After what felt like hours of walking through the muck and grime of the city’s back alleys to avoid the patrols of the Iron Police, Claire could see the gnarled roots of Granny’s Oak across the street. Even though she had seen it numerous times before, the sight still took her breath away. It was a beautiful thing that was made even more beautiful in the midst of the bleak and depressing urban environment they called home. Really, the effect was magnificent.

Having marveled at the sight long enough, Claire shook her head and began crossing the street to the hole that was essentially the entrance to the Boggart’s Hole, a bar beneath the massive tree and her destination. With no hesitation, Claire slipped down the hole, vanishing from sight on the street. Anyone who happened to be unaware of the entrance would have been pretty surprised, but most of the people merely continued on their way without reacting.

Stepping off the ladder that lead back to the surface, Claire breathed in the earthy aroma that filled the tunnel that suddenly turned left a few feet a head. Remembering that Adin had advised her to be inconspicuous even in the Hole, Claire kept her hood up as she began following the tunnel through its myriad twists and turns to arrive at the main room, the path laid out with luminescent fungi and the noise of its occupants, which grew louder as she grew closer. Within a couple of minutes, she was passing beneath the massive root that formed a partial archway over the door. A few curious eyes drifted over to her as she entered, but they turned away when their owners found nothing interesting.

Wasting no time, Claire approached the bar on the other side of the room and sat down on one of the dingy, but surprisingly comfortable, stools. While she waited to be serviced, she observed the other patrons in the violet-tinted light of the mana lamps hanging from the roof, strategically placed to provide ample lighting with minimal disturbance to Granny’s roots. This lighting arrangement was only helped by the numerous Wisps fluttering around here and there, their own bodies producing a light glow whenever they used their magic, quite different from Claire’s own chaotic magic.

Prominent among those in the common room of the Boggart’s Hole were a strange woman with a hood, not all that unlike Claire’s own, by one of the doors and a man, also wearing a hood to obscure his features, sitting on a bench by himself across the room. The thought that they could both be Changelings like her crossed her mind, but the more logical part assured her that the chances of that being the case were about the same as an Iron Policeman stopping in for a drink with the Fae. It would be much better not to get her hopes up.

“Excuse me, miss. What can I get you?” the bartender, a young elfin man, said, drawing Claire’s attention away from the other patrons. He had his long blonde hair tied in a braid and was dressed very modestly in a black vest over a white shirt that was tinted purple by the nearby mana lamps. While he waited for a response, he was polishing a glass with a dingy gray rag, though his amber eyes were locked onto Claire.

“Actually, I’m here to get a key to my room,” she replied, a small smile on her face in response to his civility. “My name is Claire. I was told by my boss that the room would be ready by now.” The elf nodded as if he remembered a room being booked in her name before disappearing through a small door behind the bar. In a few moments, he returned with a small key that had obviously seen better days. He handed it to her with a nod and a smile before another patron caught his eye at the other end of the bar. Without hesitation, he went to service the customer, allowing Claire to stand up and make her way towards her room, crossing through another, smaller, doorway to where the guest rooms were located.

Once safely inside the room, Claire threw back her hood and shook her hair out before sitting down on the straw-filled mattress, heaving a sigh of relief at the fact that she only had to wait until Adin came by for the deal. Until then, she was free to relax, which was especially nice considering she had been on her feet all day. As she looked around the room from the bed, the distinct shape of a cook-stove was what drew her eye. Adin had clearly not been lying when he had told her that everything she would need would be in the room. Wondering again how he managed to seemingly take care of every detail, Claire began cooking some more glam to refill the little bottles she carried with her, each one a dose that sustained her. While she had a couple doses left, she had learned fairly early on that it was rarely a bad idea to make more. Figuring it was a good way to kill a little time until Adin arrived, Claire hummed as she lit the stove and went to work, absently hoping that she wouldn’t be disturbed until she was done.