The buildings all looked the same, with stone or wooden walls, with winding and irregular roads placed between them, this place was a nightmare to navigate. To her everything was identical, there was nothing of note to set one street of houses and shops apart from another, and there was hardly anything to use as landmarks either, only the spires jutting up above the houses in the distance. Katja was still walking along the road, looking for any buildings that looked like they could house an inn, or a perhaps a sign if she was lucky. However, it felt like it had been a while since she started now, and so far she had had little success in her search.
She cursed herself inwardly, it shouldn't be this difficult to merely find a place to stay for the night, yet she had so far proven to be utterly incapable of even such a simple task in this place. She felt completely out of her element here, unable to keep tabs on what was happening around her, constantly thinking that every bystander was as likely to attempt mugging her as they were to simply walk on by. Her stress with this situation was becoming unbearable, and just moments ago someone had brushed against her as they passed her in the crowded street, causing her to jump straight into another passerby, resulting in an awkward apology. No, she had to make her way out of this mess and into a less trafficked part of the city, if there even was such a thing. She had to collect her thoughts and think about a better way to tackle this problem.
Seeing a slightly less trafficked path on the other side of an alley, she went for it, bumping into more people as she made her way through the crowd and mouthing apologies in Basitin all the way. Finally making her way into the alley, and walking through it at a brisk pace, ignoring a sleeping man reeking of cheap booze, she found herself in a much less crowded street. Feeling a strong salty breeze from one end of the street that made her cloak flap about her, she was fairly certain that she was nearing the harbor, a thought later reinforced by the cries of seagulls from somewhere in her vicinity. Her stress dissipating somewhat, she looked up and down the street she was currently in, thinking about her next course of action.
However, due to a stroke of luck, or perhaps just all the time she had spent looking finally paying off, she noticed a sign hanging in front of a rather large building at the intersection leading into the street she was currently in, and from what she could tell at this distance it seemed like it was engraved with the word 'inn'. Feeling a strange calm settling in over her she started approaching the building, relieved that she had finally found her destination, and wondering a little bit at what the name of the inn was. But it seemed like that part of her curiosity wouldn't be relieved, as the weathered old sign seemed like it was in dire need of replacing, the lettering on the top half of the sign illegible due to warped wet wood, grime, and an onset of black mold. The sign not exactly getting her hopes up for the quality of the establishment, Katja nonetheless entered and approached the innkeeper, drawing the hood of her cloak tightly about herself and covering her muzzle and lower face with her windscarf before opening the door. Approaching the innkeeper, 'Bill' as his name was, unbeknownst to her, she kept her tail in her cloak and her hands at her sides as to not appear threatening, although that might have the opposite effect seeing as she had a weapon concealed under her cloak. "Would you have any rooms available?" She asked, not really one for small talk. "And how much do they cost?"
After her rather late breakfast, Dusty had decided to take a walk around the city, taking in the local gossip and having a look through the stalls in one of the numerous market squares, she even stopped for a light lunch down in the harbor area, freshly caught fish, at least of the size that they had down by the ocean, was a somewhat rare item on the menu for her.
As it was nearing mid-afternoon, Dusty had managed to soak up quite a bit of rumors and gossip, she was pretty easily drawn to that sort of thing, having a rather strong sense of curiosity. From what she had heard there were rumors that slave trading was actually happening in the city, illegally of course, and that the guard was looking for someone capable to help cope with the problem, apparently they had a decent lead as well, but she hadn't been able to find out more than that about it. Sadly, though some coin for helping the law certainly sat well with her, she wasn't exactly the mercenary type, so she had to pass on the offer, she'd keep it in mind though, just in case.
Another peculiar, and somewhat disturbing, piece of gossip fresh off the tongues of the locals was the discovery of several dead bodies down in a less traveled part of the harbor area. Apparently the guards had been warned pretty quickly about it and the bodies were said to still have been warm by the time they got there, though that piece of gossip was disputable. It seemed like the dead were mostly small time criminals, but the guards were worried that it tied into an increase in 'pro-human' crimes lately, what with most of the deceased being Keidran or Basitin. But, even if that wasn't the case, vigilantes weren't exactly viewed favorably, and rival criminals were viewed even worse, so a few guards were still ordered to clean up the mess and sort out who did it. Of course, that was just about the info the guard and the citizens had, so it looked like it'd remain one of those unsolved cases.
Dusty had actually tried to sneak a peek at the scene of the crime when she had heard that it was down in the docks, but between other people and the guards there hadn't been much to see. So, with nothing in particular to do and at least a bit more time to kill, Dusty had taken to wandering the docks, looking at the newly docked ships and making a little bit of small talk with the sailors. But while walking between an intersection leading into the city proper, she spotted a small, or at least relatively small, woman who seemed to be window shopping. Figuring that she stood out a bit against the usual sailor and dockworker, and her curiosity thus intrigued, she followed her intent on speaking to her as she walked towards the closest market square. However, on her way over to speak with the woman that she had first set her eye on she noticed another peculiar person, a Forest Wolf Keidran that she thought she had spotted down on the docks a few moments earlier, but it was what he was carrying that really caught her eye. Because on the wolf Keidran's back there was slung a big old single-bit axe, a peculiar sight down by the harbor inside a trading city, she recognized it as the tool of the trade of loggers and carpenters, and judging by its condition it had been used a fair bit. Also noticing the hatchet he carried in his belt, she had him pegged as an interesting person, and most likely from out of town, so she raised her voice and waved at him. "[Hello! Mister wolf Keidran with the big axe! Do you have a moment?!]" She wondered what tales he could have to tell about places that she probably hadn't visited yet, she still had some interest in the petite woman from before, but she seemed a little busy, but she'd remember to have chat with her too if she was still in the vicinity afterwards.
