Erin stared at the chanting and the robe, moving to a table as far away from him as possible in case anything went awry, and then went back to watching the man who'd announced he was attractive, eyes flicking to Abia to see if she was going to pick up on either of them.  Yes, a curse would explain a great deal, although she didn't really believe it.  She thought about asking Abia, but decided against it.  She wouldn't want to kill business by planting the seed in anyone's mind.  She'd seen jokes or even honest questions turn into full blown superstitions before.  There was that time when someone heard the farmers down the road telling their kids to go to bed quietly or the soldiers would hear them and come.  It was a just a joke to make parents' lives easier, nothing more.  Then the soldiers actually had come that night and quartered at their house.  It wasn't like they could turn them away.  But then someone made a joke down at the well and said something about them being rebel spies, and pretty soon everyone believed it and no one would buy corn from them, all because of a joke.<br/><br/>So yes, jokes could be dangerous things, and she wasn't about to risk joking about the tavern being cursed.  Nevertheless, she couldn't quite help wondering.