Day 7 -- 5650, total: 77,415

I missed a day because of a cat who was ill and died today. Zelda was 17 and she'll be very much missed. She was a tough little girl, who kept the other cats in line. No one messed wtih her.

But here is a bit of what I've done:

The inside of the Inn was warm, but not very neat. Old straw, broken and smelling of mildew, littered the floor. Two broken benches leaned against the wall to the right. Torches lit the room and gave it a pall of smoke, along with the huge fire pit in the middle where a pot of something cooked -- and at least it smelled good. Two old men sat in the corner, shoveling food into their mouths and muttering about the weather -- though they stopped to stare as Darva and Beth came in.

A woman by the fire pit looked up and frowned. "Yes?"

"Do you, perhaps, have a room for the night?" Darva asked.

"Huh. Closed for the year, you know. Not many travelers this time of..." But her voice trailed off as Darva took two silver coins from her pouch and held them up. "I'll get the girls to sweep out a room and get it ready. Might be a touch cold, but we'll get a fire going there right off. Not used to people this time of year, that's all. Rabbit stew?"

"Yes, ma'am. That would be very good," Darva said and waved Beth toward a table and bench near the fire.

The woman yelled and brought two girls at a run, before she sent them rushing to the back of the Inn and cleaning out a room. Despite the state of the common room, it seemed to be a fairly well-run place, Beth thought.

The bowls of food that came were thick with meat and vegetables, and thought the bread seemed coarse, it went well with the dinner. They had a choice between cider and ale, and they both chose cider which came in huge cups.

It was nice, finally, to sit down and relax, even though they had drawn the attention of the locals. The place began to fill with more people, most of them men, Beth noted. The few women went to sit together in the corner of the room, two holding young children, and whispering among themselves, while the men were loud.

Darva, being always loquacious and friendly, had no trouble drawing them into conversation, first about the weather, then about the village, and finally about what the three of them were doing out on the road this time of year.

"We're heading for Oris," Darva said after a sip of cider. "Master Toman has an important shipment of cloth arriving, and we must be there to take delivery at the port."

The words, said now to strangers, seemed oddly insincere to Beth -- though the locals nodded without question. Perhaps it had been the time spent with Darva and Toman -- and the intensity of their worries -- that made the idea that they took these changes for cloth seem so ridiculous.

The news of their destination did draw the locals into a heated discussion, though -- and one that Beth rather wished they hadn't been part of very quickly.

"Bad times in the East," Caffe said, his hands wrapped around the bitter-smelling ale that seemed popular with the locals. "Bad times. We heard such tales from people what wanted to escape the madness. Curse the damned princess for bringing us to this."

People agreed, a muttering of words that made Beth angry that they should say such thins about Sondra. She started to speak -- and then held her tongue. It wouldn't help to argue with these people. And the Gods knew, she had put up with enough bad manners in front of Sondra to be able to take it now without showing her anger. She'd been trained well in that respect, and it had saved her with Mrs. Wynith and it would keep the peace here.

"Surely Lord Melton has things in hand by now," Darva offered when the others had gone a bit quiet.

"He tries, he tries," the man said, his head bobbing several times. "But it is chaos, you see, having been so long in a woman's hands. Your pardon, but it's why you have a man to run the business and why he works now while you two make merry. It's not for a woman to hold the reins -- not in business and not in the country. We had us one of Lord Melton's tax collectors here, on his way to visit Lord Dunlap, and such tales he' told! Well things what we wont report to ladies. The princes though, she was a wanton child and brought the land to near ruin with her vices before the Good Lord Melton finally stepped in."

Beth bent over her food, her face feeling flushed, and finding it harder to hide her anger. How could they believe such lies?

Caffe reached over and patted her arm. "Don't mean to embarrass you, child, but these are things the good people of Ranas need to know."

She nodded and fought back the urge to tell them some truths they wouldn't believe anyway. After all, she was only a woman.

And Darva -- Darva whom she liked and trusted, just nodded in agreement and drew the locals into even more tirades as they discussed the problems they had heard about from other travelers.