“I would not have expected empathy for Karak from one such as you,” Qurrah said.

Aurelia frowned at him in her foreign face.

“It is not empathy. I just wonder at the foolishness of humans. Before Karak and Ashhur warred, both were loving, benevolent deities. If anything, mankind should remember that all may fall.”

“Fascinating, but my arms are really starting to hurt,” Harruq said from behind them. “Where the abyss are we going?”

“Didn’t you two used to have a home here?” she asked him.

“Yeah, but you don’t want to live there. It was just a small shed, we hardly fit inside.”

“Milady of Mordan, may I interest you in the finest silks this side of the rivers?” interrupted a shouting voice.

“Oh Celestia help us,” Aurelia moaned as a chubby man with a mustache waddled over, purple cloth in his hand.

“Not interested, buddy,” Harruq growled, intercepting the merchant. “Go bug someone else.”

“Do I know you?” the merchant asked, giving both brothers an inquisitive look.

“They’re my pets, and you know all orcs look the same,” Aurelia said, gently pushing Harruq aside. “And forgive us, but I would like to delay until I have rented my room.”

“Of course,” he said, bowing deeply. Qurrah crossed his arms, his mouth locked in a frown.

“What is it?” the elf asked him once the merchant marched back to his stand propped against the side of a building. Qurrah dipped his hand into the fountain and drank.

“His eyes never left me and my brother,” he said once finished. “Any merchant worth his wares knows to never break contact with the buyer.” He nodded again, his eyes darting to the side. “And he watches us even now.”

“A thief, perhaps?” Aurelia asked.

“There are no thieves,” Harruq said, shifting a bag from his right hand to his left. “Guess you don’t know about the guilds here, do you?”