During our shopping spree, I became aware of two things. The first was, that I needed to get back into the mindset of concealing myself, of hiding in the shadows as much as possible. I was attracting attention and the looks I was getting were a mix of fearful caution, arrogant disdain and covetous, greedy lust, depending on the person. None of the attention was pleasant, so I tightly wrapped the Cloak of Twilight around myself and took shelter in the shadow of my Mountain.

The other thing I realised was that the prices here were insanely high. It might have been due to Nobost being a large trade-city, with an important seaport, so the demand for preserved rations was constantly high, or it might have been a simple feature of the Human Empire, either way, the prices would do a number on our savings, especially if we were unwilling to break the law and happily poach for our supplies. Without a source of income, it would take a few weeks, maybe two months, to burn up all the money we had accumulated over a year of travel and a considerable number of killed and harvested beasts and completed quests.

Shopping took far longer than I would normally have liked, thanks to Adra and Olivia hunting for the best prices, trying to save some money. They were successful in that endeavour, but where I’d have taken an hour and paid the price for my haste, they took five and saved the coin. Coin that was immediately re-invested into our stay at a nearby inn, because by the time they were done, leaving town would have been a little foolish.

None of us minded camping in the wilds, but if there was an inn available, a good rest under a sturdy roof was a nice thing. Especially a sturdy roof that didn’t move and in rooms we didn’t have to share with two dozen others.

The inn they had found for us was between the docks and the craftsman district, close enough to the water to have that slightly unpleasant smell of rot and fish in the air, but not so close that the noise would keep us up at night. The benefit of the location was that the inn was reasonably cheap, as no wealthy merchant, let alone any nobles, would lower themselves to sleep in such a place.

When we first entered, a hush settled over the taproom. If a lone woman walking into the place was a little unusual, a group of four women, with a single, young male amongst them was even more so. And while none of us were objectively beautiful, we all had a palpable aura of power, even suppressed as it were, we radiated a low sense of danger and intimidation. Unless someone was well and truly drunk, for which it was too early in the day, it was obvious that annoying us would come with dire and immediate consequences.

The innkeeper might even have some skill to detect incoming trouble, as he immediately approached us, carefully cleaning his hands on his apron. Given his rather chubby body, I had a feeling the food in this place should be quite good, especially when I took a moment to sniff the air coming from the kitchen. While there was the scent of the unwashed masses lingering in the air, the delicious scents from it couldn’t be covered up, which said a lot for their strength.

“Fair evening, good people,” He almost bowed, a bead of sweat forming on his brow. “How can I be of service?” he asked, his voice utterly submissive, to the point that I raised an eyebrow at Sigmir, who only returned a shrug.

“We are looking for food and a place to rest. Multiple rooms, if at all possible.” Adra explained, looking around the room, “Peace and quiet would be wonderful, we’ve just got off the ship.” she added, letting out a sigh, knowing that those would likely be hard to come by.

“I see, yes,” he nodded, walking quickly to the counter from which he had moved to greet us. There, he pulled out a ledger, checking a couple of pages before looking up.

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“Well, we’ve got the rooms, how many do you like? I’ve got three singles open, a double and a triple. In addition, if you are truly after peace and quiet, I could offer you a space in the attic, we normally use it when the other rooms are full, it’s furthest from everything and should be as quiet as you’ll find in this neighbourhood.” he explained and I could almost see Adra’s face light up at the mention of an attic-room. When she glanced over her shoulder to look at Sigmir and me, I could confirm the happily amused grin on her face.

“That attic room sounds perfect, far enough away that they won’t disturb us,” she muttered, just loud enough for me to hear. And for the innkeeper, who looked just a little confused. “I’m sure they won’t destroy yet another room…” she added, her voice still pitched to carry a little further than necessary and the innkeeper’s confusion turned into a deep, fearful frown.

“Destroy a room?!” he squeaked, only for Adra’s face to turn into an almost comically wide smile.

“Oh, I’m certain they’ll manage to restrain themselves,” she assured him, though her grin didn’t exactly help.

“Restraining was the problem if you really want to know,” I told her, forcibly suppressing the blush that wanted to light up my cheeks. If nothing else, Blood Magic gave me a modicum of control over the blood within my body and keeping blood from showing my emotional state was quite possible. Next to me, Sigmir blushed brightly, unable to prevent her reaction, causing the innkeeper’s gaze to flicker from her to me and back. Moments later, he shook his head, clearly deciding that whatever was going on, it was none of his business, at least as long as there was no destruction involved.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to have a deposit of five gold coins, if you are already talking like this,” he told Adra, causing her to chuckle.

“Oh, I don’t mind,” she laughed, clearly amused that Sigmir and I had to fork a deposit over. Given the look on Sigmir’s face, a curious look of embarrassment, desire and curiosity, I wasn’t certain I actually minded. Looking at her, I gave her a happy grin and stepped a little closer, not minding the grumble from Adra.

“Anyway, they’ll take your attic,” she nodded towards Sigmir and me, muttering quietly under her breath, “I hope it’s either far enough or soundproofed well,” before looking back at the innkeeper and continuing, “In addition, we’ll take a double- and a singles-room.”

“Oh, and some food,” she added, as an afterthought.

The innkeeper looked like he wasn’t certain he actually wanted the business we were bringing but after letting out a deep sigh, he nodded. “Yeah, I can do that.”

“Jenn, come over here,” he called out and after a couple of moments, a helper came over.

“Yes, boss?” she asked, looking a little harried.

“Take these customers upstairs, they’ve got a double, a single and the attic,” he told her and I noticed her eyes widen a little in confusion.

“The attic?” she shook her head, before shrugging, “Well, sure.”

“Follow me, if you would?” she addressed us, walking through the common room. A couple of people gave us looks, but none of them did more than that, the moment I tried to meet their gaze, their food or ale suddenly became a lot more interesting.

We were first led to the actual rooms and I took a brief look inside, noting the simple but clean furniture.

“If you like, you can freshen up a little and there’s a washing room over there, the boss sprung for a perpetual water source. You know how those work?” she asked, after gesturing to a door at the end of the corridor.

“I’m sure we can figure it out, yes,” Adra assured her, getting a nod in return.

“Great,” she looked at Sigmir and me, “Now, you wanted the attic?”

“Yes, please lead the way;” I told her and she guided us to a narrow and hidden staircase. Following her up, we were led to a small but nice clean room, with a straw mattress on the ground. A quick glance around told me it would do quite nicely, especially when I considered that there were thick walls between us and everyone else.

“That’ll do nicely,” I assured her, already putting my arms around Sigmir, who had followed me up. “That’ll do nicely indeed.”