"Right here?" I ask the pair of hunters, finishing my walk through the town as they give me thumbs. Turning back slightly, my eyes look over the crowd that has been following us since the gates opened. I guess a sadroobell must be something really impressive. But why are they largely focusing on me if that is the case?

I try to distract my mind from the paranoia of so many eyes on me and retreat into my cloak somewhat. There are a lot of blocky stone buildings filling out the interior of the town so far. And, my mind is somewhat full of questions as to why the road within is so well-done and artistic... Yet, the outside is still largely well-walked dirt and hard ground.

Futhans lets out a noise as he lands, "You want to wait here or come in with us so we can get paid?"

"What will get me back to Rose-sweerui quicker?" I ask, pretty sure I have a rough idea of where she was.

"Either or." Futhans answers, his hand wobbling.

"Guess I will come with you then." I shrug in response and I follow after them as they move to a rather flat-looking building. One with a shining, corrugated roof that ends in little funnels which feed into many small pots. Each one blooming with all colours of plants and fruit-rich stems. My eyes have only a moment to follow some algae trails growing on the funnel ends.

My hat gets knocked back by the top of the door frame and I snap it into place, my actions frantic. Futhans stares back at me and chuckles. I barely catch onto the noise of the bell ringing ahead of us. His father doesn't seem to care at all, he just wants someone to serve his wants and needs. Ring, ring, ring, ring, ringringring rin-

The bell is pulled away, out of sight.

"A hammer's work." I mutter as I look over what must be some kind of work notice board. Only, it's covered in stone tablets that are marked fairly deep. Hard, angular writing, but not something I can really read.

"Alright, you damn two. Let's see what you dragged in," an old lady goes as she walks past us. She whacks my leg with something and I back away from the miserable woman. Oddly hostile to me in particular. What have I done wrong...?

"Seems like she doesn't like you," Futhans whispers up to me as his father leaves us be for the moment.

"What did I do...?"

"I'm going to assume it's more of a what are you doing," he explains, and I straighten up, my claws fidgeting under the cover of my cloak.

"Oh..." is all I can really let out.

"She is incredibly petty. Don't worry about it. She will find any reason not to like someone. Maybe your outfit set her off, or maybe you are so big you blocked her view of the other end of the building," he explains and I have a feeling like he must be lying. There's no way someone can be that petty, right...?

"Well, what does she hate about you two?" I ask, gesturing out the front door with a claw.

"She hates how Dad smells of barrelswing. And, she hates how I keep my hair short," he answers, taking off his feathered hat to rub a hand through the crime.

"Do you put up with her often?"

"Fortunately, no, she spends nearly all her time in the back. So, it's just a simple case to check the bounty board, see what animal is causing an issue. Grab the tablet off the board or mark our names on it. So others know we're covering it and all. Then, well, we head on out when we can."

"So, I assume the tablets have the requester's name on it?"

"Yeah."

"What about going to them as well, seeing as they set it up?"

Futhans starts chuckling with humoured evilness, "Oh, we will. We also score the additional payment of some nice and juicy bulderow steaks. Also, a bit more money if we sweet talk them. You know, be humble and all that, make them sure their cattle and birds and all that are safe."

My mind tangents at the mention of steaks, but I am not sure what to think of a 'bulderow' exactly, yet my mind pictures something grazing, anyway.

"Speaking of payments, what sort of cut am I getting? Again, I did not really intend to get money out of this when I killed the sadroobell. But... Again... I did kill it." I go, somehow forgetting the important detail. Futhans blanks out and his head wobbles.

"However much you want from the lodge bounty? Ranch is ours, however." he suggests and I nod, pretty much fine with that.

"So I do your job for you because the creature snatched my friend and you won't even share a rump steak? How impolite." I joke with a huff, watching his father come back in with the old lady. She hits me with that tool of hers again, muttering something on the way back. The audacity to not even try and play it off as an accident!

"Money." the old lady goes, and she hands the father a small piece of what appears to be clay. She disappears and I hear the thunk of a hard-to-move lever. A hidden mechanism swallows the wall to our right, suddenly bringing it below. Revealing a room going on for ages and ages.

Moving slightly forward so I can peek into the room, I let out a quiet whistle amidst my chitters. But, as I do so, I start to become confused and the scale settles in my mind as -the- question. I scurry outside and check the building's size again. That room isn't out here. It shouldn't exist.

Yet, it does... It really does.

"Almost like Kyarverin's ship..." I let out, my eyes widening in awe at the engineering feat. Only magic can be responsible. It's all I can think of. Have a tower collapse under me, there's no way the divine have built this. No god or goddess, for that matter, has ever come here for something so mundane.

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A static shock hits my system and I flinch.

"Huh?" I blurt, looking around for the mindboggling occurrence. I definitely saw the shocks, a bit of pale blue, so very briefly. Looking around some more, I spot a shadowy figure hiding on a portion of a roof, their hand frantically moving. Shaking my head at the strange sight, I go back indoors.

Just in time for Futhans and his father to come back out of the vault-filled room. The wall is spat back up to the roof and the little clay thing is returned. With a smile on his elderly face, the father claps his hands. They rub eagerly.

"To the local!" he declares, his excited hands snatching away the large metal box in Futhans' grip. The son barely manages to stop the booze-minded elder with a firm grab of the chest. His head indicates to me and the old man's mind stops fogging up.

"Ah, of course, how much will you be wanting?"

"A biased half...?" I ask, thinking more so in the region of a percentage of about sixty. I guess half is fine, too. Looking outside as they begin to sort through the money, I recall my travel companion. I start to go.

"We'll give it to you later!" Futhans calls, clearly understanding where I am going even without a word said. Gesturing back in thanks somewhat, I scan the crowd for any sign of the aelenvari woman. It seems she is not here. What was it... Welcome... Welcome Plaza?

Going back the way we came into town, I recall the peculiar detail Futhans explained before. My mind, however, remains on the crowd, as they're quite the tight-knit bunch. I'm scared to reach out and move them aside for a plethora of reasons. I'm so strong now, since that emerald blast in the hive. Never mind the body I've had for what feels like a hated eternity, but is actually so very little time.

One mistake and my secret is out... It might not even be my fault. It'll only take a curious or annoying child to try something. Picking up my pace, I try to find Rose-sweerui quicker so we can go and get somewhere private. Hopefully, there's a nice place around the edge of town she is fine with. A place I can maybe undress a little in.

"Two gates? Thought there was only one- Oh, yeah, that's right. Building looks like the entrance." I let out in confusion, the details returning to me as I align my focus on the bed-and-breakfast. A sigh of relief escapes me as I notice Rose-sweerui finger-wagging me closer. Moving up regardless, this man who is trying to get closer to her backs up.

"Welcome back, my precious love... We saw you, you know. Felt you..." Rose-sweerui lets out in an almost forced tone. Like she's trying to hammer the point in to this man. She's certainly a lot more active than usual. My masked face turns to the man so I can try to take my attention off of the barely dressed beauty.

"So you're the reason this beautiful picking is out of my grasp?" the man asks as he pinches the tip of his hat to give it a raise. Returning the favour as best as I can, a small smile comes to his face. It passes to me, this style of greeting oddly humourous. His eyes go wayward for a second and he stares at... Nothing. Oddly enough, the old lady seemed to react like this as well.

"Uh, I guess." I eventually let out, remembering he said something.

"Nice to meet you then, strong man. I am Mounted-Captain Henipiotch of the Tryhpeltzweig Valley-Rider's, more ceremoniously called the Enkererin Ordoar Tryhstahlen." he explains, his chest pumping up as he tells me this. In the air as well, something starts to contest with the atmosphere. I am not sure how I can feel such an effect...?

Shaking my head subtly, my eyes linger on the symbolism stitched and dyed into what must be his uniform. In particular, the fluffy-looking rims of his hat and the shoulder-cape that's fluttering on an isolated breeze. He winks at Rose-sweerui and she only sprawls over me more. His top seems almost a little too loose and it undoes itself enough to show off the edges of his pectorals.

"I... Uh..." I stammer out as Rose-sweerui's learned side tries to compel me to show off like him.

She stops, her hands reminding her of what is under my bandages and cloak.

"Uh, I am Nin Urtuan. Nin, it's my first name... Not a profession... And this is, uh, Rose-sweerui. She's a flower's former ivy-mother." I explain and he catches onto that description of Rose-sweerui with a idolising whistle. Whatever is going on in his head, I've only encouraged it.

"An Ivy-Mother?" he repeats to himself, slowly moving into a laugh.

Rose-sweerui's tail tries to make one of my claws tug at her garter belt.

"You should come down to our lodge if you ever have the chance. It would be a pleasure to have you both. But, in particular... I'd like to see what the strong man who picked a fine rose is capable of," he offers, his arm reaching up to pat my closest shoulder with hearty, confident beats. He leaves, the sounds of his spurs alerting a pair of nearby girls who giggle at them. The local womaniser elicits quite the swoon on top of that.

"A flower?" Rose-sweerui says, unhooking herself from me with an almost embarrassed tone.

"What? That's where you are from. A flower." I point out and she shakes her head even more.

"I am of Ahnelges descent." she clarifies with the clear roll of her almost solid black eyes.

"Sorry, I forgot, there's been a bit on my mind..." I mumble, patting my claws together and rubbing them as a distraction. It's not working all that well as a means to brush away embarrassment.

Rose-sweerui giggles and comes back closer, a kiss sounding off on my mask, "I know. Do not worry about it. But I suppose it was nice that you introduced me as your dearest before him, though. Established it to him that I was yours..."

The sultry smile on her face gives way to the more lustful antics, and she leans in closer. A gentle hand makes its way towards the easiest to touch parts of my hidden face. Then she backs off. An expression of annoyance on her face.

"Still, it would have been nice if he never came to me. He was so clingy... He thought of me as something easy, I can tell." she wants to hiss.

"Don't worry, you have plenty of time to show him how difficult you can be. He even gave us the perfect opportunity when he gave us that offer to go to the lodge. For... Whatever he is."

"A Valley-Rider." Rose-sweerui answers with the utmost disdain.

"That." I go, pointing quickly.

"Show off to him. Just like you did in front of all those other people. As you are doing now..." she demands, her face flushing up with sexual heat as I note the people still minding me. Rose-sweerui shivers in my immediacy and it makes her tail swish unendingly.

"Easy there." I go, putting a claw on her shoulder to stop her from collapsing. Though, I suppose that's what she wants me to do, and she pretty much drags me down with a slip. She giggles up at me and I refuse to play her game. Standing up, she slides down with a tap from each point.

"Still, make sure to show off to him like you did back during the tournament against Oak'endoor." Rose-sweerui explains and I nod, otherwise I'll never hear the end of it.

"Big collection of iron and tree trunks here too?" I ask and she perks up in more than just mood. A pair of this becoming quite noticeable to more than just me. A nearby young man doing what must be his first job coughs awkwardly and heads inside with used glasses.

"I like the sound of that... Now about where we will be staying..." she goes, her smile vanishing as her high expectations suddenly weigh upon me. Right... High-life upbringing...

"Uh..."

"I want the best this human flower has to offer, so you best have the means to get us there. I am not spending another night without a bed or a hard dirt floor underneath. Not while we are here!" she demands, her head held high with the snootiness I once only saw in high-floored people. Gods above, I miss the familiarity of home.

"I'll be sure to find you something..." I groan out exasperatedly, my eyes rolling out what amusement they can. Myself is no longer enough to satisfy her haughty needs, it seems. A petal once, a petal forever, clearly. Heading to the bag, I pack up what she's brought out and heave it up.

She looks back at me, smiling at me with a bite on her bottom lip.

"You're the expert on what fits your standards. Where to?" I ask, gesturing around at the daylight-covered town.