The stairs were broad, well pitched; the rooms on the first floor above opened off a passage that ran the depth of the building, where another stair led upward. Most doors were open, the rooms bare as the common room below. The room she led Kieri to was at the back, with windows open to the yard below. It had a well-made bed with an obviously new-woven blanket and pillows, a table, several chairs, rows of pegs on one wall, and a cabinet with doors and drawers both on the other. It smelled of herbs and beeswax. On the table was a somewhat battered tray with a pitcher and three mugs and a vase with a bouquet of wildflowers.

“It’s lovely,” Kieri said. “What a pleasant place! I will rest well here, Lady Tolmaric. Thank you.”

She flushed again. “There’s plenty of room for your Squires and all … but we only have the one bed made up.”

“That’s fine. This is so much better than what we expected to sleep in.” He moved to the window and looked out. The yard was a long rectangle, amply wide enough for wagons to enter and turn around. At present, posts marked out what would eventually be all the accouterments of a successful inn: the smithy, the stable, storage for fodder, and so on. Already stone walls supported a bracken thatch in one corner, where a gate led out the far end.

“Cow byre,” Lady Tolmaric said, pointing. “Smith’s still working outside, but we’ll have a roof on by winter. Set all the posts now—they’re mostly set—and we can enclose more of the outbuildings.”

“You need a mill,” Kieri said. “Both for grain and for lumber. Is there a swift stream nearby?”

“Yes, sir king. And we’ve a plan but no time yet to build it.”

“I don’t think you need my advice, but I’d make the mill next after you get a roof—even a simple one—on those outbuildings.”

“We want to, sir king, but right now they’re building mills near the port. I couldn’t find someone who knew how to set up the mill to turn a stone or move a saw.”

“Perhaps I can help with that,” Kieri said. “Do you have a name for your inn yet?”

She flushed again, and tears rose in her eyes. “I wanted to name it for Salvon, but it didn’t sound right: Salvon’s Inn. Travelers won’t know who he is.”

“Your innkeeper could tell them,” Kieri said. “But why not Salvon’s Hope? He wanted to build an inn, didn’t he?”

“Yes … yes, that’s right. Thank you, sir king!”