1. Coll
Long after breakfast was over, the five of them sat around the table, chatting in an aimless fashion about nothing in particular. Coll knew they would all have to leave soon, and though he was still excited about starting to explore the big city, he was sad that he would have to part from his new friends. He hadn’t had many friends back home in Stilt’s Meadow, except Chando, of course, who’d taught him everything about big cities and the Guilds of Elanthia. Chando had been a good friend, the best anyone could ask for. He was the only one who’d never gotten impatient with Coll, never called him “idiot” or “lackwit”. And he’d helped Coll get his first job.
Coll shook his head abruptly, trying to dismiss the thought they way he’d throw off a fly that was buzzing too close to his face. He didn’t want to think about Chando, or the job. He was safe here, in this big room with the huge fancy windows that overlooked a yard as pretty as a park, and sitting with four nice people who hadn’t once called him stupid. And everyone else had complained about the food, but Coll had thought it was good. He wished there were more buns, but he was afraid the inn would charge him for more, and he had very little money. He was going to have to take out a Novice loan even though he’d tried hard to save the coppers they’d paid him in Wolf Clan.
He took another sip of his coffee. It was cold now, and there wasn’t any left in the pot, but it might be a long time before he could afford to buy coffee. And anyway, it was wrong to be wasteful. Chando always said so.
Coll started as he felt a sharp poke in his side. He looked down to see Speck peering up at him.
“You were fogged out,” she said. “Daydreaming of home?”
“Oh, no,” Coll said. “I was thinking about coffee.”
“I hope there’s some place in town that serves better coffee than this swill,” Serdannio said. “Not that I could afford it. Had to take out one of those damned loans; otherwise I’d never be able to pay the training fees for joining a Guild.”
“I’ve heard there are some don’t bother joining a Guild before learning the ways of hunting in these parts,” M’dagka said. “They train themselves, and hunt for coin like any Guilded citizen.”
“It’s a Guild for me,” Speck said, taking a sip of her coffee and grimacing at the bitterness. “I wouldn’t even know how to begin training myself.”
Ellian laced his fingers behind his head and regarded M’dagka thoughtfully. “I suppose it depends on what you plan to do,” he said. “If all you’re after is money, it isn’t, of course, necessary to join a Guild. Unless you want to work the trade routes. There’s good money to be had there, but you have to be in the Guild.”
“Trading would bore me to tears,” Speck said. “I can’t imagine that it would be a very exciting life.”
“So it’s excitement you’re after?” Serdannio asked. “Is that why you left boring old Arthe Dale?”
“You bet,” Speck said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “I’m way too young to settle down. I want to sow my wild oats. Or is it only men who do that?”
Serdannio grinned at her. “I don’t know if I want to sow my wild oats...I just want to see what the world has to offer, and it wasn’t offering much in my home village. M’dagka? What brought you here to Crossing? Judging by your accent, you’ve come a further way than any of us.”
“I don’t have an accent,” M’dagka said with mock disdain. “Sure I’m talking normal-like; it’s you who can’t pronounce things as they should be. But yes, I’m from far north, and walked the whole way here. Like you, to join a Guild. But it’s knowledge I be after, not excitement, though I wouldn’t be turning that down either.”
“Well, I’m afraid I’m the boring one of the group,” Ellian said. “I don’t seek anything other than steady work and a bit of security. I’ll leave the excitement to the rest of you.”
“And that leaves Coll,” Speck declared, turning to Coll and giving him another nudge. “The resident daydreamer.”
Coll blushed; he had been daydreaming again, gazing at M’dagka and wondering if she had a special fellow back where she came from. Not that someone as pretty as she would ever have any interest in him, but still...
“So why did you leave your home, Colly?” Ellian asked. “Looking for adventure?”
“I...” Coll said, wishing they hadn’t all turned their eyes on him. “I don’t know. Yes. I guess I’m looking for adventure.”
Serdannio winked at him, and Ellian smiled and nodded. Coll breathed an inward sigh of relief. They had just been curious, and no one seemed to think his answer was odd. Many people came to The Crossing for no other purpose than to seek adventure. He didn’t need to give any other reason than that for why he’d left Stilt’s Meadow.
An unsettling thought flitted across Coll’s mind as he drank the last of his coffee and studied the four people sitting around the table. If he had been able to lie so easily about why he was here, then didn’t that mean that the others could be lying about why they were here, too?