The first step to convincing Deelah of anything was to get her mother excited about it. What it took to get her mother interested in something varied vastly depending upon the day. Her personality shifted like the wind, and each morning she was someone new. Quite literally someone new. Some curse or whatever, if Xasan ever knew the cause then he hadn’t been listening. The more of her personas Xasan could get on board, the better.

A few of them would be simple, hidden knowledge and secrets would draw in a few, some would be won over by his charm and their affection for him. There were a few though…

Well, as long as they didn’t show up before the journey started it shouldn’t be a problem. Anyway, only Deelah and Hazel knew what he was looking for. The rest of the crew were none the wiser, and he meant to keep them that way for as long as possible. If news spread that he’d found something then inevitably some pirate or naval officer would see fit to follow him and try to claim the discovery for themselves. He wasn’t going to allow that to happen.

Anyway, they were making landfall today. It would do them all some good to be at port, and it was a pirate friendly city so they could afford to stay a while. Plenty of time to stretch their legs and get laid before returning home to Trove, and then out on their new adventure.

Deelha had shopping to do, well, not actually. She had to go and price everything they needed for the journey home and then she’d give the list to Xasan to go buy. He always managed to haggle the best deal out of vendors. The trick was to give them what they want, and a shocking amount of the time it wasn’t actually gold. 

Well, gold wasn’t what they wanted from him anyway.

Until he had his list he had an abundance of free time, so he found an outfit befitting his station; today he selected a silken undershirt in a deep purple hue, covered by a black velvet overcoat. His black tricorn was adorned with a vibrant purple plume to match, but he waffled for a while on what pants to wear, but eventually settled for a dark cotton.

The sailors were long gone by the time he’d left the boat. The pleasures of being Captain included sleeping in and neglecting docking duties. Deelah took care of docking fees and all that paperwork, which was to say, she took care of handing off the standard bribe for them to make something up for their records.

He strolled down the gangway, whistling a tune and nodding to the dock workers as he passed. Trove had a few towns that were friendly towards them, little safe havens away from the eyes of their empires, and this was one Xasan always enjoyed visiting. He hadn’t bothered to learn the name, some small backwater town near a jungle, but there were plenty of fresh fruits, the water was always warm enough to swim in, and the people were happy to overlook almost anything for enough coin.

They were also willing to do just about anything for coin, and with the ships that traveled through they could take their pick on how they wanted to spend that gold. Xasan liked places like this, people like this. It was simple and he knew exactly how to get things. It felt familiar and safe.

He made his way to the one bar in town. It was easy to spot as one of the larger buildings there. It was the port's one place for entertainment, but it never disappointed. The whole town came in the evening to make merry, and the sailors too. Between all of them there was never a dull night.

They hadn’t made a plan to meet there, but he knew that’s where Deelah would come to find him. She was an expert tracker even before they’d met, and part of tracking was knowing your prey. Xasan grinned at the comparison in his mind. If only…

He strolled into the bar with the confidence of a person who isn’t considering their actions in the slightest. Why would he need to? It was a familiar space, and one that was friendly to his kind. Certainly, in a normal town he might need to look at the patrons, make certain that none of them might give him trouble, but here that was a given. The locals wouldn’t give him trouble, and any rival pirates would answer to him or his fathers. A fool might try their luck aggravating him, but no one in their right mind wanted to cross Captain Longhorn.

Xasan became lost in thought, still trying to brainstorm a name that might stand the test of time like Longhorn did. That alias made an impression on people, far more than his father’s actual name might have. He needed something like that, something striking and maybe even a little intimidating. Sure, he wasn’t a large man, but he was still a pirate and dangerous in his own right…

He had a seat after catching the bartender’s eye. The man would know what he wanted. He then sat back, kicking his feet up on a nearby chair to relax while he waited and stewed over his nom de mer. 

At the bar, Brysys casually glanced at the golden dragonman that the man pouring her drink had indicated. “That’s him? Well that’s lucky.”

“Not really,” the barkeep grunted, “their ship docks here like clockwork. Just lucky you got into town a few days ago.”

“Right.” She gathered up her courage in the form of a long pull of her drink and then offered to take the fellow whatever he ended up ordering. The bartender shrugged and passed her some sort of pink cocktail with cherries and a liquorice root sticking out the end. “This is for that man?” She clarified, “the golden- whatever.”

“Dragon touched,” the bartender supplied. “It’s his usual, yeah.” He then made a startled sound and ducked under the bar. “Shit, almost forgot.” He produced a potion bottle and added a bit of liquid that made the drink shimmer and smoke. “There.”

Brysys eyed the drink before finishing her own. She hated talking to strangers, and apparently this one was dangerous. She just hoped she didn’t accidentally piss him off too quickly to learn anything. “Right, one more for me?”

He laid another beer on the countertop and she lifted both drinks, walking carefully over to the man’s table. Both the beverages were full to the brim, but she’d been a waitress in her youth and she still had the knack for preventing spills. 

The bar was dim, even during the day. The candles and hearth were kept snuffed until evening, so the only light in the room came in from the windows, which consisted of holes in the wall covered by furs, but those were rolled up to let in breeze and sunshine.

Still, there were corners of the room that the shafts streaming in barely touched and they were cloaked in shadow. Luckily, her contact hadn’t sat at one of those. He chose a seat directly in the path of a sunbeam, letting the light sparkle off of his scaly skin and making him quite visible. 

He wore black and purple in materials that Brysys had rarely seen on anyone who wasn’t royalty. He was dragonkin, that much was clear, but he was thinner than any that she’d met, with antler-like horns and long wispy white hair. Facial hair too, which was unusual in her experience. Ordinarily she didn’t think the dragon-spawn could grow it, but this one had a long white mustache that flowed out far past his cheeks, seeming to defy gravity itself. His beard was closely cropped, ending in a goatee that covered his chin and came to a point shortly afterwards. It all looked meticulously kept. Brysys kept her own hair braided at her back for ease, but this man had long flowing white hair that cascaded luxuriously from beneath his large tricorn cap.

Jewelry. Brysys had never seen someone so bedecked in gemstones before. They hung from his horns, golden chains connecting one antler to another. A ruby flashed at his nostril, a sapphire at his ring. She couldn’t count the small glimmering jewels that made his antlers shimmer, some of them inset into the bone itself.

She understood how he’d gotten his name.

When the drink was set down he looked up to her with a toothy grin, sharper than any human’s mouth would be. “Ah, I didn’t realize Herbert had gotten a waitress. Good for him. Good for you as well.”

“I- no-” Shit. She was already doing poorly. “I was looking for you, actually. I was told you might be able to help me. Are you the Gilded Twilight?”