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"Stew would be good." Dale says with a grin. "Thank you for the information as well." He gives Eloise a polite nod of his head and makes room on the bench for the newcomer.

"Be right back!" Eloise says rushing back to the kitchen (and we are back in normal space!)

With that she goes to help Yolanda. "We need another stew, is it usually this busy?"

behind the counter

"Yes, luckily it is, otherwise I would not make enough money. Not enough to pay you - or someone else. The point of stew, my dear, is that it can be made in large quantities and what is not sold one day can partly be used as stock for the next. Jürgen, my cook, knows his job well." Yolanda's voice and face soften a bit as she speaks about her business and her partner.

at the bench
"No, Matthias, it was not a horse" Volker says as he lowers himself on the bench next to the apothecary, moving with the clumsiness of someone not yet used to crutches. "You remember Erika, Yolanda's stepdaughter, who used to work here?" He speaks loudly enough so all the people in the front part of the inn can hear him if they do not talk among themselves. "She and I went to the Abbey for the feast of St. John the Baptist. It's just half a day on foot if you walk fast, as you know well. But on the way back, we were ambushed and robbed. They took Erika, saying she would fetch a good price" he chokes on tears now, swallows hard and goes on. "Because I wouldn't stop struggling, they cut the tendons in my left knee.

My father and others from the village found me the next day, and brought me home. Most of the fight injuries have healed, but the tendons are gone, I'll never be able to walk again."


(OOC: St. John's is on June 24th. It is now mid-July)

"You have been running the Oxen for a long time then? Do you have regular help?" She asks, "I am, well we are looking for somewhere to call home."

"I have started to work at the Oxen nearly ten years ago, and running it alone since my husband died. And no, I have no regular help right now."
Yolanda sees that Volker has sat down with the newcpmers, her jaw sets and she turns toward the kitchen. "I'll bing out the stew. I guess you can handle the orders for drinks right now, can't you? If you have a question, you can find ,e here."

"I will sit with my sister, and take the drinks as requested." She says, looking directly at Volker as she walks over towards the table. Her hand resting on her sisters shoulder as she sits down.

"What did you find out?", Thelma asks Eloise as she sits down.

"Not much, not really.. Yolanda is.. an interesting character, what was that about a missing girl?"

"There is a girl missing," Thelma remarks with a hard tone in her voice. She tells Eloise, "The owner's step daughter in fact."

"Well ummm.." Eloise sits crosslegged on the chair, looking over to the elder woman. "You think that's why she is so grumpy? She told me off when I asked about the priest over there." Giggling her face changes, "The younger one is kind of cute..."

Thelma returns a gentle smile, "Kind of cute, huh?" She suggests with a much more serious tone, "We might have to help look for the girl, too."

Matthias takes a seat at the bench, making sure to leave a sizeable space between himself and any of the others. He regards Volker his face dark with mounting fury but his voice is soft and measured when he finally speaks. "How long, boy? Has no one been sent to fetch young Erika? Such men, nay, beasts must not be allowed to roam freely." All thoughts of stew and drink banished from his mind, he unconsciously feels for the security of his sling. He turns his face to the other men at the table, especially the fighting man, a silent petition burning in his mossy green eyes.

"Might have to?" The young girl asks curiously, "I'm not like you, I'm not really cut out for that life." She whispers into Thelmas ear, leaning in closely. "But perhaps I could help..."

"Yolanda's Step Daughter?" She asks a little louder, "How long has she been gone?"

Sauls knuckles turn white as he grips the handle of his tankard tightly. His eyes dart to Christopher briefly and he very slightly inclines his head toward the crippled villager. He otherwise remains silent and listens to the tale.

Dale says in a voice loud enough to be heard. "Too long, one must not stand by in the face of tyrants. Be they men or beast, it cannot rest easy. I will help locate the young lady." Pausing, Dale adds with a firm voice. "My own people were the target of bandits not long ago. I took to the road to fight them in order to protect my own people, and I would not let another people suffer a similar indignity without a fight."