“Oh, me?” She smiled, looking at the man with her green and blue eyes. She turned her body to face him and put her hands behind her back, her left hand inside her right. Many men found this pose attractive for some reason, especially when she twisted side to side slightly. She wasn’t going to question what little tricks she could use to get free meals.
“Well, I used to be a princess, but I ran away from home because I didn’t like it there anymore.” She’d learned that most times, people had a set expectation about her. An orphan who got tired of sleeping on the streets, or an escaped slave, or a failed enchantress. Telling people the truth seemed to throw people off, making them believe it was just a cover story. It also gave her an edge, because she reasoned that most men would just love to tell their friends they’ve bedded a princess.
As she spoke to him, she glanced up and down at his arsenal, noting that he carried both a longsword and dagger. Smiling to herself, she breathed an internal sigh of relief and again touched the copper piece in her armwrap for comfort. She would be decently protected, at least. Motioning to the board with a nod, she asked “Do you see anything you like?” She made sure to phrase it that way, so the answer didn’t necessarily have to mean the bounties. Men were prone to crass responses whenever she offered the opportunity.
At that moment, a pair of firey eyes appeared in the middle of the room, and a voice thundered through her head, so loud that it made her reflexively cover her ears, to no avail. She didn’t understand why, but everything seemed brighter for a few moments after that. From an onlooker's perspective they would've seen her eyes seemingly glow, even though there was no light to reflect off them. Rather, light appeared to be coming from her eyes as the magic of the dragon's gaze mingled with that which lay dormant within her. Blinking a few times, trying to force her eyes to adjust and dealing with a new headache, she tried to direct her focus to the board, selecting a job at random and studying the paper. Hunting. Great. The headache flared up again, and she quietly said “excuse me” to the man standing next to her, stumbling slightly to the nearest chair.