A coin landed on the bar. Pebble turned, slightly startled at the sudden noise - not many people could sneak up on her. To her surprise she didn’t see anybody stood at the bar. The coin she had heard land on the bar was sat there, as if placed by somebody. She hadn’t been imagining it, and yet no one was around to have put it there. The inn was pretty empty at this time of day, in fact she’d only opened a few minutes before. She tilted her head quizzically looking at the coin. As she picked it up to examine it, she thought she felt a slight force pull on it, as if to take it from her hand. The coin had a palace on its back, with multiple symbols engraved around it - an odd design, and certainly not one that she recognised. Raising an eyebrow, she slipped the coin in to her belt and turned back around to continue what she was doing.

“I’ll be needing that coin back” a voice said from behind her. She swiveled, turning to look quickly at the person who had spoken. He was a particularly tall man with light blonde hair. He wore a rather odd looking cloak - certainly not one that Pebble had seen before. The material seemed to be lightweight, and consisted of ribbon-like strips of dark grey cloth that was bound at his shoulders and chest. “Oh this?” Pebble pulled the coin from her belt, and flicked it between her fingers “What’s it worth to you?” she smiled playfully as she leant forward on the bar. The man was handsome, though definitely seemed a lot older than she.
“I could just take it from you, you know” he said, smiling.
“Now there’s something I’d like to see” Pebble began tossing the coin in to the air, almost taunting the man to try and take it from her.
“I hear a lot of people come through here” the man seemed to ignore her provocations. He certainly seemed assured of himself. Pebble stopped flipping the coin and looked at him, though she didn’t get a chance to respond. “I need you to keep an eye out for someone” the man said.
“And why would I do that?” she replied
“Why, because you’re a friendly tavern owner who wants to help out a stranger of course” the man was smiling again. Whoever he was, he was definitely bold.
“Well you’ve got the first part right at least buuuut daddy always told me never to talk to strangers sweetie so, tell me, what's your name?” Pebble’s eyes narrowed as she studied the stranger, there was something quite mysterious about him. The man’s smile broadened. He certainly seemed to smile a lot - almost reflexively  “Now that’s rather presumptuous of you isn’t it? Why would I give you my name when I haven’t got yours?”
“Mine’s Pebble. Now you can tell me yours.” She tilted her head and smiled almost mockingly at the man.
“Well then Pebble, if you do as I ask I can give you as many coins as you’d want, exactly like the one in your hand there.”  The man dumped a coin pouch on the bar. As he did so, Pebble caught a glimpse of his arms. He had rather prominent white scars which seemed to run quite far along his arm; they definitely covered the part she could see. Pebble gasped in shock. “Oh sweetie, I knew there was something hiding behind that smile, what on earth happened to you?”
The man withdrew his arm, apparently ignoring her question “The person I’m looking for is a woman, perhaps a year older than yourself. She’s small with short brown hair. She might seem suspicious of everything and everyone as she comes in, so watch out for that.”  
Pebble stood stunned for a moment at the wave of information the man had just given her. “You seem to know this girl quite well, why can’t you find her yourself?”
“We got… separated. I wouldn’t know where to find her now. She might be with another man when she comes in here, perhaps even wearing a cloak like my own.” The man turned around and started heading towards the doors, flicking the hood of his cloak up as he moved.
“Wait, how should I contact you if she comes in?” Pebble asked
The man stopped for a moment, turning to look at her, that already familiar smile painted on his face. “I’ll check in every so often, you can update me then”  The man raised a hand and suddenly the coin sprung free of Pebble’s grip. She had felt herself being pulled towards him as well before she let the coin go “How on earth did he do that?” she thought to herself, her eyes wide. The man caught the coin, his smile even bigger as he saw the shocked look on her face. Before she could speak, he was gone.