Elani looked at herself in the cracked stained window behind the small church, and tried to hide her ears under the hair. Nope, no good. It was too short to really work as an interspecies buffer, and no matter what she tried, they both kept poking out from under the haircut. She turned, adjusting the leather man-sized duffel bag half full with stuff she'd stolen from her home in the dead of night. The time meant little to her, elves didn't sleep if they could possibly avoid it, but her mother had been out manning the shop at the time, and she didn't want the neighbours to know. Or her mother, even though she had the sneaking suspicion she'd known about this whole thing. The crossbow over the mantlepiece, a family heirloom now safetly tucked away in a pocket, had been fitted with a new drawstring, and oiled. Elani tucked a few dangling strands of hair back, grinned at herself in the coloured reflection, and walked away. The sun was rising, and a beam of orange light sneaked across the skies and struck her in the face. 

Four hours later, she wandered down by the new docks. The term was a misnomer, she knew. Most docks weren't thirty thousand feet above sea level, or so ...clean as this one was. Why was there a small gaggle of women clustered around that banner? Elani turned the corner, and stared. That was definitely a sight not seen on many docks. So much ostrogen in one place could be dangerous at sea, couldn't they? She was sure she read that somewhere. What were they even gathering about, anyway? "Welcome Treasure hunters?" It was pointed to the docks, and not at the ship itself, so it wasn't a returning party. All the girls had bags around shoulders and under arms, mere purses compared to Elani's leather parachute. A treasure expedition? It was one way to leave the city. This little chance gathering might be just what she was looking for.

She sidled up to one girl in the back, a short blonde with a worried look on her. As she approached, she said something to the dogpile (Catpile?) of waiting onlookers. "...m i late?" Elani reached out a hand and tugged at her grey sleeve, in a way she hoped wouldn't alarm her too much. "Excuse me? Missus? Could i be so bold as to ask what might be going on here?"