"Ah, well."  Friendly small talk then?  She can do friendly small talk.  She's not disappointed.  "It's so different from Osirion, it was an especially hot summer when I mastered Ray of Frost and I likely spent hours just hitting the walls and floors with it to cool the house."

"It gets hot in Cheliax in summer too. If I muster out before I've got another circle I'll have a drinks cart, I think, better than scrivening or laundry."

"Oh, that does sound better, people could just come to you instead of you going to them... what would you do in the winter, just switch to warm drinks?"

"Yeah, exactly."

A burst of raucous laughter comes from the card game as Tariq stands up and cheerfully shucks off his coat and shirt in one go.  Khalida jumps at the noise, then relaxes when she sees it's harmless and rolls her eyes at him.

"How'd you fall in with your party?"

"Hmm?  How did I join them, correct?  The usual way... I suppose I don't know what's usual outside Sothis."  She shrugs.  "We passed time in the same taverns, they sought more talent to accept better-paying jobs, I sought- a more stable situation.  The taverner recommended us to one another, I spoke to some former compatriots and Omar's landlady, we took on some short jobs to make certain we worked well together."   To a decent Sense Motive check, she's not actually lying lying but she sure is leaving some stuff out.

"Well, usual for a Chelish wizard with any talent is the army," shrugs Txell. "Hold the Wound."

Khalida nods.  "Have you come here straight out of school?  In the Sothis taverns people talk of going to the Wound someday, but more as- a thing to do once you have a few circles to your name and a party you trust?"  And usually some less than Good deeds to try to make up for.

"Yeah, I was straight out of school," says Txell, and there's some nods. "But it's one thing when your country does its part with the forts, right, and another when you'd only come as an adventurer."

"I did a few years on a ship first," says a guy.

"I was a laundry wizard for a bit but had to get out of town in a hurry," says another.