“I'm not sure but they didn't seem to mind taking them.” she admitted. “Oh, I spoke with the caretaker while I was downstairs ordering breakfast. Cyrus was very nice and told me that there’s an Elven village not too far away. He said he grew up there and warned me about potential con artists.”
Rodney couldn't help but laugh at that. "Yeah that tracks. Elven villages are known for swindling adventurers. They're good people but they sure are crafty."
“I see.” she nodded, but honestly she was a little confused. Why would Elven villages be known for that sort of thing? Their art, knowledge, and beauty… those things made sense. But swindling? That seemed more of a Fae quality.
"It's not all of them. In fact, it's usually the half elves that are tricksters. I guess because the Elves don't really like them it makes them have to fight for their living. And most find that living in tricking travelers out of their money."
“I didn't think it was all of them.” she giggled. “There's good and bad in every race and species. I was just wondering why the village was known for that sort of thing. But that makes sense. I've heard Elves can be… kind of elitist so there being trouble with Half-Elves is understandable. Sad but understandable.”
"Exactly. Any kind of half-blood is usually heavily shunned by both sides of their heritage. No species likes half-bloods. Which is sad but just our reality."
“Yeah, I know. But I don't know of too many half-fairies. Sure there are charms and such to make us… blend in more but…” she shrugged. She did remember a couple of hard times she had growing up because of her parent's differing magic types but that kind of relationship wasn't unusual.
"And fame blinds everyone to reality. Because my parents are famous adventurers, everyone seems to forget that they're supposed to actually be parents too. Everyone was jealous of my life because of my family but no one ever thought of how I actually grew up without a family around."
Charlotte raised a brow as she looked back up at him. “What do you mean by famous? I remember you telling me about your family but you never mentioned that they were famous.”
Rodney shrugged. "It's not every day that a pair of adventurers walk from coast to coast. Word spread pretty fast and my parents became famous. And that fame cost me a normal childhood."
“No, it's not. That is very impressive.” she had to admit as she tried to remember if she’d heard of that story. “I'm sorry that you went through that.”
He waved her off nonchalantly. "It's no big deal. I was raised my my siblings and my grandma. She didn't like how much my parents traveled but they never wanted to listen to her."
“Most kids hardly ever do.” she giggled, thinking of how she was ignoring her own parents' biggest warning. “But still, I'm sorry that your parents got caught up with their fame and you got the short end of it.” she said gently.
"Eh, it's no big deal. Just made it easier for me to leave that place behind if they thought I was just following in my parents footsteps."
“I suppose so.” she nodded, though she still thought it wasn't right for his parents to practically neglect him and his siblings.
"Don't worry about it, Charlotte. I'm here now and I'm happy with what I do. Isn't that what's important?"
“Yeah. That is more important.” she nodded, smiling softly up at him. His words were definitely reassuring and Charlotte decided to try not to think about it anymore.
"Anyway, what's on the agenda for today? Anything you want to do or see while we're in town? Or do you just wanna head out?"
“Well, I thought we were going to stay in town for the day, otherwise I wouldn't have taken our laundry down.” she admitted. “But I don't really have anything especially that I want to see. Maybe just walk around a bit and see some of the town?” she shrugged.
"Right, right, we did agree on that. Well, we can explore a bit. I know we have some things we should stock up on if we don't plan on being in town for a while."
“That sounds like a good plan to me.” she smiled, fluttering her wings happily. After all, it did make sense to stock up on things since neither of them knew how far away the Elven village was.
"Right then, I say we get dressed and head out for some shopping. Sound good?" Rodney flashed her a smile.
She nodded, standing up. “Well, I'm already dressed since I went downstairs earlier.” she giggled as she looked at his shirtless form. “I can wait outside if you want me to. Or we can just do what we did last night.”
"Oh. Right." He laughed softly. "Actually, you can take the tray back downstairs and check on laundry while I get dressed. Two birds with one stone, right?"
“Sure.” she nodded, moving out of the way before slipping her bracelet back on. “I’ll either meet you downstairs or be back up in a bit. If the laundry is done.” she smiled as picked up the tray.
He waved her off with a smile. "I'm sure you will. Go on, go do what you have to. I'll be down in a few minutes."
Charlotte giggled and left the room with the tray and headed downstairs. Most of the inn seemed to have woken up by now and were probably planning their day too.
Cyrus was taking a few orders at the counter, calling them back to the kitchen and handing the plates out as they came. He was smiling a bit more now, clearly more awake.
Charlotte weaves through the crowd like a pro, balancing her tray and dishes as she made her way to an empty space at the counter. “Hey, Cyrus.” she smiled.
Cyrus jumped a little at her voice. "Ah! Charlotte! Oh, you scared me!" He laughed. "I see you finished breakfast, how was it? As good as you anticipated?"