Sugar Hollow

It was a good thing that Typhus had answered Roy, because Seren was already ahead of them a little, laughing with Ollie as the dog bound into the bush and scared off even more fairies, found the stick, and came galloping back to put it into Seren's waiting hand.

She wasn't much paying attention to either of the boys any longer, but by the sounds of the village nearby, she knew what direction to go in. She couldn't wait for the sun to set, so she could see the village made of sugar with her own eyes -- all the sights and smells and sounds!

(She'd forgotten, of course, that this sleepy little village would no doubt be asleep by the time she could see, with all the stores closed, and no one about.)

A strong powerful hand falls on Roy's shoulder and squeezes hard a low warning growl emerging from Typhus's throat. The message was very clear even without any words being spoken, don't tell his Seren what to do. Once he is sure that the message is received the werewolf moves up beside her and smiles at her and the dog. He was on better footing with Ollie these days, the dog still didn't like him but he was more tolerant now.

Grandma had to conceal a grin at the woman’s apprehension of her drinking some cherry liquor. Perhaps she should give the woman a taste of a truly strong drink. Still, she couldn’t blame the woman for being considerate of the elderly, even if it was uncalled for in the case of Grandma.

“Oh, don’t you worry about me, I’ve had plenty of stronger stuff than this.”

Taking the bottle with one hand, she made a swift motion with her other hand, causing the cork to pop out while simultaneously a glass appeared on the counter. Leaning back in her seat, Grandma watched at the bottle floated up of its own volition and poured her a cup of the liquor, keeping one eye on the bar's patrons and the owner. She didn’t always make such gaudy displays of magic but was curious to see the town's reaction to it.

Reaching out and taking the fine crystalline glass, Grandma took a sip of the cherry liquor, smacking her lips in appreciation at its taste.

“This is certainly a fine drink you have here. I wouldn’t say it’s all that strong, though, I’ve had worse in Isra. I think your men around here might need to toughen up a bit if this is knocking them out.”

Grandma wore a bemused smile as she spoke, clearly not intending to offend any of the men at the bar with her statement.

The bar went silent as Grandma conjured a wine glass and levitated the bottle. Was this magic? Most of them had never seen even a spark of magic before, so this was quite a show. Was she a witch? She was certainly old enough. They stared in awe as she took a sip of the liquor, expecting her to spit it out right away. Was she crazy? Was this some kind of joke between her and Marzi? No, a quick glance at the bartender told them that she was just as shocked as they were. When she mentioned that it wasn't that strong, the crowd let out a cheer. Who was this alcoholic granny? How could she down cherry liquor so easily? It didn't matter, all that mattered was the entire bar was on its feet, clapping Grandma on the back and buying her next seven rounds. It seemed that she'd made a few friends.

Followed the elder as he lead them behind the house where the horse was tied up - a complete horse who would have guessed. Though forty gold was a rather steep price to pay though seeing as money was no issue he remained silent for now allowing Sione to conclude the deal, being collected and lead back towards the inn with their new horse in tow, short forty gold and the additional Sione had tempted to buy his silence with. He continued down the path as she lead him until they had arrived back at the Inn. “I’ll go ahead then.” He told her as he broke away and began towards the entrance leaving her to deal with the horse’s accommodations as she had said. When he entered he looked about for the inn-keeper.

“I think I’ll have that bath now and a meal if you would.” before heading towards his room. 

Appopo took notice to the stones in the area and their connection to Wah. The wizard hummed and rubbed his face cloths with one hand, curious about the little lizard being a wizard.

"I think they are. You and Nimpapa talk to the old man. Find out where they are going and find me."

Appopo took off on Nimpopo, leaving the search for Xin to Wah. At first he thought he would just catch Xin and collect his reward, but new plans formed when Wah showed his magical ability. Humiliation was powerful when learning magic, and Appopo thought this quest would be enough to get Wah to acknowledge his magic on his own.

In the mean time, Appopo flew on his cloud, passing over Xin, but not coming for him. If he or someone with him looked, Appopo would wave at them. Something more intriguing to him arrived in the town and he wanted to see what or who it was. Taking a sharp turn, Appopo took of to his keep to use his scrying orb.

On the orb a short woman in a black gown appeared. She was drinking and doing other things that the old woman had done since she arrived. There was no future view, but past and present could be seen.

Appopo stared at the orb with squinty eyes and tapping where his nose would be with the tip of his wand. Curiosity plagued him, seeing nothing but a cloaked something. He started to leave and decided to try and sneak a piece of candy. A small scroll appeared and Appopo moved to the other side of the room before using his magic to open it. It didn't matter, a large hand appeared and smacked Appopo, "Bad Appopo. Leave my Rock Candy alone."

The scroll vanished and Appopo checked to make sure Popimpin was there, "You okay? Master Destruction is stingy. But.." he giggled and offered Popimpin half of the rock candy stick, "Po get what Po want!"

Appopo took off walking down the street, adjusting his hat to shade his entire face. After a brisk walk and getting a large sack of pineapple and strawberry flavored candies, Appopo and Popimpin entered the bar.

Appopo disliked alcohol for what it causes him to do, but he had to find the short wizard something. He raised a non existent brow and looked at everyone. He didn't think about the fact she was short and the bar had other people.

Grandma was a bit surprised by the bar’s reaction, although she supposed that it did confirm they didn’t have any local magicians. In fact, she doubted many of them had ever seen a magician before herself, going by how loudly they were cheering. Perhaps that was due to her downing the Cherry Liquor? She really couldn’t be sure, the Midnight Sun’s drinks had warped her senses when it came to strong drinks.

Accepting the rounds of drinks bought for her, Grandma took her time drinking them but still seemed perfectly sober. By this point, however, the rest of the bar wasn’t likely sober enough themselves to notice this fact. That’s when Grandma noticed someone was watching her, via magical means. She could sense they weren’t too far away, which was rather strange considering how little this town seemed to know about magic.

Although perhaps if she had been doing something else, Grandma might have been a bit more concerned with someone watching her, in Sugar Hollow she didn’t really care, simply staying at the bar and downing another drink. It was only a short time later that Grandma detected the presence of Appopo as he entered the bar, made especially easy to notice by the fact none of the other bars patrons had so much as a scrap of magic in them.

Grandma raised one eyebrow as she examined the curiously dressed wizard. Going off looks alone, he almost certainly wasn’t a local of the town. Perhaps the person watching her earlier was this wizard? Well, one way to find out. Climbing down from her bar stool, Grandma hobbled her way over to Appopo, cane clicking on the floor below as she approached him.

“Are you looking for me perhaps, Master Wizard? I felt a gaze from afar a few minutes ago, was that you by any chance?”

Her expression was fairly neutral, her voice maintaining its grandmotherly tone. Even if he wasn’t looking for her, Grandma was rather curious as to what another Wizard was doing in this little town.

"My scrying orb showed me you when I felt a tingle from your magic. I wanted to see your magic and your face. I see your face, now I want to see your magic.", Appopo spoke with a sideways stare to Grandma, "I have not felt that tingle in many years, and now I want more."

Destruction plagued his mind when envisioned her magic being used. Appopo raised his wand in his right hand and started to mumble. The tip of his wand began to glow yellow and sparks started flying from it.

As the dog ran up to the pair of townsfolk, he would be greeted by pats and small pieces of bread. Meanwhile, Roy turned to @seren. How could she not know what Alchemy was?

"It's when you make...potions and things, or try to turn something into something else. Lead into gold, and that kind of thing. It's really difficult, and sometimes accidents happen and things explode. Runescribing is much safer, really. Do you know any magic?"

He doubted that the girl knew much about magic, but it never hurt to ask. There wasn't much magic in Sugar Hollow, if he remembered correctly. There were witches in the woods, but that was it. As the group walked down the road, Seren and Typhus might hear a few men whistling at Seren as they headed to the cherry fields.