The Wyvern's Spur - Kate Novak [96]
Olive heard footfalls on the stairs. She drew back from the keyhole and pressed herself flat behind a linen chest. Peeking around the furniture's corner, Olive spied Thomas at the top of the stairs, carrying a tray laden with covered dishes. He turned down the hallway in the opposite direction. His pace was brisk and nervous. He let himself into a room at the far end of the hallway and closed the door behind him. Olive could hear him climbing more stairs.
The halfling was torn between following the servant and catching the end of Cat's conversation with Flattery. She was denied the opportunity to do either, though. There were more footfalls on the lower stair, this time accompanied by whistling. Giogi's rhythmless whistling.
Olive scrunched up tighter behind the linen chest. Giogi strode down the hall toward Cat's room. He was carrying a fur-lined cape, fur-lined boots, and a fur muff. He stopped in front of Cat's door and knocked sharply.
Cat called out, "Come in."
Giogi opened the door. "It's cold in here," he noted stiffly.
"I was looking out the window. Did you find Birdie?"
"No," Giogi replied curtly.
"Perhaps she'll come home by evening. You treated her well," Cat said gently.
Giogi shrugged without comment. He laid the furs on the bed. "It's colder today than it was yesterday, so I brought these for you to wear. I'll let you get back to your studying," he said, backing out of the room and closing the door behind him. His manner was as cold as the room.
So, the kind-hearted Wyvernspur can snub people, too, when his pride is wounded, Olive thought.
Giogi went down the hall to the room beside Cat's. He entered the room, leaving the door open behind him. Olive could see him rummaging through a chest at the foot of the bed.
It would be a bad thing to be discovered up here, Olive realized. Time to return to the parlor while I have the chance.
The halfling slipped past Giogi's open door and hurried down the stairs, though not without regret. I should have taken a peek to see who or what Thomas was feeding in the attic, she thought as she let herself into the parlor and closed the door very softly behind her. My nerves aren't what they once were.
She paced about the room. In my younger days, I'd have cased every room in this house and stolen three resalable things before breakfast, she chided herself. Being prosperous takes all the fun out of life. Now all I do is eavesdrop and worry that I'm going to be discovered. That's the problem with respectability-you always worry about losing it. Paladins must be nervous wrecks, she thought with an amused snort.
A bowl of dried fruit and nuts drew her attention. Food. That will help steady me. Olive lifted the bowl from the coffee table and carried it over to the fireside with the footstool. She cracked some nuts and picked out the meats, stacking the shells and meats in piles to represent good and bad as she weighed Cat's recent actions.
She contacted Flattery again, which was bad, the halfling thought, dropping a shell to her left. Probably stupid, too, Olive added, starting a pile with dried apricots for stupid actions.
Dropping a nut meat into a pile at her right, Olive thought, She did show more spine and grill him for more information, which was good. She gave away our day's itinerary, which was bad. She didn't say a word about Jade or me. That was good, unless she's playing both sides against the middle. Olive dropped another apricot in the stupid pile.
She could be thinking of me as our ace in the hole. Maybe she's superstitious about halfling luck. Olive started a pile for Cat's smart decisions with dried figs.
She didn't tell Flattery we were planning to come after him. Good and smart. Is she hoping we'll kill him for her? Is she planning on lending a hand when the time comes? In the short run, is she going to do as Flattery bids and use Giogi to test for traps in Drone's lab, and will she try to convince us not to visit the Temple of Selune?
Olive looked down at the piles of food.