By the time they exited the Arcaneum, the imposing structure that housed the Mystic Order's Estelhelm branch, it was well into night. Jade followed a fuming Aylin as she stalked down the sweeping marble steps leading to the quiet street, her dark robe swishing fiercely.

"Can you believe it?" She demanded to no one in particular. "I turn up with the first divine relic in years and they treat me like that? Not even a thank you." The mage continued, saving Jade from having to come up with a reply. "Criticism. That's all the Estelhelm council is. 'You should have called in support from the local branch.' And 'don't be so reckless.' As if I should trot around the Labyrinth shouting the news at the top of my lungs. We were already ambushed by vampires on the road here. By the lost gods, imagine the trouble we'd have run across if news had already spread?"

Aylin finally ran out of steam, sinking onto a street side bench and sighing. The rest of them stopped beside her, waiting for the mage to compose herself. Only Aylin had been taken into the inner sanctum of the Order's headquarters, everyone else had been relegated to waiting in the foyer. Jade had expected the Order to be more curious about the newly integrated world, but apparently the appearance of a divine relic superseded anyone's interest in them. Aylin had been gone for almost two hours and had returned more out of sorts than Jade had seen her since the night they met.

"I thought you were on the council?" Naomi asked, lowering herself to sit beside her. "Doesn't that count for something?"

"I'm part of the Illysport branch, and I'm only a junior councilwoman. That doesn't mean much down here." The mage cast her gaze over to Jade and gave her a slight smile. "I did get this for you, though."

Aylin drew a scroll of parchment from her satchel and handed over to Jade, who inspected it curiously. It was a writ of approval from the Mystic Order, and had her name at the bottom.

"How'd you get this if they were so upset with you?" Jade asked, tucking it safely away in her dimensional pouch.

"I told them that I'd take the relic to my branch in Illysport if they didn't support you." Aylin's grin broadened. "The looks on their faces were quite satisfying, I must admit."

"They didn't want to see me, first?" Jade asked. No one had so much as spoken to her in the Arcaneum.

"You're a wayfarer." Aylin shrugged. "There's no way to fake that, and Captain Mar was right. You aren't the first person to take a demon race. I was informed that there have been a handful of similar occurrences recently, all within the past year."

"Really?" Jade asked, intrigued. "The same as me, or different demon races?"

"They wouldn't tell me." Aylin huffed. "Inter-branch rivalries have always been strong, and knowledge is hoarded. It's a waste. We could learn so much more about the Labyrinth, and magic in general, if people cooperated. But no, every mage in the Free Cities jealously hoards their knowledge and resources."

"That sounds familiar." Naomi muttered under her breath.

"I won't let that happen with the relic, though." Aylin continued. "They can't hide it from the other branches, not when I'm the one who brought it here."

"So, that's one mission complete and one problem solved." Luis said. "What now?"

"Now we find a place to stay for the night." Fenrin said. He was feeding his familiar small morsels of food from a pouch at his hip. Mirella perched on his arm, pecking voraciously at his open palm. "I know a few of the inns in the Amber Marketplace. Will you be joining us, Aylin?"

"No." The mage shook her head. "I'll be hard at work helping organize a joint research project focused on the relic. Jade should be safe in the city now, the Silver Shield and the Countess will have copies of the Mystic Order's endorsement by morning."

She stood up, extending her hand to Jade. Aylin often had the look of someone lost in deep thought. Right now, though, a wry smile played across her lips.

"We had a bit of a rough start, mostly due to me." The mage said quietly. "But I've grown to enjoy travelling with the lot of you. I'll be here in the city for the next few weeks. If you need anything, ask for me at the Arcaneum. If I can help you with your trial, I will."

Jade shook her hand, feeling an odd sense of loss. She'd grown used to the mage's companionship and guidance. They were all still so new to a world of magic. Not having Aylin around to answer their questions or casually explain some strange phenomenon would be a blow. That aside, Jade liked her straightforward and no-nonsense demeanor.

"Thanks for all the help."

"I'm sure we'll visit soon." Luis said, giving her a pat on the back. "Someone will have to explain how to get us out of the next mess."

"How do you know there'll be another mess?" Siora asked, cocking her head curiously. "Undead strongholds, monsters in your homeland, a vampire ambush… I think you're due for some good fortune."

"That's what I said." Naomi smiled wanly. "But you know Jade… at the first sign of trouble, she runs right towards it."

Jade opened her mouth to defend herself, and then stopped. She had to admit that Naomi had a point.

"Yeah, well…" She shrugged. "Trouble is where the experience is."

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Fenrin took the lead in securing them lodging at an inn near the city bazaar. Apparently, he was acquainted with an artificer of some renown in this part of town, but they arrived too late in the evening to visit his shop. Jade was hoping they could make time to visit soon, as they'd acquired a good amount of loot since they'd last had an opportunity to trade.

While the streets of the Emerald Ward were quiet and empty at the late hour, the marketplace was still bustling with activity. Laughter and singing filtered out open windows of taverns, vendors packed up their goods for the night, and other travelers sought to find a place to bed for the night.

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"I didn't expect the city to be this crowded." Fenrin said, pushing through the thinning crowd to the third inn of the evening. "There's normally plenty of vacancies."

"Is something going on?" Naomi asked. "What changed?"

"Probably the integration." Fenrin said with a frown. "People are worried and taking shelter in the cities. There hasn't been one in these parts in decades."

"Is that why everyone's so tense?" Luis asked. "We're getting a lot of looks, and they aren't the friendliest."

"Are you sure? It feels normal to me." Siora piped up.

"No, he's right." Jade said quietly. She could feel the taught tension and suspicion mingling in the air around them. Everyone was on edge, even as they tried to hide it behind a mask of revelry. Moreover, many who noticed their wayfarer marks were shooting them wary looks. Not hostile… but certainly nothing Jade would describe as welcoming.

She thought she understood why. Upon entry into the city, they'd had to sign documentation stating that they would stay within the walls no longer than seven days. That wasn't a restriction for all visitors, only for wayfarers. People undergoing the Labyrinth Trial began attracting monsters to them if they went too long without making progress on their quests, something Jade had learned from Harish on the first floor.

"They probably are worried we'll bring danger to them." Jade finished.

"I'm not sure I can blame them." Naomi gave Jade a sidelong look. "When's the last time we went a whole day without something trying to kill us?"

"That's out in the wilds. The Silver Shield do an excellent job of keeping the city safe, they have a branch in my hometown." Fenrin reassured them. They'd finally reached the entrance of the inn, a squat, two story wooden building that had seen better days. The door was painted a garish shade of red, over which hung a sign that read 'The Green Door Inn'. Jade blinked, looking at it again.

"I think my translation power is acting up."

"It's not you…" Fenrin said, hesitating with his hand on the latch. He looked like he was having second thoughts about this place. Now that they were closer Jade could see cracks in the wooden walls, peeling paint, and a general shoddiness to the whole building. "Maybe we should look somewhere else."

"We're already here." Luis said, opening the door and stepping inside. "See? Doesn't look too crowded. I bet they have rooms here."

"Yeah, and I bet I know why…" Jade heard Naomi mutter quietly to herself as they peered into the dingy interior of the roadhouse. She hid a smile, following the group inside. They'd spent enough nights camping in damp woodland and cold mountain valleys over the past month that the prospect of a roof over her head, any roof, was welcome.

Unlike most of the other establishments they'd visited that night, the Green Door Inn had a relatively quiet atmosphere. A few groups of people, mostly humans and fellians, sat clustered around a few of the tables in the dining area, and Jade spotted a group of older men playing a card game in the back corner. A large, burly fellian woman was standing behind the bar cleaning a mug with a rag. She had long black hair and was the first of her kind that Jade had encountered that could match Luis's physique.

While Fenrin and Luis walked over to the bar to inquire about rooms Jade continued to survey the room. This place was oddly fascinating. It was nothing like a modern hotel on Earth, and yet it also wasn't exactly the medieval environment the word 'fantasy' conjured. Jade had been subconsciously envisioning the people who lived in the Labyrinth as 'low-tech' due to their use of medieval weapons and the rustic nature of Lysara. Here in Estelhelm, though, she was forced to revise her appraisal. Even a rundown establishment like this had magically powered lamps, arcane heaters warming the room, and, yes, that was a sink with running water behind the bar.

A woman caught Jade's attention. She hadn't seen the rather unique-looking figure until now because she was in the far corner of the room, obscured by shadow. The woman had violet skin and long, moon-white hair streaked with pale red strands that hung straight down her back and across one side of her face. Lines of boney ridges framed her face, and her garb was strange. More modern in appearance than most of the others Jade had met in the Labyrinth, all hard lines and subdued colors. Their eyes met, and Jade was struck by the intensity of her gaze.

"Who is that?" she murmured to Siora, turning away. Jade had no intention of staring down random strangers, the last thing she wanted was to start an altercation. "I haven't seen anyone like that before."

"Oh!" Siora blinked in surprise, glancing in the direction Jade indicated. She breathed in sharply. "That's a tek'kalla!" she whispered back. "They almost never come down to the second floor. Not peacefully, anyway."

"They cause trouble?"

"I've heard they send raiding parties to steal resources. Hijack caravans, invade remote mines, that sort of thing."

"Wonderful." Naomi said, crossing her arms. "Let's stay away from her. We're in enough trouble as it is."

"Yeah…" Jade said slowly. There was something about the woman that intrigued her… She was about to examine her status window when Luis and Fenrin returned, Mimi chirping triumphantly on his shoulder.

"Two rooms secured." Luis said, holding up a pair of keys.

"And one mystery solved." Fenrin added. The half-elf ran a hand through his hair, half dark, half light, and jerked a thumb towards the door with a bemused expression. "The guy who built the place was colorblind."

Jade accepted one of the proffered keys and they began making their way towards the stairs in the corner of the dining area, which a sign mounted on the wall indicated led up to the guest rooms.

"Not much of a carpenter either, I take it." Jade said, stepping over a gap in the floorboards large enough to put her foot through. "Mind the gap."

"Actually, he was a brewer." Luis said.

"You learned a lot about this guy in the thirty seconds you were gone." Naomi gave the two men a strange look.

Luis and Fenrin exchanged glances and shrugged.

"There's a plaque on the bar." Fenrin snorted. "Guess the innkeeper got tired of people asking her about it."

"How much did the rooms cost?" Jade asked.

"You don't want to know." Fenrin grunted.

"That much?" Jade raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"No. That little."

"Oh, great." Naomi sighed. "It's going to be one of those nights."

----------------------------------------

Tara'lynn watched the group of wayfarers traipse up the stairs, disappearing from sight. She sighed, lowering her mug and pulling her hand back on top of the table. After so many poor encounters with other wayfarers, she was growing nervous about showing her mark to them.

Don't be ridiculous. She scolded herself. You should have talked to them.

But it was hard to find motivation after so many rejections. No, better to stay focused on her current objective: Finding the demons hiding in Estelhelm. She'd visited the warehouse the imps had flown into the other night, the one the Silver Shield had searched after she'd tipped them off. Tara had been ready to label them all incompetent and fully expected to discover the truth of the matter herself, but she'd been forced to admit that their skepticism hadn't been undue. Two hours of scouring every part of the warehouse, both magically and technologically, had revealed no trace of any creatures, demonic or otherwise. Nor had she uncovered any strange magical signatures, the dimension effusion, or any other unusual phenomenon.

So, what was she missing?

The tek'kalla shook her head in disgust, taking another drink from her mug. The ale here was bitter, with an unpleasant aftertaste. Wasn't this stuff supposed to make her problems go away? That's what everyone always said about drinking these lowlander brews, but the only effect it was having on her was to give her a headache.

Maybe my scanner is busted.

The damn thing claimed the drink was compatible with her physiology, but she was growing skeptical.

Fuck it.

She drained the rest of it. It didn't help. Tara groaned, dropping her forehead to the surface of the table. One more day. She'd give her search one more day before giving up. She'd heard some of the local wayfarers talking about a well-known local artificer. Perhaps he would have something she could use to finally locate these demons.

They were here somewhere, she could feel it.