Two green eyes peered down at the encoded slip of paper once more. To someone without knowing the key it would appear gibberish, to her… well… it still appeared as such… for the most part. Scribbles lined the paper showing multiple attempts at decoding the message correctly. At least this time she got a location.

 

“Pearl?” she asked herself. Somehow the place sounded familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it.

 

Crumpling up the piece of paper she slipped the message into her pocket.

 

As she made her way through the streets she could feel eyes following her. This was not the best part of Denerim that was for sure. Maybe she should’ve chosen more discreet garb rather than her traditional Dalish dress. Still, when she got the letter she wasn’t prepared to have to hide, her tattoos made that neigh impossible regardless.

 

Ella continued briskly through the growing crowd keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. It would be then her ears would perk at the word ‘Pearl.’ She immediately diverted her eyes in the direction. Two dirt-covered human men seemed to be talking about it. She couldn’t discern any more words from their conversation, but their animated hand motions made up for it.

 

“Gotcha,” she mumbled under her breath.

 

~ ~ ~ ~

 

As it would turn out she was nearby, but the Pearl wasn’t well advertised, and the reason would be made clear when she walked in the door.

 

Inside she saw men and women alike all gathered in groups or awaiting “services.” A few of the patrons looked her way, she cringed just thinking about what was going on in their heads. She tried to ignore it; she had to find the contact. She pulled the slip from her pocket and read her poor decoding and looked up.  As if on purpose her eyes fell upon a man, a Dalish man of all things, matching the description.

 

“Leli,” she said in more of an asking tone than anything else.