Free Deepwoods (Book 1) by Honor Raconteur

She’d
forgotten to ask that pertinent little detail before shipping out this morning.
But it seemed an odd choice of weapon for him. A sword spear was part blade,
part staff and would stand taller than the man himself. Tran had trained in it
at one point and told her it took considerable skill to be able to wield it
without leaving yourself open. And why would a Robargen’s choice of sword be a
Teheranian weapon?
    Siobhan made a mental note to ask Hammon that later, if the
opportunity ever arose, and went to the next topic she wanted to discuss. “Is
Fei sick? I’ve never seen him sleep this much.”
    “Bit of a hangover,” Denney explained. “He came in to see
Conli about it late last night. The sweet rolls apparently had enough sugar in
them to make him a bit tipsy.”
    She’d barely detected the sugar at all. Siobhan rubbed at
the bridge of her nose. “Really? He’s that sensitive?”
    “Conli says it’s getting worse as he grows older.” Denney
made a face. “Poor man. He’s going to have to be careful about what he eats.”
    Oh joy of wonders.
    A soft knock came at the door and Beirly’s voice floated
through the wood. “I’m looking for three beautiful women that belong to the
Deepwoods Guild. Have any of you lovely water nymphs seen them?”
    All three women laughed. “We’re here!” Siobhan assured him.
“Is dinner ready?”
    “And waiting,” Beirly answered, tone rich with unvoiced
laughter.
    “Then we’ll be out shortly.”

Siobhan, a habitually early riser, came awake naturally as
the sun started to rise over the horizon. The bed might have been on the narrow
and small side, but she’d gotten a good night’s rest regardless. She sat up and
raised her arms over her head, stretching and getting the blood flowing again.
From downstairs wafted the smell of baking bread, sizzling meat, and something
spicy cooking. Mmm. That smelled like good motivation to get moving.
    As she climbed out of bed, both dogs came alert and stared
up at her, tails thumping softly against the wooden floor. They had started out
on top of Denney’s bed (and because of the narrow size of the bed, on top of
Denny as well) but had at some point in the night moved to lie right in front
of the door instead. Well, it had likely gotten too hot in here for them to
stay on the bed. What with the heat rising up from the kitchen under them, and
the fireplace in here blazing merrily along, it’d nearly gotten too hot for
Siobhan at one point. Not that she had a mind to complain about that, not after
the day she’d had yesterday.
    She rose and dressed in something warm, pulling on her boots
and trying not to fall all over Sylvie, who had chosen to sleep in between the
beds. The dogs didn’t help as they got up and kept circling her as she moved,
nosing at her legs in a clear signal that they wanted to go out when she did.
    “Alright, alright,” she muttered softly. “Wait a minute,
will you?”
    Denney lifted her head a scant inch off the pillow and pried
open one eye. “Uhhh?”
    “I’ll take care of ‘em,” she told the still mostly asleep
woman.
    Reassured, Denney’s head dropped back down and she went
right back into a deep sleep.
    Opening the door, Siobhan let the dogs go out first before
following after, shutting the door firmly behind her. She didn’t get more than
a step before Fei came out of the room two doors down. He took in the sight
with nothing more than a good morning grunt.
    “Morning,” she greeted wryly. She, Fei and Wolf were the
only three in the guild that even tried to wake up early. But while Fei might
be moving, it didn’t mean he had properly woken up yet, and she didn’t try to
really talk to him until he’d downed either food or tea.
    They all clumped down the stairs and toward the front door.
Siobhan stepped outside with the dogs, fully expecting Fei to stay indoors and
simply keep an eye on things from the window. But he surprised her by coming
out as well, stopping on the