Entering the noble quarters of the city was easier than Shui expected. She did nothing but stroll through the gates of the inner city and mean mug anyone that tried to stop her. Simple and effective. The old man had been going on for the past hour about how it was going to be impossible and that they might end up killing him for tresspassing, but that was all foolish talk. Doors were made to walk through. If no one passed through them, then what was the point of having such beautiful gateways deeper into the city and toward the palace that towered over everything else. A palace it was but it could never outshine the one her Ancestor found within the Bleak Forests. Not even close. “Where are these shops you mentioned?” Shui stopped in the middle of the road. One of the carriage drivers had to move around her and many nobles in fluffy finery stared at her strange dress and the beatdown old man next to her. “I don’t see anything that looks like a shop from here.”The old man huddled close to her, head snapping back and forth as though a monster would eat him. “W-We entered through the residential gateway, Young Mistress.”“So?”“We need to loop around to the other side of the city. The nobles don’t want their shops tainted by the… negative ambience of the common folk and their common trade and haggling. Supposed to be beneath them. Except they ask for hundreds of discounts and free items just for walking by when they make the trip to the outer markets to get some of the more difficult to find items–” Long Ti, Shui learned his name before she entered the noble districts, froze as he noticed that she had no interest in hearing about things that did not concern her. The last thing Shui needed was drama. I’m a peaceful, animal caretaking, loving person that causes no issues. What would I want with listening to other people's drama and troubles?She shook her head and Long (...)