After rushing Shade to the hospital, her body was examined and traces of alchemical remnants of an ovioposition drug was laced in her bloodstream. A few other strange drugs were in her bloodstream as well that could be an indicator into why the eggs she laid were made of solid gold. While a clean flush of her system to get rid of the drugs was done by the hospital staff, a mage was called over to help heal her womb as the birthing process strained her during the whole ordeal.
Upon investigation of the golden eggs, Kitsuno and Melissa thought over it somewhat as to why the elder twin had this happen to her, then Melissa had it hit her. The cerulean harrot they recieved from the harpy woman a few weeks ago on their journey back from the false job. The mouse immediately went out to see if the camp was still there, taking Kleau and Bernice alongside with her in order to track down the shifty salewoman faster.
This did not happen as the area that the trio first encountered Gilda, Matcha, and Coco was gone. There was no sign of their camp whatsoever as the area the small blackmarket was was nothing but an empty firepit where Matcha's brewing cauldron was. Melissa explain to the elves what she remembered seeing around the camp, including the wares that Gilda had.
Investigation of the three merchants were placed under way, but with other more pressing issues, hunting down the traveling group lacked priority. Leading to the case to be shelved for the time being. Unless a few more reports come in over the same golden feathered harpy arise.
For the time being, Shade has once again been granted medical leave. Having laid five solid gold ostrich sized eggs, she was glad to not move much as by this point, the elder kitsune didn't want to as the next few days passed by. Even with some extra healing from the mages, she could still feel the strain on her womb.
At the tavern, Shade and her friends were sitting at a table while enjoying a meal. Well, most of them were. The elder kitsune had her face on the table as her stomach was not fully back to normal as she was still recovering from the whole ordeal. Melissa reached over and poked a finger onto the elder kitsune's ears, "You sure you don't want to get some food?"
Liam looked over at Shade, "Melissa, please stop poking her. No doubt she's not in the mood for it." The mouse retreats her hand before grabbing onto the chicken kebab on her plate, "Can't I show a little concern fluffbutt?"
The mage sighs, "Can you at least behave for once?" Kitsuno reaches over to place a hand over his back and rubbed it, "Ignore her Liam. Best we can do now is let her recover at her own pace. We got the time to spare after all."
Vern had a cup of hot coffee in his hands after swallowing a piece of his sandwich, "Well... pain aside for someone here. At least the gold is being put to good use for you four." Shade raises her head slightly with a deep scowl on her face, "Yeah, after giving the hospital one egg to pay off for my medical bill and a few free major treatments in the future, then made my stance with that fuck all bitch of a landlord we have."
She returns her face on the table. Melissa chews through part of her kebab and swallows, "Tell me about it. The way his face went pale having the deep description you gave him before throwing two eggs his way, even his wife was cringing."
Kitsuno stirs her tea a bit after adding some honey into it to let it simmer, "Honestly, if it keeps him away from us for the rest of the year, then we are fine with it." She places the spoon down and lifts up her cup, "Still irritating how we can't find them. It's like they never existed."
Melissa leans back in her chair as Kitsuno sips from her cup, "Same. Even took those two elves with me to where we first met them. Absolutely nothing was there."
The wolf takes a heavy drink from his cup to finish it off and places the empty cup down. "From the sounds of things, they seem like a very active trading group. They could be anywhere in Druisalle as far as we can tell. Or, they could be traveling across the border into Orvanellia."
Taking her kebab stick, Melissa bites down on the last of the meat on it to pull it off, and casually flings the stick across the table into the empty cup as it lands into the handle and rested on the table. "Heh, nailed it." Vern grabs the stick and places it on his plate, "So what do you plan on using the other two eggs for?"
"Cook it up and see how a golden omelet tastes." Vern stares at the mouse as she flashes him a sarcastic grin. He then turns to Kitsuno and Liam, "Okay, what do you two plan on using it for?" The two look at each other before Liam speaks up, "Well, with it being gold and whatnot, it will more than likely be emergency funding for the time being. With the size, it is worth enough for four months of supplies and rent."
The blue lynx barmaid approaches their table with a tall glass of red tomato juice on a tray. She moves around and stops by Shade to place the glass down, "Here you go Shade. One Bloody Mary, off the rocks." Kitsuno looked at the drink that her sister had gotten, "Bloody Mary?"
Vern reaches a hand behind Shade and pats her on the back as she slowly lifted her head back up, "Bloody Mary's are a combination of tomato juice, worcesterchire sauce, pepper, celery salt, hot sauce, lemon or lime, and a few other things with some vodka." Kitsuno's ears flatten a bit, "Don't you think alcohol on an empty stomach is a bad idea?"
Flora smiles, "It can also be made without alcohol Kitsuno. Honestly, I personally prefer it this way myself. The pickled peppers and green beans in it mix splendidly together. Please, enjoy." Shade brushes a hand over her hair to move some strands out of the way, "Thank you Flora."
The lynx bows slightly before resuming her duties as Shade begins to drink the cocktail. As the liquid slides down her throat, she couldn't help but gag slightly as it splashed in her empty stomach. Pulling the glass away and licking her lips, she sets both it and her head down on the table.
Times passes on as the group finish with their meals and Liam returned to the mage's guild to do some tasks there, while Vern carried on with a delivery for Jakob. Melissa, Kitsuno, and Shade decided to wander around the city for a little while, up until Ivan told them that Shade is needed at the guild. The other two were going to tag along, but the avian stated that this was something personal he needed to discuss with Shade by himself.
Not wanting to press matters further with him, Kitsuno agreed and took Melissa alongside with her to keep the mouse from prying further as she was more curious into why it was so secretive. Shade followed Ivan back to the guild and made their way up onto the second floor. She looked over at the showers and felt her stomach grimace in pain.
Ivan places a hand on her shoulder and turns her away from the shower room, "Try not to think too much about it Shade. Hopefully the next time you have a "birthing" experience, it is a little bit more pleasant." Shade watches as the avian looks around the corridor before opening the door to his room and shoving her inside. The kitsune staggers a bit on her footing and turns around as the avian moves in quickly and shuts the door. "Okay what's the big idea Ivan? This is highly unlike you to be so secretive, let alone allow someone in..." she looks onto his bed as there laid a clutch of eggs. "...your room."
He sighs as he leans against the door. "Zhutto and Mally are the only ones prior to knowing this besides you. So you're welcome in helping you lay those monstrous eggs." Shade blinks a bit as she does a double take on the bed and Ivan, "Okay I'm going to need a bit more clarification here. So you're accustomed to helping others lay eggs?"
"No. I am accustomed to laying them myself." Her brain paused as that was not what she was expecting to hear. He smiles a bit as he caught her off guard. "What? Not expecting to meet a butch? Everyone thinks I am a full male because of the way I act. There is a reason why I have my room locked on most occasions, especially when my body up and decides I need to lay a clutch."
He flips the latch on his door and moves away from it to brush a feathered hand on the bed, "Don't worry. None of them are fertilized. Perfectly normal to eat." Shade looks at him as she finally had her brain catch up to understand what the hell was going on. "So... this is what Zhutto meant when he told me some things are meant to stay behind closed doors?"
Ivan sighs before looking over at the wall at some pictures of the guild members, "I'm not sure who was more embarrased. Me or him? I was a bit moody that day because my body was in a fit, so I got in an argument with the big lunkhead. Later that day I ended up laying a few eggs, and ol' Zhutto came in to apologize to me. If time could freeze for extremely awkward moments, that was definitely one of them. His face flushed red as he saw me lay an egg in front of him and I immediately yelled at him to get out."
Shade let out a chuckle herself, "Sounds like one hell of a discovery he made." She moves over to the bed and looks at the eggs, "So... anyways. Thanks for what you did back there. Honestly was not expecting to have that happen, like... at all." She felt a feathered hand pat her shoulder, "So long as you don't go drinking stuff you're not familiar with. Honestly, what was your thought process?"
She shrugs, "Well, long travel for nothing, finding a shady merchant camp with an overexcited harpy for business, I think it is safe to say my brain checked out at that point for having one too many annoying things happen." Looking up at the avian, "But I'll be more careful. And if you need anything, let me know. I'll see how I can help out."
Ivan stares at her a bit before giving her a warm smile, "Getting back on your own feet and showing others we mean business is all I can ask for you. You're a good kid Shade, just make the most out of it and you'll do well." He then looks at the eggs on his bed. "Now then... mind helping me sneak these out? I laid these last night and I want to get these out of here fast before someone sneaks in here and finds them. I have to scout things out the next few days and I'd hate to leave these unattended, let alone have them spoil."
Shade grimaced at the mere thought of rotten egg smell. "Got it. So, where we taking these?"
