"This is it," the guide said. "The Shadow Broker's office. She's expecting you." He held out his hand expectantly.
Aldric dropped a heavy coin purse into the palm. The guide counted quickly, nodded with satisfaction, and disappeared back into the market's crowds.
Taking a deep breath, Aldric knocked on the door.
"Enter," came a female voice from within.
The office was surprisingly elegant. Plush carpets covered the floor. Bookshelves lined the walls, filled with ledgers and tomes. A large desk dominated the center of the room, and behind it sat a woman whose age was impossible to determine — she might have been thirty or sixty, her features ageless in the way that suggested elven blood somewhere in her lineage.
"Commander Aldric Thorne," she said with a knowing smile. "How unexpected. What brings a respected military commander to my humble establishment?"
