In the morning they returned the storage shed key and met their reluctant host. He was a dwarf – short, muscular and with a bushy beard as most of his kind. "What are you two doing here anyway? Outsiders can only cross the lake with the Lady's permission."

"We have her permission." Raviel showed the dwarf the blue pearl he had been given. "She asked us to find the cause of this mist. Apparently people have disappeared too."

"Aye, they have. Come on in. Food and room on the house, since you're working for the Lady." He moved indoors and waited that the two followed him before closing the door. "Name's Davon Steelpick. Used to be a miner in a human town, but when heard that my pa had passed away, returned home to help my ma with the tavern."

"Ma!" he called to the direction of the door at the side of the bar counter. "Is breakfast ready? We have guests!"

A plumb female dwarf with most of her hair turned gray with age came to the doorway, wiping her hands on her apron. "Porridge will still take a few moments, but we do have some bread and salted fish."

"We'll have some bread and fish, please," Raviel told her politely.

"Just one moment!" She hurried back to the kitchen.

"Very dear to me she is, aye," Davon said in quiet voice. "Don't want the mist to take her too."

"We'll find the culprit as quickly as we can," Raviel promised as he took a seat at one of the tables. "What can you tell us about the mist?"

Saska followed Raviel's example, careful to keep his wrists covered by his sleeves, and let the elf do the talking.

"Two or three months ago it appeared. I mean, there's always been some fog near the shore come dusk or dawn. But never like this. Never reaching inside town this far."

"I see. What about water snakes? We ran across one last night."

Davon shrugged. "Always been some of them around." Then he gave Raviel a dubious look, "You don't think they made people disappear?"

"Too early to say." He looked at Saska. "But multiple bites can kill you, can't they?"

"Aye. But they're solitary creatures. Don't hunt together."

"Are there any...strange creatures on this island?"

"Not that I know. We're in the middle of a lake, middle of the Lady's domain. Hard to believe anything could cross uninvited."

That sounded true enough. They had been noticed as soon as their boat had left the shore too.

Their breakfast was brought to table, along with two tankards of ale. "Here you go, laddies," the elderly woman told them cheerfully. "Don't be shy, there's plenty more!"

Raviel bowed his head slightly. "Thank you, ma'am."

Saska quickly and efficiently wrapped half of his meal in a small cloth and put the bundle into the inner pocket of his vest.

Raviel chuckled. "You're not a starving street rat anymore, Saska," he pointed out. "No need to hoard food."

"Always good to hoard some food," the boy replied while making short work of the remaining meal. "If you don't mind, I'll go do some investigation of my own."

"None of that!" Davon stated sternly. "Ma! One of the guests is going to leave already!"

"Now that won't do!" She hurried out of the kitchen again, carrying a large bowl full of porridge in one hand and two wooden plates and spoons in another. When she reached their table, she laid her burden down and moved a generous amount of porridge from the bowl to Saska's plate. "I'll bring some butter too. Put some fat on those scrawny bones of yours."

Saska didn't know what to think, but he had learned early on not to reject any offered food. Even Outcast groups sometimes went hungry when they couldn't find food or earn enough coin while traveling, and that had been even more the case after he'd had to survive on his own.

In the end the boy was so stuffed that the dwarf mother's suggestion to take a nap caused no objections at all. Raviel decided to leave Saska to sleep in peace when Davon offered to show him around the town.

It was a large town, with plenty of taverns, stores and craftsmen's stalls. Prosperous most likely due to their sheltered location. The main food sources were the lake for fish and fields for wheat and vegetables. He didn't see any livestock, but since there had been hay in Davon's storage shed, there probably was some somewhere. Possibly indoors to protect them from being taken by the mysterious creatures hunting in the mist.

This was a non-human settlement all right. Raviel had not seen this many elves at once since leaving the hidden village of his clan. In some way it did make him a bit homesick.

"Where should we start looking, mister...?"

"Raviel," the elf replied. To all appearances it was just a regular town. Certainly there was a lot of magic here, but that might as well be due to its inhabitants. Elves had always excelled in magic. "And I'd like to investigate the homes of those who have disappeared. Also the locations where they went missing if you know them."

"Sorry, can't say I'd know. Should have been sleeping in their own beds like all reasonable folk. As for their homes, right this way. Seamstress was the last to disappear, before her a barmaid-"

"Hold on. Were all the victims elven females?"

Davon scratched his beard in thought. "Nay," he shook his head. "But they were all lassies. Now that I think of it, in their prime too."

"In that case I believe it's safe to conclude that your mother is not in danger."

"Really? Do you know what it is?"

"Not yet. But clearly whatever is behind this is choosing its victims." If he were back home and the victims were only elves, he would have been inclined to believe the cause to be a wood imp desperate to find a new dryad for some ancient tree. Once a maiden had accepted the task and her dryad transformation was complete, the rest would be returned to their homes with no memories of what had happened.

He'd have to ask Saska about the local creatures once the boy woke up. In the meantime he could at the very least search for any possible clues.

Unfortunately he could not find anything out of ordinary in the seamstress's house. Her husband – also an elf - was a doctor and had been with a patient, only to come home to an empty house. The door had been unlocked, and there had been no note where she might have gone nor any sign of intruders.

"Do you want to go to the next one?" Davon asked.

Raviel shook his head. "Not yet. I don't even know what I'm looking for. It's better to fetch Saska and see if he'd see something I don't. I believe he has quite extensive information on local monsters."

A large group of children of varying ages, both elven and dwarven, ran past them. One of the dwarf kids stopped when she saw Davon. "Uncle Davon! Come see! Thalassal caught someone suspicious!"

"What do you mean someone suspicious?" Could the nightmare be over this easily?

"I don't know. Vicko said tell everyone to come to main square."

Raviel swallowed. He had a really bad feeling about this. Like words pushing against his consciousness, thoughts he had no control over.

Burn him.

Give him to the Lady and let her decide.

...Someone help me.

"Hey, you alright, Raviel?" Davon asked. "You got pale all of a sudden."

"I'm fine. We should hurry."