That strange tension still hung in the air, but I had decided now it was just these villagers being excited about something coming to their town to stir their mundane lives up. I sighed and shook my head - I'd be finding no signs of a beast to hunt tonight, it seemed. A shame, most of the villagers by now knew I would hunt even the strangest things down for them if they observed it - it is what I did, after all.
I was just about to get up to leave, and call this night of information gathering a rather extraordinary loss, when there was a commotion by the door. Beneath my face mask I frowned, tilting my head to the side. Now what, pray tell, was occurring here? The men nearest the door had clustered around it and were blocking it from sight at first, so I could barely make out snippets of conversation - and they all centered around - well. Whoever had come in was at least attractive enough for a bar of half-drunken men to want to get closer to.
A slim figure in spectacles pushed through. Her hair was drawn up, pinned back, and she wore a neat, button down dress. A human woman - drawing a bit of attention in this land of Drow and Dwarves. Alright, this had at the very least piqued my interest. Perhaps I should stay a moment or two longer, find out what this outsider needed. I'd thought it just another ship from one or the main cities, but humans were few and far between.
She sauntered up to the barman and leaned. She spoke, and while I couldn't make out her words, I could make out her tone. She was shifting, swaying back and forth, and the poor bar man didn't even realize he was being played as she rolled her shoulders while talking with him. She was questioning him, an interrogative time reaching my ears, and he was eating up the pretty foreign girl’s attention hook, line, and sinker. I snorted.
And then he pointed to me, and my attention was quite suddenly brought back to the situation at hand. Now just why might a human girl be directed to me? The woman bowed low, and she had to know that the barman tried to peer down the front of her dress, which had been partially unbuttoned. But she didn't seem to care, instead flipping her head as she turned and walked over to me. I tilted my head to one side, and she sat down, coyly toying with the hem of her dress. I kept my eyes trained on hers, and folded my hands together on top of the table, the gloves rubbing against each other softly.
“Good eve, madam. I am the Huntsman. What pray tell, brings one such as yourself to my table tonight?” My voice soft, pitched low, as the patrons around us tried to shuffle closer, eager to get a closer look at the human girl. I turned my head and glared at them over my dark glasses, silver eyes piercing them, and all but the hardiest - or was that the most drunk? - quailed away from my stern gaze.
