Act 2: Upheaval III - The Master Weaver and the Arena

"I'm... Amber Windscarf," the teenager says. The fairy stays hidden in her hood, and nobody appears to have noticed him.

"My name is Wandelin Dylewski, Steward of the Residences," the old man replies. "Please, follow me."

One of the fourteen warriors—a young black man in leather armor and armed with multiple daggers—steps forward and stays close to the party. The old man notices the confused expression on Amber's face and says with a lighthearted tone, "This is one of Szef Zerva's clansmen. He's here to protect her."

"Oh, okay," Amber says.

The adventurers continue down a wide hallway until they arrive in front of a set of beautifully handcrafted doors. Two other Myrzen warriors stand guard on each side.

"This is the visitors Szef Zerva was expecting," the clerk explains.

"The werewolf's slayers, uh?" the guard on the left says in Imperial. "I wish I could have seen you in action. Go on then. It's only a lobby on the other side of these doors."

"You may not have liked the part where I blew her up though." He makes an explosion with his hands. "I'm still trying to get the remains out of my hair." He laughs as he follows the others inside.

"Thanks."

Konrad lifts his chin proudly. "We couldn't have done it without her, but between her and us, it wasn't really a fair fight."

After briefly gloating in front of the warrior, he follows the others in.

The guards chuckle and let the adventurers pass.

They enter a small lobby where they can leave their shoes, jackets and cloaks in. Another set of doors—identical to the one they just went through—stands before them. Amber hesitates for a second and then takes her boots off.

"Hey Amber," Fluffle whispers. "Aren't these boots a little too big for you?"

"Yeah," she says. "They were my father's though."

"Ooh. They look good on you."

Amber smiles and replies, "Thanks."

He flies out of her hood and she then takes her cloak off before hanging it on a coat-hanger. Florolf sits on the floor and waits patiently for the doors to open.

"Man, why do we always have to take our shoes off? Am I the only one whose feet get cold?" He unhappily removes his shoes and sets his backpack down on top of them. He can already feel it. They are getting cold. His expression says everything about what he thinks about it.

"Maybe it's a Stoic thing." - Mihai takes his boots off

"We're not walking into a home or a hotel room. Huh, or are we?" He shrugs.

Amber chuckles at Steve's grievance and opens a little wooden chest in which there are many colorful slippers. She chooses a pair orange slippers for herself and gives blue ones to Steve.

"Try that," she says.

Fluffle answers Konrad's question. "I think we are. It looks like a nice place."

Steve shrugs. "It's her living quarters here in Odwaz so it's the closest we are likely to see while we are in town."

He happily takes the slippers and slips them on. The look of gratitude on his face can't be measured with words. "You are the best Amber. The best. I'll write a poem in your honor or a song. Maybe both?" He pulls out a sheet of paper and a pen to start writing things down. He uses the wall and spills a little ink on the floor and on his sleeve.

Amber now laughs at Steve's latest antics. "Do that later or Mihai will be mad."

She points at the spilled ink.

"Hmm?" He spins around looking for the spilled ink, spilling yet more from the end of the pen. "Wow, there's so much!"

"Hmm, fair point." Konrad takes off his nice sticky boots and takes the cold like a champ.

"Steve, put that away before the Szef of Zdetermiwa comes around and kicks you all the way back to the water."

Konrad sighs. "Now you're just making a mess."

"Oh! You're right!" He quickly puts the cap on the pen and returns it to his writing set. "I need to wait for the ink to dry on the paper though." He leaves it on a nearby table after carefully moving a vase off of it and to the floor.

"Fluffle, don't suppose you can make that ink go away."

"Uh? Not sure I can, no," the fairy says.

"I wish we had some solvent. That would take care of it in a jiffy. I used to knick a bottle from the Weaving Lab every so often. I think they let me now that I think about it since it meant I was cleaning up my own messes."

"And that's how I learned to be conscientious," Konrad narrates.

"Well, we can at least make it less of an issue for room service." Konrad levitates the loose ink into the air, unsure of where it should go.

"Is someone there?" a familiar voice asks from the other side of the inner doors.

"It's us," Amber says. "Come on Mihai, put these on."

She gives her brother a pair of pink slippers.

Mihai reaches out for them till he notices - "...pink?"

"It's us!" Konrad announces.

The spilled ink that hasn't been soaked into the carpet continues to hovers in the air. Fluffle is fascinated by the floating liquid, and he's very tempted to dip his finger into it.

Amber quickly closes the wooden box and tells her brother, "That was the last pair."

Nadzieja replies, "Don't just stand there then. Come in."

"Coming!" Steve gets Konrad's attention and discretely points to the vase as a place for the ink. He enters the room Nadzieja is in. "Hello!" He smiles and waves to her in greeting.