When she reaches him, she wraps her arms around him and proceeds to give him a big hug. Disengaging himself from her embrace, he steps back a moment and asks, “Has Perrilin been by lately?”

Shaking her head, she says, “No. Most likely up to no good again. I swear that man can’t keep himself out of trouble.” She begins walking over to the counter where she keeps the room keys.

James takes out the golds she’ll need for the rooms and has them ready before she produces the keys for the rooms.

“You remember eh?” she asks with a smile. Taking the golds, she gives him the keys.

“I would be hard pressed to forget my last experience in your fine establishment,” he says.

Laughing, she replies, “True. So, what brings you to Cardri?”

“The king sent a summons for me to appear before him,” he replies.

“Why?” she asks, the smile fading from her eyes. “Nothing wrong is there?”

Shrugging, he says, “I don’t know. I was simply told to present myself before the Royal Court.”

“I hope it goes well,” she says, a worried expression now upon her face.

“Me too,” he agrees. “Be back in a bit,” he tells her as he turns to rejoin his friends out front.

“Good to see you again,” she says.

“You too,” he replies just before exiting through the door.

Out front, the others turn toward him as he leaves the inn. “We’ll take the horses around back and get them settled in,” he announces. “In the morning, I’ll go up to the castle to find out what’s going on.” Taking the reins of his horse, he leads them around to the stables.

Back by the stables, Gunther the stableboy shows them which stalls will be theirs. Once the horses are secured within their stalls, he gets pails of grain ready for each and then starts currying them.

James and the others make their way to the inn and enter through the back door. Taking the stairs, they head up to their rooms where they get settled in before going downstairs for dinner.