Coughs resound aloud around me, making me feel quite tense in the unfamiliar setting. There's people scattered about and the smell of fermented beverage is impregnated on the walls almost as though it's this place's character scent.
"Ease up!" whispers Zafeera with a hardly visible frown tilting her head that was once looking over my shoulders towards the reception desk, "We can wait a little longer if you want."
I shake my head no and in one gulp I down what's left of the drink Zaffera got me saying it would help me prepare for what's next. At this point our dynamic is quite clear: I'm caution and nervous while she's more adventurous and impulsive. Sometimes I feel like she would trust danger with her occasional nativity. She is quite intelligent too from what I've seen and have impressive battling skills. 'We make quite the pair' I think as we distanciate further away from the table we were at.
The Inn we are in right now is quite big yet almost every inch if it is covered in people which makes me almost lose sight of Zaffera when she heads towards the front desk to speak to whoever is in charge.
"You are yet to explain me how you even got this address... Your telegram hardly said much outside to meet here about the door." I say as we walk down what seems like a long corridor, trailing behind a woman quite minute in stature leading us to meet up with a gentleman.
"I'll fill you in after, let's focus on getting the info first." She quickly cuts. I get the feeling she might be lashing out slightly out if nervousness due to not being sure of whatever is happening at the moment or next.
"Here" the voice of the woman is soft and she extends her arm gently towards a door at the end of the corridor inviting us to go in after she introduced us to the gentleman.
"Take a sit" he says adjusting his tie. This office feels quite old and neglected which causes me to tense up even further. I feel like many would share my feelings right now being thrown in, out of the blue, to go to a local Inn outside your Kingdom to ask someone you never met before about a door that should be kept secret.
"Are you the author of this book?" she inquires taking the book out of her bag and sliding it on the table moving it closer to him.
He opens his mouth producing a clicking noise and says, "Yes I did. It one of the first books I've written. Unfortunately it's hardly available now... They stopped printing it as they realised that myths and legends didn't sell much anymore."
She nods and carries on asking, "What can you tell me about this one?" She turns to a page and looks back up at him. I'm quite confused as I expected her to ask about the door but instead she turns to a page I know nothing about.
"Most of the things I know are in the book darling... I acctually grew up with my parents telling me about this one. It's one the few ones I didn't require external sources for."
"External sources? So you researched them... What can you tell me about this one then?" Zaffera turns to the page regarding the myth about the door and stays in her leaned forward position to listen closely.
"Nothing much, this one was hard to research. Some maid that helped out in my house during the writing of the book told about it. She no longer works for me though."
"Why."
"Well..." he pauses for a second, "she had to be dismissed for reasons I cannot disclose. Now is that all you guys came for? I need get back to work." He stands up and adjust his wrist watch and shakes off his long coat. Suddenly its as though he's in a rush. Even he's expression changed after mentioning the maid.
Something tells me that she's going to be our next source and I can tell Zaffera is thinking the same as she gives me a knowing look.
"What step should we take next to find more about the door?" she says scoffing as we have left the warm environment.
"We know nothing about the maid so I think it would be next to impossible to find her... She could have passed away for all we-" I'm interrupted towards the end of the sentence by a frail looking woman heading towards us with a smile.
"Are you guys interested in 'The Door'? The one in dungeons of the Kingdom of Arrow?" croaks the voice of the woman wrapped in a linen blue cloth and a scarlet scarf. Everything about this seems quite strange to me. My guardians have always warned to never trust anyone especially if they approach you in friendly manner. In reality I didn't listen to that advice much when I met Zaffera.
"Yes" says Zaffera at the same time I speak 'No'.
However this doesn't seem to confuse the old lady as she invites us to follow her and leads us down a rundown path. It seems like as some point Zaffera must have connected the dots as her face almost lits up.
"You must be the maid that used to work for the guy that wrote this book! We had just got told about you, what a coincidence." I shake my head suspectingly as the old woman ignored Zaffera's words. This feels like yet another red flag and we walk in silence until we reach destination: an old cottage house.
She invites us in and tells us to take a seat as she prepares a hot drink for us. I hesitatatly do as I'm told while she disappears in the kitchen. Soon after a hear knives sharpening and in the little view I have into the kitchen I gather enough information to turn around and whisper:
"Zaffera run!"