"Would that we could all just get along. The world is a big, messy, cruel at times and beautiful at others place. Say, do you happen to be in need of any snacks or sundries before you go?" This is meant as a not too blatant or rude hint that he does have a business to run.

She shakes her head at herself with a quiet huff. "Right. I've been gabbing on and on and ain't bought a bloody thing. Y'don't mind explaining the local coin, I'll buy a sommat t'eat, and mebbe an herb or two and some rolling papers if it turns out I've got enough."

"I don't do much business in rolling paper, that's a novelty, most folks just buy straight from the rolling plant."

Anyway, yes, coins. They're using a fairly chaotic system apparently, with half a dozen types of different precious metal coins in the mix and fluctuating exchange rates and weird nonstandard denominations. Everything she has in her pouch is a mix of Pinsk mercantile minting and Tiormaa coin, plus a few Marian pennies. The Pinsk coins have varying quality and are often suspected of being shaved or cut with cheap metal, the Tiormaa coin is considered more reliable but there's not much in circulation, and Marian money is prized above almost any other type especially by merchants because of how they're the only way to get a reliable and wide variety of foreign goods.

She has about a month's worth of unskilled labor pay in her pouch - the raw income, that is, not what would be left after buying food and lodging.

Well, she'd best get herself some kind of paying work quick-like, then, whether a caravan or somewhere else, before she eats through her savings. 

She'll take some o' that jerky, a couple sausages, a good-sized piece of cheese, and ooh is that shortbread? She'll take a couple pieces of shortbread as a treat.

He checks out her purchases easily enough; All his prices are in Pinsk coins and he has a poster of his standard exchange rate. But she has more than enough Pinsk coins already to cover it.

"Have a great day, good luck finding a caravan!"

"Cheers! Hope business is good."

Off she goes, snacking on a bit of jerky while she eyes the passerby carefully. She makes her way to the footrace grounds first, then from there to the Milksheep's Revenge and the nearby campsites, listening the whole way for talk of caravans, and paying attention to any magical senses that might happen to light up — just in case.

She's especially looking for caravans that look to be heading north, closer to the trouble.

It turns out it's not that big of a town. It's approximately a three-street town at most. She can see both the rolling plant and the sky dock, near each other, from the main intersection she's supposed to turn right at.

The footrace grounds are pretty noticeable; There's a series of marked tracks and a few rolling hills and obstacle sets for more elaborate races- Tall wooden rope walls, hanging bars, and so on. There's some races on! Lots of wolffolks running and shouting and having a good time. It's practically a festival- People are selling food, and there's a band playing. They seem like very touchy-feely people with each other. The campsites are pretty similar- In a good mood, but calmer. Though many of them have a nominal watch.

Milksheep's Revenge is significantly more dour; The thing everyone is talking about is that it's time to go east, west, south- Anywhere but north. The gods have given signs. Rumors are flying of strange unkillable monsters, or men in the guise of monsters, or hallucinations, or wild magic, or just bad weather.

At the footrace festival, there's one person showing off! She's casting magic spells that look a lot like Avatar-style Waterbending! They buzz faintly in her awareness... Though it could just be her imagination, it's faint and indistinct...

And then one of the racers takes a bad fall from the wall climb obstacle and she rushes over, leaping and clambering over heads and shoulders, and - holy shit that was a surge of ferocity and tenacity or something, the will to survive, the call to rip and tear, the pounding heartbeat -

-The girl who fell screams and gets up and bolts in a panic, but she gets up where she wasn't moving before. Voices swirl around her almost immediately- Gloria can heal! She just saved that poor girl!

Wow that's a rush. That girl must be the legendary Gloria. She's clearly very magic. 

And then Hailey gets a closer look at her and oh no she's hot.

Not relevant. Just because she got isekai'd doesn't mean she can start having expectations like a bloody story protagonist.

If the goddess of whimsy and sex wants her to focus on the pretty girl, she's welcome to give Hailey a sign. Otherwise she's got practice to arrange.

If nobody wants to go north, can she get a hint which way Gloria's going, or what caravan she travels with? More importantly, does anyone want a new mage with strong wind and lightning at minimum who's eager for tips and practice to join their caravan as another fighter? One who's willing to help out with other things as needed too?

Oh, Gloria's going north, they say. To find out what exactly is going wrong. First to Narak, the edge of civilization and where tundra turns to arctic, mostly populated by hunters and trappers. Then possibly further. Some of her comrades are joining her, but not only does she seem to have standards of some sort, and the rumors of trouble, but it's a remote place and most people have other things to do- Cities and towns in the south to visit instead, family to meet somewhere else. Her camp is the one with the white feather symbol if you feel like trying your luck.

Okay. This is proper sus. The normal thing to do here would be to take some other caravan and just find time to practice, but she can practice on the way north, yeah? And she has to head north and figure it out, because she's not bloody keen on her new world ending or anything.

And the only person heading north is the pretty girl.

Whimsy goddess, was that you?

She frowns and sighs.

Fine. Only shot at getting some bleedin' answers, might as well.

She heads over to Gloria's camp and gives a wave.

It's three wolfkin including Gloria herself, one person who looks more goat-like if anything, and one surly-looking human guy. They seem to have laid an array of supplies out and are diligently checklisting everything.

"Hello there," the goat guy says. "Curious about our plans to fly straight towards the so-called curse?"

She gives him a practiced, confident smile (being a mechanic had some customer service time too). "Curious and volunteering. I've got t'live in this world too, yeah? Got room for a girl who hasn't figured her magic out all the way yet, but has at least lightning and wind and something else too?"

"You haven't practiced your elementalism? It's not a game out there."

The pretty girl looks up and comes over to stare consideringly at her.

"I did what I thought was right when everyone around me said I was too young, that I was not ready. We're going to take a skyship. Show me what you can do with wind, right here. Call up a gust into the trees. If with wind against sails you can offset your weight and the weight of the food and supplies we'll be carrying for one more, I will be glad for more eyes and hands."

Ah. Now this is the kind of challenge she's used to. Never done it with magic before, but this is how she got her job as a mechanic, and how she learned to fight. A grin stretches her face, seeming more honest on her in a way most people present can't spot.

"Cheers, will do."

She inhales, trying to feel the wind the same way she did before, and then on the exhale, she pushes with the same part of her that rustled her hair in the shop, pushes ten, twenty times as hard or more, however bloody hard it takes, while envisioning a strong gust whipping fiercely through the trees.

And a strong gust she gets.

"Lovely! I can feel that- Strong roots, if unpracticed. I'm sure you'll learn quick. Welcome to the expedition... So long as you accept that it really is possibly going to be very dangerous. We'll face hardship and maybe death."

Hailey barks a laugh and grins. "Hardship and death, all the comforts of home."

At least this time she's around people she can probably trust, rather than growing up behind enemy lines. "Seriously, I wouldn't expect anything less. We're the daft gits running toward the disaster, danger is part of the bloody job."

"Why don't we introduce everyone to our newest crewmember?"

There are two more wolfkin, conveniently color coded brownish and blackish; Ajir and Maral. Ajir is kind of twitchy and reading out supplies for Maral, and Maral is doing the checklisting, seems like the organized type.

The goat-like guy is Grumman, and he introduces himself as a "sensory magic expert". Please do not touch his delicate and expensive recording devices. They want readings and proof to show people when they get back.

The last member is a human swaddled up in a thick coat, who introduces themselves as "Graves". He's doing maintenance of some kind on - some sort of heavy suit of armor? And a big ?gun? And doesn't wanna talk.

She gives them each a nod. "Good t'meet you. I'm Hailey. I'll probably wind up specializing toward mobility and direct damage, but we'll see as I practice more. Anything useful I can do for the mo'? Or suggestions for practicing?"

She has a few ideas about how to figure out lightning and wind, and she could try to feel out the other obvious elements that might exist, but talking to the locals is a better headstart than flying blind.