We left the drab Guild-building and crossed the road to get to the inn, an inn that seemed just as cheerful and happy as the rest of the city, grey stone without even a dash of colour in sight. The inside was a lot better -, it was pretty much what I had expected from the common room of an inn. Long wooden tables with benches, a wide stone hearth with a happily dancing fire and a bar behind which the innkeeper, or in this case, innkeepress, stood, waiting for customers. It was afternoon, so the common room was pretty empty, with only two people sitting around, nursing their drinks.

Adra walked up the her, as I had moved back into Sigmir’s shadow when we were leaving the Guild and spoke up.

“Good Afternoon, we are looking for a place for the night. The Guild-clerk recommended for us to come here, so we thought to check it out.”

“Ah, my husband sent you? Sure, there is room, either you can bed down in the bunk-room or you can take one of the private rooms. Three people?” the innkeepress answered, forcing me to suppress a giggle. She was on the small side, not just for a troll but in general, about level with Adra and only slightly wider. Imagining her with her husband was a mental image that was either scary or hilarious, depending on your point of view. But I should not judge, my own situation was far too similar for that.

“No, there are four of us.” I spoke up, stepping out of Sigmir’s shadow. She blinked a little in surprise but that short look of surprise was all there was before she regarded me with a friendly smile, as if it was an everyday occurrence that people literally stepped out of another person’s shadow.

“Of course. As I said, you can either get a room for two silver each night or the four of you can go into the bunk-room and pay one silver all together.” she explained and now, it was my turn to be surprised. The inn here was vastly better than the one in Yaksha but the prices were lower. My surprise must have shown on my face, as she laughed and explained.

“I don’t keep this inn to make a profit, Lagor and I made more gold than we could spent before we settled down but going from roaming adventurer to a life of idle pleasure almost drove us insane, so we both wanted to keep our toe in the game. He became Guildmaster and I got myself an inn, specialised in the adventurer trade. Part of the payment is that I get to listen to all the stories that adventurers spin in my common room.”

“Dear, I never asked, how much did Saya pay us in the end?” I asked Sigmir. It had just slipped my mind, with the pitchfork-wielding mob and its aftermath.

“We are good, if you want to splurge on individual rooms.” she answered, smiling a little.

“Saya? How is the old goat?” the innkeepress cut in.

“Last we saw her, she was good. You know her?” I asked, curious about the connection.

“Sure, Saya was travelling with Lagor and me. She’s a good friend.” she explained. That made me just more curious.

“Do you mind if I Observe you? Or is it impolite to ask that?” I asked, not sure about the etiquette in that particular situation.

“It is a little but I don’t mind to just tell you. I’m Drega, a level 112 Wintertroll-Hag, a priestess of Frigg, if you are really curious.” she answered, an answer that just changed my curiosity from being curious about her in particular to being curious about Divine Magic in general. I knew how I used magic but I was unsure how Clerics and Priests did it.

“Greetings, Drega, my name is Morgana, I’m a level 57 Firnelf, a Traveller and a Sorceress.” I introduced myself, causing the others to follow suit.

“That you are a Traveller was rather obvious, but a Sorceress? Those are rare, and for good reason.”

“There is a reason?” I asked, interested in the reason.

“You can’t train to be a Sorcerer, most children are trained before they ever get their class and the training influences what they are. Not with Sorcerers, at least not that I know of. Not that there's anything wrong with being one, it is just rare. But back to your rooms, I have a feeling that you are prone to go off tangents if we don’t get our business done first.” Drega said with a smile. Not that she had a lot of room to talk, her question had send us on the original tangent.

“Two rooms, one with two beds, the other with one larger bed, if you have it. If not, then a smaller bed in the second one will be just fine.” I told her, feeling Sigmir’s arm wrap around me in a possessive gesture. Not that I minded, I just snuggled in a little, enjoying her closeness.

“Oh, and how much are baths? Do you have a tub?” I asked, hoping almost against hope that it wouldn’t be too expensive.

“If you promise to sit with me in the evening and indulge my curiosity, telling me of your travels, then you can use the bathing chamber, right now before it gets hectic. We have running water and there is a magic circle on the tub to heat it, you just have to power it.” she gave an answer that almost made me give her a hug. Bathing was not as necessary for cleanliness and hygiene, thanks to the spell from the Grandmother’s spellbook that allowed me to clean people and clothes but still, there was something about bathing that added another, psychological feeling of cleanliness to it that I craved.

“Deal, I’ll be happy to talk. Sigmir, dear, do you want to wash my back?” I agreed happily and my question caused laughter all around, even as Rai blushed cherry-red.

Sigmir, in turn had a wide smile, squeezing me a little while nodding. That, in turn, caused Drega to laugh even more and first guide us to two rooms, one small but with a huge bed, quite obviously made for a troll, the other with two smaller beds but more floor-space. Lenore and Ylva decided that they had no need to witness what happened between Sigmir and me in the bath so they decided to wait in the smaller room after we checked back with Drega.

Rai and Adra decided that while Sigmir and I were in the bath, they would head out and explore the city, looking at the various stores.

Finally, Sigmir and I were shown into the bath. It was not as sophisticated as the one in Kallista’s house, back in Neyto, but it was nice nonetheless, a wide, stone-tub with a tube for water at one side and a closed drain on the other. Drega demonstrated how to use the tube to let water flow in and where the magic formation was to heat it.

Powering the formation was quite simple, it just took some power. At that point, we ran into a small problem, I had let Sigmir check the water temperature in the tub while powering the magic and the temperature that was comfortable for her, was scalding hot for me. But a little discomfort was not enough to stop me from enjoying a bath with her, even if I had to grit my teeth at first. After a few minutes, I got used to it but still, it was far from comfortable.

Despite me, having to hide my discomfort, Sigmir and I managed to have fun in the bath, sharing the simple joys of washing each other and being clean. We also managed to have other types of fun, emboldened by a mix of trust into the thickness of the walls and a disregard for people possibly hearing us, allowing us to enjoy each others cleaned body in a myriad of ways.

But all fun had to come to an end, so after we were managed to get clean, get dirty and get clean again, we went to dry off and left the bathing chamber behind.

After getting Lenore and Ylva, we went back in the common room, where things had changed quite a bit. Before, there had been two people, listlessly staring into their mugs, now, the room was filled with talk and laughter, a large cauldron was hanging over the fire, even a bard had set up in a corner.

What I found interesting, was that everyone in the room gave me a feeling of strength, making me realise that everyone was an adventurer. My previous exposure made me a little leery, wondering if a huge brawl would break out, but Adra and Rai, who had arrived earlier than Sigmir and I were happily sitting at a table, chatting with a rough looking fellow, so we went to join them.