He handed her one, assuring her that, “I’ll make sure your lady friend gets the other key to number four. The rooms are just up the stairs and down the hall, can’t miss it. The bath has its own heating crystal and water transmuter, so all you’ve got to do is adjust the temperature dial. Now if you don’t mind, I’ve got an inn to run.”

Zelsys smiled back at him and walked off, having just now realized something. There were no workers in the kitchen. In fact, as she walked out, she caught the rest of the kitchen out of the corner of her eye - it resembled a cross between a kitchen and an alchemy lab, she even saw a marble slate with a glyph in its center, raw fish arranged across it much like sacrifices.

The barkeep flitted past her as she left, and just when he thought she was out of earshot, she heard him pick up a knife and near-silently utter, “Culinary Arts: Fivefold Flash--fillet!”

The sound of steel cutting flesh rang out many times over, and by then, she was truly out of earshot. High-quality food, rooms with bathtubs, and an owner as skilled in the culinary arts as any warrior was in martial arts. This didn’t seem like an inn that belonged in a war-struck town on the edge of the Exclusion Zone.

In fact, Willowdale as a whole just didn’t fit that template. Even with the wounds of war marring the town and its population in equal measure, it just… Didn’t feel bleak, at all. Zelsys only hoped that there wasn’t some sordid underground hiding beneath the surface, that Willowdale truly was just a pleasant town recovering from the crossfire of the war.

Zelsys made her way through the tavern and up the stairs, taking a brief stop at their table to down a mug of ale and speak with the two deserters who were present. “I’ve handled accomodations for the night, barkeep should get you your room keys soon,” she said to them after she downed the remains of her ale in one go. They each gave a nod, Sigmund returning to his quiet rumination whilst Zefaris looked off into the middle-distance, rather unsubtly waiting for Zelsys to walk away. She took her time, filling the mug again and downing its contents in a long gulp. The hoppy sweetness of the ale hadn’t gotten old yet, and she wagered she wouldn’t get tired of it any time soon.

However, drink wasn’t the center of her attention. She wanted to bathe, and so made her way up the staircase, grinning as she tried not to exaggerate the swing in her hips to a degree that Zefaris would notice as intentional. The wood creaked beneath her weight, the staircase being relatively short. At its top was a long hallway, windows on its left side overlooking the roofs of the many single-floor buildings whilst its right was lined by robust wooden doors with equally robust solid brass locks.