Being cautious never hurt, but Val felt that the last few hours had been the longest period of this life so far. He had spent most of the time hiding in places, the fear of being hunted by Bone Crushers haunting his mind. However, he hadn't seen any suspicious movement, and the handful of the Crushers he had seen seemed busy with their usual 'work.' It almost seemed like what Ribus had said was false, but Val vehemently stomped on that thought right away. Being punched in the gut and almost being beaten up a second time in two days was not a lie.

So, he stayed hidden until late afternoon, when he slipped back in once again into the back yard of the Hungry Mare. This time around, it wasn't Fen, who was there but a relatively younger looking tavern maid, who was humming to herself as she scrubbed and washed an assortment of kitchenware. Val felt a bit self conscious, before clearing his throat a bit loudly, so that the tavern maid knew he was there.

“What... Oh, it's one of you little scamps. Which one are ya?” The wide faced, blonde woman wiped her wet hands on her apron as she got up with a curious but questioning look. Val was surprised he was not being run off.

“Umm... It's Val. Bernice was...” Before he could finish, the woman cut him off.

“Oh yes, she said you'd be here. Wait a bit, will ya.” Not waiting for a reply, the somewhat pleasant maid slipped into the tavern, leaving Val to his own thoughts.

It wasn't long before a familiar stout figure showed up at the door along with the tavern maid. “Hurry up. We haven't got all day.” Bernice didn't give Val a chance to speak, throwing him off the lines he had been practicing. As he followed her in, the smell of freshly grilled meat and boiling stew of some kind assailed his nose. The relatively brightly lit kitchen was simple in its layout with a doorway off to one side, through which he could make out an semi-outdoor barbecue pit and a large, brick oven. He could see Fen sweating away there but kept pace with Bernice, who was shouting at a kitchen maid, who was stirring a large pot of steaming stew over a fireplace on the other end of the kitchen. “Put yer back into it, Hilly! Ay don' need the dam 'tatoes burning at the bottom. Otherwise, ye'll be munchin' on scraps fer supper.”

Dodging past a small pile of peelings and vegetable odds and ends, Val felt the whole place probably wouldn't pass a health inspection from Earth. However, even he had to admit the tavern's kitchen was probably cleaner than most places in the city, and a lot of it had to deal with how Bernice ran the place with an iron hand. Going through a small hallway, Bernice waved Val up the staircase off to the side. It was relatively dark, with most of the light coming from open windows in the kitchen or in the tavern proper on the other side of the hallway. However, at the top of stairway, Val could make out a candle burning brightly in its holder, affixed to a wall.

Bernice, who had started climbing the staircase, stopped and turned around, her usually serious face even sterner. “I'll warn you ahead of time, lad. Don' lie to these folks. They won' take kindly to yer natterin', so stick to what you got to say and don' say more than you feel you ought to. Also, make sure you keep ya don' be greedy when askin' for a price, cause I promise you, they ain't the hagglin' type.”

Val slowly nodded, stifling his desire to ask what 'greedy' meant. What he was going to ask for a bit different than he originally planned, but he didn't think it would be too much of a hassle for whoever it was that had Bernice so riled up. As they started back up the stairs, in some ways, Val found some relief in knowing that even Bernice, who wasn't scared of the gangs in the slum, was careful around these mysterious people. That meant opportunity.

The second floor of the tavern was a mix of a couple of private dining rooms and a few personal rooms for some live in workers. The only source of light in the hallway upstairs were a couple of candles, which gave the place a gloomy feel, almost making it feel like they were walking into some dungeon. Thankfully, the room with the mysterious strangers was nearby, and Bernice paused in front of the door, smoothing out her skirt and clearing her throat, before knocking politely. This made Val even more cautious, considering how polite the hard edged woman was being.

From inside, a deep but firm voice answered. “Come in.”

Swallowing his nervousness, Val followed Bernice into the room, trying not to fidget. The light spilling from the room was relatively bright, briefly making it difficult for him to see whoever it was on the other side. He made out two figures sitting and standing on the other side of the room. One of the raised a hand towards Val, before he could get a good look.

Almost immediately, Val felt the familiar warm sensation envelope him and the dark sphere emerge in his 'mind's eye' again. This time though, he could 'see' something else around that dark sphere. A bluish light of some kind was attaching itself to the sphere, almost like a layer of oil on water. His flight or fight response started kicking in, and his legs twitched, getting ready to run, when he felt the warmth in him intensify as something locked him in place. In his 'mind's eye,' he saw yellowish light add into the mix of colors. Val felt like yelling, but he couldn't even open his mouth. Terrified, he was about to do the only thing he could do: try and 'pick' the silvery dot that was once again floating in the dark sphere.

“Calm yourself, lad.” However, before he could, a calming voice echoed in the room. Val finally focused on the two men in the room, both of whom were dressed casually but cleanly in shirts and vests, linen pants, and leather boots. The one, who had waved his hand at Val, was what someone on Earth would have called a dignified, elderly gentleman, who had aged well. The man's slightly tan, narrow face had a neatly trimmed, gray beard that was going white, but what almost mesmerized Val was the deep green eyes staring back at him in muted surprise.

“Don't scare the boy, Felstaff.” The other man, who was lounging on a couch with his arms folded across his chest, had a pleasant smile on his square jawed, bronze toned face. The brown haired man's blue eyes seemed calmer, though still interested in what was before him. Val recognized his voice from earlier.

“We mean you no harm, boy. So, be at peace.” The older man's overture for some reason made Val even more nervous, as a passing memory from an old TV show on Earth flipped through his mind. It was the scene were a spaceship captain tells a cyborg, hive mind, and species assimilating alien the same phrase before shit hit the fan. Val despaired, wondering why he wasn't the cyborg, hive mind, and species assimilating alien in this situation.

Just when he felt the warmth around him intensifying, he caught sight of something that pushed the pause button in his head. There was a staff, intricately engraved and embedded with a variety of dully gleaming stones, that was leaning on a nearby table, just out of the reach of the elderly man.