"Excuse me, sir? We are searching for some plants that grow in swamps," Rosie explains. "Do you know where can find any?"
"Aye, but the area's lousy with bandits," the man answers. "Head on straight out of Turner's Pike instead of going north, then you'll come to a fork about ten miles out. Take the right road, goes to the low lands and some of the old country."
Rosie fishes out a silver coin and gives it the owner. "You've saved us a good deal of time, sir. Thank you."
"Getting paid for conversation, eh?" the old man says in an amused tone. "World changes in strange ways."
He chuckles briefly before going back to his dishes.
Emma digs into her meal. Between bites she says, "Thanks for finding out about that for us Rosie. We'll just have to be careful and watch out for those bandits."
Clyde nods in agreement. "Let's get cleaned up and see how far we can get before the sun sets. I don't think we want to be on the road in the dark."
Emma all but inhales her food as she nods in agreement with Clyde. After finishing the meal she hops up from the table, "Well love, if you're ready we really should hurry and get cleaned up. I'm not sure how safe it will be to remain in the open after dark as well, and want to make sure we get at least to Turner's Pike by nightfall." She says while dusting the remaining crumbs off of herself.
"Yeah, with bandits on the roads, getting as far as we can before nightfall is a good idea." Aiden agrees.
Once her love has finished his meal, she holds out her hand to him.
"Ready to get cleaned up real quick?" Emma asks, her excitement at the prospect of having an actual bath is practically palpable.
Aiden smiles. "Definitely."
"Let me know if they have a second bath so maybe we can get going a little sooner," Rosie says.
Emma nods as they head off to where the owner indicated the bathing area to be. She looks around to see if there's more than one bath they can use.
Emma sees there are two bathing rooms.
Emma goes back to Rosie and tells her about the other bathing room, before grabbing towels and a washing cloth for her and Aiden. She grabs their own soap out of her bag, and goes back to her husband that is waiting for her in the bathing room.
Putting their things down on the little bench, she gets ready for their bath. As the tub fills she looks up at her husband with a somewhat sad expression on her face, "I wish we had more time to enjoy this, but we need to hurry and be on our way....so, this is just a plain bath bath, not fun time bath. We'll have to make time for each other once we take care of more important things. I love you though, and you mean everything to me." Hopping up on the bench, she gives him a slow lingering kiss before pulling away and getting in the tub, "That will just have to hold us until we can get some real quality time together." She says, while soaping up a cloth and waiting for Aiden to join her in the tub.
Aiden makes a little sound deep in his throat, not quite a growl, but a clearly positive reaction to the lingering kiss, and his wife's presence, ending in a soft sigh of agreement.
Rolling his shoulders, he gets in to the tub behind her, settling into the hot water. "It'll have to do." he says with a chuckle, beginning to wash her hair.
Emma lets out a soft sigh of contentment, as she feels Aidens fingers massaging her scalp while he washes her hair.
Staying true to her word, Emma keeps her more naughty thoughts to herself, and concentrates on getting herself cleaned up. She scrubs her skin vigorously until it starts tingling. Once Aiden is done washing her hair and back, she returns the favor by washing his hair and back, as he washes the rest of himself.
Once they are both soaped up and cleaned to her satisfaction, Emma rinses all the soap off and reluctantly gets out of the bath. Once out, she dries off quickly as to not tempt Aiden, and dresses in a change of clean clothes, before dabbing on a bit of her perfume.
Sighing as she finishes getting ready, her disappointment at them not having g any time to spend together is quite obvious, but she tries to plaster on a smile anyways as she fixes her hair, "Alright, I guess we better get back out to the dining room and wait for the others to finish bathing. Maybe....maybe once we stop for the night we can have some time for each other then...huh love?" She asks, a slight hopeful lilt to her voice.
Once Aiden finishes up and gets out of the tub, Emma drains the water and busies herself cleaning up, to distract herself from her hunting hubby's beautiful body.
When you return from the bath, you see Rosie sitting by herself brushing her hair.
"Clyde should be done soon," Rosie says as she finishes arranging her hair.
As they join the others, Aiden runs his hand along Emma's back, nodding as Rosie mentions that Clyde would probably join them soon.
A few minutes later, Clyde emerges from the back. "Are we ready then?"
Emma leans into the slight caress, momentarily distracted by her own thoughts. Shaking herself back to her senses she nods at Rosie, "Okay, we'll go as soon as he's ready."
Sitting next to Aiden at the table as Clyde re enters the room, she looks up at him and gives another nod of her head, "Yep, I think we're all ready. We just need to pick up Smoke at the stables on our way out." She says, grabbing her things off the table as they get ready to depart.
The young man and stocky woman bring Smoke out and get the cart hitched to him as you approach.
Rosie gives each of them a silver before climbing into the back.
Emma gives the pair a smile, "Thank you for taking such good care of him, we really appreciate it. Hope you have a good night." She gives them a parting wave as they pull off onto the road to head out of town and towards Turner's Pike.
You leave Glenshire behind you as the road slopes downward. The trip is quiet and uneventful. You arrive in Turner's Pike just as the sun begins its descent, covering the bustling town in an orange glow.
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Emma looks around as they enter the town, looking for anything out of the ordinary, as well as a decent looking inn that they could rest in for the night before setting out for the swamps and marshes to find the herbs they needed.
"So, far it doesn't seem too bad..." She says, her thoughts trailing off as she looks over the town.
Aiden nods, his mind running through everything he could remember about Turner's Pike.
The streets are crammed with people trying to finish their work before the sun's light is gone. The square, where the one road diverges into two main avenues, is filled with tents, wagons and crates. Traders shout out orders while porters carry goods to wagons. Those who have finished their day amble into one of several taverns that line the road.
Emma spots a sign that reads 'Inn ahead' and a third, much smaller road leading through a hilly part of the town.
Aiden recalls that Turner's Pike is one of the larger trade hubs of the province. While the town has a mayor, it is actually run by a merchant's guild who wield a concerning amount of power. However, their ambitions are tempered by having to deal with assorted criminals and a rumored thieves' guild.
Emma points to the road, "Should we follow that road to the Inn? We need to find a stable for Smoke as well. He deserves a good rest, we all do." She says, hoping for a peaceful night's rest.
Looking around at all the different vendors she adds, "There's so many people selling different things here, maybe we can find someone that has the herbs we need to get rid of the carriage? Maybe we can even find someone who makes maps, we still need to figure out how to get to Tettledun, where that huge library is at. I think it would be better for us to stay somewhere away from the main part of town. Things could get a little rambunctious with all these taverns around." She points at the many taverns that line the main roads, "Let's see what we find up this smaller road yeah?"
Aiden noids. "We'll get smoke stabled and settle our things, then see what they have to offer."
Emma gestures at the merchants packing up their wares, "I'm pretty sure they're finishing up for tonight love. I just meant that maybe in the morning after we've eaten, we might stand a better chance of finding what we need here, since there are so many different merchants. I didn't mean to go looking for stuff tonight. She says, while leaning against his side.
Clyde yawns. "Wouldn't hurt to try our luck."
You make your way up the small road to the inn, a simple one story building with a three-stall stable and an empty yard in the rear. Two men seated near the stable stand up as you approach and walk toward the cart. "Staying the night? Will your horse be needing food?"
"If you have it." Aiden replies as he gets down, helping Emma down from the cart. "If not, we have our own for him."
Emma nods, "We also have some apples and carrots that we brought for him, in case he needs a treat." She says, while patting Smoke's leg affectionately.
Walking up to the two men she asks, "How much will it be to stable him overnight?"
"Five copper for a stable. One silver and we'll feed and brush him out," one of the men answers.
Emma digs through her small coin purse and produces two silver pieces. Handing one to each of the gentleman she replies, "That would be wonderful, I'm sure he'd enjoy getting brushed very much. We've been so busy, we haven't really had the time to pay him the kind of attention that he deserves."
Emma steps back over to the cart to retrieve the bags that she packed for them. Handing Aiden his bag, she grabs hers and climbs back down, "Do you know who we can speak with about getting rooms for the night?"
"Speak with Lady Eleanor at the bar," the other man answers. "She can get you settled for the night."
"Thank you!" Aiden says, hoisting his and Emma's gear over his shoulder and making for the bar.
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Emma thanks the men as well before following her husband to the bar. She walks next to Shadow, an appropriate name for her husband's long time companion. Even as a pup, Aiden couldn't go anywhere without Shadow right behind him. After they got married, Shadow became as attached to Emma as he was to Aiden, rarely letting her out of his sight, unless he was off hunting with Aiden in the woods.
As they walk towards the bar, Emma keeps one hand in Shadow's fur. Not just to keep Shadow calm in a new place, but to help calm her nerves as well. Her Pa might have been used to going to large trading towns like this one, but she wasn't and the sight of all the people and Taverns made her nervous. Emma was glad she saw the sign for this Inn off the beaten path, she just hoped having Shadow with them wouldn't create a problem.
You walk into the inn, which consists of three long tables with eight chairs each. A gray-haired dwarven woman sits at the bar, her brow furrowed as she sorts her ledger. At one of the tables, you see a group of five people dressed in armor of various kinds. An elven woman is keenly appraising her dagger, looking for signs of wear, but she seems to notice you out of the corner of her eye.
As Emma approaches the bar, she motions her hand in a downward direction and Shadow sits beside her.
Looking up at the Dwarven woman she asks, "Excuse me ma'am, but are you Lady Eleanor?"
Aiden quietly notes the details of the inn, his attention drawn to note the armored group.