As Cirice crests the hill and the deep purple of the rooftops peek out between the pinks and whites of the cherry blossoms her heart sings in joy. Starlight City! After traveling all the way across the island she has finally arrived! Practically glowing with excitement she resists the urge to run to the gates and explore.

Entering the city itself she smiles brightly at every person she passes. Some return her smile with slightly more guarded smiles of their own and some completely ignore her, moving quickly through the streets and about their day. She's pretty dirty and under-dressed compared to those she passes, her flowing skirts stained from the road and her boots are in need of replacing. She stops and finds a spot between some buildings out of the way to people watch, marveling at how different the city is to her village. Surely this many people can't all know one another... Where would one even start to enter the community? She ponders and watches a fishmonger as he sells his wares. Should she just find a random person and introduce herself? There are so many people... So many different kinds of people! Slightly overwhelmed she scans the crowd again looking lost. Where to begin, where to begin...? An idea hits her and she sits down in between the buildings and starts making a comfy place to lie down. Perhaps if she falls asleep Mother Moon will give her guidance on what to do next! She lays her head against her small satchel of belongings and closes her eyes. "Mother Moon give me your wisdom," she prays aloud and falls asleep without hesitation.

Its warm in the afternoon sunlight and despite the hustle and bustle around her she sleeps soundly. A familiar, distant voice speaks, "Glory and honor. Acquire through great deeds. The horned shall guide your way."

Zarius hadn't spent much time in Starlight City previously. There weren't many contacts here as of yet, but he had journeyed here in hopes of making some useful connections. Even if he walked away empty handed, the city was beautiful with its colorful roofs and vibrant foliage so it was a nice break from the ash clouded skies of his homeland. 

As he walks down the street with his hands tucked in the pockets of his attire, he passes some women whispering off to the side.

"Did you see that strange woman in the alley? She was sleeping on the ground!"

"Yes, very strange, perhaps she is homeless."

"Poor thing."

"Should we do something? It is not safe to sleep in an alley."

"It's none of our business, taking her in could bring trouble."

"How cold of you."

"I do not have the time to worry about some strange dirty elf."

The tiefling scoffs. Even on the Crescent Isle you could find selfish people who admonish elves. As the women continue to gossip, he walks across the street and peers into the alleyway they were gesturing towards in their conversation.

Surely enough, there was a young looking moon elf woman lying on the ground with her head resting on her satchel. She was filthy and her clothes were not well suited to traveling long distances, yet looked like they had gone through quite the ordeal judging by the tatters and frayed edges. 

Zarius glances about before nudging the bottom of her foot with the tip of his shoe. "Excuse me, miss. Are you alright?"

This is Astrid's first trip to Starlight City and the Crescent Isle as a whole. She and Blue Raspberry have done a lot of adventuring around Moonglade, so they decided it was time to branch out and ended up here. It's a nice place, she decides, enjoying the sites. Lots of fish too. After their adventure on the seas, she shudders at the thought of running into another sea monster. Luckily their second foray through the ocean was much less eventful. 

At her heels follows the ever-present Charles, each mechanical step falling in time with Astrid's. She's not sure if his speed adjusted to match hers or if she subconsciously joined his rhythm. Looking around, she pulls fish meat from a skewer and munches on it, her opposite hand full of more skewers. When she finishes it, she habitually hands it off to Blue Raspberry, the walking trashcan that they are. It's then that she spots a familiar tiefling. He must have come here after the ball. 

"Oh, Mister Zarius!" she calls, picking up speed and beelining for him. "How's it goin'? We didn't get much chance ta chat at the bal-"

That's when she notices the girl in rags on the ground and recalls a time she was in a similar predicament herself. "Seems like yer a magnet fer folks needin' a hand, huh?" she jests.

Blue Raspberry walked through the city alongside their best friend, Astrid, their armor clanking on the stone street. They hadn't been to Starlight City before and were excited to see it. More specifically, they wanted to try the city's street food. Starlight City had plenty to offer, and right now they were enjoying fish, including the wooden sticks they were impaled on.

They looked back at Charles, Astrid's robotic companion. They still didn't feel comfortable with the bot. Of course, they also hadn't told this to Astrid still. She seemed very fond of the bot and the ooze couldn't bring themself to harm that. Though simply eating the robot had crossed their mind.

Blue Raspberry took the empty skewer from Astrid and ate it nonchalantly, a common routine for the two. Not so common for their routine, Astrid suddenly called out to a grey Tiefling man and ran toward him. Blue Raspberry ran behind her, skewers in hand and Displacer Beast cloak flapping behind them.

The ooze had never met this man before, but Astrid definitely knew him since she called him by name and seemed excited to see him. They must be a friend.

"Hello, I'm Blue Raspberry! Nice to meet you! Are you Astrid's friend too?" Blue Raspberry said, saluting with their skewer-filled hand and smearing fish across their helmet before realizing and saluting with their empty hand instead.

They looked at the woman on the ground in the alleyway.

"Is she dead?"

Cirice's eyes flutter from the nudging and the talking above her and slowly she comes to drowsy consciousness. She yawns cutely and looks up and them blearily. "Mmm? Oh hello... I'm alright. I was merely napping..." She smiles at them and wipes the sleep from her eyes, getting a good look at the people clustered above her. She gasps in delight and jumps to her feet.

"You came! You're here! You're even the color of the night sky!" she squeals as she fawns over Zarius, getting far too close to him with the abandon of wonder. "Your horns are magnificent! You've a tail! And your eyes... They're like golden moons!"

Entranced by him she nearly missed the other two in the alleyway, but as she looks at Astrid she squeals again. "You've got horns as well!" She exclaims, invading Astrid's personal space to give the smaller girl a hug. "TWO guides, oh this is such a marvelous day! I've truly been blessed! Thank you Mother Moon!" She throws her hands up to the sky in gratitude. 

Grabbing her satchel from the ground she looks at them both with excitement. "Where shall we start??"

The tiefling looks to the side as he hears a familiar voice call out to him. “Ah, Miss Astrid, good to see you.”

He follows her gaze down to the raggedy moon elf. “Seems that way. No shortage of unfortunate souls in Charon these days.”

It was strange how he kept running into people like Astrid and Iryla. Maybe he was cursed. 

He tilts his head curiously at the armored man with Astrid. Birds of a feather, he assumed. Astrid had mentioned becoming the world’s greatest smith, perhaps that goal was tied to her present company. He certainly couldn’t recall having ever met the man, though it was hard to say for any distinctive features were clad in metal.

“Pleasure to meet you…Blue Raspberry? That is an interesting name. I am acquainted with Miss Astrid, yes.”

Zarius looks back down at the snoozing moon elf. “Dead? No. Not yet it seems. Though sleeping in an alley is a good way to end up that way.”

As Cirice wakes and jumps up with excitement, he stands his ground despite her intrusion of his personal space. He blinks and smiles a bit awkwardly at her. Getting a better look at her whether he wanted to or not, she did not strike him as familiar. The string of compliments was unexpected especially with the show of delight at the sight of him. Most people who knew of his growing reputation ran the other way these days.

“Excuse me? I am afraid I do not understand what you mean.”

Mother Moon? She is a follower of Lunala then. That is not unusual for a moon elf, but still, this woman acted like she had received some sort of divine premonition involving him. He wasn’t specifically a worshiper of Lunala himself either so it seemed odd.

Oh, the elf lady was only taking a nap. That's a relief. Astrid's not sure she wants to deal with a dead person in the streets. It would put a damper on the trip to Startlight City. She takes a step back when the girl bounces to her feet and starts inspecting Zarius. It's kind of funny to see someone fawning over the charcoal tiefling, it's something you don't see every day. Then suddenly she's admiring Astrid's own horns, and she can't help grinning. 

"Oh, ya like me horns?" That's nice. Definitely doesn't happen often. But her head tilts, her brow furrows, and she looks at the dusty traveler. She echoes Zarius' confusion. "Yeah, what? Guides fer what?" Astrid looks at Blue Raspberry for some context but is sure they won't be able to provide any either. 

Blue Raspberry just shrugged and shook their head. They had no idea what was going on with this person. She wasn't dead, just taking a nap in the middle of an alleyway, as one does. She also seemed completely enamored with Zarius and Astrid's horns for some reason. That was odd. Zarius looked a bit uncomfortable, but Astrid looked like she was amused by the attention. Blue Raspberry felt kind of left out. She even said something about two guides. So she wasn't counting Blue Raspberry. She really didn't even seem to notice the ooze's presence at all. Maybe they should have a pair of horns. But, the helmet would be in the way anyways.

"Fish skewer?" Blue Raspberry asked, holding out one of the numerous skewers in their hand for her to try and get her attention. 

"Guides to honor and glory, of course!" Cirice beams at them. "Mother Moon said that the horned ones would guide me on how to go about it! And look at both of you, so very splendid!"

As Blue Raspberry offers her the fish skewer she looks at him in wonder as well. "A metal man! I've never seen a metal man before! I'd love a fish skewer! I haven't eaten in... Days!" She happily takes it and munches the fish. "Are you a guide too? You don't have horns but you're kind. Unless metal men can grow horns too?? Oh you've got something on your face..." She wipes the fish grease from his visor with one of her gloves. 

"There you go, perfect! Oh I almost forgot! I'm Cirice, Cirice Lunestre. I'm a cleric of Mother Moon." She gives them a curtsey, stretching out her ruined skirts. "I am so pleased to meet you! My first friends since coming to the city!"

Ah, so she had received some sort of prophetic dream then. Strange, but it could be something. He didn't know much of the gods and those with more spiritual connections to them, but it was possible that this war more than just drunken ramblings of some crazy street woman. She definitely struck him as genuine though very naïve. 

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Cirice. My name is Zarius. I will be honest and say that we might not be who you are destined to meet by Lunala's grace. I know I have not received any messages from her myself about meeting you." He looks at Astrid. "Do you know anything about being a divine guide to honor and glory?"

He doubted it. Judging by Astrid's choice of costume at the party he assumed she connected more with Avasha rather than Lunala. Still, perhaps the young half-dwarf was not here just by chance. 

"At the very least, if we cannot lead to you honor and glory we could lead you to a bath and some new clothes. No offense but you look like you have had quite the rough journey to get here."

He wasn't opposed to showing some generosity to this strange woman. Coin was easy to come by for him now that his networks were starting to work as intended. If she was closely tied with Lunala it wouldn't hurt to stay on her good side, lest the wrath of a deity smite him in the street. 

"Why do I not treat you all to a meal as well? I have heard that Starlight City has some of the best food in Moonglade."

No harm in extending the invitation to Astrid and the armored ally. He was curious as to how the previously orphaned child came to know such an imposing but seemingly friendly figure. 

Astrid shrugs, equally unsure about being this special guide, but she's glad to be around to help someone in the same way Zarius once helped her. "No idea," she says. "Me and Blue were just here ta follow some leads on some flyin' ladies givin' people a hard time. Maybe you can find some honor and glory there if ya come with us? Ya know how ta fight?" 

The mention of a free meal makes her face light up. "Ya'll treat us to a meal? That's generous of ya, Mister Zarius. Helpful as always, ain't ya?" Astrid looks at Blue Raspberry with the same amused grin that falls into a somewhat devious smirk. "Don't eat Mister Zarius outta all his coin, alright?" Not that she's ever done that. Not at all. Never.

"Oh, uh, thank you." Blue Raspberry said as Cirice wiped the fish grease from their helmet for them. They'd never actually had anyone clean their armor before. They always did it themself just by eating whatever was on it from time to time. "Sure, I can be a guide. I'm great at guiding!" they answered enthusiastically.

This was a lie. They really weren't great at guiding people. In fact, they often needed someone to guide them around since they were incredibly bad at finding their way around.

They were very excited when Zarius offered to treat them all to some food. They really loved street food, but they also really loved restaurant food or tavern food or any kind of food or even things that shouldn't be considered food, but they ate anyways. They especially loved eating actual food, though. Also eating big jerks.

"No promises!" Blue Raspberry replied to Astrid, giving a thumbs up.

Anyone but her would assume they were joking, but they really weren't. They could eat an endless amount of food and often the only reason they stopped ordering more was because Astrid told them they needed to or people would get suspicious of them. Well, they could probably count on her to tell them when they needed to stop this time too. If not, they'd just have to apologize and pay them back. They had plenty of coin stored inside them.

"I would greatly appreciate your kindness and hospitality Zarius, sir!" Cirice beams at him brightly. "I did come all the way across the island here and my clothes did come off a little worse for the wear... I was able to help people in exchange for food at times but a bath, nice clothes and a real meal are luxuries I haven't had since leaving home. Mother Moon may not have directly sent you to me, but its by her grace we met, I'm sure of it! May she continue to bless us all."

As Blue says he's great at guiding and Astrid asks if she can fight she straightens up proudly, "I have never been in a fight in my life! BUT Mother Moon has blessed me with powers to heal and make light and even do some damage. I promise if you teach me I'll learn everything I can to be a great and powerful ally. I won't let you or Mother Moon down!" She's very earnest and practically glowing with determination.

She grabs Blue's gauntleted hand in one of hers and Astrid's in the other, "Three new friends... Oh its so wonderful! I trust we'll have great adventures together! Starting with these winged ladies? I can't wait to hear more! Lead the way!"

Zarius leads the group down the street past some vendors selling new clothes from their stalls on the street. Oddly enough, the tiefling has a keen eye for quality clothes, often having to run errands for his sister and mother including their shopping at times.

As such he has a pretty good idea of what will fit Cirice and what materials will hold up well for adventuring while still fitting the moon elf’s aesthetic and personality. He keeps a keen eye on her reactions to the different articles of clothing, making sure to pick up anything she was particularly excited about.

He doesn’t hesitate to cover the cost of the clothing before they take their purchases to a nearby inn where he also buys Cirice access to the baths so she can get up and change before they sit down for a meal together. While the moon elf is getting clean, the group finds a table to sit down at while they wait.

Zarius looks at Astrid and Blue Raspberry as they put in their orders for drink and food. He, of course, orders nothing for himself.

“So how exactly did you two meet? Are you another associate of Miss Veliky’s?”

He asks the armored man. Veliky knew a lot of folk and he knew that the quarterling cared a great deal for Astrid despite her reluctance to admit it. Surely she would have vetted anyone Astrid would be adventuring with.

Hilariously, despite any of their knowledge (except maybe Blue Raspberry's), Veliky knows of the escaped ooze. So of course she hasn't vetted Astrid's traveling with them. Astrid of course, knows little of Blue Raspberry's origins, and she also never paid much attention to whether Blue Raspberry avoids Veliky or not. Though she knows they're reluctant to engage with the nannybot Charles. Nothing seems much out of sorts though. She is an odd child adventuring with a knight and a robot, after all. 

After warning Zarius of their appetite and him not being deterred, Astrid orders a feast for herself and Blue Raspberry. It's not necessarily to take advantage of the tiefling, and she even offered to pay for their share, but Mister Zarius is a kind and generous soul. It's his wallet. She doesn't go too overboard with Blue Raspberry's share, trying to avoid drawing too much attention, especially with how observant Zarius is. Five meals for each of them will have to suffice for now, and Blue can have any of her leftovers. 

"How'd we meet?" she parrots. "Oh, on one of me first adventures! I was out lookin' fer some bandits on me own, and we met then. Blue helped me fight 'em off and saved me from a coupla nasty injuries." Astrid reminisces on the first real adventure and their first meeting. She bashed a lot of knees that day. "Been adventurin' together basically ever since."