Pointy, medium-length ears with skin gradating to black towards the tips, making them look charred, twitch every now and then, attuning themselves to slight incoming sounds. A half-elf with white hair braided in two pigtails is standing with an expressionless face by a low, rackety table inside a tall tent housing a stash of crates, barrels and numerous pieces of plate armor and blades, all bearing signs of use and piled up chaotically at the sides of the entrance.

「Nah can't tell ya more than that, Xlara. Gotta keep em' secrets to myself or some heads will be rolling ((burp)),」 a bearded fat dwarf says, sitting back on several violet-colored pillows while drinking from an oversized jug.

Several barrels of beer are stacked to his sides, one of them with a tap hammered in. On the table, a thick book of receipts lays open, its yellowed pages showing signs of having had a beer mug set on them. To its side lies a long, wooden smoking pipe, its high craftsmanship, and decorations contrasting with the shabby quality of the table.

His visitor's expression remains unchanged as the dwarf lazily looks at her, then past her, then back at her. She's wearing a black cloak covering most of her body, with a slight indication of skin tight pants showing around her uncloaked ankles.

「You see, Xlara,」 he begins again, then takes a long pause to lean forward into a sitting pose so that his stubby hands can put the beer down and reach for the pipe. 「You see,」 he begins again, but pauses once more while he checks the amount of tobacco let inside. 「I cannot...」 he reaches to his side to pull a device made out of two rough stones surrounded by pieces of metal with unknown heraldry on them.

He squeezes it on one end and the two stones collide, sending sparks flying. 「I cannot risk it... Not in this...」 he puts the end of the pipe in his mouth and attempts to light it by repeatedly clicking the lighter. 「... state... of things... There's more... shady... things... damn it!... been happenin'... around...」

Xlara suddenly moves, her leg jutting from underneath the cloak as she puts her foot, clad in a light leather boot on the table, causing the dwarf to jump back, dropping his pipe and landing on the pillows.

「I-i mean it! I don't have anything else for ya! Ya know I'm the best watcher around!」 the dwarf looks around in panic, sweating and trembling, as if searching for something.

Two big, stumpy-looking male heads pop inside the tent while glaring menacingly.

「Everythin' 'aight?」 one of them asks.

The dwarf nervously gestures at them, trying to send both away.

「It's okay, boys, I was just telling our guest that I can't help her with her troubles,」 He looks back at Xlara, who is piercing him with her eyes, and says 「Let us all settle down...」

Trying to compose himself, the dwarf takes a long breath and exhales, which causes his rotund belly to wobble.

「If she new aroun' here... She would have 'ta first pass the other watchers on the way out... I think they would at least know where she comes from... if she a regular...」 he slowly attempts to piece his sentences together, as if choking on words.

Xlara measures him up for a moment more, then puts her foot back down and turns around in a swift motion before heading for the exit, leaving the dwarf with a relieved face and causing him to sigh loudly.

He quickly downs the rest of his beer before turning to the tap again. Filling his jug from one of the nearby barrels, he takes several big gulps before fully regaining his sense of stability.

「Haaaaahh, god damn that wench! Always has 'ta be so scary,」 he shouts to himself while slamming the jug onto the table with a loud clang, sending pieces of foam flying on the pages of his shopkeeping book.

Taking a few steps outside, Xlara is confronted by two large, muscular men in rough linen tunics and pieces of ill-fitting mail armor on top, the same who butted into her conversation just before.

Standing in her way down a narrow gravel path leading away from the tent, they look with signs of suspicion available only to the simpler minds.

Xlara stops in front of them and raises her head to look at one then the other with the same vacant expression.

After a moment, they step aside and she walks past them without exchanging a word. They look at each other, then retreat back into the tent.

「U neva' know what she thinkin', it gets on ya nerves,」 one of the big heads gets inside, his armor gleaming in the light of a multitude of candles illuminating the space.

「Ya thick headed cur, ｟burp｠ ya' new here so y' don't know, but she can kill all of us in the blink of an eye... scary, that damn witch...」 the dwarf takes several more gulps before picking up the pipe and the lighter, and falling back onto the pillows.

「Xlara, the Shadow Blade? Neva' seen her in action before,」 the man responds.

「And ya betta' not,」 an ominous expression appears on the dwarf's face as he tries to stuff the pipe with more tobacco. Grumbling while turning his fat thumb in the bowl, he adds 「Shit, stap makin' me think of it. Go guard outside. I need ta rest!」

§§§

The wheels of an aged-looking carriage hit the cobblestones in the early morning hours, together with the clacking of horseshoes causing a racket on the empty streets.

The coachman, still half-asleep, lets the horses take him on his daily passage through the main street, heading out to the road connecting westward with the rest of the Wilderness.

Passing the well-known establishments, he nods at a familiar fisherman heading out towards one of the many lakes surrounding the place. Having made it past the signs of civilization, he nods off again, letting the sounds of buzzing insects and the chirping of birds lull him into sleep.

A sudden jerk wakes him up. The horses have stopped at an unusual place. He looks around to discern where they are — a swatch of forest not far away from the gates, bordering empty fields of wild rye.

Turning his head to the left he notices something in the corner of his eye and, looking down, realizes a tall half-elf woman with brown skin and two pigtails wearing a cloak is standing by the carriage, looking up at him.

「Hello there,」 Xlara greets him.

Startled, he leaps up and shouts, but Xlara stands still, her ears twitching at the sound of his yelping.

「W-who are you?」

「Where did you take a human girl and an elf?」 she says with a pleasantly raspy voice, disregarding the question.

「I... I didn't... Didn't see any girls, I'm just doing deliveries...」 he responds, his eyes jutting around as he desperately tries to remember.

Noticing the half-elf stands still, he clears his throat. 「But well, for a pretty lady like you, I can try and remember...」

He reaches out, gesturing for money with a flash of his crooked and uneven yellow teeth.

Xlara calmly moves a tuft of hair covering her eye aside, revealing a pair of eyes that slowly turn into a dark grey color.

「Don't go and act all self-important now, coachman,」 she declares without a hint of anger.

The coachman reaches out yet again.

「You know how this goes, I'm sure, lady. You need to know something, I need to put food on my tab-」

Xlara sighs. For a split second, there's a swooshing sound. The coachman looks confused at Xlara, still holding out his hand. Then, he notices a red line appearing on his palm.

Quickly, it grows thicker, until a trickle of blood starts flowing down to his fingers, then hitting the ground beneath.

「GaaaAAARrrrghh!」 he yells in terror.

The tuft of hair moved aside moments ago falls back down in front of her eye slowly, and she blows upwards nonchalantly to move it out of the way.

「N-no! Wait! You mean, the human girl, the girl with the little girl, the elf girl and the- the woman! I know! I know!!」