[SpringsSong]

She could tell that this place was easily going to be a center of knowledge, but at the same time, Rossarinya could not be sure that such a place would be appropriate for finding the spell components which she needed, but she could hope that someone would have something there for her.

All around her, people were calling out for the sales of their medicines and their herbs, but Rossarinya had no interest in them.  She needed things more like fine powders and special leaves, none of which the peddlers were giving out.  She sighed; maybe it would have been best to have Elendórë summoned at this point in time, but she knew that she would just get annoyed at the black feline and then unsummon her for good measures.  No, she needed things that would empower her spells--like the fireball that had been so affectionately nicknamed "the Holocaust bomb" when she and her friends had gone into a colony of giant ants.

"Ah, those were good times," Rossarinya muttered to herself, smiling as she continued along her way, keeping her eyes open for anything that might have resembled spell components.  Again, however, she had her doubts that her search would be successful in a place such as this.  This place looked to be a center of medical knowledge, but there surely had to be some medicine men who still used methods of magic in their healing.

As if on instinct, Rossarinya whispered a silent spell, which caused her pointed ears to round slightly, and her face to appear less angular.  This was a strange world, and she did not know if anyone here would have been aligned with Aynira, the accursed Drow who had been hunting her for all these years.

[Cookie]

Muttering to himself, Tor'os wasn't sure why he had let his daughters convince him to leave the cozy comfort of his personal library. No one here would have the ingredients he needed, and even if they claimed they did, it'd just be a way for them to get money from people who didn't know what magic ingredients actually were. Having a keen eye for such things, he usually tricked the merchants claiming that they sold such items out of their money, using tracer spells to return it to whoever had the money before the merchant, which in most cases, was the buyer. Most of such cases were children trying to find miracles to heal sick loved ones, and he offered his assistance free of charge.

Moving slowly through the crowd of people, Tor'os was in no hurry like most of the folks here. He took his time examining all the items people had to offer, picking up small items that he either needed for magic, or that he needed for around the house. Some herbs sold were less potent than their magic brethren, but were more commonly found, so he settled for them.

Nothing seemed to help his true purpose of even being here though, but hoping he'd find such help would be wishful thinking. Even so, he stopped at a place that seemed to be selling legit magical ingredients and items, his eyes tracing over each item carefully as he examined the stock.

[SpringsSong]

It had taken some time for Rossarinya to make her way through the city, looking at the different shops and stalls, but always coming away unsatisfied.  She would ask the shopkeepers if they had specific items, and they would instead offer her the close equivalent, but they contained absolutely no magic within them whatsoever.  When they had inquired why, Rossa had merely looked at them with stern eyes.

"Because it simply will not do," she had said before walking out of the shop, her black cloak swooshing as she did so.

She had, however, found some moderate success with a couple of the herbs.  How, she did not know; but she wasn't about to question the old woman who had caught her attention with the potent smell of some of the herbs which she had recognized to be inherently magical.  With a greatful smile, she had handed over the gold, which the woman took eagerly, as though she had never seen it before in her life.

"Now... if only I could find a place that sold components for making magical items..." she said as she passed another stall that appeared to have some magical items, stopping after a moment.

[Cookie]

Most of the magic items on the table were of no use in his line of work, although sometimes he dabbled in other things to help out others. But being mostly a hermit, he rarely got out to help people, so buying these items would be more of a waste than good. Some items though appeared to be more useful, so gathering them up, he asked the merchant for the prices on each, hoping to get the best price he could. That's what a lot of people weren't that good at: bargaining. Tor'os had learned the art well, and had spells to help him out if he would otherwise fail with his snake-like tongue.

Although Tor'os was minding his own business bargaining with the trader of the magical items, he had caught what the woman had said "Well I guess you found the right place, lass" he commented, not taking his eyes off his coin as he counted out enough KS to buy some herbs, putting them into a little satchel on his waste when he was done.

[SpringsSong]

Rossarinya had barely noticed the other man there until he had spoken.  Maybe she was in some luck now; at least, she could see that there were various items that would be of some use here.  After several long moments, she picked up a few vials, a component bag, and a satchel.

"Ye'd best have the Keystones to be payin' fer that, lass," the trader said, and Rossarinya gave a perplexed look when he said this.

"Well... I don't know about these Keystones you speak of, but I have gold," she said, and the trader took a coin from her hungrily, eyeing the coin as he did so.

"An' 'ow many o' these are ye willing to give me?  The satchel's not easy to come by," he said, and Rossarinya paused as she thought, looking through her bag.

"I can give you... 50 gold pieces for everything," she said, and the trader thought for a few moments, and then nodded as he handed over the vials, bag, and satchel.

[Cookie]

Tor'os ears perked up a bit. Gold? Where was this lady from? He knew it was none of his business, but he prodded anyways "So where are you from, m'lady? Most people around here use keystones." as he talked, he looked over a few more of the items. For the most part, he was done buying, but he did like looking at the different things the man had. Mostly stuff he had no use for, or didn't have the money for.

He peered around, checking the crowd "I'd actually keep my voice down about gold if I were you, lass. Since we don't use that here, people like to melt it for other stuff, and its worth more exchange wise than keystones."

"If ye aint gonna buy something, keep on movin" the merchant said in a bit of a hiss, making a shooing motion at him. Tor'os rolled his eyes "I was just about to leave. You didn't have what I was looking for anyways"

[SpringsSong]

"Where I'm from and what methods of currency we use is irrelevant," Rossarinya said shortly, her eyes guarded.  She was thankful that her ears were disguised to the point where no one could tell that she was an Elf; there was no way that anyone could tell if this man was with the Drow, or if he was just a simple passerby trying to give her advice.  After a few moments, she turned to him and looked around again shiftily.

"Gold's all I got," she  whispered.  "The realm I came from is far from this one, and I still don't know how I came to be here--and I'm kind of being hunted by other sorcerers in my home world, so I can't really go back."

She said all of this in a low voice, trying to draw as little attention as she could.  She certainly didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to herself, and if she could avoid doing so, she would.

[Cookie]

Tor'os laughed a bit at her first statement, surprised that she thought he was some type of threat. But he simmered down, whispering back "Well, if you'd like to come with me, my place isn't too far from here. Making keystones is pretty easy around here with magic, I'd almost call it scamming with how much profit you make, so I can lend you some to start you off until you can start making your own. Of course, you seem a little wary, so I'd understand if you didn't want to come. But buying stuff with Gold is going to get you noticed, and from the looks of it, you're trying to avoid that." Gathering his things he turned to her, offering a genuine smile "The names Tor'os, by the way. I feel like I should introduce myself if I'm going to invite you into my humble home."

He wasn't sure if she'd accept his offer or not, and wasn't quite sure why he cared if she did. Some part of him deep down wanted to learn more about this girl who seemed to also deal in the same works as he.

[SpringsSong]

Rossarinya looked at the man curiously; his smile seemed genuine, and he did bring up a valid point--she did not want to draw too much attention to herself in these times.  However, it was not terribly often that she bought items--most of the things which she needed, she attempted to grow herself; those things which she could not grow, she bargained for--or used her skills of persuasion.

"If you so wish to assist me in getting me... 'on my feet', so to speak, then I have no qualms," Rossarinya said.  "As for my name..."

She paused here, looking around again.  She was certain that he would think her to be paranoid; that she was suspicious of everyone, and she was--with good reason.  She didn't know if there were any spies of the Drow in this land, although she had yet to encounter any directly.

"...I am of the house of Isaya--Rossarinya Haeronalda Isaya," she said, dipping her head slightly.

[Cookie]

Bowing, he smiled up at her "Nice to meet your acquaintance, Lady Rossarinya." He placed his arm out for her, waiting for her to accompany him to his home. "Now, I do have to warn you, I have two daughters who can be a bit... much, around other women. They grew up without a mother, so they tend to attach themselves to the nearest one they see. But maybe they will be off collecting herbs today, we'll see" Chuckling a bit at the thought, especially with how cautious this woman seemed to be, his mind trailed off a bit to other things. He always felt at fault for the ways of his children, growing up with just him. Although he was tender and loving, Tor'os was never able to provide much of a childhood for his sons and daughters, protecting them was his main priority.

"Well, I guess we'll be off then" he said, breaking his own thoughts.

[SpringsSong]

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintence as well, sir Tor'os," Rossarinya said.  She inclined her head slightly as Tor'os spoke about his daughters, but after a few moments, she smiled as she offered something of a slightly nervous chuckle as she took his arm carefully.

"When I came into this realm... I guess you could say that my spirit kind of took over this body.  So, while I myself had a mother and father growing up, this body was born of two fathers.  So... when I had to adapt to this world, it was without a mother as well," she said.  It was still beyond her how two men could have children together, but that was entirely beyond her control.

"Yes, let us be off," Rossarinya said.

[Cookie]

Tor'os listened intently as she talked, kind of curious as to what she meant, but not wanting to ask too many questions. "Well, my place is this way" he gestured north of where they were standing, starting to walk along the path. Winter air settled in, causing him to shiver a bit "Good thing we'll be getting out of the cold, at least. Seems like this winter is going to be a harsh one." He glanced over to her, then looking around, watching the world pass around them. It seemed like everyone was in such a rush, but yet he always felt like there was too much time in the world.

(short post, sorry. Muse hates me :c)