The matters at the bank dealt with, Illyxa headed down towards the piers, where the water taxis landed. She watched the comings and goings from a shaded alleyway, waiting for Gragya’s party to arrive. She was starting to get a little impatient when she finally spotted them unloading from a small boat. Hyi paid the man, and then the trio made their way onto dry land. 

Illyxa got to her feet, and waited for the three of them to approach, then popped out of the alleyway, walking past and handing Pin a small piece of paper with the name of the inn on it.

She’d chosen Pin as she wasn’t sure Hyi would have the reflexes to grab the paper, while she suspected Gragya might get the foolish idea to try to talk to her and blow their whole cover.

Instead of stopping, she continued off, heading along the waterfront for a stretch. She did want to get an idea of how many ships were coming and going. She was left more than a little annoyed to see a lack of passengers waiting around on the docks. Everything was cargo and crews moving cargo. Cranes, giants, and the more beastly sorts of dragons were carrying crates around, filling places that used to be ferry docks. Which meant they were probably going to have to pay a premium to get passage. The docks were also crawling with soldiers, the banner of the prince waving all about from the various small detachments. 

While she knew they were there to keep the peace between crews loyal to the differing sides of the war, they were also going to be an issue for trying to smuggle the party out.

She decided it was better to try to make contacts in taverns, away from the watchful eyes of the authorities, and so turned around to head back to the inn.

The walk was fairly quick, no part of this docks district more than a fifteen or so minute walk from the port itself. She was ready to head back to the room and rest her feet a little when she walked into the inn, only to find herself slightly distracted by the discussion at the front desk.

“I can’t believe you’d think we’re troublesome adventurers,” Gragya was saying, in a slightly too dramatic tone. 

“One does not see many Orc-Elf marriages,” the clerk replied, as Illyxa tried to find something to do while listening.

She wasn’t sure she could tear herself away from this mess. Morbid curiosity at how bad Gragya’s acting was going to be was a powerful force. Yet she didn’t want to be seen as too invested in what was supposed to be the affairs of strangers. She looked round at what was in the foyer, to try to find a valid reason to linger.

“So your establishment discriminates against inter-peoples couples?” Gragya asked, still engaged in somewhat poor acting.

“There is also the fact that your ‘son’ appears to be an adult Halflet… and probably a gir—”

“He’s adopted,” Hyi squeaked, sounding deeply stressed out by this plan.

“And tall for his age,” Gragya added in a boasting tone. “Orcish food has helped him grow good and strong. He still has a couple of years before he’s an adult, though.”

“A—a couple of years?” Hyi yelped. “He’s barely more than a decade and a half! I know your other peoples grow faster, but surely that’s still but a child?”

“Dear, we’ve been over this, nineteen is more than old enough for a Halflet to be an adult,” Gragya countered.

“Please let me have my own room,” Pin added, in a voice that sounded quite exactly like an exhausted teenager. Proving he was the one member of the trio with actual acting chops.

Illyxa glanced over from the tourist brochures at the entrance to see the clerk’s eye twitching. 

“F—fine. Fine. I believe you’re a family.”

“Good!” Gragya said, crossing her arms. “Though I still have half a mind to complain to the local guild about this discrimination. Just because we’re a mixed lesbian couple who had to adopt…”

“P—please… take an extra room for your… son, free of charge,” the man said, pulling two keys out.

Gragya spent a moment staring at the keys, before nodding. “Acceptable.”

She then snatched them, handing one to Pin, and the trio marched upstairs. Once they were out of sight, the clerk collapsed against the counter. She almost pitied him, but he had seemed a bit too judgemental of the idea of a mixed marriage, so she found he didn’t quite reach her compassion. 

She decided to risk talking to him, though. To give a cover for why she’d been so nosy.

“Takes all kinds, huh?”

The man looked at her with tired eyes.

“Still, they didn’t seem dangerous. Makes my job as a bodyguard less stressful,” she added, before heading upstairs. 

The level with the bulk of the rooms was rather quiet. Not many respectable folks were travelling these days. At least not into Mezora’s capital region, the most likely place to see stray conflicts and clashes at this stage of the war.

Illyxa found the two open doors, left by Gragya, Hyi, and Pin. She then hurried back to the room with Fuan and N’ratha, knocking lightly, so that the half dragon opened up.

“They’re here. Let’s go over and talk about our plans,” she said, her voice still quiet.

N’ratha nodded, then gestured into the room, calling Fuan over. The pair followed Illyxa to the room where the others were currently all gathered. Once Fuan had shut the door, Illyxa took the moment to speak.

“So, I’ll guess that little skit was Pin’s idea?”

“I merely suggested we needed a cover story,” the pink haired Halflet replied, perched up on the bed. “It was Gragya’s idea to try to claim we were a family… it was a stretch, but I didn’t have a better plan off the top of my head.”

“It worked,” Gragya said, sounding rather proud of herself. “Though it probably would have been easier with some polymorph magi—wait. Why didn’t we use polymorph magic on N’ratha? It would have made smuggling her in so much easier.”

“Half dragons are immune to transformation magic,” N’ratha said. “Useful if a witch is trying to turn you into a frog. Rather… less useful when you need a disguise.”

“I thought polymorphing was illusion magic, not transformation magic?” Gragya asked.

“No, no. While the effects are only superficial, it’s still a physical transformation,” Illyxa replied. “You need that to change heights properly, if you’re going from a small folk to a tall folk.”

Gragya nodded slowly, processing that information. She’d never been the best student of all things magical, so she’d been a bit clueless on the specifics. She had a reasonably good memory for what she did learn, however. Which was good for Illyxa’s stress levels, not getting asked the same questions over and over, as she’d faced with some other muscle she’d hired before Gragya had joined her on adventuring.

“Would it help us hide Pin, though?” Gragya asked. “I know he’s not the main focus, but we’ve kept him and N’ratha apart for a reason.”

Illyxa blinked, feeling more than a little embarrassed she hadn’t thought of that. “Well, uh… we didn’t have the ingredients for a polymorph potion at the time, but… we should go grab the ingredients for leaving.”

“Um… I can’t really change much and be useful,” Pin said.

“Pardon?” Illyxa asked.

“Well, if I’m going to be of help in the case of an emergency, I need to use my lute. I can’t play it right if my hands change sizes, so I can’t really turn into a dwarf or any sort of tall folk,” he explained.

“Makes sense,” Fuan muttered, not sounding overly invested in the conversation at hand. Not that he seemed to care about anything not directly connected with getting to the Moon Goddess’ palace.

“And then… well, both types of Kobolds have claws. Which… I don’t know how well that would work out for trying to pluck the strings,” he added. “So, there’s not many other options.”

Illyxa nodded. “Mhm… I guess we’ll find out if you make a decent Goblin or not.”

Pin blinked, staring at her. It seemed that he’d managed to forget about that option. “Are you… are you sure that’s safe? You know how to avoid trouble, but I do not know how to handle the… undue discrimination goblins face.”

“Don’t worry. With me and Gragya at your sides, you’ll be fine,” Illyxa replied. 

It looked like he was still trying to hunt for excuses to not want to be turned into a (facsimile of a) Goblin, which annoyed Illyxa, but she had other matters to attend to.

“Until we have passage out of here and a potion for Pin, both he and N’ratha should stay in their rooms in the inn. Fuan, you can either stay in with N’ratha, who can probably protect you, or follow me to the taverns. I’ll be trying to negotiate our way out of this city. Gragya and Hyi… it’s a bit late for shopping, but tomorrow, you two can go get the supplies.”

“I think I would prefer to stay in tonight,” Fuan said. “Dealing with rowdy drunken sailors does not sound enjoyable.”

Illyxa barely swallowed the urge to hiss at him, settling for baring her teeth. It wasn’t like she wanted to do it either. She was just trying to get him to his destination.

Annoyingly, he ignored her, heading back into the hallway towards the room the trio were sharing. N’ratha was a bit slower to leave, taking a moment to crouch down and share a quick kiss with Pin, then she headed off. The small bard was also leaving when Illyxa felt a tug on her cape.

Turning, she saw a rather nervous looking Hyi holding onto it.

“Yes?” Illyxa asked, in a flat tone.

“Um, well… there’s just one little thing,” the elven woman mumbled.

Illyxa waited.

“The, um… because of our cover story… we… the clerk gave us a room wi—with just—with just the one bed,” Hyi said, looking utterly frazzled.

Illyxa leaned, to look at the bed behind her. “Looks like a two person bed. Maybe even with room to spare… what’s the problem?”

“W—well… Miss Gragya is a… she likes… her tastes are…”

“I am perfectly capable of keeping my hands to myself,” Gragya said, looking up from digging through her pack for something.

“I—yes. I know… but… isn’t it awkward for you?” Hyi asked. “I certainly know I would be quite frazzled to share a bed with a handsome man.”

For her part, Gragya shrugged. “You’re not bad looking or anything, but I don’t exactly have a crush.”

“You—but then why were you flirting so much when we first left the Jurgavian mountains?” Hyi asked, clearly both alarmed and confused.

“Because she’s a horndog and you were the closest unrelated girl with a pulse,” Illyxa muttered.

“I am not a horndog,” Gragya protested. “I simply have a healthy interest in physical intimacy.”

“Are you implying I’m unhealthy?” Illyxa asked.

Gragya had her turn to blush. “N—no… you… you have a healthy disinterest in physical intimacy.”

She’d offered that last bit with a strained smile that Illyxa struggled not to laugh at.

“Fair enough. Well, if you two find it awkward enough, you can sleep in opposite directions… but I’m not sure you want to smell Gragya’s feet all night,” Illyxa said, starting to leave.

“I’m not sure that would be a less indecent angle, the mechanics considered,” Gragya replied absently.

That got a shocked splutter out of Hyi, but Illyxa left out of earshot before she could hear the rest. She wasn’t overly curious about where it went, though she did have to smile at the thought of the Elven priestess turning incandescent with fluster.

Heading out of the inn, it didn’t take long for questions of ‘where would a gal get a drink?’ to lead her towards the main stretch of taverns and pubs. It generally took only a cursory glance to tell which establishments were filled with mercenaries, which had been taken over by Alliance loyal sailors, and which were filled with the more Dragon friendly end of things. 

Since they were travelling with two Elves, Illyxa didn’t want to go for anyone too official looking on the draconic end. She was, in a way, glad for the war tonight, since she could loudly grumble about it and gauge opinions of sailors and crews around her.

Most, likely due to how early in the war they were, replied happily with the idea of a quick and decisive victory. Cheering when folks declared they needed to burn the whole Alliance down. She wasn’t exactly disappointed by the sentiment, having had similar feelings many times herself, but it wasn’t great news for her current efforts.

She’d gotten tired enough for the bar hopping to decide to actually nurse a drink for a bit when a woman approached her table.

“I didn’t expect to see a Goblin to look so disappointed about the idea of burning Dwarven cities,” the woman said, sitting down without asking.

Rude, in Illyxa’s opinion, but it was to be expected when you looked at her. She had silvery hair, slightly pointed ears, pale and greyish skin, and slightly reptilian looking ice blue eyes. All of which added up to make it rather clear she was either a Silver or a White dragon in human form.

“I’ve got business ventures currently tied up with them,” Illyxa replied. “I don’t mind seeing them lose, but would prefer not to see them burnt to a crisp until I’ve gotten my money.”

The draconic woman nodded. “Reasonable enough… yet there must be a reason you’re visiting taverns filled with draconic aligned crews. I just wonder, is it people or products you’re looking to have smuggled?”

“Who said anything about smuggling? Maybe I’m looking for perfectly above board shipping options,” Illyxa replied.

The dragon smiled a predatory sort of grin. “Maybe you are...”

She held the smile long enough to be a bit annoying.

“Alright, if you really must know, I’ve got a couple of idiots who want to visit the Palace of the Moon Goddess for worship purposes, which… for reasons only the gods know, is still located at the back end of Dragon Country. I’m just trying to get them there in one piece… or, two pieces, since there’s two of them,” Illyxa replied, before taking a small swig of her light beer. “They get there, I get paid, and then I hope they’ll realise they need to pay me more to get back.”

“Ah… you know, I might just have some connections that could help you,” the woman replied.