Jeanne arrived to the door of a three-story building with red and gold lanterns hanging in the front. She looked up at a sign saying Selene’s Solar, and moved to knock on the door as she looked around. A slide at around her eye’s height slide open and she saw a dwarf man looking back at her.

“Hello there,” the dwarf man said, he paused holding up a finger before slowly turning his head away and letting out a long, “Ah …”

He turned back to Jeanne, his cheeks beginning to redden.

“I do apologize, but I cannot recall your name, miss.”

Jeanne chuckled. “It’s all right. Jeanne Marias. How are you Gruddoc?”

“Oh, and you remembered mine,” he said with embarrassment. “Now I am very much in the wrong here.”

Jeanne put her hand over her mouth. “It’s no problem, truly.”

“Well, aside from seeing a full-grown dwarf blush, was there anything you needed? Come to see Lady Selene?”

“Actually, I was hoping to see Hypatia,” Jeanne replied. “I wasn’t certain if she was here.”

“I do believe she is inside, though they might not be in the state to entertain visitors.”

“Would there happen to be a waiting area at all?”

“Well, we got one, but that is where we have patrons and the talent pool mingle and discuss preliminary business agreements.”

“Business agreements?”

“I try not to belittle the professional element of this line of work.”

“That’s fair. Is there a tavern in there, per chance?”

“Absolutely,” Gruddoc replied. “Helps provide an additional income aside from the primary services and tutoring.”

“You all definitely have your toes in a few markets, don’t you?”

“It helps to diversify our services.”

“Again, fair enough. But I wouldn’t mind waiting at the tavern, if it’s all right with you.”

“Aye, give me a moment and I’ll let you in.” Gruddoc stepped down and in a quick moment opened the door and allowed Jeanne inside.

Escorting her to the tavern, they arrived to a balcony with tables overlooking a wide room below them. Jeanne looked to her right and saw several more tables, some empty and the rest with people eating. In the middle of the room was a large tree, the bark white with glittering jewels scattered throughout. The leaves were covered in gold, silver and crystalline blue colors. At the far left was a long bar with two people tending to people there.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“This is impressive,” she said to Gruddoc.

“Why thank you,” he said with distinction. “We take great pride for our eatery and culinary services. But I’ll let Lady Selene and Lady Hypatia know of your arrival.”

“Much obliged to you, as always, Gruddoc.”

“Of course, Lady Jeanne,” he said, bowing his head and taking his leave.

She made her way down to the bar and waved one of the servers over. “What can I get for you?” they asked.

“Mead?”

“Any particular brand?” they asked, nudging their head towards a variety of meads on the shelves behind them.

“Not really,” said Jeanne.

As the server went to grab her drink Jeanne turned around and surveyed the people around the eating area. The patrons were dressed in attire from various social classes, mostly merchants and nobles. Those of the working courtesans wore silk himation and chiton attire for the men and women, respectively. Both going over one shoulder and fastened around the waist with a corded belt.

One of the men came to the counter next to Jeanne. “Haven’t seen your face around here before,” he said to her.

The server handed her a dram of mead and as she handed them the coin she turned to the courtesan. “I didn’t even know this even existed.”

“Well we do strive to ensure our customers are completely satisfied,” the courtesan said to her.

As she took a sip, her eyes widened. “Oh! Oh no. I am so sorry. I’m waiting to meet someone here.”

The courtesan gave her a warm smile. “Nothing to worry about. I’m Forwin, and if you change your mind, I’ll be over there with some of the others.” As he finished, he pointed to where the tree was and the other courtesans were chatting with each other merrily.

Jeanne turned back to the server. “I wasn’t mean, was I?”

The server shook their head. “No,” they said calmly.

Jeanne let out a relieved sigh as she heard Hypatia call to her. “Jeanne!”

Jeanne saw her come down the stairs. Her hair lightly tousled and a relaxed smile on her face. “You look like you came back from a long holiday.”

“I feel like it,” she replied. “It’s amazing what a night of dancing, singing and other joys can do for the soul. But I doubt you came here to see what how I’ve been enjoying some down time.”

“Honestly I kinda wished I known about this part of Selene’s establishment.”

“You should definitely try some of the food when you get a chance.”

Jeanne took another sip from her mead. “I’ll keep that in mind. But you’re right, I didn’t come here for a chat.”

Hypatia took a seat at the counter. “Well, what’s the matter everything all right?”

Jeanne told her of the bounty she and Cid went over and the connection it had to her time before joining Cold Company.

“Well,” Hypatia said, blinking her eyes a few times as she processed the information. “I was not expecting that. I’m surprised Cid didn’t bring this up during the meeting.”

“I asked him not to,” Jeanne told her.

“How come?”

“I’m not sure what to do, Hypatia. I have a price on my head back home, my life is literally held outside of the law last time I was there, and I don’t believe they would’ve lifted this because I was gone for a while.”

“Well, is there anything I can do?”

“Possibly,” Jeanne said, looking uncomfortable to say the next few words. “Are you able to get access to any copies of any royal writs or decrees?”

“To a certain extent, yes. How come?”

“I wanted to know if you could get me anything made regarding the Kolvilles family.”

Hypatia put her hand on her chin, pondering the requesting. “We can definitely check out the archives. Though they don’t have any fealty or major commercial interactions with Koulberg. Which can make things a little difficult. Is anything in particular you’re looking for?” Hypatia asked.

“Everything you can find,” Jeanne replied.