or...
A tall, swarthy stranger bursts through the door cursing the rain and spraying it widely as he shakes it off his himself, and the sheathed crescent blade tied to his back.
"By the gods! Has your country no sun?!" He complains loudly to the woman who raced to meet him at the door. She offers him a ridiculously small towel given how damp he is.
Looking darkly at the towel and then at woman behind it, and the gathered crowd of patrons beyond her he sighs. Gently he unwraps his cloth headdress and wrings the rain from it into a sleeping patron's mug.
"Wine?" the hostess offers timidly.
"I never drink, wine." He says now wringing his long black hair. "I'll have hot tea instead."
When the woman says nothing he looks at her meaningfully and asks:
"You do have tea, correct?"
"No sir, we don't get much call for it here."
"Never mind." He says, apparently defeated.
He picks up the mug filled with rain water and downs it in one long gulp.
"Pray tell ma'am do you have accommodations in this-" He struggles to get the word out "-village?"
"Yes sir! The finest."
"Very well, lead me to them. I'll also need housing for my steed, until after my friend's funeral tomorrow."
The words carry over the tavern crowd and halt the flow of drink and conversation almost immediately. Somewhere in the back an empty cup tumbles to the floor.
Aba'al Zadeir