"Me? I'm no one special. Why single me out of tonights crowd?"
	The man pulled a chair out from the corner table that i was sitting at.
He sat down in the chair, throwing his cloak over the back of it. His worn 
dusty cloak spoke of many days travel as it settled about his shoulders.
	"To be cliche, why not? You're intriguing, you look attractive and I'm
bored." He shifted his weight a bit, the leather in his greaves creaking. A
scabbarded knife was uncovered by his cloak as he moved.
	"Attractive?" I said, shocked. I'd never heard that from a woman before
let alone a man.
	"I'm not looking for any, so you need not fear for your safety with me"
He said with a smile. "You had an odd expression on your face when i walked in
here. Wondered what could make anyone so apathetic. Thought maybe you could use 
a friend." His smile stayed centered on his face.
	"One of the oddest pickup lines i've ever heard." I said, standing up. 
"I have no need for friends. They all die." I turned to abandon my half-full 
mug of ale, and was stopped by a hand on my wrist.
	"Sit down, kid. I'm not after you. The barmaid will do nicely." He said
with a nod toward the red-haired barmaid. "Your full of bad memories for one 
so young. What tainted your life so?"
	"What makes you think my life is tainted?" I said, sitting back down
in the chair i had recently vacated.
	"Your attitude. Most street rats are arrogant. You're a street rat 
that's gone somewhere, and you lost the attitude. You've still got the eye but 
you lost the arrogance. You gained knowledge, probably enough to survive off
the streets with. Why are you here, ex-street rat? You've lost the calluses but
you move right. The more you speak the more certain i am that you have a story 
to tell."
	"I have no story. I'm not a hero to have legends told of me. I'm just
a scribe who should get back to work. I don't mean to be rude, but Good day" I
stood trying to get away from this odd man, tossed three coppers on the table,
and turned to leave.
	"What about your dreams?" the man said softly behind me.
	I whirled back to the table, slamming my palm down on the wood harder
than i should have. The sound echoed through the suddenly silent bar. "What do
you know of my dreams?" I shouted. Most of the bar was watching me, but i 
wasn't very concerned at the time and didn't notice.
	"Nothing." He said with a smug grin. "I just guessed. Everyone has
dreams. People like you just have different ones." he smiled at this. "And wear
your blade next time you walk the city." he said pointing at my hand, which had
flown to the scabbard loop at my belt. "Had i been wrong about your dreams you
would have just kept walking, and i would have been denied your story. But I
was right."
	"I'm not going to get rid of you am I?"
	"Nope!" That smile of his should have begun to piss me off but it
hadn't yet.
	Noticing most of the bar's eyes upon me, i stifend my spine and spoke.
"I'll tell you my story" Resigned to my fate, a smile danced across my face.
"but only if you buy the food and drinks."
	"Done!" The man raised his voice to yell. "Barmaid, ale until we pass
out and meat and bread til we split."
	The eyes of the bar returned to their own places as the barmaid walked
over to my... our table with two tankards of ale. I held my tongue until she
had brought the first loaf of bread.
	While tearing off a hunk of the loaf, I said "Do i start at the 
beginning or do you only want to hear the odd stuff?" I took a bite out of the 
hunk of bread and found it to be spotted with bits of ham. I leaned back in my 
chair, chewing my bread and waiting for his response.
	The man thought for a moment and said "Everything. Tell me everything!"
	"Then," I said, my smile fading with the onrush of memory "I shall 
begin. It was roughly sixteen years ago...."
			*	*	*