"I do that from time to time."

"Pretty often, when it matters."

Hee.

"Part of my charm."

"Absolutely." Kiss! 

Kiss!

They're having no problems entertaining themselves, it seems.

One of the best trips Eridani's had in a while.

Good company makes the miles fly by.

That it does.

The central province of the Anzatzi Principalities is Tzilakor. The border into it is marked by large standing stones but also by a raise in the land and a soft transition into grassland with sparse trees. The trees grow a bit more common the further uproad and inland they travel, and the buildings start being made of wood more and stone or reed or mud less. The province itself is long and thin, containing the majority of the Heart Road.

The capitol itself - Tzila City - is fairly close to the inland border of the Principalities. It's enormous, with a similar mixture of styles and foreign influence in its architecture as every major trading city, though there's much more Eastern and Hundred Kingdoms influence here than in the coastal cities. They pass fields of horses and livestock - and enormous crowds of livestock being driven down the road as they approach the city outskirts - and then the long, narrow sprawl of outlying villages, strongest along the Heart Way but visible in the distance on two other major roads that diverge at Tzila City towards other provinces. (Neither is nearly as impressive or ancient as this one, but they're fairly notably sized.)

The city is set off-center to the Heart Way, which must've once - a very long time ago - run entirely outside of the city walls. Still, the road only runs into the first ring. Or, at least, the first one that circles the entire city - the city's designers have clearly tried to keep it circular and even succeeded for a while, but that pattern breaks near the Heart Way, with several partial rings encompassing a little of the sprawl. It seems to break to the northwest, too, away from the road, crashing into and rising irregularly onto a series of small hills.

The buildings are effectively entirely wooden here, except for the palatial complex at the city's very center and some of the noble residences and many temples, which are made of various stones. The walls are stone and rammed earth, and quite tall and thick, with frequent guard towers. They seem well manned, at least as far as Eridani can tell, and the local bureaucracy (and military) seems still really effective at keeping the road clear, even as space becomes a more pressing concern.

Finding exceptionally nice lodgings for their party is downright trivial.

She would be quite disappointed if it weren't.

And once lodgings are acquired, there are supplies to organize, officials to notify, invitations to accept, invitations to decline, invitations to leave to ferment a while, dinners and parties of their own to plan... All the grease that the wheels of state need to turn.

A cute girl to show off...

Wyld's tattoos will surely be the talk of the town.

Now, let's be realistic here. Wyld would be the talk of the town no matter what she decorated herself with. 

Or even if she wore nothing at all.

That would only increase the storm of gossip, dear. 

She'll have to rethink the whole plan, then.

Not going to show Wyld off naked at her fancy parties, then?

The very exclusive ones, maybe.

Invitation only. 

Carefully curated and extensively vetted.

Only the prettiest toys allowed.

Just the very best.

Kiss.

Nuzzle kiss.

Is Wyld invited along to Eridani's important diplomatic function? Not just for pleasure, but -

Wyld has more than a little experience with war, especially with taking supposedly impregnable fortresses, and she has more than no experience infiltrating military commands. If part of Eridani's mission is evaluating the war here, Wyld will have feedback.

Eridani needs to do most of the talking, but- Yeah. She'd appreciate any insights Wyld has.