One of the more handsome, interesting parties in the bar is, as it turns out, one she knows. At some point, the crowd clears, and there, in the corner, is Byerly Rutyer.

In typical Byerly fashion, whatever he's doing seems surpassingly shady: he's sharing his table with a figure who looks to be a dwarf, though it's impossible to tell, given the fellow's full-length cloak and the hood pulled up over his head. Truly, who wears a cloak like that in this weather? No one good, no doubt - which is why it seems particularly shady that By drops a little bag of coin into the fellow's outstretched hand. The coin disappears; the dwarf(?) goes.

Then By sits back in his chair, and scans the room, and makes direct eye contact with Athessa. Purely by accident, apparently; a look of faint dismay ripples across his face, and then he looks away as quickly as he can.