Zevan the Malachite Gemite [https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczPyRIgpRZ8pK24e0OPDducDTA5N4-LoQvfG9tAjC7SLSd-VpplSlfjZFuRSCEVwezbhX18KkCYVgPShtX3voT9WmfTXw_3n4dEarrI8io3QCUm5E6k7OUEy1yPL24X7hryb7AmthJQVosHrbflomPQ3=w661-h992-s-no-gm?authuser=0]
Phoenix hesitated in front of the extravagant-looking inn that was about three stories tall before it ran into the illusioned ceiling of the upper level. The smooth white marble with gold trim and embellishments that made up the building front screamed, “You better be rich” to those who dared enter, while the glowing magical sign stated in a swirling script: “Lalune Dellarose.” While she had played translator as they attempted to navigate the city, it was Zevan who had suggested the posh hotel that loomed before them after learning they were all technically nobles.
“Are you sure we want to stay here? It looks a bit… spendy? While I usually don’t care about things like that, I’m pretty sure Dazien will hate it, won’t he?” Phoenix asked the twins, with Tala and Ren perched atop her head.
Zevan raised a brow as she pointed out, “You said you were nobles. You should be able to afford it. If you want to get access to some of the perks in the city, you’ll need to leverage your status at certain times. This is a popular destination for visiting nobility, and the local nobles often visit the restaurant on the ground level to network.”
“What kind of perks are we trying to get?” Phoenix asked with a matching raised eyebrow.
“Hopefully, the informational kind,” Rayna interjected, “The aristocracy can often work faster than the AOA can in this regard. The AOA may be an international organization, but that usually comes with a lot of procedures that need following that inevitably slow things down,” she further explained and pulled Phoenix and Saiya along with a hand in each of hers. Based on the wagging tails, Phoenix was pretty sure Rayna was excited about staying in the fancy inn.
As they entered the insanely elegant place, Zevan explained, “I’m going up to the room my people said they were staying in. The counter over there can get you sorted. It was nice meeting all of you, and I hope you manage to stay out of trouble while you find your friends.”
“Thanks for all the help!” Phoenix called after the quickly retreating gemite. She then turned back to Rayna and asked, “Why would the aristocracy be better than some other kind of organization? Zevan mentioned I might be able to hire a professional tracker.”
“Nobles have more local connections, and the really political ones have eyes and ears all over the city that we might be able to tap into if we can impress and persuade. Those professional trackers are probably in their employ already,” the bard continued, and Phoenix’s frown deepened with every word.
“So you want us to… what? Convince some random noble to loan out their spy network?”
Rayna gave her a slightly mischievous grin, “I simply want Regent Wayland to make some new friends and ask if anyone has seen our teammates. Play up the fact that you’re a member of the prominent House Wayland, and maybe I let slip that you’re the Starlight Phoenix, then maybe somebody will be generous with their words and resources.”
Phoenix’s eyes went wide, “Wait, you want me to pretend to be an important noble and some folk hero?”
Saiya gave her a soft smile from the other side of Rayna as she gently reminded her, “Phoenix, you are an important noble and local war hero.”
She scrunched her nose at that, “Right. I’m pretty sure Daze told us to keep my… divine connections a secret, though, until specifically needed. Won’t it be just as bad to mention the whole regent thing?”
“Phoenix, I know you don’t like drawing attention to yourself on purpose, and Dazien was right to keep that particular thing a secret, but revealing your nobility might be our best chance at finding the others,” Saiya pointed out.
She gave a frustrated sigh and tugged at her braid as she mulled over the idea of trying to… schmooze random strangers. The idea was less than appealing, to say the least, and she didn’t even know how to even begin doing something like that. How does someone just walk up to a complete stranger and try to impress them without coming off as either conceited, desperate, or just plain creepy?
Phoenix contemplated some of the movies and books she had read, but all of those kinds of interactions just caused her to cringe in embarrassment for the characters. She didn’t think she’d be able to pull off those types of lines with as straight a face as the actors did.
“Hey, you in there?” Rayna’s voice cut through her thoughts as she waved a hand in front of her face.
She shook herself and replied, “Yeah, sorry. Did you ask me something?”
“You’re the only one between the three of us that can speak Nightish until we can find someplace that sells a Knowledge Tome for it. Just ask the nice elf at the counter for a pair of rooms next to each other for now,” Rayna explained again while nudging her forward towards the desk where a slim Night Elf man sat watching them with mild curiosity.
“And don’t forget: you’re a prominent member of House Wayland and a war hero,” the traitorous bard added with a final nudge until Phoenix had no other choice but to speak to the attendant.
“Uh, hello,” she began nervously, her heart feeling like it was in her throat trying to choke the words before they could escape, “We, um, we would like two rooms next to each other. Or, um, as close as possible, if you have it, that is.”
She could hear Rayna loudly whisper to her twin from behind her, “Does she seem like she’s faltering? I can’t tell with this whimsy la la language these elves all speak, but she seems too wound up.”
“Shush you,” Phoenix whisper-yelled back at her before refocusing on the attendant, who started to speak with a slight smirk.
“We have two adjacent rooms available,” he said. “Can I assume by your accents and auras that you are all traveling combat Casters planning to stay for an extended period?”
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“Yes, actually. We’ve come a long way and fought a lot to get here.”
“Oh? Where from, if I may ask?”
“Tulimeir,” she answered promptly, then latched on to the topic and tried to play up her friends to share the spotlight with her, “My companions here are both the leaders of the Dewsong clan, too. We fought together during the blood moon to protect the tundra.”
The attendant got a bright smile on his face as he leaned forward as though excited about the gossip. “I heard Tulimeir was another one of the cities directly attacked by one of those giant Soul Reaper airships, but an Obsidian Caste Paladin made it completely explode in a single shot, is that true?”
Phoenix’s eyes widened in surprise. “Yes. I’m surprised news of that reached here. Though I guess it was about three or four months ago now. Sometimes, it feels just like yesterday when that happened.”
“Word travels fast when impossible deeds are accomplished,” he added with a cryptic smile. “We may be fairly removed from the world as far north and isolated as we are, but people come from all over the world to indulge in the splendors our fair city has to offer.
“Tulimeir is one of the closest port cities to us, though, so of course, we’ve heard outlandish rumors and even more outrageous war stories. Apparently, everyone and their cousin were present in the city when the Ruby dragon fell from the sky and devoured the fabled Blade of Pure Wrath,” he said with a bit of dramatic flare, getting the attention of some nearby elves that had been chatting with one another.
“Good riddance,” one of the elves, a man with neon green hair and a matching silk ribbon around his throat, said with a sneer. His willowy frame looked almost emaciated, making him look even more fragile than most of the other elves Phoenix had seen around the city so far. The combination of leafy hair and choker with olive skin made her think of him as a twig about to snap.
“I remember when that pretentious arse visited the city while my mother was in charge of the ports,” he continued, crossing his arms in front of himself. “I was only a child, but she said he was the reason the Purifier’s entire clergy was exiled from the city almost twenty years ago.”
One of his companions piped up, a less-sallow-looking woman with pale blue hair that flowed over her shoulders that she flipped back as she added with a smirk, “I guess we should be grateful for that in hindsight, considering their fall from grace. My uncle, Lord Finndeshin, says it was one of the reasons our Reality Rifts were so well protected from invasion. No Renseres were within our lands to gain a foothold.”
“Were you not attacked by the Soul Reaper forces during the blood moon?” Phoenix asked curiously. It seemed odd that they could have their own Reality Rift as well and not have run into any problems when they had a higher Caste zone than theirs. She also tried not to focus on the fact that they thought so poorly of the man she had admired and called dad.
“We were, but they never made it past the Water Wards. I’m sure you traveled through them to get here. It’s impossible to circumvent them as far as I know,” the inn attendant chimed in to answer. Then he brought the conversation back to her as he inquired, “Is it true that Tulimeir’s Reality Rift was almost taken over by the very clergy that the Blade of Pure Wrath had forsaken?”
“He forsook the Purifier?” the green-haired noble asked with shock on his face, “After coming here and decrying us for our heretical ways?”
“Now, Young Master Vanderill,” the attendant seemed to chide slightly. “I know that he and your mother didn’t exactly get along, but I remember when he was here and know that he followed our laws and customs. While he did speak out against the queen specifically, he didn’t dishonor our culture or try to force us to change like some of the others were more prone to attempt.”
He then leaned forward to whisper conspiratorially to Phoenix, “I heard he even wore an Emerald and Silver Torc when not on ‘official’ business.”
The younger man twisted his expression as though the idea offended him. “I cannot believe that the oh-so-righteous Paladin would wear any Torc, let alone one that would offer himself up to dallying with a local ‘heretic,’ as that clergy puts it.”
The attendant’s smile seemed to get even wider as he said, “If I’ve learned anything from my decades in Serenydi, it’s that everyone has a bit of grey around the lines they try to draw. Many people will say one thing for social duty and partake in another for their own personal desires.”
Zevan had mentioned wearing silver meant seeking a long-term relationship and that the orange meant interested in men. Phoenix wasn’t sure what emerald green meant, but it definitely made her curious to learn more about what Paul would have been seeking around the city.
It made her notice the more elaborate gold, copper, red, and blue woven wire band around the attendant’s own neck, and she wondered what those colors meant, too. She was about to ask when she felt a nudge from behind her, and Rayna asked, “Have you asked if anyone has seen the others?”
“We hadn’t gotten that far yet,” Phoenix explained before turning back to the attendant as an idea came to her, “Hey, um, would you maybe be up for trading stories? We’re looking for some of our friends that got separated from us during our travels here and we have a lot of first-hand war stories to help sort out rumors from facts.”
The attendant raised an eyebrow and asked, “How would I know you have facts over more rumors? Plenty of Adventurers and Hunters like to exaggerate their tales of heroic feats no matter where you go. How are your stories any different from theirs?”
Phoenix took a steadying breath and decided to take a tiny leap of faith and follow the others’ advice as she admitted loud enough for the whole group to hear, “Because I’m Phoenix Wayland, and the Blade of Pure Wrath is my adoptive father.”
The attendant’s eyes went as wide as dinner plates as he almost whispered, “You’re the Terror of the Tundra?”
Phoenix scrunched her face, “Seriously? How did that ridiculous title make it over here? I haven’t even heard that one before.”
“Is it true you annihilated entire forests with flaming meteors from the sky?” the blue-haired girl asked with an expression almost like awe.
“It was only a handful of trees, and I didn’t know they weren’t supposed to be damaged!” she replied indignantly. “I swear, people act like I’m some kind of tree-murderer with how hung up they get on that.”
“I heard you summoned a giant phoenix from another world to eat a flying city made of flowers,” another elf added, this one with a dark teal ponytail that seemed to glint in the light, who was wearing a blue and pink choker and had been quietly listening up to that point.
She blinked slowly at him a few times, trying to process exactly how that fantastical rumor could have even come into being before saying, “There is so much wrong with hints of truth in that statement that I don’t even know where to begin to unravel it.”
The attendant laughed at that and said, “Well, how about you describe your missing companions to me first so I can start asking around, and then you can recount the truths that were hinted at?”
“Yes, I’d love to hear the stories first-hand,” another elven girl said, this time with short, spiky, hot pink hair and a solid copper band around her throat inlaid with green jewels.
“Perhaps, after she’s bathed first, though, yes?” Blue-hair, said. Then gave a slightly apologetic smile, “I’m sure the smell from traveling isn’t helping you focus on the story either.”
Phoenix blushed and nodded, “That would be great, actually. I’ve been fighting monsters almost non-stop for the last few weeks, trying to get here after I got separated from everyone.”
“I’m looking forward to that tale as well,” the attendant said with another chuckle as he held out a pair of intricately engraved rune keys and held out his other hand, empty palm up, as he said, “That’ll be one Sapphire Mana Bit per night for the two rooms.”
Phoenix internally winced at that, knowing that the apartment her brother and Uriel had rented cost them only two Crystal Bits per month. Dazien was going to be furious with her if he ever found out, but she really hoped he eventually would.