Isran the Great

The line moved much slower than one at the religious district and by the time they made it to the front the sun was no longer in the sky. The check to enter Kestin was very similar to that of the religious district, the guards wore similar amour to all the others she had seen, there was no symbol on their armor similar to the guards at the bridge. It seemed the lines moved slower because the guards were searching bags.

Isran stood awkwardly as they rummaged through her large bags of coins, she was surprised they didn’t ask her where she got so much coin from, but they did weigh the bags on some floating piece of stone, a woman with black skin and cotton candy pink hair held her hand towards it with book in her hand. Isran wondered if the book was a grimoire, she’d ask Elysi later.

After her bags and shield were weighed and a few papers were handed to Elysi they entered the city. The first thing Isran noticed was that Kestin, unlike the religious district the buildings in Kestin were made of stone. They were as cluttered together as those in the religious district but it was very clear that Kestin was a far bigger city. Not by a gross amount, just bigger.

Elysi led them through the numerous people around the gates. The floors were made of stone and the sound of their horse’s hooves hitting the floor calmed Isran a little. She wondered if she had always disliked crowds of people, she couldn’t remember well enough to know if it was a new reaction. The amount of people around never really let up and the longer they were surrounded by random groups of people the more nervous Isran got.

She tried to pay attention to the lamps along the road, the tops were very high off the ground but it seemed they were oil lamps. They burned much brighter than Isran remembered though.

“Are you okay?”

Isran blinked down at Elysi, the sheep girl motioned to her hand, Isran noticed that she was shaking.

“Ah...” Isran hated how her voice wavered. “Just uh... lots of people y’know?”

Elysi tilted her head and grabbed Isran’s hand. They didn’t say anything but Isran could feel herself relaxing the longer they held their hands together. She was grateful that Elysi hadn’t said anything about her nerves.

They stopped at a tall building, it was stone like those around it with a flat roof that sloped to one side. Several skimpily dressed women stood outside the building, some smoking and others waving at people who passed by. Isran realized it was a whore house.

“Well well well, if it isn’t the lost sheep.”

“Ha ha.” Elysi smiled walking past the woman who teased her, she had obsidian skin and light red hair. Isran blushed when one of the other women pressed herself against her, squeezing past the horse by her side.

“Who is this tall hunk of meat?” The woman was a little shorter than Elysi, she had very faint grey stripes along her skin, small rounded ears sat up on her head surrounded by straight black and white hair.

“A zebra girl.” Isran mumbled in fascination.

“Yes darling.” The woman purred. “Aren’t you just the smartest.”

“Alright Adriana, leave her alone.” Elysi pulled Isran away from the woman as the others drew closer, each saying something to Elysi that had her either blushing or laughing. A few earned smacks from the sheep girl.

Isran was a little dizzy from the amount of pretty women she had been surrounded by just a few minutes prior, two burly men with grey skin and pointy ears carried their stuff behind them.

“Are you okay?” Elysi giggled lightly as she pulled Isran into a room. It was much more spacious than the inn they had slept in the day before and seemed lived in as compared to the inn.

The bed sheet on the slightly smaller bed was wine red and a wardrobe with swirling patterns carved into it sat on one wall. There were books scattered on a round table in the middle of the room and a curtain leading to a different space.

A few bags lay around as well as boots and sandals, some looked more decorative than others.

“Yeah... the horse?”

Elysi answered as she undressed. “Marcus and Desmarcus are returning it.”

Isran nodded a bit and sat slowly on the bed, she assumed those were the men that had carried their bags in.

“What are they?”

“Marcus and Desmarcus?”

Isran nodded. “And the people with dark skin and light-colored hair.”

Elysi paused removing her tight leather pants, but shook her head and answered. “Those with obsidian skin and light-colored hair are elves, the brothers are orcs.”

Isran nodded. She was a bit surprised that the dark-skinned people she had been seeing were elves and not some kind of fae.

“Those short people with beards are dwarves and the others with rounded noses are gnomes.”

“Huh..”

Elysi hummed and Isran couldn’t help running her eyes over her half-naked form.

“You clearly know humans.”

Isran chuckled lightly as Elysi approached her. “Yeah, I know humans.”

Isran thought Elysi’s smile was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen.

“Well I’m a sheepfolk but we’re all generally called beastkin.”

Isran nodded absentmindedly, her mind registering the information but she was a bit distracted with Elysi climbing on top of her half-naked. “Herbivores are animalfolk and carnivores are animalkin.”

“What about omnivores.” The similarity in naming was a bit surprising to Isran, she had assumed a different world wouldn't use such similar vocabulary.

“Depends, they are mostly just kin, but getting it wrong isn’t a big deal.” Elysi was whispering as she finished her sentence, her lips getting closer to Isran’s. Just before they could meet the door burst open.

Elysi groaned lightly as three women walked into the room closing the door behind them.

“Don’t tell me you were going to keep her to yourself.”

“So greedy Elys.”

The third just nodded her head.

Isran recognized Adrianna, the zebra girl, the other two she wasn’t sure were standing outside when they arrived. One was a human woman, her hair was cut into a pixie cut, the brown hair framing her soft face. The other was an elf. Isran was still a bit confused with how that worked, the urge to think she was a fae was still there but she ignored it. The elf woman had long gray hair, her gray eyelashes framed her beautiful pink eyes... pink eyes.

Isran could feel her face burning hot at the realization of what was about to happen.

Elysi got off her. “Are you okay with this?” She seemed to really want to know how Isran felt about the situation. Isran was grateful, it gave her time to right her mind slightly.

“Y...yeah.” She breathed, glancing between the gorgeous women.

Isran could only describe their similar smiles as scheming.