Meanwhile, in another part of the keep, a tired duke arrived back from a week long diplomatic journey to settle a case between two bickering lords. As he trotted through the halls he passed a number of his subjects which he greeted politely as they passed. An alligator spotted him and hurried forward holding up what looked to be a bunch of important papers. "Not now Thalberg. I just got back from dealing with this, I'd like at least a day to myself before starting that again," the duke said, holding out a hand forstallingly. The alligator, Thalberg, opened his mouth to protest but noticed how tired Duke Thomas looked and decided that one day wouldn't hurt too badly. So instead of insisting he nodded and lead the way to the duke's room, opening the door for the duke before taking his leave. Once inside, the duke headed straight for the comfortable looking bed but when he reached it he stopped short. There was hair on his bed and it was too long to be his. Looking closer it looked like it might be fox hair (in a place like Metamor people quickly learn how to tell these things), and he had to wonder how it had made its way to his bed. Moving to the pillow he found a note written in courteous looking script which read, "Apologies for the hair. Due to a problem with the furnature I had to borrow your bed while you were away. The problem is fixed now but I did not have time to get your bed properly cleaned." The duke read the note a few times to be sure he'd understood what it said, then decided he was too tired to care just now. He'd have the maids clean it tomorrow, but for the meanwhile he just climbed into bed with a sigh. As he drifted off to sleep he muttered softly, "Only in Metamor..." !DSPAM:4ddd37c6272151226415657!