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“They could, I suppose. But not during dinner. They cook. You don't.”
So it is that Ambrose storms off, glaring at you all the while. You advert your eyes until he is gone from the room, then you follow the Master through the backrooms until you come to a narrow stair. You follow him up that as well, then down a hallway, to a room which he opens for you, then stands aside.
You can see the pile of your shopping on the floor, and you rush in … but then you remember how you first stashed your hand-cart here in this public house, and the Master showed you to the room, there was a moment, a terrible moment, where it felt as if the floor had given out from underneath you – for a second, you were convinced that he was going to try to trap you in there, as the proprietor of the Perch might have done had you given him the opportunity. You could feel his eyes burning on your back, and you just knew that he was reaching for you … but he wasn't. Reaching or even looking. Even so, being in a room with him … especially this room, where his son hoped to …
Suffice to say, it is not easy. Especially considering that once again, he is behind you. But at the moment, you are less concerned about him and more concerned with the Strange Incendiary and the remains of the Glyphed Gull. Surely, Ambrose must not have found either of them – if he did, then surely the <span class="mu-i">last</span> thing that he would want to do would be … surely, he wouldn't. Of course, you are not just going to count on that. You sweep over the messy pile of your shopping with your eyes, holding your breath that Strange-Staining does not activate. It doesn't – but neither the remains of the Gull or the Strange Incendiary were communicable, right? Oh, Maker's Mercy, you cannot even remember. You … you don't think so. Obviously, you cannot dig through the pile to check on them with the Master in the room, so you set your bundles down on top of the pile, then from underneath it, you fish out the bundle of rags that you stuffed the Gull into. Once you are certain that the Gull is still wrapped up as you left it, you quickly move to grab a couple other things off of the pile until you have a decent armful.
You do your best not to grimace as the site of your Socketing Needle is agitated once more, while you consider trying to grab the Strange Incendiary as well – but it is on the far side of the pile, and you are worried that you might somehow reveal it to the Master as you grab it. Instead, you excuse yourself and head down stairs to the hand-cart. The body of the Glyphed Gull goes right on the bottom, and then you stack shopping around it. The mound that it makes is rather pathetic looking, if you are being entirely honest, but it is better than nothing. Acutely aware that you have left the Master in the same room as your wand, you rush back up the stairs and back into his son's room. This time, he is at the window looking out.
