Prem smiled warmly.

     "My thanks to you, L'kapom," she said, swinging her leg over the saddle, to step down on Solitare's left side.  Standing felt awkward after so long in the saddle.  Prem reached with her left hand for the pomel of her saddle, as she leaned forward to extend her other to the dwarf to shake his hand.  L'kapom's eyes sparkled.  A smile spread across his face, displaying a dark, square-toothed set of teeth that looked very much like a mouthfull of obsidian studs.  His hand flashed out, slapping her palm so hard that it stung.  Then, before she could begin to bring her stinging fingers back away from him, he balled his hand into a fist, and brought it back to rap her knuckles so hard that her hound bounced off her chest.

     Not knowing what to do, Prem sucked in her breath, and thought hard about raising a defense against his next attack.  But nothing more followed. L'kapom stood smiling, and waiting.