I am introduced to Cliste, Flidhais' wolf- a very courtly animal which shakes paws when she intoduces me. A far better behaved canine than most of the hounds I know, in fact.

We head back to the tavern. I feel her hand on my arm, stong and firm. The temptation to slide my hand along and take hers, interlacing fingers, is remarkably strong. I repress it vigorously. This is not how a knight, even one who fights as much for money as for the noble things knights are supposedto fight for, should behave. Anyway, with luck I shall have lots of time to get to know this lady better.

We enter the tavern. As promised, she goes off to order the first round of drinks, and returns with two large tankards of ale.

"Your excellent health, my lady Flidhais" I say, sampling the beer. "This is indeed excellent- quite up to the standards of Flanders or Brabant". Which is high praise- the best beer of all comes from those parts. I once fought a campaign in Brabant mainly for the beer- we were defending a town with a particularly good brewery.

"And what brings you to Monsalvat?" I ask her. "Do you have friends or family here? Forgive my curiosity but you do not sound any more local to these parts than I do." Knights can wander anywhere and nobody ever asks them why they go places but it isn't the same for ladies. It's probably unfair (more than one lady has told me so to my face) but that's how the world is.