can they have grown so timid and petty as that? What could his daughters have done to warrant such feelings?"

"That is the interesting bit of news that I have yet to share. It was some years ago; Aric's daughter Runa had only seem fourteen winters, but she was already growing into a powerful Nord warrior. She, with her father and her sister Lucia, who is older, but only by a few years, were visiting Jorrvaskr, and while Thane Aric was inside consulting with Kodlak, Runa and Lucia were conversing with Vilkas and Farkas, who they know well, and grew up with here in Whiterun, when a young member of the Companions made some insulting comments to Runa about the very expensive glass sword she wore, and how it was too heavy for her, and she could not wield it properly. Runa's response was that it had not failed her yet, and she had yet to hear a complaint from any enemy who had face her, due to their collected advanced state of decomposition."

Vala smiled at the thought of the young girl standing up to the young Companion.

"The Companion, whose name was Ria, asked Runa to demonstrate her skill, and the two faced off in the courtyard. What Ria did not know is that Runa was not just a warrior, but a spellsword. She cast some harmless spell with her left hand to distract Ria before attacking with the sword in her right hand. Ria never recovered, and ended the demonstration on her back side on the paving stone of the Jorrvaskr courtyard, defeated."

"Serves her right," Vala said.

"The tale is not yet ended. The bout was ended. Runa turned to walk back to her sister. And Ria attacked her from behind."

"She never did," Vala said in disbelief.

"She certainly did. Runa reacted immediately. Her body was encased in flame as she turned and leaped forward, her sword thrusting like a spear. Ria would have died on the spot but for the intercession of other Companions."

Vala's head was shaking as she spoke. "It was a dishonorable thing to do. It is a wonder they did not dismiss her."

"Again, the tale not yet ended," Manis said, "When the other Companions came to the defense of Ria, Runa's sister Lucia came to her defense."

"That is natural, any sister would do the same."

"Vilkas and Farkas also came to the sisters defense," Manis said quietly.

Vala was not sure she had heard him properly.

"What did you say?"

"Vilkas and Farkas, two members of the Inner Circle, drew in defense of the daughters of Aric, Thane of Whiterun, and against their fellow Companions."

Vala's mouth hung open for a short time as her mind raced to take in what she had just heard.

"This is too fantastical to believe. Two of the Inner Circle drew against their own."

"They were not yet members of the Circle at the time, but that is beside the point. That was the scene that greeted Aric and Kodlak when they emerged from Jorrvaskr into the courtyard. A stand off, four against four. Runa was still encased in flame. Lucia had balls of fire in each hand. Vilkas and Farkas each had fists filled with sky steel, and made no attempt at deescalation. Four members of the Companions would have died that day, I am certain of it, if Kodlak and Aric had not intervened."

"Gods."

"They all agreed by mutual consent that it was nothing more than a misunderstanding. Otherwise, Ria, Vilkas and Farkas would have been dismissed. Aela and Skjor were very unhappy with how things were resolved when they returned. This is the reason that the Thane and his family are not in favor. Aela and Skjor believe, and in some respect I think they have cause, that Aric's daughters will draw the twins away from the only home they have known, weakening the Companions, but more dangerously in the eyes of Aela and Skjor, weakening the Inner Circle."

Vala was silent again, her thoughts going in too many directions.

"Our conversation draws too much attention," Manis said quietly. He could see the entire Inn from where he sat, while Vala could only see the rear portion, which was almost empty. But even the sole figure sitting there kept glancing their way.

"Let us take some air," Vala said, "We can sit under the Gildergreen and enjoy the pleasant morning."

"The morning would be much more pleasant without that tiresome Priest bellowing in my ear," Manis said.

"He certainly does not add a calming aspect," Vala replied.

"She does not lend a calming aspect either, but for a different reason," Manis said as a Priestess exited the Temple of Kynareth and began walking towards them.

"Gods, did you not have your fill last night and this morning?" Vala said as she shook her head, "Besides the fact that she is almost old enough to be your mother."

"I only said she did not lend a calming aspect, it was your mind that chose how to interpret my words."

"Gods!"

"Friends, it is too beautiful a morning to spoil it with argument," the Priestess said as she stopped a short distance from them and sat under the Gildergreen. She was quite beautiful. Vala would describe her features, and the musical cadence of her voice, as classically Nordic, and she was not quite so old as Vala had originally thought, though still a decade older than Vala or Manis. Her golden hair was gathered loosely behind her head, and she wore a gown that was simple and yet elegant.

"More a disagreement than an argument, your Grace," Vala said, having to raise her voice somewhat to be heard over the bellowing of the nearby Priest of Talos.

"I am happy to hear it," she replied before looking at Manis, "Friend, do you know that there is blood on your tunic and neck?"

Vala and Manis both looked immediately at his right shoulder and neck.

"It must have opened again during the night," Manis said as his hand reappeared from under his tunic half covered in blood.

"Or during the early morning," Vala said with a grin as she bumped his left shoulder with her right one.

"It is a recent wound, your Grace, and it does not heal properly," Manis said as he looked for a place to wipe his hand clean.

"What were you doing last night that caused it to open?" the Priestess asked as she handed him a bit of cloth that she produced from a hidden pocket.

Manis and Vala looked at each other before smiling and inspecting the tops of their boots.

"It is fortunate that we met," Danica Purespring, High Priestess of Kynareth, said to them as she treated Manis' shoulder and neck, "Or it was the Blessed Mother who guided you to my doorstep. This wound would have troubled you for some time otherwise."

"There were several of us who were injured that night," Manis said as the woman applied an ointment to his wounds, "everyone in our company was injured."

"Were you also injured?" she asked Vala.

"No, I was not present when they were attacked. But I know of at least one other whose wounds do not heal as they should."

"I will give you some of this ointment to take with you," she said before pointing to Manis' shoulder and neck, "you see how I apply it? You must work it into the wound. Then a bandage, and half of this bottle of potion, and then bed. The potion will bring sleep on quickly, so he must be in bed when he drinks it."

"I understand," Vala said.

"Drink," Danica said to Manis, "and then lay on this cot until you wake again."

"Thank you for this," Vala said to Danica, indicating the bottle of potion and jar of ointment that she held in her hands. Manis had drifted off to sleep, sleep Vala was sure he needed after his night with Saadia, "you are a skilled alchemist to make such things."

"I am skilled in many things, but these things come from a friend of mine."

"Is your friend an Alchemist?"

"No. That is to say, Yes. He is many things. We have known each other for an age. He has a home here in Whiterun."

"I would thank him personally if that were possible."

"He is away to Solitude at the moment, or I would bring you to see him."

Away to Solitude. That cannot be coincidence.

"Would a note serve? I would gladly write one, and deliver it to his house."

"It is very thoughtful of you. You may use my office if you wish to write it, and I will take you there myself afterwards."

"You have answered my prayers, your Grace," Vala thought.

This is an opportunity that is too good to pass up. Perhaps it was indeed the Blessed Mother that guided us here.