The Robin And The Kestrel

proper justice.'

'B-but _' He gave up. She would never admit she was wrong, even if he managed to convince her of it_and even if he did, she would only think he was worried about the possible consequences. That wasn't what made him so upset, but how could he make her understand that she had just acted in as immoral and irresponsible a manner as the Church claimed Free Bards were?

How could they honestly refute the claims of the street preachers when they actually did what the street preachers said they did? Even though they had been provoked_

Never mind. Right now, the best thing he could do was drive. Maybe this would sort itself out later.

He hoped.

Darkness had fallen by the time they reached the next building on the road. The Hungry Bear inn_distinguished as such by the sign over the door, a crudely painted caricature of an animal that could have been a bear_or a brown pig_or a tree-stump with teeth. The sign was much in need of paint. The inn was much in need of repair.

Even in the fading twilight and the feeble flame of a torch beside the door, that much was all too obvious. It was clean, superficially at least, but so shabby that Gwyna would have passed it by without a second thought if they were really looking for a nights work.

But they weren't, so when Kestrel pulled the horses to a halt outside the front door_which didn't even have a lantern, only that crude pitch-and-straw torch_she hopped down to see if she could find the innkeeper.

She had barely one foot on the ground before a round blob of a woman dressed in clothing more suited to a coquettish girl came hurrying out to see if they might be customers.

As she came out of the darkness of the tap room and into the flickering light from the torch, Gwyna felt her eyes widen in surprise. Was this Rune's mother?

She must be_certainly the lavish use of cosmetics, and the straw-blond hair, the low-cut blouse and the kilted-up skirt matched Rune's descriptions. But if this was Rune's mother_either Rune's memory was horribly at fault, or the woman had doubled, or even tripled her weight, since Rune had left!

'Welcome to the Hungry Bear,' the woman said, her eyes taking in their equippage, and probably evaluating it to the last penny. 'My name is Stara, and I am the innkeeper's wife_how may I serve you?'

Well, that certainly clinched it. This was Rune's mother, and she had evidently managed to wheedle, connive, or blackmail her way into more than Jeoff's bed.

Well, Rune was right about that much. And since I don't see any other helpers around, I suspect they either can't afford more help anymore, or no one will work for them. So Rune was right there, too, in thinking Stara would have turned her into an unpaid drudge, given half a chance. If Rune had stayed, she'd have found herself shackled to this shoddy inn for the rest of her life, with music taking second place to whatever her mother wanted her to do.

'We are musicians, Innkeeper,' Robin said, in a carefully neutral voice. 'We hadn't really expected to find an inn here, but we usually offer our services in return for a room and a meal _'

Not that I'd sleep in any bed you had anything to do with. You probably haven't washed the sheets in months.

The balding and middle-aged innkeeper himself appeared at the door as Robin finished her little speech, but he held back, diffidently saying nothing, quite obviously very much the henpecked husband. Stara looked them over critically, and her eyes sharpened with mingled envy and greed at their prosperity. No one who drove a rig like theirs, new, and well-made, would be an inferior musician or poor....

And given the general air of abandonment, when Rune ran off, most of the business went somewhere else. There should be at least a handful of customers in there, and the tap room is empty. I don't smell anything cooking, either, which means they don't get enough customers of an evening to have a regular supper ready.

So, if they stayed, there'd be an empty tap room, a poor meal and a cold and musty bed. And given what had just happened back in the village_

It probably wouldn't be a good idea to stop here. No matter what else I could find out about Stara. I think I've seen enough to tell Rune all she needs to hear. Enough to make her glad that she got out while she could.

'Uh_Stara _' the innkeeper said, timidly. 'We don't know these people. We don't know anything about them. Remember what the Priest has been preaching? These people aren't wearing Guild colors. So many of these free musicians sing that licentious music, that music that makes people do sinful things _'