It was plenty cold on the road outside of Adeluna, and snow flakes flitted down around him. He held his arms and shivered, his long blond hair pulled back in a neat ponytail. His tunic had seen better days, it certainly wasn't his nicest one, but unfortunately, it was all he had. The only thing that would have suggested that he had any money at all would have been the dagger and the rapier on his hip. He rubbed his arms for warmth and looked back at his companion who had borrowed his bandana to keep her long dark hair out of her face. His silvery eyes looked her up and down, at her almond shaped eyes, the cold raw red cheeks and nose marring her otherwise flawless skin as she wore the oversized tunic and trousers they had scavenged.

"It's cold…" he muttered. "I hate the cold."

He looked over at his companion and the sheer misery showed on his handsome face, the same cold bitten features as the girl. The glare she shot at him took him aback for a second.

"What? Don't look at me like that! It isn't like I meant for this to happen!" he said grumpily.

The girl was slender, and incredibly pretty, even with wearing clothing that quite obviously belonged to her brother. Her hair was pulled back out of her face by his bandanna that he enjoyed wearing while working in hot weather, and on her side was the only instrument that the had left between them, the old beat up tambourine. She clutched sheet music and a roll of parchment in one hand while trying to keep herself warm against the chill of the winter day. When he complained about the cold, she stuck him with an icy glare. It was a rare thing coming from her, for her face seemed to be far to kind to harbor any ill thought at all. 

"All I know is that I said not to take that road. There was absolutely no reason that we needed to go through that pass, but nooooo, you wanted to cut time," she said grumpily. "We could be warm in our vardo with a couple of horses doing the walking right now, with all the comforts of home, right now if you had just stayed out of pass. But no, Justice knows best. Now we are without vardo, without horses, without my clothes, and the only instrument we have to our name is mother's old tambourine!" she pointed out, similar to the way that a younger sister might prod at an older brother for making a mistake. She shivered and sighed. 

The young man sighed and reached out to her and wrapped an arm around her to help keep her and him warmer. 
 She sighed and looked at him as he held her firm under his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Justice. I'm tired, and I'm hungry, and cold," she said softly. He squeezed her. "Yeah, I know… me too." 

There was a little consolation though, for they could see the walls of the city ahead of them. 

Pyzis pulled her fur-lined cloak tighter around her shoulders as the snow fell gently around her. Unfortunately, with all of the traffic through the city market, it mixed with the dirt, taking away the pristine beauty of it all. She had come to Adeluna in a search for a gift for the Goddess Angela. While at the time the idea sounded great, now that she browsed among the local selection she felt a little put-off. What on earth was she going to get that would be worthy of a Goddess? With a sigh, she turned to a selection of hand carved cradles. While it was still a long way off before she would become a mother, there wasn't going to be many opportunities for her to get out and buy what would be needed. The stall next to this had a fine selection of children's toys and among them was a small silver rattle. Pyzis picked it up in her gloved hand and shook it, listening to the tinkling sound it made with a smile. She bartered with the salesman and handed over a few cresents before heading off to find some place that sold clothing inside.

Pyzis made her way down a side street to a building that looked welcoming and had a sign hanging over the door with a picture of clothing on it. As she stepped in snow swirled around her feet and she took her thick winter cloak off to hang it on the coat stand just inside, revealing the gentle swell of her pregnant belly. With a shake of her long chocolate hair, she shut the door behind her and moved toward the folded clothing upon shelves. Pyzis shivered, used to the more temperate environment of Angela's Realm. This was the first time that she had left in over a year. Since she had met Thyme they hadn't been apart for more than a few hours, her heart ached with longing. At least she would finally be able to get something to thank the Goddess for her gift of the child she now bore. With all of the chaos between the deities, she hadn't had a chance to properly thank her. Pyzis browsed through the clothing, selecting some tiny nightgowns for the baby growing inside her. At least the store was much warmer than it was shopping in the snow outside she could finally feel her fingers again.

It had been some years since they had both been in Adeluna. They had spent much of their time staying off the beaten path and roaming with gypsies out in the plains of Bohar. It wasn't his ideal life, but life had been good with those roving raggle taggle bands. Now, however, it had become a necessity to come into town.

Justice moved with a bit more vigor once they hit the city streets, almost dragging Rizka with him.

"Come on, little sister!" he urged. "I managed to keep hold of a couple of gold crescents after our little incident. Maybe it will be enough to buy us some proper winter clothes," he said enthusiastically as he kept up the pace. Quite frankly, he was afraid he would freeze in place if he didn't move a little bit faster. His toes were numb with cold and the extra movement was allowing some warmth to reach his cold digits.

Justice more or less dragged Rizka through the streets, relying a rather rusty memory to get him through the streets. He knew there was a clothing shop somewhere nearby. It took a little bit of trial and error on picking streets, but before long, Justice had them standing outside the biggest clothing shop in Adeluna. He looked triumphantly at his sister and pulled her off the cold street and snow into the nice warm shop.

He took a quick look around before he noticed a rather nice fire crackling in a fireplace near the dressing area that was meant to help keep customers warm. Without much of a second thought, he pulled Rizka over to the fire and the two of them began warming beside the crackling embers.

"That's much better," he sighed before looking around at the other customers. They were casting the pair of them weird glances, and he knew that there was a good reason for that. Quite frankly, he and Rizka had to be the grubbiest, tackiest things in the shop at that moment. He straightened up and nudged Rizka who was putting her hands out towards the flames and motioned towards one of the racks. He moved away from the fireplace and began looking through the men's clothing, hoping that the red in his cheeks still looked like he was just cold, instead of embarrassed.

Rizka thought about it. The last time she had been in a city as big as Adeluna, she had been a young teenager, and then she had been the youngest of seven siblings. Now, seven years later it was just her and Justice, but she was still just as starstruck now as she was then. She was amazed by the spires and the grandeur of the buildings and flags. She didn't have much chance to oggle as Justice was dragging her from street to street with renewed vigor. She did wish he would just let go, he was really starting to hurt her arm.

"Slow down, Justice! You're hurting my arm," she whined as he pulled her around. "Justice, please just stop and ask for directions!" she begged, panting to try and keep up with him. He didn't relent however, and after several near misses with falling in the oversized boots, or nearly losing one, they finally came to a halt in front of a rather splendid looking tailor's shop. She wanted to wipe the triumphant look off his face, but she had to admit, he had done a pretty good job at finding the place. He hardly needed to pull her inside, because she went willingly. 

It was warm inside, comfortably warm, which made her shiver even harder at first until again, Justice was pulling her towards the crackling fireplace. For once she couldn't complain, and eagerly stretched out her cold fingers to the warm flames after she tucked the parchment rolls and sheet music into the extra space in her borrowed boot. She soaked in as much of the warmth that her fingers and hands could stand before suddenly Justice was again nudging her. She looked at him impatiently, but then realized that there were other eyes on them, and she immediately straightened up. This certainly wasn't a time that she wanted people looking at her. She hadn't had a proper bath in a couple weeks, and of course there were the clothes that were clearly too big on her. 

With an uncomfortable smile, Rizka did like Justice did and began looking through the clothes that were on display. As she looked, she noticed a young woman, somewhere around her own age perhaps handling clothing that was suited for small children. Rizka couldn't help but notice that she was pregnant, and it brought a smile to her own face. She ran her hands over the clothes for a moment before she made up her mind and turned to approach the young woman. 

"Um, hi," she said sweetly. "Is this your first?" she asked curiously, but softly, not wanting to alarm the woman in any way. She just wanted friendly conversation with another female, and lately that was nigh impossible to come by only traveling with Justice. 

Pyzis continued browsing the children's clothing, feeling a little more excited about her future baby with each passing moment. It was one thing theorizing what the child would look like and entirely different buying tangible items for them to use. When a bell tinkled a cold rush of winter air blew in two bedraggled looking individuals. A man and a woman stumbled in and instantly huddled near the fire. Pyzis couldn't help but feel sorry for them, their clothing clearly wasn't fit for the cold. If she was dressed in layers of clothing with warm gloves, a fur-lined cloak and still felt the chill, those two must be miserable. She continued to browse debating over giving them the cloak off of her back when both of them stood and began browsing. Perhaps they only wore what they did because they weren't expecting to be outside for long. 

When the girl approached her Pyzis couldn't help but smile. She was looked close to the same age as Pyzis with delicate features and hair pulled back by a bandana. She spoke in a gentle sing-song voice that made Pyzis instantly want to take care of her. 

"Yes, this is my first. Is this your first time here in Adeluna?" she asked. "I'm Pyzis, this is my first time here. Actually, it's my first time outside of Angela's court in over a year."  Pyzis shifted until she faced the newcomer, with a glance she noticed that the woman was worse off than she thought. The clothing she wore was obviously not hers, it hung from her slender frame and Pyzis wanted more than ever to assist. 

"Can I help you in some way? Do you two need a place to stay and food to eat? I'm staying at an inn nearby and I don't think I could stand knowing you two didn't have some place warm." Pyzis offered. While the city was a place that could house dangers, the healer in her wouldn't let these two go cold tonight. She only hoped they would take her up on her offer, it wasn't often people were trusting enough to accept help. 

Rizka smiled gently and nodded. "First time in a long time, at least," she said with a slight shrug. "My brother and I have been traveling for a long time now. This is our first time back in the big city in almost eight years," she admitted sheepishly. "I think he would have kept us away longer if our circumstances hadn't turned dire as they have," she said brushing back a rogue strand of hair and motioning to her brother across the room. Rizka actually blushed in embarrassment, her cheeks turning pink when asked if she needed help, and she looked down at her oversized boots. 

"Well… honestly… I could use it… you see, I've never had to actually SHOP for clothes before. I've always had hand-me-downs from my sisters, or clothes that they made for me themselves," she explained. "I really don't know what I need to be looking for," she admitted. "You look like you know what you are doing, could you maybe help me out a bit? I'd ask Justice, but he would just tell me to find something like what I am wearing. He's hopeless when it comes to anyone's fashion but his own."

When the offer of lodging was made, Rizka looked a mix of uncomfortable and relieved. "I wouldn't want us to impose on you, really. We'd be willing to help pay for it, or at least work our way," she replied. "We're just a little out of our element…"

Pyzis ran her fingers over the soft cloth on the nightgown, pondering her response to the woman. She knew it was difficult to accept assistance even if you needed it. Giving was something she was a natural at, being a healer meant you gave without asking for anything in return. Your life was to spare others sickness or pain and it wouldn't be fair to ask for compensation. 

"What is your name?" she questioned as she turned back to look the newcomer in the eyes. Her expression softened and she pointed to some woman's clothing opposite of them. "There are sturdy clothes over here that won't cost you as much as the ones over there. If you are a rider or travel I'd suggest some trousers but in a smaller size. A tunic works well with either skirts or trousers so long as you have a belt." 

Pyzis picked up a few items and held them up in front of the slender woman to compare sizes. It would take some time to earn her trust and perhaps shopping and then a drink would be enough to convince her to let her pay for their room. Now that she was living at Angela's temple she found herself with an abundance of silver. With no living expenses and being paid for her services as an alchemist Pyzis wasn't entirely sure what to do with her excess. 

"Is that your brother?" Pyzis asked as she folded an off white tunic over her arm that looked about the right size. The man was browsing but he didn't seem much interested in the clothing. Other people around the room had finally gone back to their tasks since Pyzis was interacting with the two they thought odd. If a pregnant woman wasn't afraid of talking to them they must not be a threat. 

"If you want, when we are finished here the least I could do is buy you a meal at the inn I'm staying at. Plus I might need someone to help me with all of my goods." She chatted as she gestured to the pile of children's items she had been planning to buy. The one thing she had yet to find was a thank you gift for the Goddess Angela. She wasn't even sure if there was something in this city that would express her gratitude fully. Maybe if the girl had been here before she could tell Pyzis where to buy such an item. 

"You said you had been here before, if briefly? Do you know a place where I could buy something valuable? I would like to give a gift to the Goddess I serve, but I'm not even sure where to start. Adeluna is a mystery to me and I've only been to the one market and this store." 

Rizka brightened up when Pyzis asked her name and she smiled sweetly. "Rizka. Rizka Del'Draco," she replied. "I'm not a rider, but I am a traveler," she replied. She looked over to where Pyzis was pointing and nodded when her gaze fell upon her brother. "Yes, he is called Justice," she said with a nod. "He pretends to be browsing, but he is watching to see what I pick so that he can choose accordingly," she said with a sigh. "He knows exactly what he wants, but a lot of our performances depend a lot upon me," she explained softly. 

"We could use a good meal," she admitted. "I honestly do not know how much Justice was able to scavenge," she said with a slight shrug as she help up her arms to let Pyzis get an idea of her size. "Last time we were here, it has been approximately seven years. I was only a child then. Justice might have a stronger memory and might be able to help you with such a gift. He has an eye for such things. And I know he would be more than happy to help," Rizka said eagerly. 

Rizka was right, Justice knew exactly the clothing he wanted, but was well aware that their performances depended greatly upon how Rizka was presented. She was right too, that he knew exactly how many crescents they had to their names. He was more watching Rizka now, watching her interaction with the young pregnant woman who was not much older than his little sister was. They seemed to be getting on. He moved closer to listen in on the conversation, and was rather glad he did. Rizka was volunteering them for things again. He sighed, and moved in a bit closer. He figured it was time to meet this woman himself.

"I do hope my sister is not making arrangements on our part without consulting me," he said good naturedly as he came up. He bowed flourishingly to Pyzis. "My lady," he said regally.