Middle of the next morning finds Cosmic coming down stairs, wheeled chest over her back. She goes to the bar and ask after food. The barkeep this morning is a different scarred man, but he was informed about the elf and her strange box and which room is reserved for her. He also heard about the blessing that sent every bug in the inn elsewhere cause the night warden told her she could clean her room. He does not mind that one bit. Bugs are always a problem, so waking up to a bug free place is good in his book.
He informs her they serve vegitible soups, stews and such mostly. Gives her a list of prices. She considers, asked after meat, which surprises him some. Most elves don't eat meat he tells her. She shrugs, "I like beef and chicken can't stand most fish though. Father Loved Fish, morning noon and night, after so many years I got to Loath fish." he grins at her expressions and nods, "Ok then. We have a beef stew today, fresh pot. Good wheat or corn breads and ale, goat milk, or water to drink."
She considers, orders the stew and corn bread and a pot of hot water, stating she has her own drink, just needs the water to make it.
He gets her served, she pays him then sets up her coffee. The coffee has several people paying attention to the strange elf. Most elves don't like coffee, well known fact. But none here have ever smelled anything like this coffee before. She tells the innkeeper it's a special blend from home. Something she is not likely to get after it's gone cause home is a long way from here. But this blend has nutmeg and cinimon and some other spices in it. Called Pumpkin Spice though oddly no pumpkin in it. Some orange peel however. From what she tells them, cinimon and nutmeg are common spices from where she is from, which makes them cheap. Here she understands cinimon is worth a lot of money. He tells her 1 stick of it can get upwards of a gold crown a piece. She opens her eyes wide at that. "Yikes. That much. Had I known that I would have packed up a good supply and brought that instead of my silver." The Inn keeper grunts a laugh and nods, "Some people don't realize it. Gems and such most get, but things like spices can cost a great deal more in far away places. Around here for example, salt is ok in price, we got lots of black pepper and such so its cheap, but some places that is worth a great deal more."
Cosmic opens her chest, pulls out a black bag and drops her face in it, looking over what she has in there. "What is sugar worth ?" She ask him.
"Ground, about 5 silver an ounce. Raw not as much as it has to be processed. Still good trade item." he tells her.
She sighs, "Damn."
He grins, "You got some don't you ?"
She nods, "About 3 lbs well less as I been using it in my coffee." she sighs, "Got some ground cinimon to actually. Not much but I love cinimon in stuff."
He gives her a squint Eye stare, "Why you sharing this with me ?"
She looks at him, "You got a good feel to you. Nice aura which in my line of work I am rather sensitive to. I am an Exorcist you see. Well partly. Doing some work for the Church here at the moment."
He nods, getting what she means by 'partly'. No one is Just an Exorcist, or Just a Priest. Everyone has other skills. Not all skills are worth much, still he understands. "So what are your other skills ?"
"Warrior - Mage, got training in Alchemy and Enchanting to as well as carpentry, just something to fall back on you know."
He grins, nodding, "Alchemist can make good money if they have the right kinds of skills. Health and Vitality potions go over pretty well around here. Church usually handles healing potions though."
She nods, "Understandable really." She states as she digs through her bag. "OH! Forgot I had these." Pulls out a package of pre-shaped hamburger patties, "These are nice bags, preservation and cooling spells on them, keeps foods very well. Which is what they are made to do." she explains to him. He nods, mildly impressed. Those are good enchantments for travelers. She points to the burgers, "Angus beef. Bought them for a friend then forgot to give them to her. Wonder if Esmerelda will want them."
The Inn Keeper grins, "Yes I am sure she will. Fresh meat goes fast around here."
Cosmic looks at him, Really looks at him, cocks her head to one side. Then she turns and scans the room and slowly nods, "Ah shifters, ok I see what you mean."
He shakes his head, "You really can tell just from looking can't you ?"
She shrugs, "I can cause I see more than most. I don't have a problem with it though. I know some people do, but I don't really care. I tend toward a live and let live attitude, except for demons, them I don't like around, but that's more to do with my profession than anything else."
He snorts and nods. She thinks some more, "Say what is your name anyway ?"
He grins, "Lazlo. This is my place to. Owner as well as cook, barkeeper and inn keeper."
"Nice. I am Cosmic. " nods to him, he just takes it in stride.
"Just to give you a heads up, couple of these pups think they have what it takes to be an alpha, so expect some bullying. They don't as they don't really understand what it means."
"So who are the alpha's here ?" she ask as she puts the burgers away.
"Esmerelda for one, not that she acts on it much. But she has her pet Brawn, Edora, so few mess with her. Then there is Galford, he does not come in here much as I keep this place neutral. There is another Alpha, black man called Zene. He is more of the big mean type, more muscle than brains. Galford is musle and brains. Me I am a beta type, but can hold my own in a fight if I have to."
She nods, "I know only a tiny bit about all that. Mostly as it applies to wolves and dogs. The rest, well stories and such you understand."
He nods, "Bard tales and the like."
"Mostly or fictions written by people who have no clue that your kind really exist." she states. He just grins. Then sighs, "and here comes one of those bullies I mentioned. Please take any fights outside, ok."
She nods. Putting her bag back in her box and tieing the bungie cords around it once more. The tall punkish man leans against the counter, "Hey girl, I heard you got some gold. Care to make a wager ?"
She gives him an eye and ask, "What nature of wager ?"
"Arm wrestling."
Lazlo sighs, "Not this again. Look boy, everytime you pull that you get upset when you lose and scream cheater, that or he shifts to crinos and then tries it."
She looks up at him, "I don't play those games anyway. Besides I am not someone you want to try that crap on."
He snorts, "Your just weak."
She shrugs, "I kill demons for a living, your not even a threat."
He is puffing up when a voice rings out, "Don't try it Stan. I saw her dust 2 darkstalkers just last night, you would not stand a chance." Esmerelda tells him as she walks over, "Then she exorcised a bunch of shadow demons from the town. She is a Professional level demon hunter."
Cosmic looks to Lazlo, "She helped with the exorcism really. Nice prayer set to the moon gods." Lazlo nods, "Well she is a priestess to the Gods of Sun and Moons, so yeah I can see that."
Stan snorts but moves off. Glaring at Esmerelda who just glares at him till he is far enough away. Then she turns to Cosmic, "I woke up to the smell of that coffee stuff. Made it really hard to sleep, cinimon coffee ?"
"Called Pumpkin spice, cinimon, nutmeg, little bit of ground orange peel, medium roast coffee." nods to the filter cone on the plate, "I got 2 bags of it. Hard to get, seasonal type thing so only sold for a couple months out of the year. Expensive to. 8 dollars a bag." she looks at Lazlo, "That's roughly 48 silver crowns if I got the conversion right. I saved up all year to get those two bags." His eyes are wide but he gets it. Expensive but sometimes it's worth it to have something special. She pours a little off the plate and holds it out to him, "Smell that." he does and sighs, its a nice smell. "Oh yeah, smells nice."
Esmerelda nods, "She has another one she called southern pecan. It has a light vanilla type smell but taste more of nuts. Edora fell in love with it."
Lazlo grins, knowing about Her. "She is picky about her drinks, so must be good stuff."
Cosmic narrows her eyes, "Where did that Stan person get the idea I have gold ? I never mentioned it."
Lazlo, "We were talking about spices, so he figured you must be well off. I believe he missed the part where you stated the ones we were speaking of are common where your from."
She nods, "1 oz of ground cinimon back home runs about 5 copper. So yeah."
He shakes his head, "Much cheaper. An oz around here likely closer to 10 gold, more or less, depends on market and time of year." she nods. Esmerelda sighs, "Your from a very rich country Cosmic."
"Somewhat true, it's big, spread out place. Lots of mountains and forest. Cinimon is actually the bark of a certain kind of tree. Actually there are 2 different kinds of cinimon, each from a different part of the world. Slightly different flavors, but both are tasty in my opinion."
Lazlo looks at Esmerelda, "Well, I learned something new. I did not know that. Explains some of the varience in prices now."
Sighing, "I got a lovely recipe for cinimon spiced chicken."
Esmerelda chuckles softly. "She is blessed with an iron constitution, can eat almost anything." she warns Lazlo, "So expect strange food request from her."
"She had the beef stew for breakfast." he informs her. She just nods to that, "That sounds wonderful actually, wish I could aford it."
"I will buy you a bowl if you want." Cosmic offers.
Esmerelda takes the stool next to her, "You heard her Lazlo, 1 bowl of beef stew please." Lazlo grins and gets it for her.
Esmerelda, grinning, "I never turn down Lazlo's beef stew if I get the chance, he is a good cook."
Cosmic grins, "I agree, it is good. Good corn bread to."
"I prefer the wheat bread myself, good for sopping up the extra juices." she states. Lazlo returns with a slightly larger bowl, with a slice of the affore mentioned bread. Cosmic hands over the coin for it and ask for a second bowl for herself. Lazlo is more than happy to comply.
Cosmic toast Esmerelda with a spoon full of stew, "Meat, perfect for breakfast." Esmerelda, grinning toast her right back before focusing on the bowl of food, sighing every 3rd bite about how good it is.
They had just finished their meal when the door opens, a large black man, being followed by a slightly hunched over Stan comes in. Stan points at the elf and mutters something. Lazlo sighs, "I can guess what he told you Zene. I don't want any trouble in here."
Zene grins, "Then the little theif can come outside."
Cosmic looks at him, then Stan, "Thief ?"
Zene nods, "He told me you stole his coin right from his pocket."
She sighs, "I refused to arm wrestle the idiot. Esmerelda then told him to back off to. That is not stealing from that fool. That is me not putting up with an idiot."
Lazlo grins, "She is telling the truth Zene, I was right here when it happened. He counts it as stealing from him if he can't cheat someone out of their coin."
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Zene looks back at the boy, sniffs him, then frowns. Looks at the tiny elf woman, "I can see why you turned him down on arm wrestling, his arm is almost bigger than your whole body."
Cosmic nods, "Yeah, leverage wise would so not work. No way for my elbow to be on the table even with his, especially as from what I understand, he cheats by shifting up during the contest."
Esmerelda nods, "She knows what we are. Does not care either. Unless your evil, then your in trouble with her."
Zene, he is thinking, it's obvious from his facial expression (constipated) that it is not something he does very often. He is more take you out and beat you type, than sit back and think type.
Cosmic turns to Lazlo, "do you smell burning fur ?" slight nod toward Zene. Lazlo grins at the image, "no, but I think it's close to that. Still I expect he will challenge you, if so take it outside. Broken furniture gets expensive."
She nods. Hands her box to Esmerelda, "Watch this for me please." then hops down from the stool and walks outside. Esmerelda and really everyone else, including Zene walk out. Esmerelda directs her to a side yard, where its wide open and good for fighting. Not a place the common man is likely to stumble across either.
Zene is just happy he did not have to openly challenge her in front of Esmerelda. Those two have come to blows before and she tends to win. She is a lot stronger than she looks.
The elf, he knows they are crafty and all, but he figures he can put her in her place right enough.
She stands in the middle of the field, "You may want to shift to crinos form" she tells him, "Would make this more even a fight."
He laughs but does so, just to show her what she is up against. She does not even blink, she just shifts position and places her hands up, flat palms one a little more forward then the other and waits.
He does his prancing and showing his Alpha status then with out warning leaps at her. She is humming softly and when he gets in range she grabs one of his out stretched arms, grips the wrist, turns her body and using his momentum, tosses him across the yard and in to the far wall. He lays there on his back, staring at her as she waits for his next move. He is playing that back through his head, and decides she is sneaky. He understands what she did ok, despite what people say about him, he understands fighting just fine. She is using Monk fighting style. He knows a little about that himself, it's how he has managed to stay the alpha of his pack. He understands for now she is on defense, which means if he gets in to grabbing range she will try and throw him or hit him in ways to disable his better reach. Her being tiny gives her some advantages to. Despite what some think, bigger is not always better, especially when facing an oponent who knows what they are doing. Her small size means she knows how to fight dirty, at least to his way of thinking. Also he understands this is a domination fight. She is using him to prove how tough she is in front of the others. He can respect that. So no holds barred then.
He rolls over, scratching his claws on the rough dirt, preparing a special attack. He fully expected Esmerelda to call him on it, but she just sits on that strange box and smiles. She has confidence in her friend. Had he been paying closer attention to that he may have rethought his stratagy. Instead he dropped in to a wrestlers pose, then scooted foward, looking for an opening so he could use his enhanced claws to slash her open.
She see's all this, knows from her stories about this kind of attack and what it likely means. She decides to show them all what she is capable of. To make them all understand she is Not some soft little girl and more than capable of putting them in a world of pain. She is calling on techniques from Bruce Lee, Street Fighter, Kung Fu, and various martial arts techniques she knows and then crossing her new psychokenetic abilities to form a barrier around herself, adding power to her punches and kicks as well as giving herself a form of armor to deflect her opponents attacks. Side effect of this is a light silver aura around herself (cf movie: the Last Dragon). Do to the morning light though and its' color, the aura is all but invisible.
They circle, each looking for an opening, then with out warning she shoots forward at incredible speed, gets well inside his defenses and rabbit punches his gut with incredible power, then suddenly does a upward spinning jump with a strange battle cry in it "Shoryuken". Her fist connects with his jaw and the next thing he knows he is at least 15ft in the air, then she spins, her leg shooting out with the yell "Tatsumaki Senpukyaku" and catching him in the chest, he is sent flying in to the battlement walls, some 60ft from the fight yard. (Shoryuken means Rising Dragon Fist, Tatsumaki Senpukyaku means Tornado Whirlwind Leg)
She lands easily only a couple feet from where she leapt up from. Of her opponent, all saw fly off backwards. She looks around at the others, staring in to their eyes. Each and everyone of them save Esmerelda turns from her look. She just proved to them she is tough and not someone to take lightly. If she were a wolf they would call her an Alpha, as it is, she proved to be at least that tough to them all.
Esmerelda though she is just chuckling about it and held Cosmics eye as she applauded the little woman. "You held back there didn't you ?" she ask where all there can hear.
"Just a little, did not bring the Full Aura in to play as I did not want to kill him. Just making a point. I constantly have to be aware of myself as I am a great deal stronger than I look. 50 years of specialized training and all you understand." Esmerelda nods. She understands that the 'special training' was not combat like this, at least not originally. But the gifts the goddess gave her crossed with that training makes her a truely fearsome opponent. She does not know the full scope of those abilities, but she understands Cosmic was Created to Battle the Dark and as such is far faster and stronger than any mortal, shifter or otherwise. She is fine with that. She loves being around strong people. She loves that the Goddess believes in her and Edora enough to pair them with this special child.
"You understood what was going on here pretty well." Esmerelda notes with a smile.
"Domination dance. Some people do it with words, some with actions. But there is always someone who wants to put everyone else in their place, ie beneath them. So it goes. This way I should have fewer problems from your people at least."
Lazlo nods, "True. Your one tough person. Monk fighting styles to."
Cosmic gives him a blank look, "Everyone where I come from fights like that."
Every single one of them takes that in. Everyone where she comes from. Ok she is from a scary people. Esmerelda nods to that. "She told us that last night. Elves, long lives so they come up with some impressive things. Thing for you all to know here. She is only 60, not even an Adult yet by Elven understanding."
"In human terms, I would be a young adult." Cosmic states with a nod. And her level of scary just went WAY UP. "I am sure you all have heard the stories of when Elves go to war right ?"
They all nod.
"How many thought the description of how we fight was bard tales ?" most nod or state that they thought so. She nods, "Well now you have some idea Why we have that reputation. We start our training when we are very young. I am trained as a warrior and mage. I did not use any magic for that fight, just skills I spent a lot of time working on. Stuff my people worked out that just takes training and the will to learn it. No magical knack needed."
One older fellow ask, "What level is she ?"
Esmerelda looks thoughtful, "You know I don't know. I don't believe she has been tested yet. We will have to do that today." she informs Cosmic.
"What do you mean ?" she ask.
"Adventureing levels. The mages guild and the adventurer guilds set that up years ago as a way to match people with similar skill levels together." Esmerelda explains.
"OH that. I am 7th level warrior and mage. At least that was what it was back home." she nods.
7th level, teenager equivalent. Yep scary girl. Most teenagers or young adults are around 1st to 3rd level at this point. The town guard are around 4th to 6th level. And they are high level for a town guard, given the town is dedicated to a Goddess, that is not to unusual though. Though in pure combat, most shifters start at 5th level in sheer power.
Oldster nods, "So in straight power she is around a level 10. Makes a lot of sense given her skills here."
Cosmic shrugs, "Well in truth I been trained to fight demons and such. Which is why I suggested he shift up. Increased his chance of surviving me." she is giggling as is Esmerelda, who herself is only level 7, but a priestess. Which means her combat numbers are lower, but being a shifter ups that some to. Edora is going to shit when she learns she has lower numbers than the girl. Still she supposes she should get an official ruling from the local branch as she suspects the numbers the girl are quoting are from the Goddess, who while a powerful being tends to under score persons. Meaning Cosmic maybe a bit more skilled by the local numbers than the ones she is quoting now.
The others all go back inside as the excitement is over. Cosmic looks at Esmerelda, "So shopping ? I seriously need more clothing beyond this robe."
Esmerelda chuckles, "Ah good point and you do have some money for it. That is not something the church could help you with. Unless you want robes and similar wear. They can help you with weapons, armor and such, if you use them that is."
"I have training in sword, bow, dagger, staff as well as the open hand fighting. Not much for armor really as my style of fighting is not really suited to most forms of armor. I tend to use a kinetic field when fighting. Sort of mage armor, but using chi power." she explains.
Esmerelda, knowing only that the attack she saw in the woods was a Chi ability, just nods. Good to know there are multiple uses for that skill.
"Um, do people haggle for things here ? Cause if so I will need help. My people have things at set prices. No haggling done anymore." she tells Esmerelda.
Esmerelda sighs, "May have to wake Edora, she is better at that sort of thing than I am. I tend to be a little to forceful and it often works against me when it comes to haggling. But many places prefer you to just pay the price they ask. Which is usually much higher than items are worth."
"Is she hard to wake up ?" Cosmic ask curiously.
"Depends on time of day really. Before noon, very much so. There are ways but some of them you better be able to out run her."
Cosmic leans in and whispers, "I can teleport."
Esmerelda's eyes go wide, "ok that is a good way to escape. How far ?"
"From the specs given, I think about 300 miles. Its a kind of mini-gate thing. Open a door and space folds so anything in that range that I have seen or been to. Upwards of 10ft across opening. So if I knew what your room looked like I could open a small door, and poke her through it." Cosmic informs her.
Esmerelda considers that, then gets a really evil smile, "Some of your gifts have so many potentially mischievious uses."
"Feather, portal, play bug on nose or ear ?" Cosmic suggest.
Esmerelda nods, "Won't work on her, but yeah something like that. Certain smells will wake her up fast. Best not to use smoke though, she would hurt us badly if we used That to wake her up."
Cosmic nods, "I would hurt you badly if you used smoke to wake me up. Make me break out the sub zero skills."
The she wolf stares then ask, "The what ?"
Cosmic looks around, not seeing anyone, she makes a strange low range hum, curls her fingers a bit, and pulls them back toward her body, the air around her hands starts to mist, looks like steam but it's going down. She pushes her hands forward, putting two fingers up, and then cups her hands - in reality she is making this up as she goes, having not really used this power much yet. Cryokenesis, or the Ice Man powers. Sub Zero in the Mortal Combat series, is another who had similar powers. She focuses and makes a slush ball. Then she drops it on Esmerelda's lap. "Oops. Sorry." she says as the she wolf shrieks from the sudden cold and ends up dancing around and wiping it off.
"Ok so ice powers of some kind." Esmerelda sighs.
"One of the powers the Goddess gave me really. I was playing with it this morning before coming down stairs. I have not quite got it worked out to do more than that yet, or well I can make my hands really cold. Some things are easier to use than others it seems."
Esmerelda slowly nods, "How much is from your training and how much is from the goddess ?" she is suspicious now.
"I was a psion in my last incarnation, but it was all detection abilities, astral projection and the aura stuff. Everything else, while I worked to unlock it, I really did not have much of it. I got the ma kaykaya to work only like 3 times in my life and those were before the stroke. Since the strokes I told you all about, my abilities were very hit or miss as I got terrible headaches."
"So basically the goddess unlocked a bunch of skills you always wanted, plus the enhanced body and combat training adding to what you already knew. Ok I see what your saying and I agree with how your putting yourself out there now. Keeping your true origin a secret is a good thing really. Some people get wierd if they knew the truth. Well weirder than you being a child protogy of combat and magic. Which reminds me, we will need to watch out for some of the local elves. They may decide since your under age, ie not yet 100, that they should take you away and put you through Their schooling, which I think would seriously mess you up."
"According to the Goddess you and Edora are my legal guardians, if that helps." Cosmic tells her.
Esmerelda grins, "Ah good point. I don't know, but it is a good point. Your basically a foundling being raised by the church. Under That line of thought. Edora is going to have kittens I think when I tell her that."
"You like tormenting her don't you ?" Cosmic observes.
"Yes, well we do it to each other. We have known each other a long time. We are best friends and an odd pair to be sure. Vampire and shifter, you can imagine I am sure. But we don't hold with anyone else picking on the other either."
Cosmic nods, "I have seen such friendships before. Takes a good connections to be able to do that and not have any hard feelings crop up."
"It helps that she does not suffer from the bleeding time." Esmerelda sighs, "I hate to think what it would be like if she still got those cramps and how she is now. Brawns are high emotional types anyway, strong to. Most of them love a good fight, be it verbal or physical. Oddly they all also have some kind of artistic abilitiy. It's said the first of them was a warrior and a poet."
Cosmic nods, "I think I have heard of him. His blood sister is Kes, the Angry One. She is very survival at all cost but protector of the wood kind as well. If the stories I heard are correct."
Esmerelda nods, "Yeah her clan are like that. They all talk to animals, are fierce protectors of wild places and preach that hunting for sport is evil."
"I know more of the night clans than the day clans really. I read up on them when I could find stories but there is just more information on the night clans back home than the others. The only other ones I know of are Telfas, Tel Kna, Kree, Shule the Dancer and Nast'al the Undying, oh and Celst the one who see's. I know the name of a couple others but nothing about their clans. Actually I don't know anything of the Dancer clan, just that Shule and Nast'al are best friends."
Esmerelda grins, "Few people know about that, so your one up on some scholars there. Now if you just knew who their sires were."
"Lilith, aka the Dark Mother is sire to Brawn and Kes. Catra is her blood sister and Nast'al the Undying is her first child but I don't know her other childer, Mick the Mistake is sire to Dafney, Shule, the Tes boys, and um, the comfort in the night, forget her name. Kree is the youngest of the blood sisters and I think her child is Tabra a priestess of some kind."
Esmerelda's jaw just hit the floor, "Ok well that is more than most people know and wow."
"I Believe I mentioned I was a scholar at one point. What I studied is the super natural. Including vampires and shifters. But I only know the shifter lore from my own world and don't know how much if any translates to this world. And even there most of what I know is clan names and such. A few powers, like that trick Zene tried, drawing his claws across the ground, makes them extra sharp, a lethal move if I had let him hit me with them. He was fighting for keeps, I was just proving a point."
Esmerelda sits up more, nodding. Right, she mentioned that. Lots of holes, but enough knowledge to be dangerous. Also she is very much aware had she been 'fighting for keeps' Zene's head and likely a good amount of his body, would have been splattered all over everyone watching. She does not need weapons to kill anyone. Very few creatures can survive being blown apart.