“You know, I really hate bothering you with this thing, but I'm in a bit of a bind.” Grim Forsyn was apparently being his usual apologetic self. “My wife is really mad, but I hope she'll be calm again if the damage is undone.”

“What damage?” Faira Ativel smiled. “I'm sure she's just fine by now, if it's really just about some mundane item and not the family jewels she needs for the evening ball.” She then looked at the box again. “And even so, she has the tendency to apologise later if she gets irate in a hurry. You're sure there's no key?”

“Well, my brother has a key, but he's out of the town – with his keyring, I'm sure. Why do you ask? And could you really get it open before we have to leave for the ball?”

“This is a completely new lock type, and I'll probably get a giant big headache, too, if I have to do this in hurry. No promises, but I will try.” Faira brought the lantern closer and squinted; the lock was fine and the keyhole small, so she couldn't see much with or without the light. She sighed. “You're right, it'd be shame to damage such a fine antique jewel box, but then again, installing a brand new lock on it probably won't increase its value either...”

“Well, that too was my brother's idea – he said it was too hard to find a fifty-year-old lock, and that this new one was safer anyway. He has no respect for beautiful old items, I'm afraid...“

“Ouch!” Faira cried.

“What now?”

“I just squished my fingers. A crowded situation. Tiny little lock on a tiny little box. I hate doing this...”

“I'm terribly sorry, I only asked because my wife...”

“Yep,” Faira said with a sigh, “I know. It's all right. I suppose I just have too many fingers.” She grinned. “And the reason I still have them all is that I've been pretty careful. If you had taken this thing to some thief with fewer fingers, they might have had easier time opening this, but they might also be a little bit less careful. By the time those people actually do learn to be careful, they usually don't have any fingers left at all. I just have to not think about this and go with the feeling.” She grinned again. “There you go! One unlocked jewel box.”

“Thank you!” Grim said, and smiled widely as he took the box. He opened it, took a shiny object from the box, and held it before Faira. “This is really amazing. A two-pronged implement that makes eating food a little bit less messy. I hear they're the latest craze among the upper-class folk.”

“You're a bit behind the times, you know”, Faira said and sighed. Maybe it was the time to rethink her policy of not asking too many direct questions; it was clear the indirect questions didn't always work that well. “Oh well, at least this time I didn't have to risk my life for retrieving a fork – I just risked my fingers...”