Unlike Linden, Harth's train station was large and busy. It had four platforms in total on this side of the station, and held the building crowd of people waiting comfortably. The massive arched roof was awe-inspiring and even dwarfed what Amy remembered of Evyria's station, a monument to the city itself. Being somewhat unfamiliar with the station, Amy mostly followed William around who had come from here recently, all the way out of the station, by the side of the road. It was when the two Mages were about to split ways, saying their goodbyes, that Amy thought of something.
"Sorry, but do you know of a good inn or tavern I could stay at?" Amy asked, looking down at her chicks. "One that's alright with these staying there too."
"Not many off the top of my head, sorry," William frowned, before his eyes lit up in remembrance. "There is this nice one I stayed at often when I got kicked out of my flat and had to find a new place. I think I remember seeing one of the other patrons having a dog around but I didn't see them often."
"That's better than me simply guessing and asking around though."
"Yes it is. I would offer to let you stay at my place but I'm in the stages of moving out and I don't think my landlord would be too happy at me moving back in a little just so you could sleep there comfortably," He smiled, rubbing the back of his neck.
"No problem about it," She laughed, a bit awkwardly. No offence, but I don't think I would want to stay at the flat of someone I've just gotten to know. Would rather sleep at an inn.
"The inn's called The Morning Dew and is about a five minute walk from here. Just follow that street there," William said, pointing down one to the left, "and follow the lane until you get to a park. Turn right and after a bit more of a walk, go down an alley called 'Willow's Way' and you won't be able to miss it."
"Got it," She nodded, committing it to memory. "I'll see you, hopefully, soon then."
"I'll ask my friend about the birds as quickly as I can. See you soon!" William grinned, waving to her as he reluctantly turned away from her back to the rest of the Mage group who were all heading back together.
"Bye!" Amy called back, picking up her luggage and beginning her strenuous trek to the inn.
Carrying everything was a struggle, turning what William said would be a five minute walk to something more like a twenty minute one, as she was forced to take regular breaks to simply catch her breath. Her suffering caught the eyes of many people passing by, or who she had to push through and annoy, which did not help her anxiety or stress and only made the walk worse. Luckily the park provided a sort of a reprieve away from the large crowds and zooming carriages down the centre lane, giving Amy a chance to sit down on one of the benches and, yet again, feed the birds.
Their hunger was never-ending, and their stomachs seemed more like bottomless holes the more days passed and the more they grew. Today especially they were very excited - or as disturbed and stressed as she was; it was somewhat hard to tell - almost coming out of their nest-box and darting around to look at the strange world around them. It only seemed to get worse when she reached the bench, studying each noise, bird, or person going by intently, not relaxing among the familiar trees and greenery at all.
When one of the chicks even tried to escape from the nest, jumping up and down, Amy finally had enough, covering the box again and getting up. I'm just getting more fed up with everything and them the more I dally. Let's just get to the inn and then I can relax.
And as William had said, it wasn't long before she was in front of The Morning Dew, nestled between a sweet shop and tailors down Willow's Way. The entrance went straight into a front pub area, seeming busy and popular, even in the middle of the day. No drinks were out yet though so the people weren't too rowdy. Only noisy.
Near the back was what she assumed to be a front desk of sorts to the inn, with what seemed like the innkeeper and a barmaid chatting behind it. Stumbling through the people and tables, ignoring their strange looks and stares the best she could, she finally made it to the front, letting most of her things down.
Amy approached the innkeeper tentatively, moving her luggage to the side and out of the way, her chicks brought with her. The innkeeper herself was busy with something behind the desk, with the barmaid having walked away; she seemed like a very straightforward person, with her burly arms built for work and focused gaze that got straight to the heart of matters. Beginnings of wrinkles crept around the edges of her eyes as laugh-lines, though her hair was a pristine blonde, wrapped up into a bun, no grey in sight. And in that analysis of the person in front of her, Amy realised that she had analysed the innkeeper. In a fraction of a second no less. I've never been the type to look too deeply into someone I just met. Yet I did. In what was basically an instant. The sheer speed of that is no doubt a consequence of my enhanced mind. But me doing the action itself? That's new. Not sure if I like it.
The innkeeper in question noticed Amy's approach, getting up and setting her quill down.
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"Ah, welcome! What can we here at The Morning Dew do for you?" She smiled, a bit of a northern twang on her accent, nodding her head ever so slightly.
"May I rent a room here, please?"
"Yes, miss, let me-"
"However, I need to ask about the policy with... pets?"
"That... depends on the pet, miss," The innkeeper frowned, looking around her to try and look for the pet in question.
"Just these baby bird chicks, miss," Amy said, uncovering the box they were held in and leaning forward. The chicks themselves locked onto the innkeeper as soon as they saw her, beady eyes trained swiftly.
"As long as they're quiet, I see no issue," The innkeeper made a face, scratching her head. "Just know that if other customers have an issue with it..."
"I understand, miss."
"Alright then. What room would you like? If you want to look after them, I'd recommend one of our larger suites. One of the level two rooms maybe?"
"How big would these be? And the price?"
"Level two's are on average about half the size of the pub space, if you want an estimate, and come fitted with their own bathroom. As for the cost, well, that varies depending on how big you like it. Baseline price is eighty chips for a week, then if you want a luxury level two it can be up to a piece and ten chips."
"Got it," Amy nodded. "And the level above that? If there is one?"
"All of our level three's are currently occupied, but they'd range from about two bronze pieces a week to ten."
"Well, how's a room for a piece then?"
"The next room up from that price is occupied, so you can get the one-ten chip room if that's alright?" The innkeeper offered, getting the quill again and re-dipping it.
"That will be fine, thank you," Amy agreed, pulling out her purse to count the coins. Iyrtiran currency was somewhat of a metric system, at least for the higher denominations, but even at the lower end it was relatively easy to work out. Copper chips were the lowest denomination, with bronze pieces being the next one up, worth 120 chips. After that was the silver shilling at 50 pieces, where one of them was considered a decent monthly wage. For the average - and reasonable - person, the last denomination was the gold pound, valued at 100 shillings, which practically all business deals were done in. Technically there was a coin past that, but it was only really for the richest and greediest of nobles, which was the gold crown worth 100 pounds.
Unfortunately for everyone else, there were even talks of including a higher value coin after that, the gold iyrtir at 100 crowns, due to 'inflation'. The only saving grace from more bloating of the currency system was that the suggestion was never too popular, and 'inflation' had been falling with 'new bills' and 'policies' being implemented.
In reality, Amy scoffed, the only reason the iyrtir and crown exist is because of high Tier and long-lived Mages hoarding all the money and causing prices to hike. 'Inflation' my ass. The reason why inflation's dropping is probably because a couple Mage nobles dropped dead too! The pound is the only one that really matters anyway, not the others, and is what exchange rates are based off of, rather than shillings or pieces.
"Brandon here can take you up to your room," The innkeeper said, waving over a serving boy, looking a bit too young to be working anywhere yet. "Can I have your name miss? For the record."
"Ah yes, sorry, it's Amy, Amy Wachlund."
"Pleasure, miss. If you have any issues here, make sure to call for Berry and I'll come over quick," She, assumedly Berry, said, finishing noting down the name on the record. Fiddling with some drawers beneath the desk, Berry retrieved a small key engraved with a barely visible room number on the head. Handing it out towards her, she said, "And here you go, miss."
"Thank you," Amy nodded, taking out the coin and placing it in the innkeeper's outstretched hand, swiping the key. "Have a good day."
"Enjoy your stay!" Berry grinned, turning away and back to her logs and books.
"Will you follow me then, miss?" Brandon bowed shallowly, waving to one of the sets of stairs upwards.
Picking up her luggage - with Brandon carrying some of it too - it was a short walk up to the second floor, with the staircase they took taking them straight there, compared to the other one which only seemed to go to the first floor. Brandon led Amy down the main corridor right up until the end, near the back of the inn, quiet, and opened the door to her room, already unlocked. The room itself was a bit smaller than Amy had expected but it worked well for what would be a hopefully short stay while she figured out some minor things at Harth. Her real goal was to travel to Evyria and eventually catch up with some of her old School friends. At the moment, the world was her oyster, and while she wanted to just go straight on home, she wanted to enjoy some freedom for once.
"Thank you, Brandon."
"My pleasure, miss. I'll take my leave," He said, letting down the luggage, bowing once more and closing the door behind him as he left.
Finally left alone for the first time in what felt like forever, Amy let her things drop to the floor - being more careful with the birds - and flopped onto the small bed by the side of the wall, face-down. It was on the hard side and the duvet was a bit thin, but it was more than welcome after her energy was well and truly sapped from so much social interaction and work. Turning her head to face the window on the other side of the room, curtains half-drawn, Amy could barely fight her drowsy eyelids steadily closing. I had said to Felin that I'd summon him when I can but... even speaking to him will be too much I reckon. Wouldn't do much harm if I left it a bit longer. Plus, I want to get some magic done that I'd rather he not be around to help me with. Monstrous Visage is finally nearing its completion and all that's left is to decide on how the Fae and Illusion parts of the Spellform fit together. In fact, I think I could even fit some Unknowable in there too. Just a touch. Enough that it will really add to the 'horror' of the Spell and make it so whoever sees it can't really remember it. Only the effects will be able to be recalled.
Amy took a short break from her rest to feed the hungry chicks before unpacking her things and retrieving her notepad and pencil. Flipping to a page labelled 'MV - #14', she inspected the flawed iteration of the Spellform, taking in some of its imperfections and tried to fix it in her head. It wasn't long until the page was ripped out of the pad and set it beside it as reference, a new page in front of her.
With a careful hand, Amy wrote the new title on the top of the page: 'MV - FINAL'
And Amy began to draw.