Athenos finished his meal and watched Estaphon. "Meet?" Estaphon asked, with a blink, "It...it is possible, yes. After all if I am able to meet her, you can too. But you will have to do it the same way I did. You will have to meet her prophetess, deep in the Bittergreen Forest. I myself was led there by a ranger familiar with the area that lived off the land, but I cannot remember the way. You must go off the path, that much I know, and with the attacks..." he trailed off, watching Athenos, "I see am I not discouraging you. But I will warn you, once you meet the prophetess, and Psamathe, you will never return to this world the same way. I remember vaguely that her follower, that goes by the name Pryti, is in the heart of the forest, but the rest I am not sure of. You may be able to find more information from the rangers or huntsmen of the area."
Dan ignores Athenos' warning and heads straight to the lower parts of Astron to find his apprentice. In the late morning sun the streets are packed with people buying and selling whatever wears they have for the day. Dan lingers among each stall, looking at the townspeople running each one. For the most part it was older women, trying desperately to keep a handle on their children as they flew wildly through the marketplace. Off in the shade of the stalls were traveling merchants sitting on rugs, their own wears laid out before them, or on racks beside them. They seemed even busier than the stalls. He approached a few of the owners of the stalls (having found the traveling merchants by and large were too old or too young to qualify for his needs), asking if they had a son or daughter interested in an apprentice-hood underneath him. Most of the marketplace recognized Dan and new of his eccentricities, and so they found no problem telling him no. Dan travels on to the taverns without luck. He visits the major guild halls (which were truly little more than multilevel taverns) to find most of them abandoned for the work day.
He did finally come across a man only a little older than him in the huntsmen guild, who offered a young apprentice to him contingent he pay the guild one gold a week for the apprentice's services and provided the apprentice with the gear he will be required to wear or use for the duration of the trip, as well as other living expenses. The apprentice looked to be in good shape. He was a small and young, and most likely still rather inexperienced. But he had no glaring defects or deformities that would restrict him from becoming an able apprentice.
Dan walked outside to clear his head and to consider his available choice. He looked around again. The only location left that he had yet to try was a tavern on the edge of town that just previously had sounded like it was hosting a loud and boisterous party. Suddenly a side door popped open, and a mousey looking young man fell roughly to the floor. "And stay out," a loud, if not dullard, voice called. There were dumb laughs behind him as he threw a loot beside the boy. "You call that music, no wonder the bard's guild threw you out."
"It it's progressive, listen to it!" The mousey kid says, picking up the lute again. He plays a strange combination of notes. It is clear that he has retuned the lute to fit his style, whatever that was. It wasn't necessarily bad, just different. Very different. The door slammed in the bard's face. He dusted himself off and leaned dejectedly against the wall. "What are you looking at?" He says to Dan, noticing his stare. A few other youths show up.
"Come on Martin, let's go," another youth says to the mousey boy. "I told you it was no good." As he turns away, you notice that Martin has a slingshot attached to a loop on his belt.