[color=#ff39d6]"Hm?"[/color] Ashley turned to the girl, recognizing her immediately as the energetic youth from before. Ashley also recognized that face—the face of someone looking for a favor. Putting the pieces together in a way she figured made sense, she feigned a smile.

[color=#ff39d6]"There are several ships departing soon. I suppose you'll need to pay your fare?"[/color]

Ashley only figured that the girl's desire to go adventuring was a clever excuse to ask for money. An unscrupulous noble wouldn't bat an eye at giving her a small pittance of coins if it meant seeing one less pair of cupped hands on the streets tomorrow, she thought darkly.

[color=#ff39d6]"I suppose it can't be helped, can it? Safe travels,"[/color] she said as she handed over the coins, fully expecting the young mage to take them and run off to the market to buy some cheap stale bread, or whatever it was these 'charming' mice did with the money they 'swindled' from her.

[color=#ff39d6][i]Don't get the wrong idea. I'm just in a good mood today,[/i][/color] she thought, as if praying to an evil god.

As she was, a man with abysmal manners suddenly stood upon a nearby table, announcing his intent to recruit as though it were a perfectly natural time and place to do so. In spite of his tactlessness, though, she found herself intrigued. The runes on his belt were not chosen carelessly, as though wearing something one's peers could not read were somehow "trendy." Despite his appearance, he seemed knowledgeable.

[color=#ff39d6][i]A fellow scholar? Never hurts to have like minds to work with... or, failing that, someone to upstage,[/i][/color] she thought dryly.

[color=#ff39d6]"Such a bold entrance!"[/color] she remarks, loudly and hypocritically, eliciting a few chuckles from some nearby patrons who had witnessed her own entrance. [color=#ff39d6]"Care to grace us mere mortals with your assistance, O wise young scholar?"[/color] she petitions, clapping her hands at a modest pace that was neither sarcastic, nor over-enthused. [color=#ff39d6]"Indeed, I have need of an intellect as sharp as my valiant companion's steel,"[/color] she flatters, putting a hand around Mikhail's bicep, to indicate which "companion" she was referring to—and what "steel" she was relying on.