"Uh... Hmm! I don't know, that's an interesting question. You can't float around here, so up and down aren't typical navigation options, unless you're a bird. The currents can get a lot faster, we call them 'wind'. Watch out for thrown objects, they go really fast up here. Water falls from the sky sometimes, and flows and pools like ghyran, so we don't all die of thirst. What cool underwater Skills do you have?"

"Heee. Okay. Above the sky, you can't move around at all, unless you have some kind of engine, just as a fish would plummet from the sky no matter how hard it swam. We come from the sky, same as you, so we need the air and bring enclosures of air up there with us. There are no currents at all, but just as the light of day is brighter above the water, it is even brighter still above the sky: deadly bright, so bright it's poisonous. Watch out for thrown objects; they don't stop or even slow down until they hit something, even if that takes years. It's quiet outside our enclosures, utterly bone-numbing quiet, so quiet your own blood sounds like a thundering waterfall in your ears. What cool under-air Skills do you have?"

"Sounds terrifying. I have the Windreading skill!"

"You mentioned that one! How does it work?"

"I did? Oh! Windreading is different from Windsight - one's just for air, it's the skill for telling which way the wind is blowing and the patterns in the air and whether you're upwind or downwind of something. Surprisingly useful for scouting and tracking. The other is for the Winds of Magic. You learn it if you're going to be doing sorcery with the Winds, as opposed to incantation magic or something else. It's sort of... Hard to describe? Synaesthetic? Most people see magic as colors, but I smell it half the time."

"Oh. Huh. Nifty. Magic is neat. I'm thinking about enrolling in a few magic classes. The receptionist at the Adventurer's Guild said I could, and should."

"It would be a good idea! You're decent in melee and have some wicked trump cards* with that-" glance "-The thing you did to a tree, and the other thing. Don't want to reveal your secrets for you. But I know I'd rather have someone flexible fighting by my side than a hyper-focused specialist."

*Lit: "Hidden Knives"

"So you do wanna keep adventuring with me."

"If you find someone with a Skill you've never even heard of, who lives - I dunno - in a realm of dreams and mist - and who you seem to more or less get along with personally, I'd advise you stick to 'em and become friends." He taps the side of his snout sagely, one eye closed. "I am going back to my regular work tomorrow unless you can prove you have a mighty destiny that will lead me to lots of treasure, though."

"..."

"So what's the job? That your have tomorrow. Scouting."

His ears flick. "Are you going to want to come along? Maybe don't try to die the moment you show up. It's the kind of job that works better when I'm alone, anyway. I ought to be back before long, if you're gonna miss me." He waggles furry paw-fingers with somewhat sharp clawtips at her.

"I wouldn't want to come along if I'd get in the way or slow you down. I might miss you though ooh is that our food?"

It is their food!

...Tret's tail might be wagging, if she's identifying that thumping noise correctly.

That is cute.

Okay, this smells super yummy. And it tastes super yummy. It tastes super yummy and kind of burn-y. Actually it tastes super yummy and very burn-y. NO ACTUALLY it tastes super yummy AND WAY TOO BURN-Y!!! Water! Water!

She has a glass of cool, icy water in front of her.

"-Eat some bread too! It helps with the spice."

Eefina follows this advice!

"...I think I don't like spice," she says once she's recovered.

"I didn't think you'd never had spicy food! You kind of have to take it slow. And get used to it. Spice is a kick, which is an interesting taste it makes other things taste better... Not if you have too much, though. Trade you half a salmon for your spicy dish? And you could order something else - some nice savory stew, maybe."

"Hm, actually..."

Eefina gets a thoughtful look, then leans forward to hide what she's doing with her body. She cuts off another piece of beef, then carefully wipes off the seasoned coating. Holding one on one hand and the piece of meat in the other, both start glowing silver-gray.

Then she pops it in her mouth, and makes a displeased face. "Well, that didn't work. Now its barely got any flavor. I'll suppose I'll take you up on trading half for half?"

"Sure, spicy beef and salmon are kind of opposite extremes but sure. What'd you try to do?"

"I tried to nullify the spice, but I guess I'm not skilled enough to get the spice without also getting all the seasoning and stuff too."

"If you can - conceptually, selectively nullify things - that's a lot of utility in your pocket right there, that is."

He rearranges their plates.

"I can't actually do it conceptually to nonmagical things, that's most of the problem."

Eefina tries the fish. It's not as yummy, but the lack of burning is much preferred.

"Hah, spicy~ So, what do you wanna know about the city?"

"Who's who, what's what, and where I ought to avoid making myself conspicuous. The nobles. Their politics. The biggest problems the city faces. The most-ignored problems the city faces. Where to get various more specific information if I need it."

"That's... Kind of a lot of stuff?" He frowns. "If you want to blend in, hanging around the docks and the Academy and being foreign at people will do that. I don't follow fuss with the nobles much, honestly, but Marquise Frederick LaDecroy hires lots of demihumans and doesn't pull shit with renting work equipment and sudden firings or intimidation like most everyone else- happy workers are productive workers, he says- The dwarves are kind of a problem, I think. Something happened a while ago that makes things tense, I don't know the details. The Adventurer's Guild is maybe a little too powerful, in my opinion. And there's these stupid 'beautification' laws that my friend Ermine insists are specifically designed to move poor people into one corner of the city."