As the Emperor spoke, Zina found her gaze trailing off to the various sights and scenery all around them; the Fae still struggling to take in all the details of the great hall and lavish decorations of the imperial palace, as her head was in constant movement and causing the long, green leaf ponytail behind her head to swish back and forth.
Yet the fellow adventurers in the hall gained no small amount of curiosity from the tall Fae as well, as Zina's green eyes scanned over them; taking in every detail!
First there were those who had already been present in the room when Zina had entered. One was a scruffy looking human who looked like he had been dragged out from under a bridge somewhere and not slept straight for half a year. He struck Zina as a rather shy individual. Maybe he was just embarrassed of his appearance! The other person, Brennan, looked little better than Kean; with singed clothes and robes that made it look like he had barely escaped a house fire earlier that day. This puzzled Zina. There was a big contrast between the two humans in their rags and the ornamental flamboyance and opulence of the rest of the people in the imperial keep. Was this how dress-code worked for humans?
The third person to grab Zina's attention was a very Fae looking human,- no wait, it actually was a Fae! Zina had to correct herself as she watched Mynx. This Fae looked remarkably human-like in both attire and appearance, making Zina assume she came from some of the groves that lived deeper in the Empire lands. That said, Mynx was for all Zina could tell just as aloof and distant looking as some of the elders from her own grove, so there was that in common!
Yet more were to arrive after Zina however. First there was an Elvkiin, Lothian. Compared to her knowledge of Elvkiin, Zina's knowledge of humans was immense. And that was saying a lot given how little she knew about the latter! As far as she had been able to figure, Elvkiin were like humans, except smaller and prettier. Zina briefly entertained the prospect of reaching forward to try to try to pat Lothian's hair as he was giving his introduction, but her attention would soon be taken by a rather flamboyantly dressed figure that entered the hall. Despite its odd behavior, Zina found her attention more taken to Pale's outrageous outfit; the bright red shirt and blue cloak, all crowned by a giant hat many times wider than Pale herself! This immediately spawned a million questions in Zina's mind, most of which revolved around how she could acquire a hat like that as well!
It kept Zina distracted for long enough that she barely even noticed the lingering look of a small human, Elodia. Upon finally noticing, Zina immediately did not hesitate to make eye contact and smile as she waved at the smaller being!
This did not last long however, when suddenly Neil stepped forward, and Zina suddenly realized she had not even noticed the small wiry figure; assuming him to have been part of the background dressing until the moment he had stepped forward to speak to the Emperor to reject the promise of coin.
"He's rejecting free coin? Obviously he has never seen some of the menu prices in some of the Inns along the way to this place!"
Zina thought. It was probably a long way to their destination, so she figured having a few coins could come in handy along the way!
Finally, Zina's attention was drawn from the details of the room and the people to focus on the events that were actually going on. Westgate had fallen, and they were apparently to destroy the corruption in the Ebony Mountains. She didn't know much about Westgate, she had never been there, but given how seriously everyone seemed to be talking about it Zina assumed it was important somehow and went with it. Of another question was the corruption...
"What does the source of this corruption look like?" Zina went on to ask, turning a curious face directly towards the Emperor.
"Do we have to destroy the entire mountain?"
