hand on the mantel, the other clenching and unclenching at his side.
Back at the table, the kender looked at the half-elf and chirped, 'Gee, he's really mad. Is he overly sensitive or something?'
Startled by the kender's insight, and dismayed that he had not realized it first, Flint quickly brought himself under control again. Tanis had always been uncomfortable with his mixed heritage, but Flint knew that it was the memory of the rape of his mother that had truly up-Bet him. 'I'll be right back,' he muttered to Tas, redfaced.
Swaying from the ale, the powerful dwarf shouldered his way across the tavern to where Tanis fumed. He stood silently alongside the furious half-elf for several moments, as they shared the warmth of the fire. Then he thrust his great hands into his tunic before clearing his throat.
'Come back to the table, pup. We were out of line there, and, well, the kender's real sorry. Me, too.'
Tanis hesitated, then glared at Flint for a brief moment. 'Tasslehoff didn't know, Flint, but I expected better from you.'
Flint coughed guiltily, and spat into the fire. 'And you deserve it. Like I said, I'm real sorry about that. We've all had a few drinks. Come back to the table.' Flint extended his hand, and after a few moments, the younger half- elf took it. Flint pressed it affectionately.
The pair turned and shuffled back to where Tasslehoff waited. The trio sat silently for several long moments, everyone staring self-consciously into his beer mug- except Tasslehoff, of course, who was incapable of feeling self-conscious.
'Now that I know something about Tanis, what about you, Flint?' the kender prompted. 'Where did you learn to make such beautiful jewelry? You're quite good, and I should know. I've been all over Ansalon and seen a lot of things.'
Flint swelled under the praise. Like Tasslehoff with his maps, the dwarf was always willing to discuss his craft. 'My kin have always been metalsmiths or warriors,' he said. He told the kender about his youth in the hills near the dwarven fortress-city of Thorbardin and his decision to leave the hill dwarves of Hillhome and move to the human settlement of Solace so long ago. His pride was unmistakable when he spoke of his summons to the court of the Speaker of the Sun.
'I would have to say that was where I honed my skills to their highest point, during my time in Qualinost,' he said in conclusion. 'Even the Speaker of the Sun said so. That's also where I met Tanis.'
'Is that where you made that splendid bracelet I saw today?' asked Tas. 'The copper one with the gems that you weren't even willing to discuss selling?'
Flint shook his head. 'No, that's a very new item. It sure is a beautiful piece of work, though, isn't it?' As he spoke he reached into his pocket and drew out the bracelet. He turned it over and around in his hands, stroking the filigree and buffing the stones on his sleeve.
Impulsively, Tasslehoff stretched across the table to look at the item more closely. But as his hand shot forward, Flint's beer mug crashed onto the table, gouging out a dent as large as a walnut. Only Tas's remarkable reflexes saved his hand from being smashed by the heavy crockery. Tas shoved his hands into the protective recesses of his pockets, looking profoundly hurt. 'I only wanted to look at it.'
'May I?' asked Tanis. Flint eyed him suspiciously for just a moment, then sheepishly handed over the piece. 'Sorry, Tanis,' he muttered, 'I forgot myself for a second.'
Tanis examined the bracelet minutely as the other two watched. When he spoke, he addressed Flint without taking his eyes from the jewelry.
'This is exquisite, Flint,' he admitted. 'But why do such gorgeous work in copper? These stones look valuable-why mount them in such a relatively inexpensive metal?'
Flint rocked back on the bench and said mysteriously, 'That's the way
'Somebody commissioned it?' asked Tas.
Flint nodded, looking uncomfortable.
'You didn't tell me about any commissioned piece,' said Tanis. 'Was it somebody local?'
'I didn't tell you,' confessed Flint, 'because the whole thing happened so fast, and the woman was very strange and mysterious.'
'A strange woman?' Tasslehoff looked intrigued.
Flint settled himself forward on the bench again and dropped his deep voice to a whisper. 'One day last week this woman showed up and claimed she knew my work from the time Tanis and I spent in Qualinost.
'Now, I took it from that that she was an elf, but she didn't look like any elf I ever met, not a healthy one, anyway. She was close to being the palest creature I ever saw-almost translucent as death itself-and all wrapped up in silk cloaks.'
'Maybe she was an undead creature, or a succubus, come to seduce you and drain your life away!' Tasslehoff suggested eagerly.
'She looked too nervous to be seducing anyone,' Flint said.
'A succubus would be nervous,' reasoned Tas.
'Tasslehoff, would you let him finish?' implored Tanis, silencing the kender's wild guessing.
'Anyway,' Flint continued, 'she said she needed this bracelet, only it had to be made according to very strict instructions. I told her I could make anything, any way she wanted it. So she handed me a sheaf of papers and said, 'Make it this way, exactly.'
'Well I've made things for folks who were obsessed with details before, but this was incredible. Every bit of that bracelet was designed and sketched out on those papers. And as if all that weren't enough, she handed me a sack full of copper ingots, gems, powders, and little jars of liquid that had to be mixed into the metal just so. She said, 'You'll find everything you need in this sack.' She even expressly asked me not to put my usual trademark on it.'
Flint leaned back. 'Naturally, I was a bit put off by that. I thought to myself, 'Why does she want an original Flint Fireforge if she doesn't want the signature?''
Tanis was taken aback. 'That
'That's just it,' said Flint, a puzzled expression on his face. 'The whole thing was so fishy that I quoted her what I thought was an outrageous fee. She paid it, plus half as much again, up front, without flinching! I couldn't turn it down!'
Flint looked at the dregs of his ale, then pushed it away. 'I followed those instructions to the letter, right down to burning them when I was finished. I kept the bracelet at my booth because she said she would come back to pick it up during the Spring Festival. I expect she'll be by any day now.' At last the dwarf sat back on the bench again, satisfied that his story was finished.
Tasslehoff stared intently at the bracelet, now lying on the table. 'No wonder you were so touchy about it. Who do you suppose she is, and what's the bracelet for?'
'I'm no clairvoyant,' said Flint. 'There's certainly something unusual about the bracelet, though, I'll grant you that. I'll just be happy to have it off my hands.'
Tanis nodded. 'It's obviously very important to this woman, whoever she is.' He stretched and looked at the dying embers in the hearth. The inn's common room had nearly emptied. A sleepy-eyed Otik glared at them from behind the bar. 'Anyone care for a last round?'
Following Tanis's example, Flint threw his arms back and stretched his face in a ferocious, jaw-breaking yawn. 'No, I drank at least three too many already,' he said, pushing himself away from the table. 'Let's stagger home, Tanis, or I'll fall asleep here.'
'What about my maps?' asked Tasslehoff. 'You've hardly looked at them.'
Tanis frowned, but his ale-fogged brain was unable to choose between going home and to bed, or staying to study the maps.
Fortunately, Tasslehoff provided a solution for him. 'I'm staying at the inn tonight. How about if I stop by Hint's stall tomorrow and you can look at them there?'
Tanis was relieved to see that Flint had already shuffled toward the door and had not heard the suggestion. Tanis hastily accepted the idea, said his good-byes to the kender, and dashed after the drunken dwarf to keep him from falling off the bridgewalks.
Left alone in the stillness and smoke of the common room, Tas made his way up the narrow stairway to the sleeping floor in the inn. It had been a long, tiring day.
