It was the first pleasant night Mari felt she'd had since setting out on her own, and she couldn't help but hope this new little arrangement with this group worked out. Not indefinitely, of course, but she didn't imagine she'd find what she was after quickly, and it would help to have pleasant company while she struggled through the Blackwood.

"If, huh?" she shot back at Ithaca with a raised eyebrow. "Count on it."

She'd drank her way to a pleasant buzz and warmth, and knew it wouldn't be wise to have any more, especially with her first real venture into the woods the next day. Rather than immediately turn in, though, she cleared her throat and headed towards one of the tables.

"Hey, Po?" She offered an apologetic smile for interrupting his reading, before she sank heavily onto one of the chairs. A hand lifted, fingers threading through red hair at the back of her neck, subconsciously pushing it over her half-pointed left ear. Old habit. "Ithaca mentioned earlier that you know a lot of the old lore here."

She lifted a leg, bringing her knee up and resting her foot on the seat of her chair. "The reward for this sounds nice and all, but I don't think I can actually buy what I'm looking for here with gold." She lowered her hand from her neck and slipped her fingers beneath the holy symbols on the necklace tied around her belt. "I'm looking for a lost temple dedicated to Rán, the sea goddess. I'll become the youngest of her Daughters if I can find it, and survive whatever awaits me." She didn't actually know if there would be more trials inside the temple, or if finding the temple was itself the trial, but Mari had learned by now to prepare for the harder road.

"Have you ever heard of something like that? A temple magically hidden, maybe even moving?"