She's so jealous. She stays well away from them.

In the evening she goes back to meet Lissa.

Lissa is back at the tavern, relaxed and cheerful, and would be delighted to buy Carissa a drink and ask how her day was.

It was okay, she collected about half the price information she needs, tomorrow she'll finish that and then there'll be the more awkward work like figuring out how long the Queen is expected to live.

Lissa rolls her eyes. "Is that what your people want to know. Hmm, I think Savil's guessing five or ten years. ...Though Savil's older than the Queen is and I wouldn't bet on her croaking anytime in the next two decades."

"Well, some people age better than others. Maybe I will just put your number down as a reliable estimate from an expert and leave it at that."

"Aww, I'm an expert now, how flattering!" Lissa giggles, and then moves on to recounting things she noticed in the market about the price of goods, she paid special attention since she knew Carissa might want to know. Also she took her brother for a bit in the afternoon and he has no idea what ANYTHING is supposed to cost and is incredibly helpless at haggling. The Heralds' stipend isn't even that generous but he's got loads of unopened stipend packets shoved under his bed, she thinks he literally never does anything except work. (The Heralds' room and board and work-related expenses are all covered by the Crown, the stipend is just for extra spending money, but what's even the goddamned point if you never DO anything with it.)

Seems pretty silly to her, even if you don't need anything it's nice to have more servants and nicer clothes and vacations and so on. Is it true that Heralds get sort of drafted by their horses, usually as kids?

Yep, that's true! Her brother didn't want to be a Herald at all, though most kids do, it's very glamorous - at least, the stories are. This gets another eyeroll from Lissa. The reality is a lot of time out on circuit with wet feet, dealing with annoying upset townspeople. Her brother used to get very excited about nice clothes but nowadays she has to nag him to wear anything from his closet that isn't Whites.

Awww, that's so tragic. She kind of wants to meet a Herald, is he draggable out?"

Maybe with some coaxing! She can try to get him out tomorrow night.

Carissa would be so appreciative! This won't help her with her job at all but she's also curious what the Guard is iike.

Lissa is happy to chatter away about what the Guard's training regimen was like and how she's just been promoted and given a whole company of three hundred to lead, they'll be out at the western border near someplace called Deerford, mostly they'll have to deal with holding off incursions of Pelagirs beasties.

Sounds like fun! She is content to spend most of the evening soaking up local cultural context and also hooking up.

Lissa is not complaining about any of this! She seems to have worked out her restless energy for the moment, and doesn’t seek out more opportunities to start fights.

The next day she saves her Tongues for meeting a Herald in the evening and spends the day eavesdropping around temples again, in various illusion-disguises.

She learns...some things.

Vkandis Sunlord isn't that popular here except with the Karsite immigrants, and based on the conversation she overhears, Karse and Valdemar are on mildly contentious terms right now - they're officially at peace, Elspeth ("the Peacemaker") made sure of that treaty, but they have a long history of border wars.

Astera's temple is very boring but some number of locals seem to treat it similarly to a library, and come to consult their rare books collection.

The monks of Kernos are a martial order and practice fighting katas in the courtyard; Kernos in general is apparently supposed to bless soldiers in battle and give the 'righteous' side good luck, though it's unclear how this cashes out in practice. Certainly she doesn't get the slightest hint that the gods of any local temple even give their priests or lay representatives any magic, let alone communicate with them.

Lissa is slightly late to the tavern that evening. She's tugging a slightly younger boy by the arm, presumably her brother, though he's dressed up very nicely in a blue velvet tunic rather than wearing the Heraldic uniform.

"Carissa!" she calls out, waving and lighting up.

Her brother mostly looks anxious and overstimulated. Oddly, there are a few streaks of white in his dark hair, though he can't be older than eighteen or nineteen.

"Liss! Hey! And this must be your brother?"

"Yes! This is Vanyel. Vanyel, this is Carissa, she's lovely."

Vanyel smiles nervously at her and bobs his head. There are dark circles under his eyes, like he has a habit of not sleeping enough.

She does a little bit of a double take at the name. "Nice to meet you! I've only been in Haven two days but it's very nice." It's not. She's homesick. "Are you coming out drinking with us? So far we get into bar fights fifty percent of the time but I have a small sample."

Vanyel makes a face at his sister. "Apparently I'm coming, sure. Lissa likes fighting but you shouldn't encourage her."

Lissa sticks her tongue out at her brother. "Get us a table," she tells Carissa. "First round of drinks on me tonight." She heads for the bar.

Carissa follows. "I hear you're a herald, huh?"