Bilgewater Bay.
The ship finally arrived at Bilgewater at a small port right next to Rat Town.
The moment that they stopped, Kayn rushed out of the boat and placed his scythe, that violently twitched in his hand, on the ground.
"Here, all right?! We're at the shore, are you
happy now?!" Kayn yelled at his weapon. "Honestly Rhaast, I don't get why you hate the sea..."
The others did not say anything. From the start of the trip till then, at a span of two days, they had seen the young Yánléi acolyte speak to his weapon more than enough times. As he revealed to them, the weapon was pretty much alive and often spoke to him.
He had warned them to never pick it up, not matter how tempting it looked, no matter how big the sudden urge was. The results would prove to be fatal to them, and to possibly the rest of the others.
"Yánléi..." Xayah muttered as she stepped off the boat. Akali rolled her eyes and also stepped off, followed by the others.
The last one to step out of it was Ahri, who took a good look around. Seeing her, Lanius was sure that the memories from the events that unravelled three years ago there flashed before her eyes.
"Right, we should find somewhere to stay, and then explore around a bit. But be warry, one can get easily lost in here." The vesani said.
"Or worst." Lanius added.
"I don't think that we might have a problem. Everyone here knows how to fight." Xayah said. "Some here are even better at killing, rather than fighting." she pinned her eyes on Kayn.
Kayn opened his mouth to say something, but Lanius spoke before him. "Killing isn't what we're here for, Xayah. We're here to find info and a passage to the Shadow Isles."
Xayah huffed and rolled her eyes.
"Lanius is right, miella..." Rakan came next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"We'll stay at one Inn together?" Akali finally asked, breaking the awkward silence.
"It would be convenient." Rakan said. "What's the currency here?"
"Piltovan money...and their own currency." Akali said. Ahri nodded positively, confirming this.
"All right, lead the way, Ahri." Sett said.
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"That's the cheapest and the most reliable I know of." the vesani said. The team had entered the same Inn that Ahri and Yasuo had gone to three years ago, when they first travelled there in search of the vesani tomb in the Shadow Isles.
"Are you sure that it will have enough rooms?" Akali asked as she looked around. The had a few
Ahri nodded. "If not, we'll just have to find another Inn and meet in the morning."
They then approached the counter, where the owner sat, currently reading a red book.
"How many rooms do you have?" Lanius asked.
"How many do you need?" the owner took his eyes from his book and looked at them.
Lanius turned around and quickly counted the others. "Xayah, you and Rakan will stay together?" he asked her.
"Yeah." Rakan said and wrapped his hand around the other Lhotlan's waist, pulling her close. Xayah giggled and nodded positively.
"Right..." the young man turned towards the Inn owner. "...we'll need five rooms."
"Mind if I stay in yours?" Ahri asked the Winter.
"You sure?" the young man asked back. She nodded and turned back at the other man. "Four rooms." he corrected himself.
The owner closed his book and opened another, an old blue one. "Let's see. I'm almost empty,as this season is pretty dead. I can give you three with a single bed and two with a double bed. As for you that seemed reluctant, young man, I got a room with two beds."
He looked at Ahri, letting her decide. She thought for a few seconds and then chose the one with the two beds.
The owner gave each of them a key and told them their rooms. "You'll pay in advance, or before you leave?" he asked.
The party looked at each other and decided to pay in advance. Everyone aside from Ahri and Xayah paid in piltovan currency -the boat's captain was kind enough to exchange his coins with his- and moved to their rooms. Lanius and Ahri stopped in front of theirs, right next to Kayn's.
The vesani unlocked the door and they got inside. The room was simple and neat. It gave off a feeling of being inside a ship...perhaps due to the fact that the window on the roof had wooden fencing. At the center of it were two red beds. Lanius picked the right one and Ahri jumped on hers and sat there for a few minutes whith her eyes closed.
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"What...is that thing?" Kayn asked as he raised his fork from his bowl, holding with it a small magenta tentacle that was spasming. After they settled in the Inn, they decided to take a stroll around Bilgewater, and met again at Rat Town as it turned to night. All of them were hungry, so they sat at a tavern nearby tavern to grab a bite.
"Some sort of octopus that they have here." Lanius said as he ate a blue soup from his bowl.
"It's alive!" Kayn yelled as the tentacle wrapped itself around the fork's head. "How the hell is it still alive after it got cooked!"
"Who cares?!" Sett muttered as he munched at a roasted tentacle the size of a watermelon. "It's so salty, so delicious!" he exclaimed in between bites.
Akali, who sat next to him, watched him decimate the tentacle in shock.
Lanius turned to Ahri, who was mostly drinking. "Why aren't you eating?" he asked her.
"I'm not that hungry right now. Besides I'll...eat...once we return to the Inn." she said and took another sip from her drink.
"Foxy, you can't only drink and not eat. At least take one bite." Lanius caught a piece of meat with a fork and brought it in front of Ahri's lips.
Ahri chuckled and ate it. "Besides, I don't think that I'm the one that has a problem here." she said as she swallowed.
At the other side of the table, Xayah and Rakan sat...or rather Rakan sat. Xayah tried to not fall off her seat as she downed one mug of wine after the other.
"I...g-got-ta...say..." she mumbled. Her face was beet red from the excessive alcohol she had consumed. "...humans...sure...h-have ta-asty...drinks." she said and took another chug from her cup. Rakan leaned forward with his free hand supporting his head.
"She drank too much, too quickly. She never had any alcoholic drinks before." he muttered and pushed his mug aside.
"Wine...mmm...s-so gooood." Xayah continued. She then turned towards Rakan. "Ba'abe, W-want...some?" she asked. Rakan looked at her and waved his hand negatively. Xayah shrugged and downed it in one go,then grabbed her lover's mug to finish it.
"How many did she have?" Akali asked Rakan. The Charmer turned around and counted the empty mugs next to Xayah. "Six." he said in disbelief.
Xayah turned towards him. "S-six? I S-see...more...mieli...y-you're drunk." she said and started to have hiccups.