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. Glowering at the guard's retreating back,
Phineas gulped down his water and rushed up the evernarrowing circular
stairs to the third floor. He searched every room there, growing more
desperate with each, until he reached the last. There he found a
kender cleaning woman, from the mop at her side and the overturned
bucket upon which she sat, who seemed more intent on her game of
marbles than tidying. She told him Audience was being held on the
second floor, not the third. Sure enough, on the second floor Phineas
found the council chamber where Audience was being held.
He was not sure how things proceeded, so he sat back to observe.
There appeared to be a number of cases before him anyway, including a
married couple who was presently stating their complaint.
"-- So, I said, 'these are my special rocks -- my agates, my
amethysts, and my very reddest rubies' -- I collect them, you see --
'so don't touch them,' " said the wife, a dower-looking kender whose
age was difficult to guess, since her face was very wrinkled but her
hands were smooth. "So what does he do?"
"He touched them," the mayor supplied.
"Not only did he touch them, but he put them in his rock
tumbler!" Her face was a mixture of outrage and astonishment.
"He put them in an ale flagon?" asked the mayor, perplexed.
"You know," the husband said merrily, "everyone thinks that when
I tell them I collect rock tumblers." His age was no more discernible
than his wife's. His hair was dishwater brown and wisps poked out of
his tightly stretched topknot, giving him a disheveled look
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