I placed the drink on the lady's table, right in front of her. She glanced up, and smiled vaguely, and (in my opinion) somewhat sadly. Clearly she had a lot on her mind.

I was just about to withdraw, when she seemed to come back to herself with a start. "Thank you," she murmured.

"You're welcome," I replied. "Just let me know if you need anything else, Lady...er....um...."

"Sarah," she obliged. "My name is Sarah."

"That's not a common name around here," I replied. "It suggests you might be from the Judea area?"

Her eyes widened, and I fancied I detected a slight edge of panic in them. But the shutters closed again, quickly, and I wasn't sure if I had just imagined it all.

"Yes, you are right," she replied. "I am from the Judean lands."

I nodded. "Well, as I said, if you anything..." And I went over to Ahkmin, who had been watching all this.

"Who is that?" he asked quietly as I sat down.

"Don't know," I replied. "She only just arrived a moment or two before you."

"Very pretty," Ahkmin observed.

"Yes, she is," I agreed. "But aren't you getting a bit old for that kind of thing?"

"Never too old," Ahkmin chortled, and took another pull on his beer.