"Why didn't you protect me in that bar fight! I paid you good money to keep me safe!" The shrill, high, nasally whine of the thin, rat-like man who was currently bouncing around Tristain pierced straight through the mercenary's wars, and his right eye began to twitch as his fingers drummed repeatedly against the hilt of his hammer as he worked to suppress the urge to bury it into the man's face. Through clenched teeth, Tristain spat out a reply.

"As I told you before you took it upon yourself to participate in that brawl, your contract with me ended when we reached the town safely. You recall that you were trying to convince me otherwise when you followed me into that bar in the first place?" Tristain's rough voics was as calm and level as he could manage, though at this point he was fighting a losing battle with his temper. The small man he was talking with tried puffing himself up, bouncing on the heels of his feet.

"The contract was to get me home safely! And until I buy a house here I am not -" Tristain cut the man off with a growl of irritation.

"Which is a breach of contract. Hiring a bodyguard for a trip between towns is one thing. Hiring a bodyguard for a prolonged stay in one town is another entirely. Our contract was quite clearly the journey between Shirecliff and Stonevale, as I stated to you several times, at least once in writing." The rat-like man began to open his mouth again, but the creak of leather cut him off. "Enough. Leave. Go about your business. Next time you wish to hire a guard, make sure you are quite explicit with your desires, and do not try to prevaricate." He looked like he wanted to argue, but the threat of violence in Tristain's eyes, peering out from above an ice blue scarf, must have finally gotten through to him. He blanched, and left - fairly running way from the mercenary, who let out a soft sigh.

One hand came up and adjusted the scarf around his face and neck, pulling it up slightly higher as he looked around. Now that he no longer was dealing with the clingy little merchant, he could tie the time to take in the sights of Stonevale. Maybe he would try finding a place near here to move himself into - the city proper looked to be a fairly busy hub of activity, so contracts might be easier to come by than in the outlying towns. And it was far enough away from the capital that he wouldn't be risking competing with any of the major bands active at the moment.

As rain began to fall, a bit of commotion further down the street drew his attention. It was a little hard to make out in the stormy gloom, but it seemed a short person was confronting a much taller one, and drawing attention to the pair in the process. It wasn't a fight - the people around them were too split between watching, and walking by for that to be the case, but it did seem that something was happening. Curious, Tristain headed through the crowded streets, using his bulk and heavily armored frame to shoulder his way through to get a better look.

Well. The short person was not a child as he had initially believed, but rather a foreigner - an exotic one at that, coal black skin and silver eyes. The taller figure wasn't much better, with strangely blue skin, and and odd tone at that. Tristain didn't notice how a few of the city-folk surreptitiously slid behind his rumored frame, his eyes caught on the odd spectacle before him. From what he could tell the dwarf seemed to be the agitated one here, while the blue-skinned man was ambivalent as he offered to have a drink.

"Might want to take him up on that offer, miss." Trista in shoved forward, breaking from the reticent crowd a rain fell on them all. "Drawing a bit of attention out here. Blue man - I know where a bar is, but I doubt the food there is too enticing. Would either of you know where a better meal can be obtained?" It was a bit rude of him to shove in like this, but the mention of food he reminded Tristan that he himself was an outsider here, and that he was hungry from the journey here from Shorecliff.