Inn-stinct

'Let's see. I have my weapons, healing poutices, treats for Tiberius, a change of clothes, gold...I think I have everything. And if we are lucky, we'll be with the Grey Wardens before tomorrow. I hope Durban's managed to talk with Nygozy.'

Maddox followed two steps behind Tiberius, who was so eager to see Tatsoo again. He wondered if the old boy would get some new friends with the Wardens. It would be hard to imagine the Fereldan Wardens not having a mabari or two. Hopefully he'll be friendly to them. He hasn't really met mabari other than his brother and he has the same kind of relationship with him as Maddox does with his brother Daren.

They came around to the side of the the Inn, just like the day before. Infact, Maddox had his hand on Hyperion's grip ready to attack should it be necessary. It wasn't, of course, so he went in. He climbed up the ladder and anchored the rope again and pulled Tiberius up again. It was tiring, but at least Tiberius isn't living the pampered life like his brother. "Hey there, Tatsoo. How are you?"

"Oh! Maddox. Tiberius." She smiled at them both, "Come on in. Durbans is naw here yet. Here Tiberius, ha bones and water."

Tatsoo lifted a leather backpack which had an ornate pattern of threaded colours in the pattern of Maddox's family crest, "Ah hope you don't mind but ah made one for each of us just in case. If we are ta be wardens den dis may help."

She had worked on the pattern much of the morning hoping that she was right in her memory which she usually was. She'd made the pack out of water proofed leather with soft fur inside for cushioning, pockets inside and out for various types of items and fur lining the straps for the shoulders. It was a dark leather befitting one of his stature.

Tiberius happily ran over to the food and drink, not wanting to seem rude. But's it's not like he needed an excuse to eat. Granted, Maddox doesn't usually have fresh stuff for him to eat, so any chance for something fresh is good for him.

Maddox was speechless looking at the backpack that Tatsoo made him. He didn't know how she found time to make these along with her ongoing projects. Maybe cobbler was not enough to describe it. It's more like she's a savant in leather working. She recreated the crest perfectly...although Maddox doesn't recall showing it. But then again, who goes around saying, 'Hey, look! This is my family crest.' It was probably on his armor, but he didn't know it. Since he only got his armor before his father left to die in Ostagar, he really didn't have much time to examine it thoroughly. "It looks fantastic, Tatsoo."

Maddox took the pack and examined it. Such detail was put into it. No one in Cercium could have worked that fast on this. Maddox grabbed the old pack he was using and transferred the contents into his new one, sorting them as he went along. Now he won't grab a poultice next time he tries to feed Tiberius. "I hope Durbans come back soon, hopefully with good news."

Marcus yawned and headed towards Tatsoo's house again. He was worried about Jezarine but he also knew that those who were out for her would not give up until she was found. At any rate, he was hungry now and worrying would not bring Jez back safer faster. Marcus entered Tatsoo's home after smelling the delicious meat buns. "Knock knock. This nose knows there's now something nutritious for the nomming." He said as he sniffed the air. He grinned at Tatsoo and Maddox. "The Warden-Commander has agreed to see you two tomorrow. She also said she is interested in a new pair of boots from you Tatsoo."

"Ah had da bases already made. Dere's about five more. Wait sees. Yes, ah see another. The one ah used for ye was biggest but nah complete an ah was able ta finish da rest last night an worked on da pitcher las night an dis morning. Ah'll work on Durban's tanight."

She smiled at Tiberius getting into the food and looked up, "Yeh ah hope so ..." Then Durbans showed up and made his announcement, "Rally? Tha's great! When do we awl go?" Tatsoo pointed to the meat buns, "Food is here. Lots for workin men."

Tatsoo looked out the window with a smile. Maybe she could have what she wanted and needed. A new tribe. People to associate with and just be with. She was such a social being but this land was different. The people were different. Not many people wanted to be friendly and a lot of them would backstab you in a moment. Lothering was a bit like that but not as much. Probably because it was a smaller town. There were some nice people all over but they had their own lives and seldom wanted more than to say hello and buy something.

This was almost too good to be true, "Ah guess ah shood pack up in case."

Durbans must have impeccable timing, for only a few seconds after Maddox said anything, Durbans came a knocking. He came with good news and a bit of bad news for Maddox. Good that they will have an audience with the Warden-Commander tomorrow, bad that Maddox had already checked out of his room with the intention of joining the group today. He could easily just check in at the inn for the night. But...why can't she meet them today?

"Thanks for finding out, Durbans," Maddox replied, pausing a bit. "I hate to look a gift horse in the mouth...but is there a reason why she can't see us tonight?"

Marcus smiled as Tatsoo inquired as to when the meeting would be. "Tomorrow evening is the most plausible for the boss at the moment. There are matters requiring her attention. One of our group's been kidnapped, she has business with the king, and other stuff." He said as he spun a chair and sat in it, immediately taking several meat buns onto his plate to start eating. Maddox was firing questions at him. "I already said why it can't be today. The boss is busy with Warden business."

"Oh. Ah hope da person is found safe. Da kidnappas aroun here ken be nasty. Ah thingk it is't so bad to wait one day. She is't leaving us in the cold." Tatsoo said then looked at Maddox, "Or are ye? Maddox, has ye not a place ta stay da night? If'n not you ken stay here. There be lots of hay and blankets I ken get from da inn. Tiberius won have no problems, naw will ya boy?"

She knelt down to pet and cuddle the dog and took a big slobbering kiss from the dog with her eyes closed but did not react much other than that. Her eyes partially opened and she looked up at the men with an expression of "oh my god that's a big tongue." The woman was soaked from chin to forehead in dog slobber.

Tatsoo pointed to the table for a cloth there so she could wipe her face, not wanting to speak until the slobber was all cleaned up.

"Someone's been kidnapped?! Makes me want to go help, but I'm guessing that the only reason you are here is because you don't have a trail to follow," Maddox replied, wishing he could go and search for this person. He hopes that they have sufficient forces searching for him or her.

"Well, Tatsoo, I figured that we'd get to meet with the hero today, so I checked out of my room already. A little rash, I know, but I can't help myself sometimes." As he finished his sentence, he witnessed Tiberius lick Tatsoo's face. Despite the amount of times he told him not too since the end result is always the same. He grabbed the cloth and handed it to Tatsoo as he looked at Tiberius. "What have I told you about that?" He heard a faint whining from Tiberius. "I guess if I can't help myself from being rash, I can't expect the same out of him. He won't have any problems at all, but I think I may have trouble adjusting to it. It's been years since I last slept like that, but I think I can manage. Thanks Tatsoo."

Marcus shrugged. "She's in good hands. Our best trackers are hot on the kidnappers' trail. The only reason I'm not out there with them is because I found out too late to be of help." He said with a sigh, still feeling guilty about it. He then resumed eating the meat buns. "These are delicious. My taste buds are loving your cooking. Much better than the stuff Garoll cooks." He said, happy to not be suffering the Dwarf's questionable cuisine for the night. He couldn't really blame Garoll though, they only had nugs to eat as far as he knew. There were no nugs on the surface for the Legionnaire to truly show his prowess.

Marcus finished eventually and resumed carving into the wood he was working earlier. It appeared to be the figure of an Ogre. Fierce and strong looking even though not finished as of yet.

"That is good then. She will be found and who took her be troubeld." Tatsoo's brows came down as she though, "Dey would have trouble. Get in trouble. What is good way to say that?"

The woman grabbed a bun and started eating it as her face was now clean enough and watched the two men for a moment, "Mabee it would be good training for if we get in ta be wardens. Get used to soft straw then ground cause to go out in woods some time on beats." She'd heard some soldiers talking before about going out on missions but they never called it that.

"Do ye know wha da commandar looks fer?" Tatsoo asked, not remembering if Durbans had said anything about that before. It had been too exciting thinking of being in a new tribe that her mind was flooded at the moment.

Tatsoo blushed about the comment about the food, "Ahm ... it was nothin really. Seems I took well ta cookin after comin here."

"I would think Nygozy would try to recruit people that have skills that can useful to the Grey Wardens. I would think she would want people who are good at what they do. I'd say that your leather working skills, as well as your survival, hunting, and combat skills would make you a great addition. All I have to offer is my strength, my greatsword, and my combat experience."

As he thought about it, he finally decided to start eating. Durbans was right in his comment. This stuff was really good. If they weren't just trying to join the wardens, Maddox would consider returning to Cercium and hiring Tatsoo to replace their cook. This Garoll must not be a very good cook. "Garoll? Is he one of the Wardens or their companions?" Maddox turned his head and look at Durbans, noticing him carving a piece of wood. He didn't get a good look, but it look familiar. Like something he had to fight against a few times back during the Blight.

Marcus continued carving as the others asked him questions. "I don't know what she looks for because I haven't become a Gray Warden myself yet. But I imagine there's some sort of dangerous test involved. As to who Garoll is, he's from the Legion of the Dead. Not a Warden, but he's fought Darkspawn longer than any of us combined. On a daily basis." He said, recalling the orange-haired dwarf. The man was grizzled on the outside but within, he was quite jovial for a dead man. "You'd like him, I think. But please teach him to cook, Tatsoo.

"Ah suppose so. Ye can fight too so ah see no problem wif that." She tossed a bun to Maddox to show him he had good reflexes, "Catch!" Tatsoo chuckled, "Ye have refwexes. Ahm sure we both will do well. Dangar is prolly somethin we should expect, ah think. If ye fight Darkspawn then it be dangerous so a course ye'll be asked to test in somethin hard, right?"

The reference to the Legion made Tatsoo think and then she nodded, "Ah! Dis Garoll is a stone warship ... no ... wor ... believer? What is da word? Uh... is dat wha' a Legion of da Dead be? Yes?" The idea of teaching someone to cook amused her even more, "Ah think ah ken do that but depends on how diff ... ee ... cult, diffecult he be."

He was a bit surprised by the flying bun, but was prepared to catch it none the less. However, it seems Tiberius just wanted to catch it more than he did and intercepted it almost as soon as it was within reach. Maddox put his hand out and accepted the bun when Tiberius offered it to him. Unfortunately, his drool had saturated it. He put it aside before replying. "I may have reflexes, but it seems Tiberius beats me on that one."

"So, Garoll's a dwarf and a 'dead' man? Sounds like he would be an ideal person to join the Wardens. I would think he wouldn't need to prove anything."

Marcus smirked as he saw the dog catch the meat bun from out of midair. Mabari were amusing creatures. He liked their keen minds. "I believe the test will be difficult, yes. But not impossible." He said, shrugging his massive shoulders and placed the finished statuette on the table. An eerily lifelike Ogre made of wood. The details were impeccable. It was almost like flesh. "Garoll does in the Legion every day what the Wardens do every couple centuries or so. He fought Darkspawn for decades or so Drake tells me. I don't talk to the Dwarf too much. All in all, making him into a Warden would be pointless as he's already pretty much several Wardens himself." He mused.

Tatsoo laughed as Tiberius took the food and shook her head, "Well, yer both fast but food makes da Mabari fasta."

The pack she was going to work on for Durbans was right beside her so Tatsoo picked it up and started working on the stitching for an image. She hummed very low as she did this but nowhere near loud enough to bother the two men speaking. If everything kept going well then they would be able to join the wardens tomorrow night. The concept of a hard test did not bother her, in fact it gave her a stronger interest in trying this. It had been a long time since she had gone through any form of contest or test.

The young woman looked up from her pack and grinned at Durbans' strong statement about Garoll's abilities, "It almost sounds like ye have a crush on de man.

"Decades? He must be even older than I am. I hope I'll still be able to fight as good as I do now when I'm his age." He commented, thinking about how old Garoll must be. He would definitely still want to fight, that's for sure. Nothing really helped fend off his constant boredom except that. He can only hope his brother lives longer than he does. The last thing he would want is to became the Bann.

"Are there any other unique characters in your group?"

Marcus looked perplexed at Tatsoo. "What? I'm just relaying what Drake described Garoll as. He's known him for years apparently." He said, then he answered Maddox's musings. "He's in his 60's or something. Longest serving Legion of the Dead member." He responded and then started carving something new, making sure the shavings went into his waste pouch for all carving shavings. "You'd be hard pressed to find someone not unique."

Tatsoo smirked at the reaction she got from her teasing and continued on with her work on the backpack. Her stitching was precise as she crafted the image she wanted to make and she turned the bag about as she dealt with different pattern types to create the desired effect. This would take some time yet but none of them seemed tired and it was only early evening as of yet. She looked up at the two men as Maddox asked about whether there were any other interesting people in the wardens.

"It sounds like this Garoll be an interesting sort but Maddox and ah would like to know about others. Maybe dis duck you be mentioning. Ah don' know how a drake ken talk though. Or do ye mean a dragon type drake?"

The evening went on much the same, chatting about this or that until it was too late for much else but sleep. It was easy enough to set up another set of bedding for Maadox and true to her word Tatsoo was able to get good blankets for on top of the straw.

Morning came well enough giving time to clean up and get everything packed for in case they were accepted to become wardens then they were on their way for an early evening session to see if they would be accepted.

((OOC: Sorry I figured it might be time to push this one along a bit.))

The axe pommel smashed into the man's face as Harval turned towards his next opponent and he ducked the attack without effort. His axe swished along in front of him, knocking the other man to the ground in front of him and he placed a foot on the plate mailed chest.

"Commander?" He said as he turned towards the stands where the smaller Dwarf sat, looking rather amused, "Was that all ya have to fight me or have ye any more?"

Harval snorted then looked up behind the woman and noticed a creamy haired lady and a noble man with a Mabari being escorted to where the little woman sat, "Are we having a party now?"

The escort led the three to the opening to the landing Nygozy was on and waved them in, "Commander Nygozy. We have here Tatsoo as well as Maadox Hyperion and his Mabari Tiberius. I am informed that Ser Durbans will be joining you shortly." He bowed then left, allowing the group to go down to see the commander.

Maddox was surprised that Nygozy had sent an escort to bring them to meet her. It seemed a bit much, a messenger with her location would have done just fine. But perhaps this is for security reasons. One of their own was kidnapped, and hopefully found, already. They can't be too sure that they didn't have ulterior motives.

They were brought to an arena, of sorts, where there was a brute of a man fighting several opponents. Maddox only glanced for a second, but he could tell that the man had seen them. The escort went ahead a bit and motioned them in. Maddox glared at Tiberius, a unspoken command that meant to stay still. The last thing he needed was for Tiberius to jump at Nygozy and for it to be confused for an attack.

Nygozy looked just as he remembered from the Landsmeet. Only it was a bit of an intimidating environment. "Greetings, Warden-Commander. I am Ser Maddox Hyperion, this is Tatsoo,"He said, motioning towards the young woman, "and this is my mabari hound, Tiberius."

The fighter made Nygozy grin and she almost laughed even as she heard the sounds of others coming her way. Torture lifted his head and looked at this new mabari hound, his eyes taking careful assessment of the other animal just as Kai assessed these two from his concealed location where he watched over the dwarven female.

"Maddox Hyperion." She stood and turned towards the man and lady, "Tatsoo. Tiberius." She gave a slight bow of the head, "It is good to see you. I am glad that you made it here well enough. Marcus told me all about you three and seemed to believe you would be good candidates for becoming wardens."

The commander turned for a moment, "Take a break, Harval, and give up the nug snogging grumping while you do. There are more than enough for you to get to." She smirked as she turned back to the other two, "Let's see the boot design you created first, Tatsoo, and talk a bit. There are more people to show yet."

She sat down and waved for the other two to follow her example, "I believe I remember you, Ser Maddox. Were you at the Landsmeet?"

Torture sat up and sniffed to get the scent of the other mabari but made no move besides pushing a bone towards the other male and going back to chewing on the one he'd been munching.

This was all rather unusual to Tatsoo to not only be escorted somewhere but to also have a place to put her supplies. Their packs were taken to some room and were told that they would be escorted back to them after the testing was over but Tatsoo had kept her bag of supplies that she wanted to show the warden-commander just in case.

The palace was huge and the woman gaped at the place with curious awe. She kept petting Tiberius to stay focused on where they were but it was still quite immense to someone who had never been in a building any larger than an inn. The pictures were amazing and the floors hard to the touch. She wondered how in the world they were able to construct such a place. All she could fathom was how to put up tents, three different types even but buildings like this was beyond her understanding.

Once they were escorted to the warden-commander, Tatsoo looked at the other woman with a sense of wonder. It was not expected that she would be so small and easy going. There was an air of strength to the woman which made Tatsoo not wish to squabble with her over anything.

She put her bag down in front of herself as she sat down beside Nygozy and took out some of her work, "It is a plasure to meet ye, com..mander. Ah did dese pictures fer yer approval an a sample of mah boots." She gave the other woman the picture templates and the boots to look over, and waited to see what she would say.

Nygozy definitely seemed different compared to the short amount of time he had seen her during the landsmeet. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact she needed a very good impression to sway support her way. Had she acted the way she did now, it would probably only have weakened their position, even if she had the support of almost all of the major forces in Fereldan on her side.

Maddox was a bit surprised that she remembered him from back then. His brother probably would have been a bit more memorable, being the one who could actually throw support behind her, but Maddox always did seem to garner more attention of the two. As he sat down, he noticed another mabari in the room, probably Nygozy's. He looked over at Tiberius and saw he was a bit anxious. He pat him on the head twice, and gave him the okay to approach Torture. He took the bone, as offered, and began gnawing on it.

"That is correct. My brother and I were there. He is the Bann of Cercium, and I was acting as his bodyguard. We had supported your cause since Teryn Loghain declared himself Regent following Ostagar. And after Rendon Howe was awarded for what he did to the Couslands, we never once doubted supporting the Wardens," Maddox answered, having to calm down a bit at the mention of Howe. Something Nygozy said threw him off. Marcus? Who is Marcus? "Who is Marcus? We didn't talk with a Marcus. He said his name was Durbans."