Hours continue to pass as they all walk down the dirt path, at some point while walking Emma spotted some good-sized sticks that she used with Maya to practice basics and keeping her from getting too tired on the trip. As the sun got closer to setting, they finally began to clear the woods into rolling fields. And with the little light they still had left they could make out the farms to the city in the distance. “Wow, this is a nice view. And it’s nice and open too.” Maya says while gazing at the grass in the fields gently blowing to the side from the wind as the orange sunset hue radiated off them.

“It never gets old” Johnathan adds, “While we still have some light, we should light up the lanterns we have.” As he pulls out one for himself from the cart and another for Emma and Maya to share. “Sorry I only brought three lanterns, one for me, one for the cart and one for you two. Hope that’s alright.”

“It’s fine, we will be ok with just the single lantern between us. We are starting to get close to Summerport so we shouldn’t have to worry about much wildlife anymore.” Emma replies.

“I was never really worried about the wildlife all that much, more the people” Johnathan says grimly.

“Well, we will keep an eye out from behind, that should ward off anyone who may be thinking of trying something.”

Emma lights the lantern Johnathan gave to her and hands it over to the Maya. As they both slow down to follow in the rear of the cart. “I guess we’re getting pretty close since we can see the farmland in the distance” Maya says to Emma.

“We still got a while. The farms in front of the city are fairly large, but we are on the final stretch of this trip before we are at the city.” Emma says with a smile.

With the sun fully set, you can see the night sky come to life from all the stars and the moon. Under this celestial canopy, the darkness wasn't as oppressive as it might have been. They pressed on, and before long, they found themselves amidst the sprawling farms that lay on the outskirts of the city. In the distance, the city's lights finally came into view, and the remainder of their journey seemed to be a gentle descent. From this vantage point, they could make out the city's silhouette against the night, and beyond it, the vast expanse of the ocean. The ships docked in the harbor were illuminated by the shimmering reflections of the night sky on the water's surface. In the absence of the city lights, this breathtaking scene of ships at rest would have been shrouded in darkness.

“Well, you weren’t kidding about us still having a while to walk. Can’t believe that we are almost here now though.”

“I’m just glad we’ve gotten this far without any problems.” Emma says “I was sure we would have run into a boar or wolf at least once while in the woods. And with what happened just the other day with Johnathan, I figured someone would have tried to pull a fast one over on us….then again none of us were napping for a break.”

“Well, I’m glad we didn’t. Gave you time to give me a few lessons and teach me some basics on swordsmanship.” Maya replies.

As the group continued their trek, passing by the farmland, a comfortable silence settled over them. Fatigue from the journey had dulled their conversation, and each step felt like a silent agreement to simply enjoy the walk. In the distance, the faint sounds of livestock settling down for the night provided a rustic backdrop to their journey. With every step closer to the city, a refreshing coolness permeated the air, carried by the sea breeze and the onset of night. Time seemed to stretch, nearly two hours passing in a wordless communion with nature. Summerport, once a distant spot on the horizon, now loomed large and grand. Its size was even more impressive up close. Breaking the silence, Maya remarked, "Wow, this city is massive. Please tell me you both know your way around; I’d rather not get lost." Her words dispelled the silence that had enveloped the group.

“I’ve been here plenty of times and know most of the city pretty well” Johnathan says grinning. “And I know Emma has been here enough to at least know the general layout.”

“Yeah, I’m familiar with the main roads and areas. Had to come down with Johnathan once or twice and a couple of times for the guild.” Emma says agreeing with Johnathan.

“Great, I’d love to check it out in the morning once everything has been taken care of!” Maya says excitedly.

Closing in on the city, they reach the main gate entrances with two guards standing at their post on either side. The guard on the right side speaks up, “Hey Johnathan, didn’t expect to see you so soon again!”

“Oh, hey Henry, yeah they needed more supplies, so I hurried back with more.” Johnathan replies.

“And who do you have with you in the back?” Henry asks.

“Hey Henry!” Emma pops out from the back, “Long time no see, and this is my friend Maya.”

“Good to see you again Emma, couldn’t recognize you hiding behind the cart in the dark. And it’s nice to meet you, Maya.” Henry replies.

“Nice to meet you too Henry.”

“Anyways, it’s probably been a long trip, don’t mean to hold you all up. Make sure to stop by and say hi before you leave back home.” Henry says as they begin to walk into the city.

“You know which inn we are staying in correct Emma?” Johnathan turns to ask Emma.

“Yes, the Star-Heart Inn and Tavern, two roads down and to the right from the main road.” Emma responds quickly.

“Great! I will see you both there. I am going to drop off this cart at the warehouse to complete the delivery, so we won’t have to worry about it overnight. Since they already knew I was coming back I was set up with two rooms. Hope you two don’t mind sharing a room, my wife says I can snore really loudly so I figured it would have been best not to crowd up.”

“You can say that again, we’ll probably hear it through the walls. Reminds me of a sleeping dragon if you’ve read any of those stories” Emma whispers into Maya’s ear. “No problem we should be fine sharing a room.” Emma says to Johnathan no longer whispering.

Johnathan begins to walk off to the other side of the city while Emma and Maya walk to Star-Heart Inn and Tavern. “You ready to catch so much needed rest?” Emma asks looking over to Maya.

“Very much, I didn’t expect that trip to wipe me out so much” Maya yawns, “It’s a little more lively here at night than I thought it would be.”

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“Well, we are on the main roads here in Summerport, most of the major businesses purposely keep themselves within sight of the main roads so they can be spotted and since this is the largest city in the area and has the sea at its port it has the most travelers passing through. Once you go further into the city it gets pretty quiet.”

“Ah, well I guess that makes sense.”

“If you go all the way to the port, it’s always busy and rowdy there. Fishermen love to drink and show off their catches all hours of the day.”

“Well now I know where to go for a non-stop party” Maya laughs, “Anyways, what about Star-Heart?”

“It’s a decent Inn and Tavern, not overpriced while at the same time not worn down and falling apart cheap either. It has all the rooms upstairs above the tavern so you can eat and drink and go upstairs to your room which is convenient.” Emma says with a smile, “Speaking of which, here we are.”

Raising their gazes, they saw a three-story building. The architecture exuded a certain robustness, and its substantial size made it impossible to miss. On the first floor, abundant light poured through the windows, creating an inviting ambiance. The main entrance boasted a set of welcoming double doors that hinted at the warmth within. Above the entrance, an elegantly crafted sign hung proudly. It bore the name of the establishment, "Star-Heart Inn and Tavern," with the image of a lantern adorning each end of the sign, lighting up the name.

"Let's make our way inside and secure our rooms," Emma proposed, taking the lead as they entered the establishment. Stepping through the entrance, they were greeted by the presence of a receptionist stationed just a few feet ahead. To the left, a staircase, offering access to the upper floors. To the right, the full extent of the tavern unfolded. The ground floor was dominated by a sprawling tavern area. Open and inviting, it featured an expanse of tables and chairs that spanned the spacious floor. At the far end, a generously sized bar. A quick glance around revealed that the tavern was teeming with patrons, almost every table occupied as lively conversations filled the air.

“Hello, and welcome to the Star-Heart Inn and Tavern. My name is Kevin, were you looking for a table or a room to sleep?”

The young man standing behind the reception desk, with green eyes and blonde short hair, greeting both Maya and Emma as they entered. “Hi Kevin, we should have two rooms on hold for a Johnathan” Emma replies.

“Let me see, yes, I do have a note in here that says Johnathan has two rooms pre-paid from the other day. Here are the keys for both rooms. Looks like both rooms are on the third-floor, rooms five and six.” Kevin says with a smile, handing both keys to Emma.

“Thank you, Johnathan should be by in a little while, please let him know we have his key and that we will be in room five.” Emma informs Kevin.

“I’ll make a note of that, you ladies have a good night. If you’re hungry or thirsty remember you can come down anytime to get something.” Kevin says while Emma and Maya begin to walk upstairs.

Maya and Emma walked up the staircase and just at the end of the hall was room five and six. Emma hands Maya the key to the room and Maya opens the door to room five. “Wow this is a pretty nice room. The bed is big, nice view of the city, even has a restroom…” Maya says as she realizes the room only has the one bed.

“Yeah, the rooms are pretty good sized, and their beds are extra comfortable. Time to settle in for a while, until Johnathan gets back so we can give him his key, then I’ll show you the rest of the place.” Emma says with a mischievous smile.

After a while passes *knock knock* “Hey its Johnathan can I get my key?” can be heard from the door.

Maya gets up and opens the door, “How did everything go?”

“Everything went fine, just took a little longer than I thought to get back and forth. But I’m going to bed, I am beat for today, see you ladies in the morning.” Johnathan sighs and walks to the next room over, unlocks the door and heads into his room.

“Great! Let’s go!” Emma says excitedly, getting up and grabbing Maya’s hand pulling her out the door. She continues to pull Maya down the hall to the stairs on the other side of the main staircase that got them to their room.

“Umm, where are we going?” Maya says while being pulled along.

“You’ll see, it’s just up these stairs.”

“Wait, I thought this building has only three floors?”

“It does, just relax, I have been waiting for this since we got here.”

Following along as they head down the hall and up the stairs to a door almost immediately at the top of the stairs, Emma opens the door to see that they were on the roof of the building. Maya walks over to the edge of the roof and looks out; you can see a good amount of the city and the slowly dwindling night life. “This is a pretty view up here.” Maya says.

“Oh, we didn’t come up for here for that.” As Emma points out a small building on the roof “We came up here for that.”

The small building was simple and nothing extravagant, just a door on the left and on the right with some writing that was too hard to see at night. “What is that?” Maya asks.

Emma goes to the door on the left, “Come on in and see.”

Maya follows her inside, to a room with a bench, some baskets, towels, and another door. Emma sits on the bench and starts taking her shoes off. After taking her shoes off she puts them in a small basket and then begins to undress. “Hey what are you doing?” Maya says starting to turn red and spins around to face the opposite direction.

“Relax, this is only for guests staying at the inn. It’s a bath on the other side of that door. I have been looking forward to cleaning up after that walk. So, hurry your butt up and join me. Just make sure you put your stuff in a basket.” Emma says shortly before entering the next room.

“Shit, I do not feel comfortable with this” Maya says under her breath. She looks down at her necklace, “Without this…”

~ What seems to be the problem? ~

“Well looks like we are at a bathhouse kind of thing, and well I’m not even a girl without this necklace on.”

~ Yes, but you are one with it on. So, start being ok with yourself as a girl. You’ve had long enough to adjust. ~

“Also, I’ve really never been, um, naked in a public area before either.”

~ Just use a towel until you’re in the water. With most places you really can’t see anything in the water anyways so nothing to be shy or embarrassed of. ~

“That’s easy for a hat to say.” Maya says snarkly back, before taking a deep sigh “Ok, well it would probably be more suspicious if I didn’t go in.” As Maya begins to take her shoes and clothes off and puts them into a basket. “Well see you in a little while I guess Enit” before removing Enit from her head. The only thing left on Maya was the necklace. She quickly grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her before heading into the bathing area.

Entering, the room was much larger than expected and it was actually a little hard to see. With the steam from the water and only two small lanterns on opposite corners of the room it had a very relaxing feel to it. The bath itself could easily fit about a dozen people comfortably. If anything, it just reminded Maya of a jacuzzi without the bubbles in a room eerily similar looking to a sauna.

“Finally! Took you long enough, get in the water is great!” Emma says from the other side of the bath.

“Well at least Enit was right, can’t really make out much between the water and steam” Maya thinks before dropping her towel to the side and dipping into the hot water. “I did not expect it to be this hot!” Maya yelps out when the jolt of hot water covers her.

“Ha ha ha, feels great to me.” Emma says resting up against the wall of the bath.

The room became quiet, both Maya and Emma just relaxed in the bath, no words really spoken, just enjoying the hot water. After a while Emma gets closer to Maya. The closer Emma got the redder Maya’s face turned. Emma now in front of Maya, “That’s a very beautiful necklace Maya, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear that?”

Maya’s face as red as can be, “I usually just have it tucked into my clothes.”

After a few moments of pause, “Ah, well we should probably get out and go to bed, plus I think you’re over heated from the water seeing how red your face is.” Emma walks out of the bath next to Maya, grabs her towel and goes back into the other room.

Maya, still a little flustered, slowly gets out and grabs her towel and dries off before going back into the other room. Slowly they both finish getting dressed and head back down to their room. From exhaustion and finally decompressing from the hot bath both fall asleep almost instantly.