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By Root 1426 0

of Silks, marveling again at her good fortune to have secured a lease on a shop in this posh district. Convenient to the Market and the wealthy Sea Ward, the street was a long, broad avenue of shops and taverns that catered to Waterdeep’s wealthy. Only the finest merchandise and the most skilled craftsmen found a place on this street. The shops reflected this status. Tall buildings, constructed of good timber and wattle-and-daub, or even fine stone masonry; were decked with carved and painted wooden signs, bright banners, and even small beds of flowers. The street lamps glowed brightly, casting a golden light upon the elegantly dressed people who strolled the cobbled paths. Minstrels were plentiful, and as Bronwyn walked down the street, the music shifted around her in a pleasant kaleidoscope of sound. The dinner hour was long past, and most of the shops had closed, but in Waterdeep there were diversions to be had at all hours. Taverns and festhalls stayed open until breakfast. Lavish private parties and smaller, clandestine celebrations kept many of the more privileged citizens happily occupied until daylight. Those who earned their living with hard labor and skilled crafts were more likely to sleep and rise with the sun. Bronwyn heartily wished that she were one of them.

She was not surprised to see that the lights in her shop were still burning. She unlocked the door and stepped into the warm, appealing jumble of curiosities and treasures. Her assistant, a white-haired, rosy-cheeked gnome woman who went by the name Alice Tinker was studying an emerald ring through a jeweler’s glass. She looked up when Bronwyn entered, not bothering to lower the glass. The result-one normal gnomish eye, one magnified to a size more fitting to a blue-eyed beholder-set Bronwyn back on her heels.

Alice laughed merrily and set down the glass. “Busy day we had, eh?”

“Aye,” Bronwyn agreed on a sigh. “Did you have time to sketch the piece I sent through?” So tired was she that the words sounded muzzy even to her own ears.

“That I did. I’ve matched the color with some bits of amber we had hereabouts, and I’ll use that as a guide to add the proper tints on the morrow.”

Bronwyn nodded. She kept a portfolio of such sketches, a record of the rare pieces that passed through her hands, under lock and spell-guard in her safe. Some of the drawings she did herself, but most of the work fell to Alice’s small, capable hands. The gnome was a positive treasure. She kept the shop and wrote up sales while Bronwyn was out adventuring and making deals. The two of them were a true team, and the success of Curious Past belonged to them both. To be sure, Alice tended to treat her employer like her own oversized child, but Bronwyn was willing to overlook that single lapse.

“Tomorrow will be soon enough,” she agreed and turned to the stairs that led to the chamber she kept over the shop.

“Oh! One thing more,” Alice called after her. “That young bard was in earlier, looking for you. Says it’s important he talks to you at your earliest convenience. Something about a necklace.”

That would be Danilo, of course. Again, tomorrow would be soon enough. “Fine. Good.” Bronwyn said, and staggered up the stairs.

Alice followed her to the base of the stairs, her fists planted on her hips and her brown, apple-cheeked face filled with motherly reproach. “Look at you, child! Dead on your feet! I keep telling you to take some time off, laze around the shop a bit.”

Ignoring the gnome’s continuing harangue, Bronwyn climbed up to her chamber, intending to fall face first onto the bed and hoping she could stay awake that long.

But when she reached the chamber, all thoughts of sleep fled. In the center of the room, leaning on his staff and regarding her with a somber, measuring gaze, stood the most feared and powerful wizard in Waterdeep.

Bronwyn gaped at Khelben Arunsun, the Master Harper who ultimately directed her activities, but whom she had never met. She considered herself well versed in the custom and protocol of a dozen races and threescore lands, but for the life of