Dinner had been oddly quiet.

Upon arriving at the shop front's door earlier, both Hex & Osiris had finally rejoined the group, though they said nothing. Osiris didn't say a word to Apep when he looked to him, and Hex kept his unmoved posture as Chronos shot a few questions his way. And during dinner, it had been the same way. Cider had been quite jovial to Seris, who had bought him a few cute bows as a gift, and he was most merry as the sight of them. One was lime green and the other a light pastel violet, and he eagerly clipped them onto his ears. He couldn't remember if InstaPaw* announced that ear and tail bows were trending, but it didn't matter because he was sure he could set the trend if he needed to.

And while Cider and Seris were busy chatting away during dinner discussing their sparkly bows, Hex and Osiris were busy having a staring contest.

Well, somewhat.

They both continued to shoot glances at each other, but Hex was the only one who didn't touch his meal, mainly because he didn't have one. In fact, there was nothing in front of him, and he preferred it this way. He didn't have an appetite after his altercation with the white wolf earlier, not when he was worrying that the Egyptian dog could open his mouth at an opportune moment of his choosing, just to be funny. Or to show who's the boss.

And now it was after dinner time, and the group had dispersed to generally do their own thing. Chronos had announced that he'd very much like to nap, as he was exhausted and the snooze time in the temple prior wasn't enough to curb his sleepiness.

And luckily, the shop doubled as an apartment; It had an upstairs area that kept bedrooms and guestrooms, as well a kitchen, living and dining room, which they had been made aware of during the dinner hour. Upon hearing Chronos' request, Apep guided him to a guest room where he could rest, and once he was confident the tangerine-haired male would be comfortable, he closed the door and returned to the living room, where he was met by Cider and Seris seated on one of the couches. He was unsure where the white wolf had disappeared to, but Hex had also joined Cider and Seris in the living room, most likely to discuss their plans for the night.

And with the rest of the group kept busy by their separate agendas, it left Zephyr to himself. He had heard Chronos informing that he would be resting for a while, and that left a convenient time frame for Zephyr to do what he wanted to do most-

To go exploring outside.

Because Chronos would certainly never let him go out on his own, especially after dark, and Zeph had been very curious about the city ever since they arrived, but the problem during all this time was that Chronos was still awake, (though more half-awake), and he'd always catch Zephyr sneaking about when he was alert. It was like he held a sixth sense and knew when the olive-haired male would try his escape plan, but this time would be different.

He couldn't possibly predict Zephyr doing something like this while he was sleeping.

And with that confidence, and Hex distracted in the living room, Zephyr sneaked down the stairs to the shop's main floor. Favorably, Apep wasn't down there at the moment, and he had no issue quietly making his way to the door and slowly opening it. He reached up to hold the shop bell that would typically jingle every time the door was opened and kept it silent before closing the door softly behind him. He then checked to make sure no one had been alerted to anything, and once he was sure no one was coming down the stairs to investigate, he sighed to himself in relief.

For a desert, the night was warm. This was curious as desert nights are usually cold, and Zephyr didn't pay any mind to it, as it felt refreshing compared to the heat of the day earlier. He stepped forward a few paces into the street, and just as it had been busy in the afternoon, it was still bustling at night. Just about every corner was lit by hanging lanterns as well; it was almost tricky to tell if it was night at all. One could only discern it because of the black sky looming overhead, and some speckled stars about, but everything below it was peculiarly bright.

"Do you mind?"

Zephyr turned on his left to face a staunch bronze-colored draft horse. It nudged him forward before blowing hot air on him and then sneezing soon after, most likely from the sand and dust that was kicked up in the street from the wind. He reached to pet it on its nose, half amazed that the animal could talk.

"Hey, up here buddy."

Zephyr looked up and behind the horse to find that it was pulling a carriage, as well as a person, the owner's actual voice-

Whoops.

"I said do you mind? You're kinda blocking the road. I've got places to be and people to see."

"Oh yeah, sorry," Zephyr answered the man seated upon the carriage before briskly moving out of the way. But the man didn't immediately continue forward and instead spoke to him again.

"You look like you got time to kill. Why don't you visit that lady over there?"

The man pointed to a somewhat comfortable looking area on his right, tented and lined with pillows on the ground, where an old lady had been making bread in an open stone oven. She was tapping the bread bottoms, checking to see if they sounded hollow enough to be done before deciding they needed more time on the oven fire.

"It'd be better than you gawking in the street all night. People here have busy lives, and you don't look like you're from around here anyway."

Zephyr watched the horse stride past afterward, before he could even get a reply in, and after the way was clear, he thought he might as well take the man's suggestion.

He didn't know who this old lady was, but so far he knew she enjoyed making bread, and judging by the tented table next to her, he assumed she must sell this bread to customers roaming about the street. He approached the table and tried to get her attention, which was currently fixated on the stone oven in front of her.

"Excuse me miss?"

The lady turned to face him, her white, beaded hair swaying as she did so and squinted her eyes as if she had some trouble seeing from far away. She was dressed in a loose lavender colored dress with a beige jacket, and she had a matching beige satchel that hung over her shoulder, the same bag that she reached into to pull out some chapstick.

"Dang sand," She mumbled to herself, applying the chapstick and smacking her lips to make sure it was somewhat evenly applied. She didn't have a mirror handy and was mainly looking at the ground, but she didn't need one. It was more second nature to her by this point.

"Miss?" Zephyr called to her again, unsure if she had heard him properly the first time.

She stopped her concentrated lip-smacking and squinted at him again.

"Are you the one here for the loaves of bread? Those won't be ready for another hour or so."

"Oh no, I-" Before Zephyr could finish his answer, he was cut off.

"No, you're too young lookin'. The buyer supposed to be an older gentleman."

She placed the chapstick back into her purse, but she missed the opening and it fell to the sand instead. She then looked at him, not noticing her mistake.

"You must be here for a story instead!"

She turned after speaking, waddling over to a basket of bread that had been sitting out. She took a loaf and then slowly waddled over to a few pillows that were set up on the sand, patting one of them.

"Come sit!"

Zephyr stepped forward at her voice, reaching down and picking up the chapstick along the way, and took a seat on the burgundy red pillow she chose for him. He then handed her the chapstick she dropped.

"Oh, thank you son. My eyes aren't so good these days."

She placed the chapstick in her purse again, but once more she missed and it tumbled down, and it was only then that Zephyr noticed about ten other chapsticks on the sand below her, each the same flavor. They most likely suffered the same fate of this most recent addition had.

"Now, take this bread loaf. They're free during story time."

The old lady handed him the small bread, still warm from the oven, and he took it before breaking off a piece to sample. She then took a seat in front of him.

"So what story did you want to hear today?"

Zephyr thought to himself before replying, nibbling on the bread.

"I haven't heard any stories yet. I'm not sure."

"You haven't heard any stories!?" The lady gasped and placed smacked her hands on her knees, which she was kneeling on.

"But weren't you here last week? Or maybe that was someone else..."

Zephyr waited for her to recollect herself.

"Well, if this really is your first time here, then I'll start with a good one, one that involves some of your recent new friends."

The olive-haired male tore another piece of bread off the loaf. He enjoyed the lightly seasoned flavor and thought it must be something akin to sea salt.

"How do you know who my friends are. You've never met them, or even met me," Zephyr inquired.

The old woman smiled at him, and then pointed at him.

"I can tell you're a friend of the White Wolf, and the Snake Serpent as well. You have that look about you."

She paused to slowly eye her bread in the oven next to her before returning her gaze to him.

"That's why I'm going to tell you the story of Osiris and Apep. Are you interested?"