Re: 53a - All along the watch tower
Greil scowls, then carefully makes sure he has to be elsewhere when Heyden returns, this time with Jounach, one of the Lords of Charyk. The youngest, as it happens, if somebody almost eighty years of age can really be called "youngest". In Greil's view, he's also the meanest, but in a group who consider torturing kittens a pleasant after-dinner pastime, such distinctions are mostly meaningless.
Jounach studies the restless ormvråkar for a few seconds, then speaks to Heyden, "So... if I have this straight, you called me all the way up here, and away from my breakfast, because the ormvråkar are a little ... edgy... today? Mmmm? Is that it?" He glances at the row of open doors, and the empty air beyond, and takes half a pace away from them.
"My Lord, they are more than a little ed... "
"Do not contradict me, Lieutenant. So... has it escaped your notice that these... " he waves one gnarled hand towards the great birds, " ... are ormvråkar? Mmmm? They are, by their very nature, surly, awkward, mean-tempered, irritable, and downright bloody vicious. To such an extent, in fact, that we use the term bird-brained to describe the most dangerous of criminals, do we not? Mmmm?"
"Yes, My Lord, but... " Heyden pauses, as Jounach glares at him. Dangerous ground now... courage is required, and the watch Lieutenant manages to summon it up, "But they don't normally start this early, and today, they seem... well... scared of something as well."
"Scared? Mmmm? Well why didn't you bloody well say so? Scared is not normal. Not in the least. Tell me, Lieutenant, has anything unusual happened lately? Mmmm?"
In the Sanctuary Inn, the guests gather for breakfast, the same group as yesterday (albeit Morgan knows the panters are different, settling once more at the corner table.
Garvin himself is serving this morning, seemingly no more cheerful than the previous evening. "Mornin'. I trusts yers all slep' well. Breakfast terday, yer c'n 'ave porridge, or yer c'n 'ave eggs, or bacon an' eggs. What'll it be?"