Walking past the guards let Alex and G take in the sight of the city in broad daylight, unlike when they departed. The area only 15 meters away was already bustling with various people. The nearby taverns, restaurants, rental stables, and other businesses were receiving consistent influxes of people as they were visited by people either returning or preparing to leave Mosshaven.
Knowing that they needed to head over to the exchange office to get their initial paycheck, Alex asked a nearby guard for directions, and they just pointed to a nearby building that seemed to be having a small but noticeable amount of people enter it. The building itself was 3 stories tall, making it taller than the neighboring buildings by a bit, and was extremely well kept with 2 guards manning the entrance to the building.
Walking over, they passed by the 2 guards and entered the building. Inside, the exchange office possessed a spacious interior with wooden floors that had a slight shine to them, as well as a collection of wooden desks that made up the back third of the observable room. Behind each desk sat a person in official looking clothing, with neat, dark robes and white gloves.
Taking a look at the memo handed to him by the guard, Alex scrutinized the unreadable script.
"Do you think we can just walk up to any of them? I don't see any signs…"
Looking at him, G just shrugged.
"How should I know? Let's just head to the desk with the smallest line, that way we save time regardless of which one is which. Hand me that note."
Walking toward the desk with the smallest line in front of it, just 2 people ahead of them at the leftmost desk, G beckoned Alex to follow behind. When the 2 in front of them were done, G approached the clerk and addressed them.
"Hello, sir. My companion and I were told by the guards at the gate to come here and get compensation for something they confiscated. Here, they gave us this note."
Setting the note down on the desk, G looked at the clerk sitting with a smile. The clerk pulled the note towards themself and examined it, scrutinizing the script. Seemingly satisfied, he pulled open one of the drawers of the desk. The drawer's movement was marked by the jingling of coins, and the clerk pulled some out of the desk.
Raising his hand over the desk, he placed down a small gold coin and 2 silver coins of the same size, then directed his gaze up towards G, addressing them in a polite manner.
"Here is your compensation, miss. Is that all for now, or do you have any other business to attend to here?"
Feeling their smile strain for a moment, G quickly regained composure and responded before turning and leaving.
"No, that will be all. Thank you for your time."
Following behind the slightly hurried G, Alex matched their pace as they left the building. Once they were back on the street, he turned to G.
"Hey, at least they probably thought you were pretty."
"Shut up. We should find somewhere to wash off, this blood is getting on my nerves and it's not exactly inconspicuous."
"Before that, I need some food. I haven't eaten since that roll you tossed me. I'm sure there will be a food stall somewhere near here. That fine with you?"
"Yeah, that's fine."
Walking deeper into the city as they didn't think the area near the gate would have fairly priced food, they walked for about 10 minutes until they saw signs depicting a large square bath. Seeing the sign, Alex looked next to the sign and saw a large white building with steam seeming to rise from the center.
"Oh, I guess there are public baths here. Hopefully they have normal options."
"I guess it'll do. I wonder if they have a laundry facility to clean your armor? Otherwise that blood will never come out of the leather."
Walking towards the pristine looking bathhouse, the broad entryway opened up to 2 branching hallways, one on the left for entry to the baths and one on the right for laundry. Entering the left hallway that had a few other people coming in as well, they saw a collection of rooms on the right, each with a wooden door that obscured the view inside. Further down the hallway was a right turn with steam coming past the corner. On the left side of the immediate hallway was a set of cubbies behind a reception desk, manned by a woman in a long, white and blue uniform.
Walking up to the desk, the woman sitting at the desk looked up at Alex and with a courtesy smile and spoke.
"Hello, and welcome to the Eternal Atrium, the oldest bathhouse in the Southern Gate district. How can I be of service?"
Stepping forward, Alex addressed the woman.
"Hi, um, this is our first time here. Could you explain the process, please?"
"Sure, I'd be happy to. Here at the Eternal Atrium, people are welcome to come and enjoy the waters free of charge. You can deposit your belongings and clothing here when you're ready, and the rooms across from me are for changing. Inside, there are smaller partitions for individuals. If you need bags to hold your belongings when moving them here, we have some available. We have robes and towels you can use in the changing rooms, and there are bins to place used ones in the changing rooms as well. We have a one hour limit here, so make sure to exit the baths after that period so other patrons may enjoy our services. Now, if you have any other questions, you can ask any of the other workers or come back here. Please enjoy your time."
Placing 2 sets of bags, robes, and towels onto the desk, the clerk went back to reading something on the clipboard in front of them.
"Thank you."
Walking around the desk and putting the trunk in an empty cubby, Alex picked up the set of items the clerk set out and walked over to the changing rooms. G doing the same, following Alex to the rooms. Looking at Alex as they walked, G tapped against their chestplate.
"It's going to take me a few minutes to get out of this armor, so you can go ahead. I'll catch up."
"Alright. I'll probably stick with the public areas, so let's just meet back here in an hour or so."
"I might be a bit longer, like an hour and a half, so just wait in front for me. Or maybe head over to the laundry area to get your armor washed. Anyway, see you in a bit."
Going into different smaller changing rooms in the larger chambers, Alex took off their hard leather armor partially stained with blood and chlorophyll. Since the sleeves and side of the armor weren't there in the first place, it was easier than he thought to take off the armor. Underneath the armor, his dark tunic and undergarments were practically stuck to his body from the sweat gathered during his trek through the forest.
Taking that off and replacing it with the long white robe handed out by the clerk, he put the leather armor into the bag and tucked the towels in the crux of his arm.
'Damn, this robe is uncomfortable. I guess that's an expected problem with having wings under your arms though…'
Walking out of the changing room, Alex couldn't help but feel a bit weird, since unlike out in the city proper or the wilderness surrounding it, he was wearing some rather simple slippers instead of hardened leather boots. His steps, hardly making any noise against the stone tiles on the ground was very different from the clacking from steps outside on the road.
"Alright G, I'm going in."
"Got it."
Walking into the hallway and putting his bag of armor in the cubbies with his other equipment, Alex went further down the hallway this time and saw beyond the right turn.
Past the corner, the steam coming from the direction was visibly rising from the several different rectangular baths in a large chamber, about 50-60 meters on a side, and the room was well lit by skylights letting in large amounts of natural lighting.