It didn't take long for them to find the tavern Emilia thought she had seen, as she said, a bard could be heard from inside, and there was a man stumbling out through the door, his footing wobbly as he walked away. Outside there stood a dwarven woman, who they found out was a scout for the Inquisition, Harding, she said her name was. They had a brief conversation, talking about locations that the Inquisitor had journeyed to, and any potential leads on the whereabouts of the Grey Wardens, which Emilia vowed that they would return to at a later time.
They entered the tavern, the chatter unsurprisingly didn't stop or falter at their presence, which was usually the reception any of the group received individually, and even more so when they were together. But here, people simply carried on, not ignoring them as such, as a few patrons glanced up at them, simply given the extraordinary circumstances that faced the entirety of Thedas, such company wasn't as unusual as all that. Emilia walked straight up to the bar, her behaviour and mannerisms, and her order of the strongest whisky the barkeep possessed, would deter anyone from thinking of her as the queen of Ferelden, and by her nonchalance, it didn't seem that she cared much. She certainly enjoyed being queen, but with the added strain of what appeared to be the Calling, and their fruitless search up until now, her royal duties preyed on her mind less.
Luciana noticed Ophelia tense up out of the corner of her eye, despite the lack of attention they were receiving, the environment clearly was still making her anxious. Luciana gave her forearm a concerned squeeze and murmured,
"You don't have to stay if this is making you uncomfortable. Go and get some fresh air, and we'll meet up later." Ophelia gave a small look of worried thanks before hurrying out of the tavern. When she looked back up, she noticed a large qunari sat in the corner, his eyes flicked away as soon as Luciana registered him, and he began talking to the man sat next to him. She noted his nonchalance, but she knew that he had been looking at them, Maker knows why, Luciana thought, Ophelia is a beautiful woman. Her thoughts were sharply interrupted by the sudden break in the bard's music, followed by a small scuffle with her lute as discordant twangs temporarily filled the air. She had been playing a cheerful song about a girl named Sera, Luciana had quite liked it, but clearly someone objected to it as she then heard the exclamation,
"Stop with that shite, yeah? It's creepy." Creepy? Luciana thought, she turned her attention to where the commotion was coming from, and saw the bard looking somewhat distressed as a tall, blonde elven girl appeared to hold her lute hostage. "Play something normal, you singers have enough songs to choose from." She continued, the bard nodded hastily, hands possessively reaching out to try and claim back her prized instrument. "Play it again and this stringy shit gets it," She continued before almost throwing the lute back at the bard, who cradled the instrument in relief. Luciana chuckled to herself as the scene unravelled before her, the elf looked across at her and saw her smiling inanely, "Don't tell me you liked that song." She said with disgust, crossing her arms and walking over to Luciana.
"It sounded pleasant enough, but you must have a real problem with it, I suppose?"
"Well yeah, I'm Sera." She said, as if it were obvious.
"Ah, well, yeah okay, I see your issue now." Luciana chuckled. Sera looked behind Luciana quickly,
"So, I see miss elfy bits here is with the queen, and what brings you lot here?" She asked,
"Emilia and the others have come to advise the Inquisitor on the Grey Warden issue, and Emilia will also be helping with other political issues the Inquisition faces."
"Oh yeah? What about you then?" Sera continued, almost trying to tease an answer out of Luciana.
"Well, I'm not a Grey Warden, but I've been helping them on their journey, and I've been researching the Arcane arts along the way too. But as soon as the rifts began to open up, I turned my attention to studying the art of, well, rift magic. So I help in that respect." She said with a shrug. Sera's eyes ran over Luciana interrogatively,
"You're not Dalish, are you?"
"No, I was born in an alienage."
"Thank god for that! Imagine, a pretty elf walks in and she's all… elfy, ugh!" Sera exclaimed, her hands making wide gestures as she spoke. Luciana couldn't help but smile at Sera's remarks,
"Pretty, am I?" She folded her arms, the smile transformed into a mischievous smirk,
"Friggin pretty if you ask me." Sera said, her words more certain. "Well, I've got… business to get on with, but I'll see you again, yeah?" She scratched the back of her head, walking backwards slowly before turning around and running at breakneck speed out of the tavern. Luciana chuckled and shook her head at the strange encounter with the strange elf called Sera, before walking up to the bar and taking the seat beside Emilia.
"Found a new friend, have we?" Emilia asked,
"Perhaps," Her smile widened.
"So, she thinks you're pretty? Next thing you know the pair of you will be getting married," Emilia joked.
"Emilia! You don't even know if she likes women- oh, oh. You were joking." The tips of her ears turned a lovely shade of pink.
"And somehow, I think you weren't." Emilia finished with a wink.