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Legendary watering-holes like The Red Glove or...Legendary watering-holes like The Red Glove or Thetaph were packed with sweating, shouting patrons every night, to whom they dispensed their harsh, overpriced liquors and a seemingly endless stream of available flesh, male or female, in the warrens of airless rooms upstairs Those innkeepers who had elected, for whatever reasons, not to trade in purchased love had to offer substantially different inducements to their patronsFor the eponymous owner of Solinghi's, a tavern not far from the castle, good food, decent vintages and ales, and clean rooms in which to sleep were assurances of a respectable if not an extravagant living, derived primarily from merchants and traders disinclined to traffic in the carnality of night, or at least to sleep and eat amid that overripe corruptionSolinghi's also prided itself on offering, by day or night, the best music to be found in the city at any given time At this particular moment, shortly before the dinner-hour one day late in the spring, the bar and table patrons of the almost full tavern were enjoying the music of an unlikely trio: a Senzian harper, a piper from Astibar, and a young Asolini tenor who, according to a rumor started a couple of days before, was the singer who had disappeared after performing Sandre d'Astibar's funeral rites last gucci handbags australia fall Rumors of every kind were rife in Senzio that spring, but few believed this one: such a prodigy was unlikely in the extreme to be singing in a put-together group like thisBut in fact the young tenor had an exceptional voice and he was matched by the playing of the other twoSolinghi di Senzio was immensely pleased with their effect on business over the past week The truth was, he would have given them employment and a room upstairs if they made music like boarhounds in lustSolinghi had been a friend of the dark-haired man who was now calling himself Adreano d'Astibar for almost ten yearsA friend, and more than that; as it happened, almost half the patrons of the inn this spring were men who had come to Senzio expressly to meet the three musicians hereSolinghi kept his mouth shut, poured wine and beer, supervised his cooks and serving-girls, and prayed to Eanna of the Lights every night before he went to sleep that Alessan knew what he was doing This particular afternoon the patrons enjoying the young tenor's rousing rendition of a Certandan ballad were rudely snapped out of their bar-pounding rhythm when the doors to the street were pushed open, revealing a largish cluster of new customersNothing of note in that, of courseOr not until the singer cut himself off in the middle of a chorus with a pasha de cartier shouted greeting, the piper quickly laid down his pipes and leaped off the stage, and the harper lowered his own instrument and followed, if more slowly The enthusiasms of the reunion that ensued would have led to predictably cynical conclusions about the nature of the men involved, given the way of such things in Senzio, had the new party not included a pair of exceptionally attractive young women, one with short red hair, one with raven-darkEven the harper, a dour, unsmiling fellow if ever there was one, was drawn almost against his will into the circle, to be crushed against the bony breast of a cadaverous looking Khardhu mercenary who towered over the rest of the party A moment later another kind of reunion occurredOne with a different resonance that even stilled the excitement of the newly mingled groupAnother man rose and walked diffidently over to the five people who had just arrivedThose who looked closely could see that his hands were trembling "Baerd?" they heard him say There followed a moment of silenceThen the man whom he'd addressed said "Naddo?" in a tone even the most innocent Senzian could interpretAny lingering doubts about that were laid to rest a second later by the way the two men embraced each other More than one man, eyeing the two women with frank admiration, decided black chanel bag with white logo on the side that his chances of a conversation, and who knew what else, might be better than they'd first appeared if the men were all like that Alais had been moving through the days since Tregea in a state of excitement that brought an almost continuous flush to her pale skin and made her more delicately beautiful than she knewWhat she did know is why she had been allowed to come From the moment the Sea Maid 's landing-boat had silently returned to the ship in the moonlit harbor of Tregea, bearing her father and Catriana and the two men they'd gone to meet, Alais had been aware that something more than friendship was involved here Then the dark-skinned man from Khardhu had looked at her appraisingly, and at Rovigo with an amused expression on his lined face, and her father, hesitating for only a moment, had told her who this really wasAnd then, quietly, but with an exhilarating confidence in her, he'd explained what these people, his new partners, were really doing here, and what he appeared to have been doing in secret with them for a great many years It appeared that it had not been entirely a coincidence after all that they'd met three musicians on the road outside their home during the Festival of Vines last fall Listening intently, trying not to miss a syllable or an implication, Alais measured rolex air king her own inward response to all of this and was pleased beyond words to discover that she was not afraidHer father's voice and manner had much to do with thatAnd the simple fact that he was trusting her with this It was the other man, Baerd, they named him, who said to Rovigo, "If you are truly set on coming with us to Senzio, then we will have to find a place on the coast to put your daughter ashore "Why, exactly?" Alais had said quickly before Rovigo could answerShe could feel her color rising as all eyes turned to herThey were down below deck, crowded in her father's cabin Baerd's eyes were very dark by candlelightHe was a hard-looking, even a dangerous-seeming man, but his voice when he answered her was not unkind "Because I don't believe in subjecting people to unnecessary risksThere is danger in what we are about to doThere are also reasons for us to face those dangers, and your father's assistance and that of his men if he trusts them, is important to usFor you to come would be a danger without necessityDoes that make sense?" She forced herself to be calm"Only if you judge me a child, incapable of any contribution"I am the same age as Catriana and I think I now understand what is happening hereWhat you have been trying to doI can say that I have the same desire as any of you to be white chanel purse f10:42 PM - Thursday, May 6, 2010
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