She smiled. "A costume, nothing more, good Haley," she replied. "I have need to move about without eyes following me. How have you been?"

"I've been destitute without your company," he said in a completely insincere voice. "My nights have been long and lonely, and all the color has bled from the flowers."

"Flatterer," she said with a slight smile, motioning for the others to join her. When they got closer to him, Tarrin caught his scent, and it almost immediately made his hackles raise. It seemed human, but there was something more in it, something extra. He wasn't entirely human. "Haley, you remember Faalken. These are the other members of my group. Azakar, Dar, Allia, Mistresses Kaylin and Allison, and their bodyguards Ben and Sestra."

The man Haley seemed to stare at Binter and Sisska, then gave Keritanima a rather curious look, but then his smile returned. "I see you travel with an unusual group," he said. "I'm surprised her Highness there agreed to not be your shining star."

Dolanna gave him a curious look, then she chuckled ruefully as Keritanima glared at him. "I do hope you will be discreet, my friend. This is part of the reason why we travel like this."

"For you, Dolanna, I'll cut out my tongue and let you keep it until you leave," he said grandly. "I take it you're looking for rooms?"

"If you have them," she nodded.

"Of course. Nobody's rented the top floor suites, so consider it to be yours. Seven rooms, with a view you'll not find anywhere else on the islands. I'll even give it to you at cost, because you are an old friend."

"You were always good to me, Master Haley," she told him gratefully.

"What's 'at cost'?" Keritanima asked.

"Why, it's a steal at ten nobles a night," he said with a bright grin.

" Ten nobles! That's piracy!"

"For seven rooms, included meals, the services of a maid and page, and a view that will take your breath away, ten nobles is a bargain," he replied with a wave of his hand, as if her argument was baseless. "The usual rate is twenty."

"What is a noble?" Allia asked in a whisper to Dar, so quiet that only Tarrin's sensitive ears picked it up past him.

"It's a coin worth five gold crowns," he whispered back.

Tarrin converted it quickly. For a night here, they could rent rooms in a boarding house for all of them for three months.

"We accept, old friend," Dolanna said with a gentle smile, taking his hand. "And tell me, has Renoit left for his spring performances?"

"Renoit? He's still performing in the Circus Square, so I guess he hasn't left yet," he replied. "Did you want to see his troupe? I have to admit, they are astounding. More than worth an afternoon."

"Perhaps we will at that," she said. "If you do not mind, we really must settle in. It has been a long journey."

"Of course, of course! Dareen, escort our guests here to the Grande Suites," he ordered one of the pretty young ladies standing behind him. "They are to be treated like the old friends they are."

"Yes, Master Haley. If you would follow me please," she told them.

"I don't like him," Keritanima said waspishly as they went up the stairs.

"You just don't like someone that's more royal than you," Dar jibed.

"He's much more of a princess than me," she shot back.

The suite was huge. It was a large central sitting room with six assorted bedrooms leading away from it. It took up the entire top floor of the inn. Each of the six rooms were large, but some were obviously meant for wealthy guests, and some were meant for their servants. Each was well decorated, but the lavishness of the larger bedrooms was apparent to any who cared to look. Tarrin remained in cat form as Dareen showed them the suite, then promised to have a very large meal brought up for them. Only after she left did he wriggle out of Miranda's shoulder satchel and shift back to his humanoid form.

"This room is mine!" Keritanima shouted from one of them, probably the largest and most luxurious of them all.

"Six rooms, ten of us. Some of us are going to have to double up," Faalken said.

"I hope your snoring isn't as bad on land, Faalken," Azakar said.

"I'll do my best to make it worse," he teased.

"I really need to take a bath," Dar said, tugging at his robes.

"Haley has a large bathing room in the basement," Dolanna told him. "Or he will have a bathtub brought up to us, as we please."

There was a knock at the door, which sent Tarrin back into cat form immediately. Dar opened it, and found a young, slim, pretty girl in a black dress, with an apron. Her blond hair was tied back in a tail, and it dangled all the way to her thighs. The dress ended above her knees. " Andevous, madamme. Abuyi Lisette. Jui sun ceci chate deaux?"

"Do you speak the common tongue, young one?" Dolanna asked.

" Oui, madame," she said in a heavy accent. "Do you require anything?"

"I think I need a cold bath," Faalken said, looking at the young girl. That got him an elbow in the ribs from Keritanima. She winced when her elbow made connection with the steel of his armor.

"Just a meal for now, my dear," Dolanna told her. "I will call you if we require anything more."

" Oui," she said, giving a bobbing curtsy. "I will hurry the meal."

"Be still my breastplate," Faalken said, watching the door for a moment after she closed it.

"I think it's your codpiece you should keep still," Keritanima said waspishly.

"I love Shacean maids," Faalken said with hearty sigh and a look at the door.

"You love anything in a dress. That's one reason I'm so worried about wearing the robes," Azakar told him, which made the Knight glare at him.

"I think I broke my arm," Keritanima said sulkily, rubbing her elbow.

"That'll teach you to elbow a Knight."

"I'll just set fire to your breeches next time," she told him with a slightly ominous smile.

"I think the maid already did that," Faalken said, which made Allia and Dar break out in laughter and drew a nasty look from Keritanima.

"Children," Dolanna chided. "We should settle in. We will probably be here for a few days."

"I don't see how someone so old can be a child," Keritanima said in a surly tone as Faalken and Azakar entered one of the rooms.

"Faalken's temperament passes a great deal of idle time, Keritanima," Dolanna told her in a calm voice, though she was smiling. "Given the choice of spending a month with him, or a month with you, I would choose him. He is much more entertaining."

"That was low, Dolanna," Keritanima said shortly.

"At least he does not shed," she said, passing into one of the rooms.

Miranda burst out laughing, but it came up short when Keritanima whirled on her and gave her an ugly look. "Don't you start too!" she snapped.

"Kerri, I never stopped," she said with a cheeky grin. "And you do shed."

Keritanima growled in her throat, then stomped into one of the rooms. She made sure to slam the door. Hard.

Miranda giggled like a little girl, then looked down and gave Tarrin a cheeky grin. Then she winked. "You two better claim rooms," Miranda told Allia and Dar.

"What about you?" Dar asked.

"My place is with her Royal Shedding Highness," she said simply. "Binter and Sisska will get a room too. They may be Kerri's bodyguards, but even they need time to themselves sometimes. I'll keep an eye on her Highness."

"We appreciate your consideration, Miranda," Sisska said in her deep, unfeminine voice.

Tarrin jumped up onto the deeply cushioned couch, upholstered in dark satin, then laid down sedately near the arm. "I think Tarrin is claiming this room as his own," Allia said with a smile at him. Tarrin nodded to her. "Alright then. I think I would like to unpack this," she said, holding up her pack.

All the others went into rooms, leaving Tarrin alone. He didn't mind all that much, for he was rather tired, and it had been a long day. The couch was soft and pleasant, and it would make a perfect bed for him. Azakar was carrying his pack, so he knew where to go to get his things. He had just drifted off to to sleep when the door opened, and two large men carried in a table. More men behind them brought in chairs, and then a series of ladies lavished large amounts of sumptuous-smelling food onto the table. Haley himself stood at the door watching the activity, and his smile returned when Dolanna came out of her room. "As promised, one meal to die for," Haley told her, kissing her hand as the last servant filed out. "After you dine, I'll have bathtubs brought up so you can wash the sea off of your skin."