I got back to the inn and was greeted by the sweet smell of lunchtime. Ms. Toolie was trying out a new recipe of fried noodles with cheddar, garnished with seaweed and blackberies, and it came out so well! That woman really is an unappreciated artist when it comes to food, and it really is a shame that more people don't know about her talents. Maybe she should host a fundraiser for her inn so more people can pay to enjoy her food, because apparently that's how things work here, right?
Gina arrived a couple of minutes later, wearing an adorable pointy hat, and when I hugged her she smelled like flowers and sweet herbs. We sat down to eat together and catch up on everything that happened in the last day and a half. So much happened yesterday and today that it felt like we hadn't seen each other in a week! She went first, and turns out that when she was collecting flowers for Lady Trudgeon's fundraiser, she met up with a few friendly witches who live in the woods nearby. They invited her to their house and gave her an awesome new hat, and they sound like the nicest people! Gina suggested that we go visit them together sometime soon, which sounds like an amazing idea, I feel like I need to take a nice long break when the fundraiser thing is over.
Speaking of fundraisers, after that it was my turn to tell about my day. I told Gina about what a fundraiser actually is, and about Harris making his own fundraiser to compete with the one at the orphanage, and about how everyone is going to such pains just to get some money, and how it just feels so hollow when so many people are doing so many fun things like parties and galas, but they're only doing it for the money. Back in the feywild everyone had their own interests and obsessions, and everyone was so different from one anther - but here everyone is exactly the same, just going about their lives and doing things for some shiny metal circles. When we came to this world I thought we would get to see all kinds of new people, each one unique and different from the others. But apparently not, it feels like we came to this world and met a bunch of people who look different on the outside, but underneath the surface they're all just copies of the same person.
I thought that Lady Trudgeon was nice and doing things for her children, or Ms. Toolie enjoyed cooking, and Garret likes making cheese, and hell, even Harris enjoyed killing innocent woodland beings. But were they all just doing it for money all along? Am I going to wake up tomorrow morning to find that Glen and Dick are arranging a fundraiser? Or Mr. Cobbler is making a fundraiser? Or Alyna? Even Christopher, another Harengon seems to only care about money!
Gina raised an idea of showing everyone that they don't need to do things for money, and that they can just do fun things for the sake of fun, which I think is genius! She suggested we arrange a party in the fundraiser - a real party, though, with no money involved, and I think we can make this work. I'll have to talk to a few people tomorrow and the scheduling will be tight, but I think we can make something really good. Gina really is so smart, and she always knows what to say to make me feel better. I don't know how I'd survive in this crazy world without her.
After making our plans for the fund-less party, I went to bed early. I probably should have helped clean up after lunch or preparing dinner, but honestly this last few days have been so exhausting that I think I earned this sleep.
In the morning I met up with the gang at the Orphanage, and to my surprise everyone was there and looking rather friendly. It turns out that even after dismissing my idea yesterday, Aggma and Ratyn went to Alyna's were awesome and got me three sticky bombs like I suggested! I didn't think they would actually do that, and now I feel kinda bad that I didn't go with my plan and talk to some bees. After that, Ratyn mentioned that the two of them found some weird amber ball in the cave where we found Zachary, then they went back to The Bells yesterday and showed it to Martha, though they didn't learn much about it. Ratyn then asked me if Martha is bothering me. I told her that Martha doesn't seem like a bad person, but I think she wants to run some weird magical experiments on Gina and me, which doesn't sound very nice. Ratyn said that regardless of if she's a good person or not, if Martha is ever bothering me too much, then to go and tell her. I'm not sure what she would do if I told her, though, I don't want it to end in a fight.
While we were talking outside, Christopher talked to Lady Trudgeon about how to get more people to come to her fundraiser rather than Harris's, and then Sett came up, covered in blood again. Maybe it's a tradition of the people from his caravan to coat themselves in people's blood? It's not the strangest ritual I've ever heard of. When Christopher was finished inside, I decided to go to where Harris was setting up his fundraiser. I wasn't sure what I was going to do exactly, but scouting out the place would be useful, now that we have some sticky bombs.
We got to the garrison yard where the fundraiser was supposedly going to take place and saw Karlan handing out flyers and advertising the event. The place was an utter mess, with swords and arrows and training dummies everywhere, dried blood stains on the wall, and not a single party decoration in sight. I'm not sure what would be worse, this event ruining our plans for a party, or someone even daring to call this thing a party in and of itself. I dragged Karlan into the courtyard and showed him how he should set it up properly, with refreshments, entertainment, and goody bags for the partygoers. He seemed to understand at least some of what I explained and said that he'd talk to Harris about making the necessary changes, but then we realized that he wouldn't have enough time to get a proper entertainer, so Karlan and I brokered a deal: I would perform in their fundraiser, in exchange for 4 commemorative goodie-bag daggers. But we agreed that one day's notice is not enough time for an artist like myself to prepare for the show, so he will see about postponing the fundraiser for two or three days, so everyone has plenty of time to get ready.
After finishing with all the negotiations, Sett announces that he has some negotiations of his own to attend to, and he talks to Lestran about cancelling the fundraiser. I can't believe it he just cancelled my show!
On the way to lunch we run into Margaret and Nila. I can see why people say that she looks similar to Ratyn, but she doesn't have the same face markings, so maybe her ferret heritage manifests in some other way, like a tail or claws? Anyway, they talk for a while, and it turns out that Harris is actually Nila's father, and he just doesn't care about her at all. We offered that Nila can come help at the orphanage's fundraiser to annoy Harris a bit, and now Ratyn is now to the duke's mansion to find Harris and give him a piece of her mind, with the rest of us coming along to make sure no one gets hurt too badly.