"None of your bluster, Von Wulfenstein," she scolded in a distinctly motherly fashion. "You know full well I'm not one to leave anybody to their own means when it comes to meals. You wanted to run a full service establishment for the dispossessed and outcast, so that's what's gonna be. Which reminds me, Master Thor's coming by tomorrow to drop my Lily off, and I've been instructed to tell you that Sir's bringing by the leather goods y'all commissioned last month along with. I'm also told to ask if there's anything else anybody needs before Renn Faire season starts and Sir's schedule goes to Hell. Oh, and there's apparently some special extra bit being thrown in for you as a thank you; if I had my guess, I'd say it was that leather tophat I saw in the shop before I left for Berkeley."
The tangled language associated with her contract rolled easily off Rayna's tongue; there was no fumbling with grammar or syntax, and no sign of shyness or shame. If anything, there was a touch of excitement about her, from the pitch of her voice to the subconscious way in which she toyed with the pretty silver chain around her neck, tugging absently at the heart shaped lock keeping it shut.