- Ch. 3 - The City of Orario

After 30 minutes or so, Dinah found herself behind a long line of people, caravans, and what looks like merchants that are waiting for their turn to go into the City of Orario. The walls of the city were very tall; approximately 4 stories from the ground up, and they were made of some kind of brick, mortar, or maybe baked clay with something else further in. They had a burnt and aged look to them, but they looked stable and dependable. From where she was at, Dinah saw battlements, archer slits, murder holes, and tall towers every 30 meters or so all over the tops of the walls. The opened doors of the gates looked very heavy and made of hardened and treated wood with metal linings overlaid in them to increase their durability and toughness.

'Those are some tough and very medieval looking walls. What are they meant to keep out? Or rather, what are they meant to keep in?', she thought to herself while she was gently rocking Conner and humming to him softly.

She kept her eyes focused while scanning her surroundings very slowly. She kept a respectful distance between her and the other people she shared the road with. Dinah kept a calm smile on her face while she hid her shock to herself. She's seen all kinds of new things since she's joined this long line, but she knew she drew more than a few dozen pairs of eyes than necessary.

Dinah knew she looked quite the sight with her long and wavy blond hair, gorgeous blue eyes, fair skin, black combat boots, black fishnet leggings, fingerless leather gloves, well fitted shorts, brown belt, her tight crop top t-shirt tucked into her shorts; which gave a tantalizing top view to her cleavage, her open leather jacket, and her brown leather band choker on her neck. Her outfit was mainly all in black but it had a tasteful yellow trim in certain areas. Her ensemble was completed by her brand new brown leather bag of holding hanging by her side and to the right while her adorable son was held to her bosom. His cute and fuzzy yellow, white, and black pajamas drew curious looks too, but of the softer kind.

'I'm so glad you're here Conner. You help me keep my calm and you keep me focused. You're like an adorable and lovable lucky charm to this 5ft 4in tall mother of yours.'

She kept on softly humming to him while she reviewed what she saw and is still seeing as her gaze wanders. 'There's people with cat ears and tails, dog ears and tails, tall people with ears I don't recognize, small people that I would've thought were Hobbits or Dwarves until I saw the actual Dwarves next to them... Also, Elves!? There's actual Elves with the pointy ears and everything, scandily clad bronze and brown-skinned women with bodies to die for, I think that person next to that Elf is a Cow-Person. I think. And there's horses dragging carriages, carts, and lone riders atop great beasts of burden.'

'I think I've counted more than a dozen hidden daggers, a few short swords, long swords, a giant shield behind that Dwarf with arms as thick as my thighs and a giant axe strapped next to it, and a few other miscellaneous weapons. It looks like I'm not in Kansas anymore, aren't I?'

——————————————————————————————

{After a half hour or so, give or take a few minutes...}

When Dinah and her son found themselves in front of the guards, they immediately looked her up and down without any negative expressions on their faces. 'These two are very well trained.'

She can see a few more guards posted on the sides of the arched gateway walls, but these two seem to be the ones in charge.

And when their eyes reached Conner, something in their expressions changed.

The two human guards; to Dinah's well trained eyes, were veterans of a sort. They looked haggard, but their eyes had that glint in them that showed that they've seen the kind of things that would've made normal people break. Their micro expressions and their muscles looked relaxed, but there's a sort of subtle tenseness to them. They're ready and able to react to any kind of trouble and their stances are solid. 'They're not just well trained. They're also very dangerous and experienced.'

The man to her right held a well-used and sharp spear with leather grips in certain areas, and he wore leather armor that looks very well maintained. His brown eyes held a deep well of experience and his small and gentle smile made her smile a little bit wider. His brown beard matched his short hair and he had a very solid build. 'I'd wager he's maybe 6ft or so of solid muscle.'

The man to her left wore the same looking leather armor except it has a few metal adornments here and there. This man was all but bald, but he somehow made it look tasteful. The scar crossing his undamaged right eye led one to pay attention to his deep gray eyes that held a steel of strength in them. He had the same build as his friend, but he held a spartan shield and had a gladius sheathed on his right side. 'Also probably 6ft, give or take a few inches.'

"Welcome ma'am, to the southern gates. My name is Jacob and my friend here is Gabriel, can we have your full name and the name of your child? And the purpose of your visit to our great city of Orario?", said the bald man with a pleasantly deep voice.

"Thank you for the welcome, Jacob.", she replied with a smile and she nodded at Gabriel to acknowledge him as well. "I'm Dinah Laurel Lance, and this is my son Conner. We're here to find a home."

Gabriel looked at Jacob and nodded at him as if to confirm something, before they both turned their eyes back to me.

With an even more gentler and welcoming smile, Jacob said, "We welcome you to our city. If you head straight towards the giant tower of Babel in the city's center and then make a left turn exactly 45 degrees and follow the Hephaestus Familia North West Shop signs, then you'll find the Guild Hall right across from the shop. If you get turned around or lost, then all you need to do is follow the signs or come back and we can get one of the guards to guide you. You need to register at the Guild Hall and they can take it from there. Please make sure to register today. Fair warning, anyone who's not registered will get some hefty fines tacked onto them. They keep track of visitors, adventurers, merchants, caravans, and the others that pass by our gates. If it's happening in Orario, then you can bet that the Guild will know about it."

Dinah gave them a grateful smile after she digested the instructions and committed them to memory. "Thank you gentlemen for the very detailed directions. I'll be sure to visit and maybe say hi."

"Visit anytime since Gabriel and I are usually on duty most days. And if you need any help, then feel free to ask. We've got children of our own, so we know how hard it is.", said Jacob with an understanding expression.

After exchanging a few more words, Dinah left with Conner and followed the paved main road northwards. With an excited gleam in her eyes and a slight spring in her step, she was slowly taking in the expansive and rustic looking medieval city with the different styled houses, buildings, and the sprawling crowds.

'The air smells great, those guards were nice, and I love the peaceful atmosphere.'

"This is going to be a great place, Conner, you'll see.", she told her baby boy softly as she tousled his blond locks once again and kissed his head.

——————————————————————————————

{Back at the gates, after Dinah and Conner left...}

"She seemed nice.", said Jacob to his ever present and stoic friend.

"Hnn..", grunted Gabriel in agreement.

"She looks so young to be a mother."

"Hnnnn..."

"Yeah, you're right. Let's spread the word to our Familia and to our God, Ganesha, to look out for her just in case. We don't want another orphan in Orario.", affirmed Jacob with a nod. "Good idea man."

"Hn...", his stoic compatriot replied with his own nod.

With that out of the way, they signaled for the next person to walk forward to be vetted by the Twin Towers of the Southern Gates.

——————————————————————————————

As she traveled the southern main road of Orario, Dinah was humming to Conner who was now awake and was looking at everything new with a happy expression on his face.

"Isn't this great honey, oh look at that, do you wanna know what that is? That is a statue.", she pointed out to her son with a loving smile.

"Araghwaghh!", he exclaimed excitedly.

"Yes, that's right! A statue!"

As Dinah made her rounds and pointing at everything that made Conner excited and bubbly, she was slowly drawing attention to herself. Dinah didn't really care about the attention, and besides, she didn't really feel any malice from any one of the numerous people watching her and her son.

After a lengthy walk, pointing at everything and explaining it to her adorable 3 month old baby, and talking to him in her baby voice, she now found herself in the front of the Guild Hall. Conner was now sleeping once again, but before he slumbered, she was able to give him a few sips of the milk from what she's labeled as 'One of the best magical tools ever for new moms'; a.k.a. the never ending perfect baby milk temperature bottle, and she entered the welcoming Hall with her head held high.

She strode forward and joined one of the lines that lead to 5 different receptionists desks manned by 5 different women of different races. Off to the side, looks like an area where uniquely dressed people with weapons and other armaments seem to be exchanging what look like different sized stones or crystals and other items for Valis. On the other side of the huge Hall, looks to be more connected desks manned by more women who seem to be giving advice or talking to even more uniquely dressed people of different sorts.

'I'm kind of glad Conner's napping right now. Otherwise, I'd be talking to him in my baby voice while he points to all these new people. The shiny and gleaming armor, the glowing blades, the bright outfits, and everything else will just further excite him.'

——————————————————————————————

{After 45 minutes or so...}

Dinah now finds herself in front of a very nice, cat-eared, woman with a very kind smile. Her amber eyes, black hair, and button nose highlighted her soft yet regal features. She wore a nice black suit with a white, long sleeved, collared shirt that accentuated her slim figure nicely and it was topped with a gray, frilled, bowtie. Her skin was as fair as mine, which contrasted perfectly with her gorgeous and luscious short locks of coal colored hair.

"Welcome to the Guild Hall, I'm Delilah Periwinkle, but you can call me Delilah. How can I help you?", she greeted with a chipper tone and a sweet voice. Her eyes kept going back and forth between Dinah and Conner with a fond smile on her lips.

"Good afternoon Delilah, I'm Dinah Laurel Lance and this little guy is my son Conner. I was told by both Jacob and Gabriel, from the southern gates, that I can register here at the Guild Hall. What does that entail exactly? I'm pretty new here, you see.", the blond haired mother replied with a friendly smile. "And also, can you point me to the nearest library?"

"Well, what registration entails is that you'll be listed down in our log book as either a visitor, future resident, current resident, leaving, merchant, trader, bounty hunter, adventurer, mercenary, farmer, or other. We'll need your travel papers, but if you and your son don't have any, then that's fine. For a small fee; including taxes, I can have some papers made for you two after you give me your honest information. The cost is 25 Valis or any item or item(s) of equivalent value."

As Delilah continued with her explanation, Dinah was nodding along with a thoughtful smile.

"Normally it would be 15 Valis per adult, but with the family bundle, then I can register you two together for only 25 Valis. These are some of what registering with us will entail. Not registering with us will make someone an illegal visitor after a full 24 hour period the moment they stepped into the city proper and then they'll be hunted down and caught by our allies. They'll then be jailed and will have to pay a hefty fine of 1,000 Valis for the first offense. Additional offenses will net them twice as much of that fine. It'll keep on multiplying until so on and so forth.", when Delilah said this, the young mother felt a chill crawl down her spine.

'Damn, that's insane. I get wanting to maintain a constant update of who is who at this city, but wow that's ridiculous.', thought Dinah with a slight twitch to her brow. 'Bounty hunters must be making a killing here...'

Delilah continued on without a break in character, even though what she said kept on playing on my mind. "I am obligated to warn you; however, that the moment you stepped in front of my desk, a sort of truth and privacy boundary was activated. We take our customer's privacy and security very seriously here. Only you and I; not counting your cute son, are privy to what we've been talking about. We have a very strict customer and Guild personnel confidentiality agreement. No one will be able to get information about you two from us because we retain a strict neutrality and unbiased political faction amongst the city's political climate."

"And we have a library nearby and down one of those halls to my left. We have a great collection of general knowledge amongst all the city's Familias.", with that over with, she tilted her head towards me as if asking me what'll it be.

"That was a very detailed information dump.", I told her bluntly.

"Nyanyahaha, you're not the first person to have said something like that and I doubt you'll be the last. So, what'll it be?", Delilah asked with some lingering humor in her tone.

"I'd like for both my son and I to be registered as future residents of this city."

Dinah spent no time at all in reaching in her satchel and grabbing 25 Valis and handing it to the very helpful cat-person.

"Hmm hmm, nya." Delilah carefully counted them out and then she placed them into one of the drawers right away. She then took out a few papers and got out a pen with a small glowing crystal of some kind atop the black fitted finish of the writing utensil.

"I'll now be asking you some questions to get you started on those registration papers. Afterwards, you'll need to come back in a few days while I give you a registration token. We'll always have a copy, so if you misplace them, then for a minor fee of 50 Valis, we can get you another copy."

"So then, let's get started. Can I have your full name? And then age, race, known height, occupation, and how long do you think you'll be staying in the city?"

"Dinah Laurel Lance. 24 years of age. Human. 5 feet 4 inches or 163 centimeters. And I don't know what occupation I'll be taking besides doting mother. I also don't know how long we'll be staying in the city."

"Hmm hmm. Nya. I've got a feeling about you Dinah. I've got a good feeling.", she said with a nod as she kept on writing. "You said your son's name is Conner, hmm hmm nya."

"Okay, that's it.", she finished with a flourish. Delilah then straightened the papers and placed them in a different drawer. "Now that we've got that out of the way. I'll give you the registration token in a moment. But before you leave..."

Delilah looked at Dinah with an excited gleam in her eyes while she quickly looked around before giving her 100% focus on the mother and son duo. "Since you're new, let me give you the up and up on the latest rumors and gossip. Mother to mother, you'll need and want this information. Trust me."

'I knew it. In my bones, I felt it. Delilah just has that aura. But hey, I'll take any information as much as I can. Rumors and gossip could give me an inside view as to the climate of this city's economy, politics, and other juicy details. If I learned anything from my mother, it's that all mothers know or know of one another and that they're an untapped network of reliable information. It's time for me to dive in and learn how much I can.'

"Okay Delilah, let's talk. What've you got for me?", she replied with an answering smirk.