The Heights of Londo [IC 3: For The Love of the Lady]

[tgva8889]

Alyssa nods, both to Leah's comment and Bibi's suggestion about sleep. As she's preparing to go to bed, Alyssa looks over at Leah as she's looking over at her. "D-don't, um...you're welcome." She smiles back. "you doing okay?"

[Comissar]

Leah hesitates a moment, then gives an uncertain shrug. She fumbles for her words for a few moments, "I-I, uh... I'm just, uh, just glad you and, uh, and Bibi were there too..." She looks down at her bedroll again, fidgeting with her hair before letting out a sigh. She looks up to Alyssa again and gives her another small smile, "I-I, uh, I-I just wanted to, uh, to say that... Umm, good night..."

[Hazuki]

Soon the girls are asleep, and the chilly night passes over their heads. When Alyssa is woken to take watch, she sees that Maggie has taken to sleeping against the tree and has a mostly-empty coin pouch hanging around her neck. When the morning comes, the day is at least a little brighter than ti was before, from what they can see seeping through the canopy overhead. Bibi distributes rations among the girls, the last of the jam they bought on the road,

They're off before long, and the forest around them seems to change subtly as they walk. The trees are mossier, the ground wetter, but the path seems to have been kept dry. They pass by more people than they had through most of coming South, now that they're headed West, and all the couriers women. As the shadows get shorter, they start to hear running water in the distance, and then they come upon the first of the wooden platforms that welcome travelers to Diwyneb town.

The ground beneath the walkways, which curl to and fro to allow all traveler's to pass through its sturdy wooden walls, is thick with mud and water - no doubt led there by the Severed River, which runs wide and through all of Londo. Here, it curves around Diwyneb Town, to the docks that sit on the other side of the gates. Along with the merchants and other folks that wander across the stout walkways, they see a handful of ships passing into or out of the docks, though their view of the docks themselves is concealed by the walls - one in front of them, one to their right, with little but river on the left and a few ferries to carry people across.

"We're here." Bibi says to the girls, as she looks to Diwyneb Town proper, with the hill that sits at its center peering just over the walls, an on top of it a large wooden structure built like a dome with eight hefty wooden supports. There are a few Knights patrolling - some on the walls, some at the gates, and all clad in surcoats with the black wheel of Diwyneb emblazoned on the front. They don't wear cloaks like most Knights, and their armor seems to favor some kind of organic scales over the manipulated horn and cloth worn in other provinces.

"We can stay the night or keep marching." Bibi adds.

[tgva8889]

Alyssa seems amused by Maggie's solution, and opts to bring her sketchbook to watch, mostly just drawing shapes given the very low light. She's glad to have something to eat in the morning, and is a bit quiet as they prepare to continue.

As they walk, she sticks close to Leah when she can, and lets Athe fly around or perch on her shoulder as he wishes. She doesn't seem particularly animated today, mostly watching Leah and Maggie and moving forward.

As they start reaching Diwyneb's outskirts, Alyssa starts paying more attention, glancing around at the various people they see and the boats as they pass. She looks with awe at Diwyneb's dome, trying to get a sense of the scale of it from where she stands. A bit tired from the events of the past few days, Alyssa immediately says "Let's stay the night," when Bibi asks, though after she looks at Leah and turns a bit red, saying "Um, if you're okay with that."

[Comissar]

Leah finds the night difficult. She sleeps poorly, and finds herself nervously watching shadows when it comes to her turn to keep watch. Through the morning she stays fairly reserved, still shaking off her low mood from the previous day. Once they start to leave the forest behind, though, she finds herself beginning to relax. By the time they reach Diwyneb, she finds that she's been able to leave the worst of it behind her. She nods her agreement with Alyssa, giving her a smile "Yeah, umm, I, uh, I think that's a good idea."

[Hazuki]

Alyssa finds that the dome, though large, is not quite grand.

Bibi starts to walk along the nearest platform, which supports her and the girls' weight with nary a creak, and towards the gate that allows entrance to the town proper.

"Houses are in the West. Lady's graces in the center - library, healers, barracks. Games and foreign quarter East. Merchants, inns, bakers, in the South. Diwyneb Dusk is North - don't go there." Bibi explains. Alyssa will know the Diwyneb Dusk as the town's famous challenge, filled with powerful Pokemon who are to be challenged with minimal equipment, the epitome of Diwyneb's competitive nature.

[Comissar]

Leah gives Bibi a questioning look, "Umm, foreign quarter..? As in, uh, shops..? Oh, and, uh, and what's Diwyneb Dusk..?"

[Hazuki]

"Testing foreign tech. Used to be slums." Bibi informs Leah when it comes to the first. "Pokemon fighting challenge, alone, no equipment."

[tgva8889]

Alyssa takes Leah's hand. "I, uh, I guess we should find somewhere to stay. Unless Lord Bastille had someone for you to meet here?" She looks at Leah, turning a bit red as she remembers last time when he had given them a place to stay.

[Comissar]

Without thinking, Leah gives Alyssa's hand a gentle squeeze as her own hand is taken. She grins at Alyssa's comment, and shakes her head, "Umm, no. He, uh, he didn't mention anything about, uh, about Diwyneb. We'll, uh, we'll need to find somewhere ourselves." She glances up to Bibi, "Umm, you, uh, you said the inns were in, uh, in the south..?"

[Hazuki]

Bibi nods. "You can put your things there. There's still daylight."

[Comissar]

Leah nods, "That, uh, that sounds like a good idea." She smiles to Alyssa, "I'd, uh, I'd like to take a look around." Looking back up to Bibi, she asks, "Umm, do you, uh, do you know anywhere that you'd recommend staying..?"

[Hazuki]

"Yes." Bibi answers.

By now, they've crosssed most of the walkways and are headed beneath the gate. The view beyond it is of wooden buildings, laid out like somebody didn't quite put a lot of thought into planning them out, but bustling all the same. There are people milling around, at stalls or in stores, some on walkways sharing bread or gossip. A pair of bards seem to be having a rock-off in one corner of the street, with even a Knight paying more attention than they perhaps should. A few Rattata can be seen skulking in the shadows, while an array of flying Pokemon flit across the sky, with letters or packages clutched in their claws. And above it all, the library that sits at the top of the hill that dominates their view.

[tgva8889]

Alyssa nods in response to Leah's smile. She follows up on her question to Bibi, "Where would be a good place that's, um, comfortable but, um, not too pricey? I, uh, I expect we'll probably mostly sleep there and keep our things there but, um, not be there too long."

As they make it through the gate, Alyssa's attention is mostly drawn by the Pokemon flying overhead with various parcels in claw. She seems a bit lost in thought at the sight of them, though she looks back at Leah and smiles after looking for a moment. "Anywhere you, um, wanted to go in particular?"

[Comissar]

Leah finds herself slowing as they pass the bards, their competition drawing a grin to her face. As they continue on, though, her eyes are drawn to the library dominating the hill ahead. "Umm, the, uh, the library seems like it'd be cool." She glances to Alyssa, "Or, umm, or the foreign quarter. I'd, uh, I'd be curious to see what they have here. But, umm..." She gives a small smile and a one shouldered shrug, "I, uh, I don't know if those are the kind of things you'd want to see..? Might not be the, uh, the most interesting things to look at..?"

[tgva8889]

Alyssa shrugs back and laughs. "I'd have fun at the library! At least, I'd have fun seeing you have fun." She lets her eyes drift up a bit as she pauses to think. "I, um, might want to see the healers. Just to, um, know where they are."

[Comissar]

Leah grins and gives Alyssa's hand a squeeze as she comments on the library, then nods with a curious look at her desire to see the healers too. "Sure. So, uh, inn first, then... Healers..? It, uh, it might be easier to find them first, then go to the, uh, the library."

[Hazuki]

Bibi leads the girls to a nearby corner of a corner, a building three-storeys high with stilts providing walkways around, above it, and to the roofs of the buildings at either side. A mural stretches all around the walls, depicting various figures clad in robes, armor, tunics, walking in line all the way to the top. There is obvious faded paint on the one's closer to the bottom, with the freshest by far at the top. The sign above the lowermost door reads "Duelist's Rest". When they walk inside, they're greeted by a small room with several doors off to the sides and a ladder leading, presumably, up to the next floor.

There's a woman at the desk, clad in a sleeveless tunic that bares the sinewy muscles on her arms, and her bright eyes grow brighter as she sees them walk in. She reaches beneath the desk and retrieves a scabbard, which she tosses at Bibi as she leaps over the desk. Bibi catches it in hand.

"Aha! You're carrying a blade! I challenge you!" The woman declares, as Bibi grasps the scabbard with both hands.

"No." Bibi says.

"That's the law! Come on! Fight me, Bibi!"

"You gave it to me, and you're not a Knight. Doesn't count."

"Feh. You're no fun." The woman crosses her arms over her chest, then smiles at the girls. "What have we here, then? I'm Bayla, and this is the Duelist's Rest. If you can beat me in a duel, you stay for free, rest of your life. What do you think?"

[tgva8889]

Alyssa shakes her head. "I, um, really don't want to fight. But, um, I'd like to stay, if you have a room or two. Bibi, are you, um, staying with us? Or, um, do you have somewhere here to stay?"

[Comissar]

Leah flinches back a step at Bayla's sudden move to challenge Bibi, breaking into a grin as she realises that the two know one another. She gives a nervous giggle and shakes her head as she is in turn challenged. "I, uh, I don't think it'd, uh, it'd be much of a fight. Umm, I've never even held a sword."

She glances to Alyssa, then back to Bayla, "Umm, we, uh, we are still looking for, uh, for somewhere to stay, though."

[Hazuki]

"No challengers? I ought to charge you twice for the disappointment." Bayla beams at the group. "I don't know if a sword would fit you - perhaps a spear, or a dirk. Or a bow!" She says to Leah.

"A room." Bibi says. "For each."

"You can't hit someone with a room." Bayla says, with a playful slap to Bibi's shoulder. "But I take your meaning. Five gold a room, and you'll have to find your own meals. Three gold if you can prove you're challenging the League, by the grace of Lady Diwyneb."

[Comissar]

Leah gives Bayla an embarrassed look, "I, uh, I haven't, uh, I haven't ever used any of those..."

As the discussion turns to rooms, Leah hesitates, glancing to Alyssa, back to Bayla, then to Alyssa again. Nerves building in her chest, she asked, "U-umm... W-well, uh... I-It'd save money to, uh, t-to have fewer rooms, right..? U-umm... Did, uh, d-did you want to, uh, to share a-a room..?"

[tgva8889]

Alyssa laughs a bit at Bayla's joviality. She shakes her head, saying "I'm not really, um, good at any weapons." At Leah's suggestion, she nods. "I was, um, going to ask. I think Leah and I can share a room. If, um, that's okay with you." She looks over at Leah and smiles, rubbing her left arm with her right hand.

[Hazuki]

"That's no problem; the rooms are small and stacked, but we have doubles for eight." Bayla says. "You'll have to put your Pokemon in a ball or else squeeze her between you, though." She says, giving a little wave to Maggie.

Maggie waves back, and bounces a little, holding her arms up to Alyssa, as though to say she's perfectly okay with being cuddled.

[tgva8889]

Alyssa smiles and laughs nervously. "I, um, I guess that would work." She looks over at Maggie and then over at Leah. "If, um, you're okay with Maggie staying in our room, Leah."

[Comissar]

Leah nods her agreement, grinning with relief as Alyssa agrees with her, "Y-yeah, I'm, uh, I'm fine with that."

She digs into the coin bag, pulling out the funds and offering them out to Bayla. As she does, she gives a questioning smile, "U-umm, we, uh, we were going to go explore the, uh, the town for a bit. Is, uh, is there a time we, uh, we need to be back by..?"

[Hazuki]

Bayla laughs at the question and shakes her head. "I'm not your mother, I don't mind what time you get back. Might be somebody else at the desk, mind." She says, as she gratefully accepts the coin and then hands over a key from under the desk, which she has to slip back behind to get to.

"Want me to come with you?" Bibi asks the girls, as she exchanges coin for her own room.

[tgva8889]

Alyssa shrugs. "If you, um, want to. I think we will be okay if we're, um, just going to the healers and the library. But, um, if you want to come with us we'd be happy to have you!" She smiles at Bibi as she picks up the key from the desk. Turning to Leah, she points down the hall with her thumb over her shoulder. "Y'wanna drop our stuff off?"

[Hazuki]

"I can do that for you." Bibi offers the use of her big, strong hands. "There are signs to the Central District."

[Comissar]

Leah feels her ears burn a little at Bayla's reaction to her question, simply nodding her response. She gives Bibi a grateful smile at her offer, "Umm, thanks Bibi. I guess, uh, I guess we'll catch up later..?"

Offering out her baggages, Leah gives Bibi a grateful bob of her head once they're taken, then turns to take Alyssa's hand with a smile, "Ready, uh, ready when you are."