“Those who think that only violence and harsh words can hurt someone are but fools.” - Old folk saying.

“Well then, Madams, I thank you once again for your help during the trip. The songs at night were most appreciated as well,” said the Merchant politely as the caravan stopped before a trading house in Oajib less than a week after the talk at dinner. The merchant would do their business in the city then continue eastwards into Assadun, while Aideen’s trio would disembark in the city. “Once again, if you find yourself in need of further transportation, the offer I had previously pledged stands as long as we are still in town.”

“Many thanks, good sir,” replied Kino with a polite nod. The merchant had previously offered to take the three further to Assadun if they wished for it, no additional fees needed, and had made it clear that the offer would stand as long as he was still in the city. It was another rare stroke of kindness, much less from merchants who were typically mostly concerned with profit and little else.

After they disembarked from the caravan and parted amicably with the merchant, Aideen allowed Kino to lead the way. After all, technically she was only there to “supervise” the two youngsters, and wouldn’t interfere unless it was an emergency. Besides, both Kino and Eilonwy were clever and had learned well from their seniors in the Death’s Hands.

“So, first order of business?” queried Eilonwy in a voice too quiet to be heard by anyone other than Aideen or Kino. Not that it would have mattered much, since Eilonwy also used the Death’s Hand cant to say the words, something that only members of the organization would even understand. Either way, Aideen approved the precautions the girl took.

“Hit up our local asset? See if there’s any leads where we’re better suited to deal with it than them?” replied Kino in the same cant. The Death’s Hands was an old organization, and as such, had their agents placed in practically every major city. Some of those agents would remain in those cities for the long term, often building a life there while allowing their place – and assets – to be used by traveling agents.

Naturally, traveling agents can risk more since they were not staying in the place for the long term, which would make certain tasks far more suitable for them compared to the long-term sleeper agents who had blended in with the local society. There were times when the Death’s Hands had to extract their sleeper agents, but those occasions were a rarity at best.

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By happenstance, the local asset in Oajib runs a mercantile house not too far from where they disembarked, since most of the larger merchant houses in the city opened their business in the same area. As such, the three of them chose to simply walk the relatively short distance towards the trading house operated by said local asset.

As they walked through the streets of Oajib, Kino quickly came to notice the glares leveled their way by quite a few of the locals. At first, she wondered about the possible causes of the hostile glares. One possibility was how Kino and Eilonwy were noticeably not human, whereas most of the populace of Oajib seemed to be humans, with people from the other races rarely seen.

Eilonwy was three-quarters an elf by blood, so her elvish features were too noticeable to hide, unlike her parents who, being half elves, could pass for humans if they covered their pointed ears. In Eilonwy’s case however, there was no hiding her two meter height and long limbs, which would be noticeable even if she covered up more.

Similarly, Kino had not worn any sort of head covering, so her furry ears were out in plain sight. Her traveling cloak was also short enough that her bushy tail peeked out from beneath it, easily visible from behind. As such it would be easy for most anyone to identify the two of them as something other than human.

Another thought that came to Kino’s mind was that they were probably considered underdressed by the local standards. All three of them wore typical traveling clothes, tunics and trousers which were easy to move in and cloaks to protect themselves from the elements. Compared to what the local womenfolk wore, however, their clothing was probably considered immodest in Oajib.

The womenfolk there practically covered themselves from head to toe in fabric, with only their eyes and hands exposed. Some even covered their hands with long, oversized sleeves and only touched things through those sleeves. The way they dressed even made Kino wonder how they were supposed to do most activities in such restrictive clothing.

That was when Aideen chimed in from behind them with a history lesson.

“As you two can see, the people in Oajib here still adhered to what they considered the traditional ways of the region. They’re one of the few such groups remaining after the dwarves arrived long ago and formed the Caliphate,” said Aideen as she lightly gestured to encompass the populace of the city. “Because the dwarves consider treating women like shit to be abhorrently idiotic and nixed all that bullshit in their sphere of power right away.”

“This place sure doesn’t look like a pleasant place to live,” commented Eilonwy with a nod.

“It’s pleasant enough if you’re a man, I guess, and some might even find the values they preach here to be attractive,” replied Aideen. “For the most part though, this sultanate is a pretty shitty place for shitty people, which remained that way because the shitty people kept congregating here in the end. It’s not our business to change their way of life, though. We’re not that free.”

“Right, we have tasks to perform,” noted Kino upon hearing Aideen’s words.

“Quite so. We’re going to attract attention here one way or another, so it might be best if we take extra care to disassociate any action we’ll be taking from our known identities. That would spare us quite a bit of trouble, and we don’t want to burden our local assets too much either,” said Aideen. “After all, unlike us, they still have to live here.”