The large walls of the town invited the carriages within, the guards, adorned in their chain eyeing the large group suspiciously. The town was set within the mountains, within the valley, sprawling out like a spiderweb.

"Halt!" called the guard, stopping the carriage, imagining as though she was casting magic to stop the four. She sauntered up towards the first carriage, noting the doors were opening, the guards nearby shifting their crossbows. That was until they saw the familiar vestments. "Ah!"

"Asaym," Dunes called, smiling with the charm of someone who held a great position of power, but also the kind that worked closely with the guards. Then he narrowed his eyes, as the fellow opposite him pulled up her visor, revealing her beautiful face, dark as the night, short, almost bronze hair that fell to her ears, her eyes lined in grey.

"Walay, Mo!" She reached out a hand, and the pair clasped hands and half hugged one another. "Mo Dunes!"

"Tameera! How have you been?" Dunes asked, grinning wide.

"Blessed, always, always, you know me," Tameera replied, patting the Mo's shoulder gently, feeling how sturdy his plate was. "What is this? Full plate?"

"Shukhur, what can I say?" Dunes chuckled in response. "Are you a Mulazim now, or?"

"No, no, not yet, but seeing that you are wearing such fine plate…" The woman noted the design on the breastplate. "What is this?"

"I work alongside a business as a Manager," Dunes admitted, chuckling awkwardly. "It is a long story."

"I heard you finally married Amira?"

"Married, two children, daughters," Dunes admitted. "What of you?"

"Engaged," the woman admitted. "With Hussain."

"Which one?"

"His uncle owns Sleeping Peaks."

"Muscle Hussain or Numbers Hussain."

"Numbers."

"He must not be very smart if he married you," Dunes said, holding up his arms as the woman chopped at his chest, causing him to laugh. "Ah, Adam! Come out, I have someone to introduce you to."

"Yep," Adam said, hopping out in his purple full plate, causing the woman to step back a moment, admiring the armour. "Greetings, sister."

"Tameera, this is Adam."

"This is Adam!" Tameera half exclaimed knowingly.

"You know me?"

"Kal Sara and Kal Korin spoke of you," the woman admitted, narrowing her eyes.

"Adam, this is Tameera, she is a great friend of mine."

"Well, any friend of Dunes is a friend of mine," Adam said, reaching out a hand, the woman grabbing his forearm and shaking it.

"Did you come with the other Iyrmen too?" the guard asked, peeking into the carriage to note all the figures. She smiled and waved a hand to Anka, who nodded in return, while Amal eyed up the woman curiously, but turned her head to Anka. Tameera tensed up lightly, saluting the Black Lion, who bowed his head in return.

"Yes," Dunes admitted. "We visited Black Mountain to deal with a few matters, and now we are going to meet with Kal Sara and Kal Korin."

"I think they recently left?" Tameera replied, trying to recall when she had met them last. "I think they were heading to Agazabad, but I am not sure."

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"I will message them later," Dunes said, reaching up to brush his beard lightly in thought. He noted her eyes, the way they were signalling the young man. He leaned in to whisper. "He is here to watch over Adam."

"Why?"

"Adam is… Adam."

The woman narrowed her eyes as the other guards approached, greeting the Mo as Tameera then checked each of the carriages.

"Is there anything else you would like to declare?" Tameera asked after checking the various figures within, noting all the curiosities, but she knew better than to ask more specifically.

"I will keep Adam out of trouble, and he will assist in keeping everyone else out of trouble," Dunes said.

"I'll have to write to the Mulazim about all the irregularities," the woman stated firmly.

"We have nothing to hide," Dunes assured, smiling once more.

"I mean…" Adam said, before Dunes reached out to slap his shoulder, causing the half elf to wince in shock. "What?"

"You will say something that will get you investigated and it will waste all of our times," Dunes berated the half elf, since he shouldn't cause trouble for the guards.

Tameera shook her head. "They mentioned you liked to cause trouble."

"Just a little bit…" Adam smiled awkwardly, flushing with embarrassment. "Don't worry, I've decided to cause less trouble nowadays."

"I will trust in the Mo's words," Tameera said, shaking her head lightly, but she allowed the figures through.

'Ah,' Dunes thought. 'I should have told her about…'

The main road within the town was wide, easily thirty steps wide, with various other large roads heading out, some winding, some straight as an arrow. The buildings were made of wood, mostly, though the group noted a large number of stone buildings along the area. The main road's buildings were all businesses, save for those near the centre, but as the carriages made their way through, they eventually veered off the main road, following another wide road, easily twenty steps wide, towards a large building off in the distance, that which was domed, and was surrounded in gardens.

"I honestly thought this was a temple at first," the half elf admitted as they stepped into the inn, where a large number of figures sat and enjoyed themselves, for this was the inn which split the merchants and the devout, or rather, had been built to cater to both.

"Sleeping Peaks," Dunes informed, before heading to the group of acolytes, each of whom wore a wooden amulet of the sword, the acolytes standing to greet him respectfully. He spoke with the acolytes for a short moment or two as the others situated themselves.

The innkeeper, a middle aged man, eyed the group up, noting the large number of Iyrmen. He was well built, slightly on the heavier side, his hair cut short now that his hair had thinned, his beard trimmed quite short, though his moustache was thick and curled upwards on either side.

"Ahm, shukhur," Dunes greeted.

"Shukhur, Mo," the man replied, nodding his head to the young man he recognised. "It has been a few years since I saw you pass through."

"I went to Aldland for some time," Dunes admitted, smiling awkwardly. "I completed my task, returned, but now I must head out."

"Are you going to support with the war effort?"

Dunes let out an awkward sigh, before furrowing his brows. "In some way, yes."

"Aryahabi, I pray everyday."

"I as well," Dunes assured. "Is there any trouble here?"

"The merchants, the priests, the guards are busy and on edge, so there is little trouble around here. I heard other parts of the town, they are not so lucky."

"It is the Chaos that such war welcomes, but it will return to peace soon." Dunes threw a look back over his shoulder. "Thirty two, two of whom are children. How many rooms are free?"

"If you need thirty two rooms, Mo, there will be thirty two rooms free," the innkeeper assured.

Dunes shook his head, smiling wide towards the older man. "No, no, we need… twelve, fifteen if you are able. We will pay three beht for each person, so fifteen rooms would be nice. If they order more, speak of the price, and if they say they will pay, they will pay, and I will settle the bill."

"Shukhur," the man said, accepting the gem the Mo placed upon the counter.

"I am looking for Ka Sara and Mo Korin."

"They passed by here a short while ago. Mo Korin, he stayed for a day or two at a time for a few weeks, then he said he was going to Agazabad."

"Aryashukhur," Dunes said, placing down a beht to pay for the information, the young man's eyes darting around to see if he saw any familiar faces. He reached up to cover his mouth, half whispering. "The older Aswadian does not wish to be bothered."

"He will receive no bother," the innkeeper said, accepting the small pouch, noting the glint of silver and gold within, a fair price for his silence.

Dunes returned back to the group, which had settled around many of the tables, as the food was slowly brought to them by the various well dressed workers.

"I will need to send word to confirm, but I believe they are in Agazabad," Dunes said. "It is a town northward, beyond the neutral tribes. We will need to be careful, but there is often little trouble between the tribes and Black Mountain."

"Do they also do the whole spear in a scarf thing?"

"Yes."

"We'll do that then."

"We will also pass by… a certain dragon."

"What kind of dragon?"

"The worst kind for you," Dunes admitted. "The most suspicious of dragons, and considering how many Iyrmen are in our party…"

"Is the dragon evil?"

"She is not," Dunes said.

"Then she's got nothing to worry about."

'You are one of the very few people who can dare to threaten such a dragon…' Dunes thought, rubbing his forehead.