"Where are we off to first?" Calissa asked. Rob found the movements of her snake hair distracting, but Jason seemed to take it in stride.

Rob, Jason, Calissa the gorgon, Abram the minotaur, and Shamgrar the arassas sat in one of the private meeting rooms. Adam and the two kitteagles lounged in a corner of the room, the shadow wolf tucking himself into that freakishly tiny ball of armored muscle once more. Elta, the gnelf in their team, along with the other arassas Karmeliven had been sent off to secure supplies for the Serpent Striders once Val'melnroe explained the contract was for a few months worth of guard work.

The demonstration had involved a lot of athleticism on an Olympic level, but with magic in the mix, Rob didn't really know if it was as impressive as it felt to an Earth-born Traveler. What he had noticed and approved was the coordination between the teammates.

That and Val'Melnroe's recommendation clinched the deal for Jason, and Rob was happy to go along.

"Well," Jason said, "that's partly what you're here for. There aren't many gorgons running around, and I'd guess less so with a minotaur and an gnelf for back up, nor are any of you particularly hard to pick out of a crowd. Y'all were on escort duty for that Thromtock fella, so you should know that Rob and me, we're Travelers and attached to the Studio of Capricious Dreams. Our current mission is to explore the world, get first hand confirmation of how things work and what the general situation is. To that end, we're hiring you to act as guides and guards along the way."

"Well," Calissa drawled. "Are you planning to stay on Malta to start with? You said the Studio dungeon's now linked up to East Karth. Are we going there? Because if we are, we need to get a company of mercs; preferably one lacking in elves and beast kin to help us stay out of their dramatics. Parameters, we needs them."

Jason smiled. "No, we're not starting near Karth. Staying on Malta for now should be good, but seeing some of the port towns and some of the interior ones, and visiting the various races of Aware are on the itinerary."

"Then I'd say heading to Port Sala first, and from there overland to New Botam. We can take the river from New Botam up in to the Sages and introduce you to the gnomes. It's two weeks to Port Sala, a month overland to New Botam, but you don't have to worry about what mood the selkies are in. By sea, it's three weeks, if the selkies are in a good mood or your ship's below water and you're hoping to be near a beach, which means *if* you make it out of the water, you're foraging for the rest of the trip to New Botam and taking at least double if not triple time to get there."

Abram rolled his eyes. "The selkies aren't that bad," he said. "You just need to insist your captain has the [Selkie's Friend] design. Monsters they may be, but they're only immediately hostile to whalers."

Rob shook his head. "Um. Selkies? As in, shape shifting seals?"

Abram spoke faster than Calissa. "No, they aren't shape shifters, but, yes, they are monstrous seals. Near sapient, but not quite there yet."

Calissa said, "Selkies are a risk, and none of us have the gift of breathing water. We can quibble over transport after we've figured out where we're going. Port Sala and New Botam are both Free Cities, both dominated by arassi, but they are independent city states. Looking around should give you an idea of what is common to the arassi as a people and what traits separate them as citizens. River travel from New Botom to the Sages should introduce you to naiads, and while they're Aware, they're also quite solitary, and not immediately hostile. Gnomes originated in the Sages Mountains, though they've dispersed throughout Rhofhir almost as successfully as the elves."

Here Calissa stopped and faced Rob directly. "You are a Traveler elf, so I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you are not arrogant condescension personified. In the time I've had to watch you, you do not act like an elf of Rhofhir. That means the long ear nobbers will treat you worse than they treat non-elves. They are very impressed with conforming to their hierarchies, which is where a lot of the problems we have with them spark. If elves were less powerful, both as a people and individually, they wouldn't be anywhere near so wide spread as they are. Where an elf walks, resentment follows.

"That also means that when people see the other elves treat you like slime on their boots, they will target you for taking out their own resentments of the smarmy bastards. Elta's mother was elven and he grew up in their heirarchy. You will learn from him how to act like a Rhofhirian elf and spar with us in the mornings, or you'll pay double for our services because it will be that much more of a risk for us to guard you."

They hadn't actually gotten around to discussing fees, but Rob could respect her position. Even if he did want to see what his elven energy could do to wear down her own arrogance.

Jason's lips were puckered in a way that Rob knew meant he was holding in a laugh.

"What?" rob demanded.

Jason started chuckling. "Your ears are about as expressive as a cat's. Ease up, and, you know, enjoy your 'privilege'."

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Calissa narrowed her eyes while Abram leaned back. She asked, "Privilege as in…?"

Jason waved her question off. "Politics from Earth."

Rob sighed. "Do you ever see parents playing favorites with their children? Trying to pretend they love their kids all the same, but one kid always gets away with more shenanigans, gets first pick of new toys, parents believing them over their other children, that kind of thing?"

Shamgrar spoke up for the first time. "Yes." He fairly hissed out the word.

"Does the kid getting the favored treatment always recognize when it happens?" Rob asked.

Jason rolled his eyes, but didn't stop Rob from making his point. Again.

The three Rhofhirians exchanged looks between themselves before Calissa said, "Not always. Children don't have as much acuity as adults."

"Privilege is when that kind of favoritism is shown to a group of people because of some characteristic they share. And when you're on the bottom of that privileged group, it's hard to see, because there are probably people who aren't in your privileged group doing better than you. It's easy to say that something you're blind to doesn't exist, even when everyone around you is slapping their foreheads at your idiocy."

Jason said, "Is that out of your system now? Can we move on? Politics of Earth do not apply to Rhofhir."

Shamgrar snorted. "Eh. You're in an arassi city, and you're not arassi. What … Rob? said, that's going to happen, with the arassi being the privileged. Elves … Eh. Elves are more like the bullies you don't piss off than they are favored children. They are too aware that they had to force their way into every non-elven society they're part of. The Soccers are the only reason they haven't been uniformly run out all the way back to the forests of the Karths."

Calissa sucked in a deep breath, but Jason beat her to speaking. "Rob, are we done with the politics?"

With Jason having just pointed it out, Rob noticed how his ears tried to lay flat against his head. It was just such a *weird* sensation. "Sure. Itinerary. Port towns, up the river, talk to gnomes. Works for me. That'll take us, what? Two months out?"

Jason sighed. "Let's plan on spending up to a week playing tourist in each port, so two weeks to get to Port Sala, one week rubber necking, a month to New Botam, a week there, that's two months. How long up the river?"

Calissa's tightening features relaxed as Jason spoke. "As much as a month, depending on how well the naiads like the barge captain we hire."

"Alright. How much are you thinking it'll cost to hire this barge?" Jason asked.

"If we keep him out of sight, budget a tail," Calissa said, gesturing at Rob. "Assume that anyone who spots an elf at the bargaining table doubles or triples their price as a kind of fee for putting up with long ear contempt. It's a fairly widespread practice."

Rob caught Jason's eye and quirked an eyebrow at him, suddenly wondering what the cost of a normal inn stay was.

Jason asked.

Something that looked like amusement hovered around the gorgon's face as she answered. "If you're spending more than a bit for a common room, the place is full to the rafters. A single room at a nice inn normally runs from two to four bits, or a kop for an elf. Doubles or triples have a wider price range, but rarely get up to a full kop for anyone without long ears. With your companions, a good innkeeper will only double whatever he charges you while a greedy one will charge triple rates for them to sleep inside the inn. And by the look on your faces, you're paying elf prices."

Jason nodded, looking like he was sucking on lemons.

Calissa shrugged. "Hiring our team comes at a cost of a tail a day."

The minotaur's eyes subtly rounded, but he relaxed as his team leader went on. "If you were just looking for guards, it would be five kops a day, but you need mentors as much as you need guides and guards. You're going to go through drills with us in the morning and at night. On travel days one of us will be going through all the things little babies learn about how the world works. Pay will be due on the day we reach the various cities. That way, you are at least in a somewhat civilized area if we decide we cannot work together. Are you good with this?"

Jason used his hands to ask for Rob's opinion: thumbs up? Thumbs down? Rocking hand for maybe?

Rob gave his thumbs up to the deal.

"Are you good with handling securing our supplies?" Jason asked.

Calissa nodded. "As long as it doesn't come out of our pay, yes."

"Then we are agreed."

The terms of the contract rang in the back of Rob's mind where he "heard" all of the Skill up notices. It made him twitch, but he suppressed the reaction.

Jason reached into his vest and pulled out five tails. He pushed them over to Calissa. "Let me know when you need more funds for our supplies. How long will you need to prepare?"

Rob could just about see the effort of will it took for Calissa to lift her gaze from the casually proffered coins. "We'll be ready by tomorrow morning. Were are you staying? We'll need to take lodging there to provide you with your guard detail."

"The Splendid Tail. We already have a pair of horses; think big, ridable donkeys. Will you need mounts?" Jason asked.

"No. If your horses don't have movement Skills, we're faster on our feet." Calissa seemed almost proud of that.

"Alright," Jason said. "Would it be worthwhile to pick up a wagon or cart or what have you for the supplies? The horses can pull as easily as carry."

Shamgrar clapped his palms together, bending his fingers to keep his talons from clicking. "I know the perfect caravanier! They do house wagons!"

Rob perked up, pictures of gypsy wagons rolling down the road capturing his imagination.

Jason took one look at him and started laughing.