"Such kindness and patience," he teases. (Yes, it is much easier to pretend nothing is amiss when he keeps his eyes on his food.) "Perhaps I will make a list of the most absurd things that could happen in a place such as this one, then set about crafting the talismans to make it happen. The inn is so strange already that the absurdities will be perfectly normal -- our food brought by people instead of rats, an ordinary fire in the fireplace..."