After three days of travel, the trio had finally reached the city of Viarosa. It was built onto a small peninsula, with a small mountain on one of the coastlines. It was, of course, one of the richest cities in the known world, owing to its naval trade routes and thus, one of the best defended. Just on the approach road, the three had met multiple guard outposts. Its navy was nothing to sneer at either; a dozen warships patrolled the coast while dozens more were in the many docks the city had. A pearly white wall went around the entire peninsula except for where The Rock stood, towering over anything and everything for many miles around.

Athaliah and Rhiara were simply stunned by the size and beauty of both the city and the Rock while Herbert remained himself, given what he had seen the city many times before. There were open pathways with trees and arches on the main roads going in and out of the city which led travellers all over the city. Herbert led his horse and wagon towards the stables, which were more or less dead-centre in the city. 

The trio left the wagon, leaving their weapons and most other bits and pieces inside. There were numerous guards inside the stables exclusively for protecting goods and animals, so they could be sure their equipment would be safe. “Okay Herbert,” Athaliah began. “You lead the way? You know this city better than we.”

With a smile on his scarred face, Herbert waved for his companions to follow and began walking through the city. The three of them soon arrived at a townhouse with a sign bearing the symbol of healing. Positively grinning, Herbert pulled a key out of his pocket and opened the door after unlocking it. He stepped inside and placed his cloak on a nearby rack before calling out into the house. "Honey, I'm home. I've brought guests." 

The response came from a few rooms away. "Welcome home. I'm with a patient, but I'll be there in a few minutes. Why don't you show our guests to the living room?" With that, Herbert gestured for Rhiara and Athaliah to enter and guided them to the living room.

“She sounds nice,” Rhiara said, looking around the living room.
Athaliah nodded in agreement. “You’ve got a fantastic house by the way, Herbert. Do you mind if we sit down, at all?”

"Thank you, feel free to have a seat on the couch." Replied Herbert. "Can I get you anything while we wait for Erika?"

Athaliah and Rhiara both sat down next to each other on the couch; they both looked somewhat happy to be next to each other, though of course, neither of them told the other one that. “Could I have some tea, please? Weiss, what about you?”
Rhiara began fiddling with her hands and she looked slightly uncomfortable. “I don’t want to impose…”
“He’s offered,” Athaliah said, patting her friend gently on the shoulder. “It’s rude not to take a man up on his offer.”
“Okay, could I have some tea as well, please?”

"Not an imposition in the slightest." Assured Herbert. "Feel free to make yourself at home while I get the drinks."

Once Herbert had left the room to get them their drinks, Rhiara and Athaliah began to talk among themselves. Athaliah’s hand was still on Rhiara’s shoulder, and she felt conflicted about the whole thing; she knew it was just a gesture of friendship and nothing more, but she did think of turning it into that something. Eventually, she decided against the idea – she’d rather not pursue a romance with her best friend, in case it failed. 
“Rhiara? You there?” Athaliah said, snapping her out of her trance.
“Oh, yeah, sorry!” she replied, a little embarrassed. “I was just lost in thought.”
Athaliah raised an eyebrow. “Anyway… what do you think of Viarosa so far?”
“It’s beautiful! It feels safe, and there’s The Rock as well… I could just look at it forever.” The sound of footsteps coming back into the room broke their conversation.

The monster hunter returned carrying a tray with four cups and set it down on a small table in front of the couch. Two of the cups contained the tea that the guests had requested, while the third and forth contained hot cocoa and vodka respectively. With the tray in place, Herbert sat down on a smaller couch, and picked up the mug of hot cocoa, blew on it softly and began to sip at it carefully. As he was doing so, a shapely blonde woman with wavy hair entered the room and sat beside Herbert. She regarded Rhiara and Athaliah with a warm smile and greeted them. "Hello, I'm Erika. Who might you two be?"

Athaliah and Rhiara smiled back. “I’m Athaliah; it’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Erika.”
“I’m Rhiara,” the white-haired girl said, looking slightly uncomfortable due to the situation she found herself in. “Sorry, I’m not… great when it comes to meeting new people.”
Athaliah spoke again, “Don’t worry about her; she’ll be fine once she’s spent a few minutes with someone. Herbert’s told us a lot about you, you know. Only nice things, I promise.”

Erika chuckled and leaned affectionately against Herbert, who gave her a quick kiss. "I should hope so. It's nice to meet you two as well. What brings you to our humble home?"

"Well," Herbert began as Erika sipped at her vodka, "after Rhiara helped me kill a basilisk, she and I were invited to a feast by men claiming to represent the Knights Solanian. I thought you might want to come along and enjoy the party."

"I'd love to come!" Said Erika enthusiastically. "A feast seems like great fun, and besides," she added playfully, "someone has to keep you out of trouble if your main business rivals are hosting the party." 

Herbert chuckled. "Can't deny you've gotten me out of a tight spot or two. That one werewolf and those manticores are the first that come to mind."

With that, Erika turned her attention back to the guests. "So, tell me about this basilisk that you brought down."

Rhiara sighed deeply, not because of the story and her experience, but because she was shy. “Well… it was about twenty metres long, so it was really, really long. Herbert did most of the work really, I just helped. We took turn in attacking it while its attention was distracted, and then Herbert set it on fire with his fire magic.”

Erika raised an eyebrow. "Don't sell yourself short. It takes guts to go anywhere near a basilisk, let alone try to attract its attention. Even if you did 'just help', you helped fight a creature that could kill with a look." She turned to Athaliah and inquired. "What about you? I take it that you are a friend or lover of Rhiara's?"

Both Athaliah and Rhiara’s faces went red from embarrassment. “N-no, no! We’re just friends!” Athaliah stammered, looking around the room. Rhiara, meanwhile, had her face buried in her hands. “There’s absolutely, uh, nothing romantic between us. At all.” 

Herbert and Erika shared an amused, knowing look as the two denied any romantic feelings a tad too energetically. Erika gestured for them to calm down and spoke. "Alright, alright, I didn't mean to upset you, you've made your feelings [i]quite[/i] clear." The double meaning in Erika's words was, of course, entirely intentional. "I take it you are close friends?"

“Close friends, yes,” Athaliah replied; she had calmed down faster than Rhiara had, who was still blushing. “We’ve known each other for almost ten years. It was a good idea of our parents to make us spend time together, I think...”

"That's nice. We should probably get ready for the feast." Erika paused and corrected herself. "Well, I need to pack anyways and I think Herb might need to get a few things from around the house."