Even after they’d gotten dressed again, in their freshly cleaned clothing, Hyi still looked slightly in shock. Illyxa decided then and there that Elves really were over dramatic as a people. She’d suspected it for some time, but acting so utterly scandalized by a good scrub down was just nonsense. Especially when N’ratha seemed quite happy with her bath, commenting cheerfully about how wonderful it was to have her scales so clean.

Illyxa also had nothing to complain about. She was thrilled to finally not have sand in her ginch again. Even if a desert-y city like they were in made it unlikely that would last long.

Heading out into the main lobby, they found Fuan waiting for them, his eyes mildly glazed over. 

“You hated it too, did you?” Illyxa said.

“I was quite thoroughly manhandled,” he muttered,turning to glare at her. “By an Orc.”

“You’re not sunburned anymore, I see,” she replied.

That got him to blink, looking down at himself to realise it was indeed the case.

Illyxa answered before he could ask the obvious question. “Healing balms. They mix them in with the soap. A good Orcish bath will have a steady supply of a wide range of balms to handle wounds, rashes, burns, and more. There’s usually also an alter to Glorz asking for healing somewhere in the building.”

Both Elves nodded slowly, processing the information. 

“I’m surprised you actually went in, though. With the whole ‘having to reveal you’re turned into a human’ thing,” she said.

Fuan sneared. “I feel I can trust no one I know to visit this… settlement, and so it is unlikely the rumour would get out. And I needed to bathe, thanks to you and that worm slime.”

“That was quite the thing,” Pin said, emerging from the gender neutral bathing area. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so clean… and there were some folks with quite interesting opinions on gender to talk to. I should have gone to one of these years ago.”

“Well, I’m glad we managed a 50% satisfaction rate for the first timers,” Illyxa replied with a grin.

“Oh, yes, I’ll definitely… where’s Madame Gragya?” he said, trailing off to look around.

“Where’s…” Illyxa looked around as well, realising that her cousin had indeed vanished. 

They were in a town, though. After weeks in the wilds. With Gragya having been tightly monitored during their brief stay at Mezora City. 

“I’m not completely sure where she is. I don’t know this town well enough. But I can certainly guess what she’s doing,” Illyxa said. “It will probably keep her busy until tomorrow, and… yeah, she didn’t grab too much coin, so I’ll leave her to it. We have our own concerns.”

“We do?” N’ratha asked.

“We’ll need to find an inn that will let two Elves stay at it. That might take a while,” Illyxa explained.

“I suppose one should not expect better of Orcs,” Fuan muttered, standing up.

Only to then realise that the clerk at the counter was glaring at him for having said it.

“Yeah, no, it’s the way you long lived jerks act that causes the problems, not just your heritage,” Illyxa muttered. “Otherwise I’d tell you to keep your hood down to make things go more smoothly.”

“Is there… is there any polymorph potion left?” Hyi asked in a quiet voice, causing both Illyxa and Fuan to spin to stare at her in shock.

“I… at this point I am willing to resort to extreme measures to guarantee having a bed to sleep in,” she explained.

“Huh… I appreciate the spirit, but, no. After that innkeeper ratted us out I never had time to bottle any of the potion,” Illyxa replied.

“It still surprises me that the innkeeper was the one who did us in,” N’ratha muttered. “Would have expected it to be the shady ship captain you were dealing with.”

“Nah. It’s the ‘respectable’ folks who tend to squeal first,” Illyxa said with a shrug. “At least when it comes to humans. Orcs and Goblins know to ignore things better. Anyway, let’s get going. The later in the day we book the room the more they’ll probably charge us.”

With that, they set off. The town wasn’t overly large in area. The outcrop it was on measured barely more than a league at the widest point, and there needed to be warehouses and similar infrastructure to support the travelling merchants. To make up for that the residents had built up over the years. Rooftops had been turned into gardens and plazas. Only to then be connected by bridges. Which were in turn busy enough to start inspiring people to build shops and homes on that level.

It was a wonder the walls and foundations of the original buildings would withstand all the weight pressing down on them.

Occasionally there were vertical districts that looked newer and built in one go that left Illyxa suspecting that sometimes the buildings did fail. But it might have just been remodeling when folks came into money. That was certainly the nicer explanation.

---

Finding an inn did not take long, the whole town being oriented towards travellers. Finding an inn where they managed to book a room before Fuan could offend the clerks or other staff, however, was a more difficult process. At least at an establishment that wasn’t grungy enough to cause Hyi to make an involuntary high pitched (though, mercifully quiet) whining noise as soon as they entered the building.

In the end Illyxa resorted to silver sticky fabric to stop Fuan from talking. It was extreme, but it worked. A number of Goblin mages she passed seem to have their eyes sparkle with delight as they learned a new use for that magical substance that Goblins used to repair everything and anything.

With that magical intervention, Fuan was indeed able to stay silent long enough for her to negotiate prices for a day or two, renting one largish room.

Once they arrived in the room, which was on a lower level of the city and so rather dark, Hyi wandered over and passed out in one of the hammocks. Illyxa cracked the window covers open, and was glad to find that the actual windows were rather smaller than the internal shutters tried to make them seem.

“Alright. Fuan, you should be safe in here with just the lovebirds watching you,” she said. “That makes my life easier.”

The cursed Elf took the chance to rip the sticky silver substance from his mouth, which was followed by a shout of pain. 

“Where will you be going now?” he managed, after getting over the pain.

“To hire a sand skate, obviously. Though I’d also like to make sure there aren’t any other odd rumours about what the Dragons have been up to out in the Waste.”

“That seems sensible enough to me,” N’ratha said.

“Very well. Whatever gets me out of this Orc infested town first,” Fuan muttered, trudging over to a hammock to lay down and pout.

Illyxa turned to N’ratha and Pin. “I give you full permission to keep him in this room by any non-lethal means you can think of.”

“Understood,” Pin replied, with admirable enthusiasm.

It seemed, perhaps, he was warming to Orcish society.

---

Illyxa’s efforts to gather information that day were of mixed success. She found the bar where most of the for hire skate riders were found, but then discovered the prices were rather higher than she liked. She knew a Champion of the Coliseums could get a better deal there, though. So she would come back the next day with Gragya.

Instead she moved on to other useful things. Wide straw hats and light flowing ponchos were an essential for crossing the sands. Thankfully the sizing on them was not overly sensitive, so she didn’t need to drag Fuan out of the inn to get his measurements. She just gave rough heights and the merchant from the clothiers’ guild rented her the equipment. There was a light magical contract involved so that she’d promise to return the outfits to a clothier on the other end of the journey to be rented again, but she had no intention of breaking the promise so the threat of punishment did little to unnerve her. 

She carried the bundles of clothing back to the inn and had the others try them on, just to be safe. Everything fit well enough. 

Illyxa then prepared to head off to get food, while the others asked questions about where Gragya was. 

“She’s fine,” Illyxa muttered. “If she wasn’t we’d have noticed the property damage happening.”

“But what is she doing?” Hyi asked.

“Being creative, I’ll guess,” Illyxa replied. “She does generally prefer shorter girls than her, and most women here are Orcs. Plus the Trolls, Ogres, and Oni. So she’ll have a harder time of things.”

Hyi tilted her head in confusion. Illyxa decided to ignore her and go get some grub. Both for dinner and for the trip. The latter would have been too much for her regularly, but she gathered up the party’s magical bags and felt she could handle it.

---

The next morning, however, Gragya did not appear. That made Illyxa mildly concerned. She’d expected her cousin to stumble in some time roughly around dawn, needing to sleep but otherwise being fine.

Debating the options, Illyxa decided the meathead having gotten herself into serious trouble that she couldn’t handle was minimal, but non-zero. If the threat was an attractive woman in a low cut top it was entirely possible such a woman could get the drop on Gragya before she realised her safe-word wasn’t working.

Still, the more likely cause was Gragya falling for the old ‘stay put and let them find you’ strategy for when one was lost. So Illyxa ordered everyone to keep Fuan in place and headed out. Heading down a level, she found the cheaper brothels. The ones she hoped Gragya would visit, to waste less of their money.

Asking around, however, no one had been certain they’d seen her. Even though several folks had implied money might warm their memories… but then smartened up when Illyxa pointed out a fireball would follow if their memory wasn’t worth her money.

Moving to a better part of town, she finally found someone who remembered a redhead Gorc with a champion’s tattoo, but had seen her heading into an adventurers’ tavern. An eyebrow raised, Illyxa headed in, finding a few goblins cleaning a currently largely empty tavern.

“Hello,” Illyxa said to the nearest waitress, glad she had some folks around her height to talk to. 

Talking to all those Orcs and Ogres hurt her neck.

“Heyo,” the woman replied, pausing from her sweeping. “How can I help ya?”

“I’m looking for my cousin. Apparently someone saw her entering this fine grubbery.”

“We do get lots of Goblins,” the waitress said with a shrug.

“My cousin takes after her mother’s side of the family, actually. A Gorc who’s almost tall enough to be mistaken for an Orc. Has red hair, long and pulled into a ponytail, but with the sides shaved.”

“Oh! The gladiatrix gal?”

Illyxa nodded.

“Ah. Yeah. She caused a little bit of a fuss yesterday. We saw her stroll up to an all female adventuring party, clearly looking ready to flirt. It was a bit slow at the time, so we were bored, and a couple of us placed bets on who she was going to head up to a room with,” the waitress explained. “But, well… then they all went up together. No one knew what that meant for our bets.”

“That is definitely her,” Illyxa muttered. “Do you know which room?”

“Third on your left, two floors up. That’s the one that party rented out.”

“Thanks!” Illyxa said, before pulling out a few fresh and clean coins to give the waitress.

Because, sure, other peoples insisted coins were coins, even if they were dirty, but Goblins only wanted them if they were polished.

She then headed up, scrambling up the stairs. Since Goblins always scurry up tallfolk stairs, due to their size. That was also true of reptilian Kobolds. Halflets and canine Kobolds more tended to ‘clambour’. Or tried to do something more dignified.

Goblins did not care for dignity, though. Scurrying was fun.

The door in question proved easy enough to find. It was closed, but not properly locked. Clearly the girls had been slightly drunk when they’d gone in. Or otherwise excited.

“Yo! Cuz!” Illyxa announced, strolling in.

Four women shrieked, pulling sheets around themselves in an attempt to preserve modesty. The middle of the room was dominated by the various beds having been nudged together, though only three of the women were on it. The fourth, whom Illyxa realised with an unpleasant sinking in her gut, was a Naga who had been lying along the ground. The other three were a goblin, a human, and (to Illyxa’s surprise) a troll.

“Just here for Gragya, ladies,” Illyxa said.

Her cousin then sat up, having apparently been laying in the middle of the bed, a tangle of sheets draped over her as she sleepily blinked and looked around. She then noticed Illyxa and gave a tired wave.

“C’mon, cuz. I need you and your champion status to negotiate some better prices.”

Gragya started to open her mouth to reply, before wincing and rubbing her jaw. Illyxa’s eyes drifted to see the flustered glow on the other women and realised what had happened.

“Don’t worry, you don’t have to talk. Just stand there and look heroic.”

Gragya gestured to the women, a slightly pleading look in her eyes.

“We’re burning money the longer we stay here,” Illyxa said, which resulted in more sad eyes from Gragya. “Oh, come on. You’re not that invested. Do you ever remember all their names?”

Panic flashed in Gragya’s eyes, before there was a rush of inspiration and she nodded.

“Ah. Because you can’t talk, we can't prove you don’t know their names. Is that it?” Illyxa replied.

Gragya’s eyes danced about evasively.

“Just get dressed,” Illyxa said, before heading back into the hallway.

She went downstairs to the tavern and found a waitress. After a bit of confusion over what she meant, she successfully ordered one large small beer. When Gragya finally came down the stairs (with severe bedhead and her clothes not quite sitting right) Illyxa pushed the beer into her hands.

“You obviously need fuel. And there’s no way you’re going to manage to actually eat anything for a while after what you were up to,” Illyxa said.

Her cousin nodded. She still winced slightly when she opened her jaw to drink, but was able to manage it and downed the tankard fairly quickly.

Once she was done, Illyxa dragged her off towards the docks. Standing around, lurking silently and trying not to rub her jaw when anyone was looking, Gragya’s champion tattoo earned some respect from the various pilots. In the end it was a male Gorc who offered the best price. He apparently somewhat idolized Gragya, as the only living Gorc to emerge a champion from the arenas.

The next stage of the mission was getting Fuan out of the inn and down to the docks without any fights. Thankfully he was pouting still and so didn’t have anything much to say. 

Soon enough they were setting off, all dressed in their wide hats and loose clothing, ready to handle the tropical desert sun. Hyi and the pilot ended up hitting it off surprisingly well as he introduced everyone to the skate. The way the Elven priestess seemed to giggle at his lame jokes regarding skate riding safety made Illyxa roll her eyes while Gragya and Fuan both glared at the man when he wasn’t looking. For differing reasons, though.

As they rode, Illyxa figured Gragya could probably manage to talk again. So she decided to strike up a conversation.

“I appreciate that you went with your charms instead of our coins last night.”

“You were watching your coin purse too closely for me to grab any,” Gragya mumbled, not moving her jaw much.

“Ah,” Illyxa replied, disappointed. “Still I hope those girls left you fairly satisfied for the rest of our little quest.”

“Depending how long it is.”

“Fair,” Illyxa said, looking out at the sands zipping past. 

At least they were likely to reach a friendly port due south of the Moon Palace in just a couple of days. Though she didn’t feel ready to be truly optimistic about it. Not after how everything else had gone.