Phaedra sighed wearily once they left the compound. Isran didn’t say anything, she wouldn’t unless the woman asked. So they made their way back to the whore house in silence.

  Elysi was helping Desmarcus carry some bags out and into Marcus’ carriage. Adrianna was standing beside the carriage, a teasing smile on her face.

  “Well, well, well.” Adrianna said when she spotted Isran, a small smile on her face and her hands on her hips.

  Isran smiled a bit nervously at the zebra woman. Not sure if she was upset or really just teasing.

  “Everyone’s got to retire I guess.” She mock sighed, her smile still there.

  “Fuck off Adrianna.”

  The zebra girl only ughed at Elysi’s harsh words before sauntering towards Isran. She pced a pouch in her hand.

  “My little parting gift. We might never see each other again.”

  Isran was a bit confused, but she guessed to some extent she probably never would. Unless she passed by the whore house again. And if she was being honest she probably never would.

  “Thank you.” Smiling down at the woman she clutched the small pouch.

  Adrianna waved her off and moved back into the building.

  Phaedra went to help Calliope with some bags she was struggling to lift and Isran moved toward Elysi.

  “Hey.”

  “Hey.” Elysi huffed, pushing one particurly rge leather bag into the carriage.

  “How are you feeling?”

  Elysi sighed and looked up at Isran, a wary smile on her face. “Better than I thought I’d be. Finding the apartment was fairly easy, especially because of our size. It’s not luxury but it most certainly is liveable.”

  Isran thought about the money they had made from trading the loot they had found in the dungeon. One thing was for sure, they were certainly quite lucky when it came to treasure and the dungeons. Luxury probably wasn’t too much of a stretch for them. Of course, conserving money was important… and technically Calliope and Phaedra were not paying rent.

  Isran wondered if their apartment counted as a base of operations. Phaedra had said she joined a group. Was that how it worked? They were just a group of adventurers?

  The apartment was a good journey away from the whore house. On slow trots on horseback Isran noted about forty minutes of travel time. The area of Kestin they were in also seemed much better kept. It was farther from the city gates than the whore house had been and because of that the streets were more open.

  Certainly more clean as well. There was a sort of organization in the way the buildings were arranged in the area. As compared to some other pces where shops dominated in a mismatched sort of way.

  Pheadra’s father’s compound had sat in the middle of several other simirly looking buildings. Large open spaces with very short walls and several people trading. Though much like the neighborhood they found themselves in, the patrons of that area seemed more wealthy.

  Isran attributed that analysis to their clothing and the fact that most of them were followed around by people who carried their purchases.

  The building their apartment was in was the entire apartment. A two-story building that had the simir wide over long construction most buildings in Kestin seemed to share.

  “Oh, how beautiful.” Calliope smiled.

  Isran would agree. The inside was quite spacious, the first floor was an open area with three doors leading to other rooms. One was a rge bathroom, only slightly bigger than the inn they had used the day before and the second was a sauna.

  Isran was starting to wonder what exactly Elysi considered luxury.

  The sauna was smaller than the bathroom but in no way a small room. A rge stone formation sat in the center of it and inside was filled with coal.

  Isran moved to the third door to find a spacious kitchen.

  “How much was this pce?” Phaedra called from upstairs.

  “Five acorns a cycle,” Elysi answered.

  Isran poked her head out of the kitchen. “A cycle?”

  “Nine months make a cycle,” Calliope answered in a sing-song voice.

  Isran blinked. She guessed a cycle was a year then.

  “How much was the advance?” Phaedra had the book Elysi had given her in the dungeons open, taking down notes.

  “Two years.”

  Isran left the two women to discuss the money stuff. She didn’t think she could actually add anything to the conversation. Every time she was certain her understanding of money was close to even the basic level, she was proven wrong.

  The second floor was very different from the first. There was a long hallway with six doors, four on one side and two on the other.

  One was a bathroom, the other seemed to be a storage room. On the opposite wall, one was a spacious office with three desks fitted comfortably inside, the second a bedroom, the smallest room she had seen in the house at that point. With the exception of the storage room.

  The third was a bedroom as big as the inn they had been in. The bed was a bit bigger than a king-sized bed but certainly not as rge as the one in the inn from the day before.

  And the st room was empty.

  Isran came back downstairs to help Elysi pack up.

  Calliope had made it clear she would not like to sleep alone, and Phaedra had timidly said she felt the same. They agreed the second bedroom would serve as a spare and the empty room would be converted into another bedroom.

  The bed was smaller than previous so they couldn't squeeze themselves on. Elysi and Phaedra discussed bed sizes for the blue-haired woman and mouse girl. Isran didn't mind much. The room was really big and four people using it wouldn't be an issue.

  It took them a few hours of packing and cleaning. As well as trips for food and bnkets and the extra--Isran didn’t want to think about the amount of money they had spent that day alone--but that was for her smarter companions to figure out.

  When the day ended they all dozed off on the floor of the first floor, pillows strewn around and bnkets covering themselves. Elysi was snuggled into Isran’s arms while Calliope had curled herself against Isran’s back and Phaedra had slept back facing Elysi’s.

  Isran looked up at the dark ceiling of the space and smiled. She felt good. Having her own pce in Neos was a sort of groundedness she didn’t know she needed. With a soft kiss to Elysi’s hair, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.