[section]
The gnome nattered. A dull ache settled into the bone at the back of Brue's head. Tendrils of hurt wove themselves down her neck; sensory overload from the pressure in the air from the storm, the conk on the head she'd taken two days earlier, the fisticuffs at the Mossy Nymph, and memory loss combined for the perfect cocktail of pain with a twist of chagrin. The adrenaline from coming out best in the fist fight had worn off by the time she'd left the temple. Brue felt tired.
She stepped into Vials' dimly lit rooms, and studied the hooded lantern.
How clever a device it is, see how with a lift of the shutter on the side it gives off more or less light. Brue moved forward, itching to examine the queer little lantern, but remembered her place. She was a guest here. It took her a moment to catch up with Vials. She frowned when he said 'Randal,' only remembering at the last that 'Randal' was Greycastle. When Vials mentioned being deputized, Brue nodded in agreement. She opened her mouth to say something, but the little gnome continued on, and there wasn't room to get a word in edgewise. Instead, she fell to listening carefully, and tried to ignore the pain in her head.
When Vials said the word 'dao,' Brue's attention snapped back to the gnome. She frowned.
What's a 'dao'? she wondered, only to receive a partial answer a beat later.
An evil elemental? Her frown deepened.
I'm not human? Well, that explains a few things. Her eyes flicked to her mottled grey, black, and bronze patterned skin.
Not the result of some wayward magic, then. But, wait, did he just say 'sure-footed' on ground? And 'nearly blend into the earth?'
Brue was deep in thought and missed Vials's winding down his guessing game. The penny fell unnoticed with a flat thunk to the floor. Brue looked down, then bent over and picked up the coin. She handed it back to the gnome. Vials's last question echoed in her mind. She straightened her shoulders, opted for her trademark honesty.
"It's a lot to take in. What's a dao? No, wait," Brue stammered, changing tack. The irises of her eyes sharpened as she re-focused on Vials.
" . . . I'll come back another time about the earth genasi stuff. I don't want you to think I'm ungrateful, I do have questions. It's just that Greycastle's asked me to look into the cause of the plague. So I thought I'd come see you." Brue thought a moment, trying to recall her purpose in coming to the apothecary.
"I was curious about the first few people who got the disease, you see. Who they were, where they'd been? Where they lived? Coinmaster Cooper suggested you'd be a good person to talk to about that." Brue opted not to mention that Dorin Fellhammer had also obliquely suggested she seek out the gnome apothecary. She watched Vials for his reaction to the Coinmaster's name.[/section]