"So I did," answered the woman with the brown braid. "Wouldn't trust anyone else to work the magic; I'm wont to prefer my own." Smiling mostly out of habit, she stroked the edge of the axe with her thumb. They [i]were[/i] fine axes.

"Seems we had the same idea, Alexander. I am Ayla Nic Lanrogh, Runemage of Clan Woerich." Seeing no glint of recognition in the giant's eyes, she shrugged and added, "I'm not from around here." Not that [i]that[/i] needed to be said. She stepped on forward and held her hand out to this Alexander, offering to shake his massive hand.

Ayla took a better moment to look the swordsman over, inspecting him with equal scrutiny. Now that he was facing her, she could tell he wasn't too far from her in age. He spoke with confidence, truly. It was not the sort of confidence that was bred in nobles or that held young men's heads high as they marched into battle for the first time. No, it was the sort of confidence that came from killing another human and living to tell the tale.

T'was a confidence paid for in a steep price, Ayla knew. It always was.

"Fought alongside the kerns in a war or two. Know the smell of whiskey on the breath, I do. You've a touch of it." Honest words, those. Ayla happened to like the smell of beer and whiskey.

It was then she heard another woman's voice, this one tired and nervous. "Uh, I do hope I'm not interrupting," that voice said, "but are you all here for the job offer?"

A quick glance back astonished the warrior-woman. The speaker was a dark-skinned woman, darker than anyone she'd ever seen, with her hair knotted up in thick black locks. It was the most peculiar sight, even more foreign than her red-trimmed robes. Her eyes were blue; that much seemed normal. But the rest... The rest was all very strange.

Strange and new, perhaps, was to be expected in a city this large.

"That's the right of it," she answered, looking the strange, tall woman up and down. "Sellswords we are. Wouldn't have thought someone dressed like that would be looking into mercenary work... You ought to get a bit of armor and some clothes better suited to the road, methinks, lest you stumble in the midst of a charge or retreat."