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Stepping inside, Jocelyn cannot be certain which is a bigger mess--the room itself or Brock. The room appears completely trashed, as if thieves broke in and ransacked the place. Clothes and items are strewn about the floor. A desk has been smashed into kindling, and there are numerous empty bottles lying about (some of them smashed). There are a few plates of half-eaten food, already attracting flies. The shades are drawn over the windows, so the only light coming in is from the open doorway.

Brock doesn't look much better. His hair and beard are a tangled, unwashed mess. There are prominent black circles under his eyes and his clothes are rumpled and dirty.

"How I'm doing..?" the dwarf mutters. "Lost my knee, then my wife, now lost my only child. Got nothing left. Nothing."

"Being suddenly alone does make it feel as if you have nothing," Jocelyn says. She speaks as if she understands at least that much considering she has been alone most of her life. "But, it isn't true."

"Isn't it?" Brock asks, limping over to his bed and sitting down. "All I have is this inn. And I was going to give it to Maronna when she was ready. So that she could pass it to her own kids someday...but now that will never happen."

JadedDM wrote:"I haven't seen the other elf today," the waiter admits. "It's like she never leaves her room, but surely she must leave at some point." He heads into the kitchen to get the meals Ouragana and Areilon requested.

"We need to go back to that windmill, and the lighthouse, they hold clues I am sure." She says as she leans back in the chair.

"What room is she in?" Arei asks when the waiter returns.

The waiter returns with two plates of fried plantain and eggs, and a couple of glasses of watermelon juice, which he places before Ouragana and Areilon. "That's five copper each," he states.

To Areilon's question, he answers, "The elf? She's in room 10."

Passing him the coins, Arei nods. "Thank you."

Jocelyn walks over to Brock, and sits down beside him with a small sigh. "You know, for a long time, I thought I had nothing too," she explains. "I grew up in a..cruel and harsh place, so everything I did, I did to survive," she says. "Then, I found someone that made me feel less empty, but he died too, and I was alone again. Then I found Octhanus, and it gave me more of a purpose again. It made me feel less empty again."

"So what are you getting at, lass?" Brock asks. "That I go off to some temple, join the clergy then?"

==========

Areilon pays 5 copper.

"No," Jocelyn says, smiling slightly at the thought of Brock becoming a priest. "I'm just saying that, after some time, you'll find that you aren't as empty as you feel right now," she explains.

"Aye, I know that too well," Brock says. "When my wife was killed forty years back...it was during the last Leaguer raid. Ah, guess you weren't born yet then. They had a damned mage with them, and he was setting flame to everything. Burned down the inn, although I didn't own it yet back then." He shakes his head. "Anyway, I thought the pain of losing her would never go away, but it eventually dulled to just an ache. But at least I still had my Maronna."

He begins to shake a bit and his voice starts to crack. "My dear, sweet Maronna. But now she's gone, too. Taken for no reason!" He buries his face in his hands.

Jocelyn wraps one of her arms around the dwarf in comfort. She didn't want to tell him that it was all going to be okay because it probably wasn't going to be okay. The loss he felt was going to be with him forever. "Is there anything I can do?" she asks.

"Nay, nay," Brock says, wracked with sobs. "Not unless you can bring her back to me."

Jocelyn lightly rubs his back for a moment before she stands up. "I'll leave you alone now," she says. "May Octhanus watch over you, and the ones you have lost," she says gently.

"Aye...aye," the dwarf says as the acolyte departs. Jocelyn returns to the common area where the others are.

Finishing her meal Arei stands and excuses herself, heading to room 10.