The Midnight Sun

For a brief moment Silas gazed into the young women's eyes and said nothing. Secretly and selfishly he enjoyed monopolizing her time, if only for a few seconds. The ruby eyes shined as if they held a secret that no one else knew, or so Silas romanticized.

"You must see a lot of people come through here. Have you noticed a young man with shaggy brown hair and hazel eyes?  He carries a large yew bow. Unmistakeable."

Too bad. Silas had little hope anyways. "The young man's name is Oliver. If he comes in perhaps you could tell him I was looking for him. The name is Silas. I'll probably check back at some point. You see, we never agreed on a meeting spot..." Silas was beginning to wonder if it would be possible to find Oliver in such a large city.

Before all else Imud would get a good room at the Midnight Sun and ease the stress of travel from his old bones. Yet, he had another reason for coming to this fine establishment. The old smith was not fond of carrying around the large sums of money necessary to make his acquisitions. Instead he possessed a much rarer, smaller, and more expensive treasure: dragon dust, one of the finest alchemical drugs. It was made with finely ground dragon bone mixed with Imud's personal concoction. As the fine power was mixed a complicated enchantment was cast upon it by the fire daemon that worked Imud's forge.

Only a small amount of dragon dust would clear the mind while giving it a sense of euphoria. It sharpened the senses and gave increased strength. Some even said that it was possible to survive on dragon dust alone, but doing such a thing would be far too expensive. The down sides were that the effects only lasted about half an hour and it was easy to overdose. Users had also been known to kill themselves recklessly while thinking themselves completely invincible. The drug itself was not addicting the accomplishments that some gained through its use were.

Needless to say, the Midnight Sun was one of the only places where such a thing could be sold in quantity at a fair price. So Imud assumed.  He left his horse and carriage with a stable boy and made his way to the exchange booth. "My name is Imud and I bring a princely gift to trade with you." A tan a shriveled old hand pulled an ornate ivory box laced with gold.  He set in on the counter in front of the clerk and opened the lid.  

"Dragon dust. Imud would take money, but it would be easier on this old man if you could open an account.  I expect there will be many things I'll be purchasing in this city."

During the height of the day, not many patrons require his services, so Cecil often spends the day with a book. However, as Leona returns with the goods, Cecil shuts his book and slides it off to one side, grinning visibly through his beard. He eyes the bag offered to him before taking it.

“You didn’t…”

He unrolls the top and peeks inside.

“You did!”

Reaching inside, Cecil wastes no time in pulling out a cube of fudge and sticking it into his mouth. Though he isn’t able to form coherent words for the next few moments as the fudge glues his jaws together, he murmurs noises of appreciation and gives Leona a large thumbs-up.
After a few moments though, he manages to finish swallowing the fudge and speaks, “You’re alright, Leona. I haven’t had any of this in a while, thanks. What did you choose to get?”

"Wow! Hi!" Skarlet waves as she comes into view. "I might have some things to talk about, hmmm..."

Skarlet would chat with Naoki for a bit before exiting, leaving the door open as her mother told her. "Byeee!"

Cecil nods appreciatively, both referring to the presented bag of bird candies and Leona’s behind on the counter before him.

“Hhm. Nothing much; I sat here and read my book, mostly. The pair in room nine checked out, and some elven fellow checked into room two... but other than that things have been quiet here at the Inn. They usually are, during the day. However, as I hear, Madame Naoki is now meeting with people up in the dining room. If you’re still interested in landing a job, it’s up the stairs near the rear of the bar, then just straight down the hall, last door on the left.”

Cecil waves a hand generally in the direction of the stairs, and pops another bit of fudge into his mouth, very careful to open his mouth widely as not to dirty his beard.

"Oh she is?" Leona asked. "Well then, I guess I better hurry." she said and pushed herself off the desk.

"Wish me luck!" she said going through the doors into the main room. Oh, she was so excited. She went up the stairs near the rear of the bar and down the hallway. As she got closer to the indicated last door on the left, she noticed it was open. Leona carefully took a look inside.

"Hello?" she asked uncertain. Cecil said that she was gone and wouldn't return for a week. How could she meet with people then? But then she saw the crystal ball sitting upon the table. Inside she could see what looked like a a young woman with cat-like features.

Leona cleared her throat and stepped inside. "Hello, are you Madame Naoki?" she asked, still a little doubtful.