3.  -- Serdannio

      Speck was a charming lass, despite her grumpy exterior.   Serdannio suspected that she was horribly embarrassed over her nude tantrum, but she was making a wonderful effort to seem composed and nonchalant, even smiling and nodding at Coll as he shambled into the room.

      Coll, in a pair of homespun overalls, his brown hair damp and slicked back from his forehead, seemed much more alert than the half-witted man who’d gaped at Speck back in the Longroom.   He waved happily to Serdannio, Speck and the Eloth as he grabbed three buns and tore into them like a starving man.

      “Thesh are goo!” he exclaimed through a mouthful of bun.   He swallowed and wiped his mouth.   “Sorry,” he continued.   “It’s rude to talk with your mouth full!   I know that.   Are you all here to join Guilds?”

      Serdannio nodded, even though Coll wasn’t looking at him.

      “I am,” Speck said.   “If I can find one that will take me.”

      “Me too!” Coll said, in the tone of one amazed by a coincidence.   Probably, Serdannio thought, he didn’t realize that everyone who came to The Crossing seeking Guild status was required to spend the night in the Tenderfoot Inn as a rite of passage between the old life and the new.

      “What about you?” Serdannio asked the Eloth.   Coll and Speck were rather easy to read, but the Elothean man seemed wrapped in enigma, not the least because he seemed far too old to begin the life of a Guild Novice.

      “Yes, I’m planning to join a Guild,” the man said.   “Though I’m actually starting anew -- I’ve been in a Guild before.”

      “Really?” Speck asked.   “What’s it like?”

      “I imagine it’s different for each Guild.   Since we’re all being so friendly, why don’t we introduce ourselves?   My name is Ellian Eleyandor.   And you’re Colly,” he said to Coll.

      “Speck,” Speck said.   “And that gorgeous statue over there is Serdannio, Ser’s part of the name not a title.”   She grinned at Serdannio and he grinned back.

      “Glad for the clarification,” Ellian said.   “I’d’ve wondered what a noble was doing in this wretched place.   Do you have surnames, or are we too informal for that?”

      “Serdannio Leafcatcher, at your service,” Serdannio said, sketching a sardonic bow.

      “Leafcatcher?” Speck asked, giggling.   “Did you used to be a gardener?”

      Serdannio laughed.   “I didn’t pick it.”

      “My last name is Dragon’sdoom,” Coll said proudly, then ducked his head.   “Well, not really,” he added.   “But I changed it.   ‘Cause I’m starting a new life and all.”

      “I think that’s a fine name,” Ellian said kindly.

      “I’m just Speck,” Speck said, shrugging.   “So what Guild were you in, Ellian Eleyandor?”

      “I was a Bard.”

      Serdannio raised an eyebrow before he could stop himself.   The haggard-looking Elothean didn’t fit his image of a Bard.

      “You look more like a Moon Mage,” Speck said, echoing Serdannio’s thoughts to the letter.

      “Ahh, yes, because I’m an Elothean, of course.   And all Elotheans are Moon Mages.   No doubt you’ll be a Thief, Speck.   Most Olvi are.”

      “I will not!” Speck said hotly.

      “No?   Well, then.   A little lesson in stereotypes.”

      Ellian lifted his coffee mug and took a long drink, his cool grey eyes amused.   The cuff of his shirt fell back slightly, and Serdannio caught sight of a livid scar etched across the top of the Elothean’s hand.   Glancing over, he saw a mirror twin of the scar on the other hand.   The scars were deep and looked crippling; Serdannio wondered why the man hadn’t had them healed.   Or perhaps they were permanent, and part of the reason Ellian had left the Bard’s Guild.   He couldn’t imagine those hands coaxing music out of an instrument.

      “Actually,” Speck said, “I thought you looked like a Moon Mage because you seem sort of mysterious.   And older than the rest of us.”

      “Well, I’m an Elothean.   If I were your age I’d still be playing with blocks.”

      “I didn’t mean older in years,” Speck clarified.   “I mean, Serdannio’s probably...what, forty or so?   But it’s like he’s our age, Colly’s and mine, I mean.”

      “More mature, then, you meant.”   Ellian shrugged.   “I was a Bard for four years.   So this isn’t like starting out on a new adventure for me.”

      “So why are you here?” Serdannio asked.   “You didn’t just come to The Crossing.”

      “I thought it’d be a good idea to go through the whole ritual,” Ellian said.   “Starting anew and all that.   And I’ve been away for a while.”

      “Did you grow up here?” Colly asked.

      Ellian shook his head.   “No, I’m from Shard originally.”

      “So am I,” Serdannio said.   “Well, near Shard.   I’ve been there only twice, actually.”

      “I’ve been living in Arthe Dale the past few years,” Speck said.   “But this is my first time in The Crossing.   Silly, isn’t it?   It’s less than an hour’s walk, but I never came here.”

      “I’ve never been here either,” Coll said.   “I’m from really far away, west of Wolf Clan.   I worked there for a little bit before I came here, but those people aren’t very friendly.   Does anybody mind if I have that last bun?   I’m still hungry.”

      “I mind,” said a woman’s heavily accented voice from the doorway.   “Like a rock, that bun look, but sure I’ve got to eat something.”

      Ah, the mysterious fifth person, Serdannio thought, turning to look at the tall Human striding confidently into the room.   He guessed that she had to put up with nearly as much staring as he himself did; though not conventionally pretty, she was certainly striking.   Her hair, cut short and tucked behind her ears, was the most unusual shade of reddish-blonde he’d ever seen, really more orange than red.   Like an apricot, he thought.

      Her face was sharply angular, her skin so pale it seemed luminous.   Nearly as tall as an Elf, she moved with a confident grace one rarely saw in Humans.   Serdannio couldn’t for the life of him decide whether she was the ugliest woman he’d ever seen, or the most beautiful.

      And then she glanced over at him, her coal-black eyes appraising him as thoroughly as he’d just appraised her, one corner of her mouth twitching upward in what might pass for a smile, and Serdannio decided.   Beautiful.   Most definitely beautiful.   Even if she was only a Human.

      The woman grabbed the bun off the plate and poured herself some coffee, then looked over at Speck.

      “Olvi,” she said.   “You be the one screeching on earthquakes afore.   Sure you woke me up, and half the bleeding town along.”

      “I’m sorry,” Speck said.   “Coll here was snoring so loud I’m surprised you slept through it.   I finally lost my patience.”

      The woman sat down at the end of the table, her dark eyes passing over Coll and settling on Ellian.

      “You come in, middle of the night,” she said.

      Ellian nodded.   “It was late.”

      Her gaze drifted down to his hands, and her eyes widened almost imperceptibly as she spotted his scars.   She looked up quickly, meeting Ellian’s gaze, her face a silent question.   Ellian met her eyes squarely, making no attempt to cover the scars.   The woman said something in a low voice -- Serdannio couldn’t make out the words, but it sounded as if she were speaking Gamgweth -- and Ellian hesitated and then shook his head.

     Serdannio would have paid a pretty copper to know what had just passed between the two, but Ellian leaned back in his chair, deliberately breaking the moment, and smiled at the Human woman as if nothing had happened.

      “We’ve all been getting to know each other,” he said.   “Comparing notes, as it were, before we head out to find a Guild.   I’m Ellian.”

      Coll introduced himself, then Speck, and when Serdannio remained silent, Speck introduced him.

      “M’dagka,” the woman said.

      “Sorry?” Speck asked.   “I don’t speak Gamgweth.”

      The woman threw her head back and laughed.

      “That wasn’t Gamgweth,” Serdannio said, moving toward the table and finally taking a seat near the others.   “I have a terrible suspicion that that was her name.”

      “Aye, it be my name,” she said.   “And count your blessings, do you, that I don’t try to make you learn the second half.”

      “Say it again,” Speck said.

      “M’dagka.”

      “Mi--duck?” Speck asked hesitantly, then made a face.   “Gah, I can’t say it.”

      “It’s being a kind of click in the throat,” M’dagka said.   “The last part.”

      “M’deggeh,” Serdannio said.   “No, blast it, I can’t say it either.”

      “Maybe you should change your name,” Coll said.   “I mean, I think M’dagka is pretty, but probably most people will have trouble saying it.   That’s why I like my name, ‘cause it’s...why are you all staring at me?”

      “Because you said it perfectly,” Ellian said, grinning.   “And none of the rest of us can.”

      “I just said it the way she did,” Coll said, pointing at M’dagka.

      M’dagka laughed again, and a moment later the others joined in.   Coll gazed at them in confusion, then smiled hesitantly.

      “Did I say something funny?” he asked.

      Speck choked on her coffee, struggling for a long moment to contain her laughter; Serdannio and the others ducked a moment too late as she lost the struggle and sprayed the table with a mouthful of coffee, which caused them all to laugh even harder.   Coll’s smile widened and he began laughing too, unwilling to miss out on the joke even if he was the butt of it.

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