"-I didn't know you wanted to get up to that in the car." 

Megi grumbles. Weiss giggles.

"Yes, yes, illusion seatbelts coming right up."

That comment gets a congratulatory “Eyy!” from the co-pilot. 

She settles in to watch the city go by and see what the hexes they pass are like.

They’re going by pretty fast.

Giantic metal tree with spiderwebs between the branches, and pulleys that take platforms up and down. Shimmering illusions advertising clothes, curtains, sheets, and sails for ships.

Collection of wooden buildings, mixed restaurant-store-apartments. 

Hex full of mist with a couple spooky mansions faintly visible. 

Lake with dolphins frolicking around. 

Adjacent lake, but in a shallow area standard humanoids wade and talk with mermaids and mermen.

Giant statue of a man dressed like an astronaut, big enough for people to live inside. Collection of tents gathered around. 

Temple of white marble, adorned with perhaps too many statues, a dozen stories tall. 

Spooky mansions? She wonders if that's the vampires that 'seek adventurous companionship'... 

The tree and the temple are both architecturally impressive. A lot of these places seem interesting to look around and talk to people in, later.

The trio chatter excitedly about the sights as the trip continues.

Many more buildings, places to live and work, places to go, places whose purpose is hard to discern. 

“They make us slow down here, for the view.”

”Slow down” the other says, like it’s a curse.

Behold, the monument zone. An area of seven hexes, full of nothing but monuments. There’s rows of ‘man on a horse’ statues, rows of ‘man or woman or other holding symbolic object’. A hex full of pyramids. Another full of spheres. Then all the obelisks and cubes and other such shape based monuments together in their own zone. A river with twenty bridges crossing it, each a magnificent feat of engineering and artistry in a different way. It’s a bit crowded.

Visible at the center of all these monuments, the Palace. Lotsa domes on that one.

Maybe they can spend a week or two walking around all the monuments, later. There seems to be a lot to see.

Ooooh, palace... Just figuring off the size of the windows and the height of the place... There has to be room for a whole town in there. A large town, or a small city all its own. And they still managed to make it look nice and stately.

"Impressive."

“Yep. Greatest city.”

A bit proud, but also unimpressed after having driven through here a thousand times. 

One of the many side entrances leading from the road into the palace is marked with a banner. In Notal, it reads ‘WELCOME KITSUNE’. 

By the banner, a dozen servants in crisp black uniforms. One is some sort of crab, a couple are only two feet tall, and yet somehow they all seem generically interchangeable. One, whose uniform is decorated with a couple silver stripes, opens the door with a “Welcome, welcome to the Palace.”

The uniform design is clearly well refined. They probably have a tailor customizing to accomplish this effect. It's impressive.

Are any of them hot?

"Ah, thank you. We don't need too much pomp and circumstance, surely?"

The three file out. Megi peers around at the long row of side entrances. Each one prepped for different guests?

"I hope you two have a lovely rest of the day, sirs drivers."

“Oh we will. Enjoy the palace, see you around.”

The servants are generic! They are neither hot nor non-hot, they simply blend into the background. 

Except… 

There’s bait #1 and bait #2. Whoever designed their uniforms had the very hard task of making something that draws attention to the distinct features of the most common and second most common body-and-face-shape-attractive-to-standard-humanoids, while also being almost indistinguishable from the regular uniform.

Both of them get a good look-over from Tessa; The other two kitsunes have a reaction to only one side, positive and negative respectively. Weiss's ears visibly twitch down upon noticing the more masculine one.

"The uniforms are very impressively designed," Tessa says, "I'm no tailor but I can see the artistry here. The logistics of this place must be immense."

"Good morning," she says to Two Silver Stripes. (So many people around is making her tense.)

"I am Weiss. That's Tessa and that is Megi- We don't use second names very much. I don't have much idea what the itinerary is, if there is one- The Minister mentioned meeting useful contacts for development of the hex? And for planning a mausoleum?"

“Weiss, Tessa, Megi. Good to meet you, and thanks for the compliments. We have put a lot into making this work for you all. Call me your attaché. As for the itinerary, first your rooms, and any changes or requests. Then there’s a construction factor ready to meet over lunch. We’re in talks with a couple of faiths that practice corporeal funerary rights, should be able to arrange at least one this afternoon, and a few others tomorrow. 

Noticing the tension, all but one of the servants are dismissed with the wave of a hand. Neither of the bait ones remain, though the masculine-type will look back once before going. 

"I wasn't intending to stay at the Palace long term. We do have a forest to work on."

"Any meetings with the faithful should go through me. I'm the shrine attendant* among our group. It should also be clear that, while the desire for a hallowed place of rest and remembrance is sincere-"

*'Shrine attendant' is one short word in Notal, with a feminine-connotation.

Tessa makes an exasperated face at Megi, interrupting.

"-Do we need to get into the details already? Let's go see those rooms before talking religion."

Not everyone intends to stay at the palace long term.