Chapter 154

Jay and M'redith reached Norri's rooms and Jay waited while M'redith knocked on the door. No one answered the first time she knocked, or the second time, and by the third time she started knocking Jay had reached out with one hand and placed it on her shoulder and suggested that maybe she wasn't home or up for visitors?

The door suddenly swung open to reveal Norri wearing an over sized white shirt that hung down past her knees. The rest of her legs were bare and she used one naked foot to rub at the other as she stood in the doorway. Her hair looked a little...wild.

“WHAT!?” she yelled before realizing who it was and sighing. “Oh. You two. Sorry. There was a big commotion outside earlier. A crowd or something must have come through.” Norri said sleepily before she yawned and wiped at both of her eyes. “Give me a second to get dressed and we can go eat, I'm starving,” she said before she closed the door shut abruptly behind her.

M'redith and Jay shared a look as they could hear Norri rummaging around her rooms. It didn't take very long, and soon enough Norri popped out of her room. She looked a bit more presentable in her normal armor and cloak. She'd brought her pack and staff along as well. A few pouches were tied off to her belt.

“Where we going?” she asked in a tone of voice that made it clear that she had just woken up.

M'redith went to answer and then realized that she didn't know. She looked over at Jay and raised an eyebrow.

“Redgrass. We'll go to Redgrass, my treat of course. They have to let us in, right?” Jay said confidently before looking uncertain.

Norri shrugged, she didn't care too much where they went. If they were going to Redgrass it had better be Jay's treat though considering how much a meal there would cost on a normal night.

She grinned, “Great! Let's get out of here.” Norri finished as she pulled her door closed behind her and turned the knob just to be sure it was locked.

“Should we try for Aiden?” M'redith asked Jay but Jay shook his head.

“He's with Aisha most likely, I'm betting he'll be too busy to join us for food tonight,” Jay answered with a smile. “If you want we can swing past my rooms – if he is looking for us that is probably where we'll find him.” Jay suggested.

The three agreed that was the best idea and they set off for the men's living area. It took longer than Jay had thought it would to reach his rooms mostly due to the sheer number of visitors that had arrived in the hopes of finding somewhere to stay.

“This is...a lot of people, more than earlier today. Is this all because of us?” Norri asked nervously.

M'redith just nodded in response.

Usually, when an adventuring group arrived in a new city, they'd visit the Adventurer's Guild in that city to get their bearings, learn about nearby dungeons, find places where they could rent rooms, along with a host of other options available to them. The important one in this case was finding rooms.

There just weren't enough. Groups were being forced to share a single room and figure out their own sleeping arrangements. Sure the room would have a bed, but there was plenty of floor space left over where a bedroll would fit just fine. Every Adventurer's Guild had at least a few rooms set aside for traveling visitors. A few rooms weren't enough.

The nearby inns surrounding the Guild grounds and Kagan's Dome had filled up first. If the room was within easy walking distance of either then they were almost immediately snapped up and no more rooms were available. The inns further out in the city still had some rooms, but not many.

Hundreds of adventurers had descended upon the city and it was frantically trying to absorb as many of them as it could. Some adventuring groups just didn't have the coin needed to rent a room, especially as rates had dramatically risen thanks to the massive demand. Those that couldn't afford it, or just couldn't find a room at all, left the city itself and set up various camps. Some set up further out from the city in the forested areas. Others set up on the banks of K'tharkle lake. And a few others attempted to set up camp just outside of the city gates but were quickly moved along.

Camping was fine, but not around the city gates or too close to the city walls.

Jay, M'redith, and Norri arrived at Jay's door to find the area unoccupied.

“If Aiden wanted to join us for dinner he would have been here by now,” Jay said. It was getting close to dinner time.

“Let's go eat then, I'm starving. I just realized it now,” Norri insisted as her stomach made little growling noises. It was adorable but Jay was smart enough not to say so out loud.

Jay didn't open his door to go inside – he didn't need anything in his rooms. He led the group out and they struggled to make their way through the crowded pathways and arrived at the courtyard for the main entrance. The area was packed with throngs of people and lines of carts and carriages all in the process of loading or unloading passengers.

Jay led them to one of the carts about to depart. “You have room for more?” he called out to the driver who had just dropped off all of his passengers.

“Where to?” a younger man wearing a tan cap asked.

Jay told him Redgrass and paid for the cart. The driver nodded in thanks and motioned with one thumb towards the back, “Hop in.” the young man said.

Norri hopped in without further prompting and M'redith allowed Jay to help her up in to the cart. Jay climbed in after her and sat down next to her. Their bodies moved slightly as the cart started rolling.

The area outside of the Guild was even worse than inside. A mass of people had gathered outside of the entrance and they all wanted to come inside. Some of them were there just because there was a commotion, others were actual Guild members looking to be admitted.

“Are we going to be able to get back in later?” M'redith asked quietly as they all looked behind them as the cart rolled further away and in to traffic. The area behind them was one long mass of people and carts and carriages all waiting for admittance.

“I honestly don't know. That looks like a real mess.” Jay admitted.

“It's even worse than when we came back earlier today.” Norri pointed out as the cart took a corner and the Guild entrance passed out of their view.

“If it's this bad here how bad do you think it is at Kagan's Dome?” M'redith wondered aloud.

“You know, I don't blame the Mayor for being angry with us. I'd be upset too I guess.” Jay said without thinking.

The driver turned at that and chuckled when he caught sight of the three. The driver was pretty sure that the Mayor didn't even know who those three were.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Norri looked surprised, “Wait. You guys met the mayor?”

M'redith laughed, “That's one way to describe it. It felt more like an execution when we first walked in to the room, but yes, we did meet the Mayor. He was...not thrilled at the circumstances.”

The driver decided that maybe his first impression had been a bit hasty. He kept one ear trained on the conversation behind him as he continued to steer the cart.

“Stop. Start again at the beginning!” Norri insisted. “How did you not lead with this when you picked me up at my rooms?!”

Jay laughed, “We forgot? I don't know! As for the Mayor, he's...huge. Like a pile of muscles with eyeballs basically.”

M'redith's eyes went round and she laughed, “You'd never describe him like that to his face!”

Jay laughed, “Oh Goddess no. That man is a monster he's so huge. Thank Goddess he liked us.”

“He liked you?” Norri demanded.

The driver had by this time figured out that he had stumbled on to something he wasn't supposed to hear. As soon as he figured that out he leaned back so he could hear more.

“He liked us! He asked about the devices we wear on our armor. Asked us where we got it.” Jay said with a smile.

Norri looked insulted, “We fought it, that's where we got it from!” she replied a bit hotly.

Jay made soothing gestures with both hands as he tried to calm Norri down. “We did, and that is what M'redith told him in no uncertain terms.”

Norri looked over at M'redith with a happy glance, “You DID?! You told the Mayor?”

M'redith laughed, “I did, but I was respectful about it. Not Jay though – he spoke like he was talking to Aiden.”

Norri looked shocked, “You spoke to the Mayor the same way you speak to Aiden? And the Mayor still likes you? Wait. Us?”

Jay shrugged, “He let us go without any punishment. Said we were without fault or something like that. I get the feeling Brother Orin won't be so lucky.”

The driver seemed a little surprised at hearing Brother Orin's name but tried not to show it.

“What about Brother Orin?” Norri asked nervously.

“Well you know how I said the Mayor likes us?” Jay asked and Norri nodded. “Well, he really didn't like Brother Orin. We left before it got bad,” Jay said as he finished his explanation.

M'redith spoke up as she swept some of her hair behind one of her ears, “I don't know what is going to happen to Brother Orin but I'm glad it's not going to happen to us.”

Norri went quiet for a moment, “I feel bad. For him.”

M'redith chuckled mirthlessly. “Don't you dare feel bad. Don't forget that we were meant to take the blame. If it weren't for Jay's quick thinking earlier we would have been in a much tougher situation. Brother Orin has no one to blame but himself.”

Norri's eyebrows tilted down dangerously, “Hey, that's right!” she said with a scowl.

Jay laughed, “Now you've got her all riled up!”

Norri lost her furious appearance for a moment, “I'm not riled up! I'm just...ok, a little riled up.”

M'redith smiled. “Things worked out as well as we could have hoped for so far. Politically speaking I mean.”

“Is it always like this? Even your friends try and screw you over?” Jay asked.

M'redith looked shocked, “What do you mean?” she asked in confusion.

“You know – Walter and Brother Orin trying to set us up like that,” Jay explained hastily, unsure of what he had said to shock M'redith.

M'redith looked visibly upset for a moment before she carefully settled herself down and only then proceeded to speak to Jay like a teacher would to an inattentive student. “Walter is NOT your friend. I am your friend! Norri is your friend. Walter, just, absolutely not.”

The cart swerved as M'redith spoke and the driver was forced to momentarily pay attention to the road instead of the conversation. The conversation just kept getting more and more interesting. These kids knew Walter? They couldn't mean...no, that'd be silly the driver thought to himself.

“Look, Jay, just because people are nice to you or helpful does not mean they are your friends. Politics is different – people don't have friends in politics, they have interests. Your interests and Walter's interests align for the most part, that means he may offer you assistance that will appear as unusually helpful to you.” M'redith explained patiently before pausing to make sure Jay was keeping up with her.

“From Walter's point of view however he isn't helping you because he likes you, he's helping you because it helps advance his own interests. This is so important I can not stress it enough to you. Goddess, have you lived your entire life thinking this way?!” she finished in exasperation.

Jay looked a little guilty, “Um...yes?”

M'redith sighed and placed a hand over one of Jay's hands. “Never confuse someone looking out for their own interests as friendship. It's not even friendly – I'm not sure how else to describe it.”

The driver clicked his tongue and his horses snickered in response. The driver thought that M'redith had done a great job – she'd made perfect sense he'd thought.

Norri helpfully offered, “A friend helps you even when the cost seems too much to bear. Would Walter do that for you?”

Jay shook his head, “I can't see him doing that, no.”

“How about Aiden?” Norri asked.

Jay nodded, quite sure of himself, “Aiden would help me.”

M'redith smiled and Norri nodded. “Glad we got that cleared up. I keep forgetting that you know nothing about politics. Even the simple, simple to me, stuff. Sorry if I come across a little angry but you worry me sometimes.”

Jay smiled, “It's ok. I know you like me.”

M'redith blushed and looked away as Norri grinned widely as she had noticed before M'redith could hide it. She didn't comment though and decided to just enjoy the moment.

The driver returned to driving, something he probably should have been entirely devoted to the entire trip. The woman had used the man's name – Jay was it – so now the driver had a little bit of gossip and a name to attach it to. To the right buyer that information might be worth some money.

A scream sounded from the intersection up ahead and the driver sighed. Another fight between two adventuring parties. The roads were lousy with them and it was just a matter of time it seemed before they got in to trouble. The driver waited for the two groups to be separated by the City Watch, some of them being led away in cuffs and loaded on to a Watch carriage with bars over the doors and windows.

Finally the commotion had been cleared up and the driver was able to continue on towards Redgrass.

He'd drop the three off at Redgrass and then head over to the crafter's district. He knew a guy there who would pay good money for fresh gossip. If things went well the driver would be able to drink for free that night.