Beatrice and Abram returned well after dark from their Merchant's Association meeting, resulting in dinner being later than Anisa would have preferred. Both were glad to see her back, but a bit suspicious of Calligenia until the Amazonian impressed them with her table manners. Not once during the meal did she mention killing people, gladiators or other possibly disturbing aspects of Amazonian life.

After tens of days in strange beds, returning to her own bed was the highpoint of Anisa's homecoming – even if she was sharing it with Calligenia. Still, she hardly noticed the company, and ended up oversleeping. Maybe there really is such a thing as 'Airship Lag' after all?

When Anisa finally stirred, she found herself alone in her room (but even on the airship Calli had been an early riser). Since she hadn't been woken sooner by screams or shouts or the sounds of breaking crockery, it was likely that Calligenia hadn't caused any trouble yet.

After a good bit of stretching, yawning, and more stretching, the doe rises from bed and changes from her nightshirt into a set of crumpled clothes by the hamper. Her nose beckons her to retreat to the shower as soon as possible, but she decides first to take a moment to check on her guest. Heading out the doorway of her room, the rabbit looks around for any sign of Calligenia.

From the smells and sounds filtering up into the hallway, Anisa can tell that the bulk of the breakfast crowd has left the restaurant already. The hallway itself is quiet though, with no sign of her Amazonian roommate.

Groggily scratching a long ear, Anisa heads down the stairway to the Tavern room. Her appearance isn't all that great, but mornings aren't her shift anyways.

A harried-looking Ranit is bussing this morning, although now that things are calming down he's probably looking forward to a break. Tyson is stationed at the bar again, looking bored, and only four of the tables have customers still at them. Coal is curled up on one of the couches taking a nap, with a barely awake Petal leaning against him.

Still no sign of Calligenia though.

Ruffling the ears of her niece and nephew as she passes by, Anisa walks over to the bar and takes a seat. "Mateh. In a big cup," she manages to say to Tyson, before another large yawn interrupts her. "Where's Calli at? Have you seen her anywhere?"

With a grunt, Tyson nods and reaches for the kettle of Mateh and a mug. "Yeah, she left a little while ago with Benjamin and some Kavi that was waiting for her. She must be one of those 'morning people' you hear about," he tells his sister.

At this, the doe raises an ear. "She left with Ben?" A look of confusion crosses her face. "What in the world for?"

"Because he didn't think a stranger to Rephidim should be out on her own with just a Kavi for a guide," Tyson says, making his voice sound a bit like Benjamin's as he hands Anisa her drink. "Really though, it's just an excuse to be with a cute girl I think. Why else would he suggest letting you sleep in?"

Anisa smacks her forehead. "That Kavi! I had totally forgotten about that, Dagh blast it!" The Lapi gives an annoyed look, then quickly counters it with a swig of Mateh. "So he's the one that let me sleep in? The little runt, I guess its about time he started acting like one of the Snowshoe boys." Leaning back in her stool, she takes another sip. "Ah well, at least he's a gentleman, and it is better that someone go with Calli. I just hope he keeps his wits about him. He may be from Rephidim, but he acts just as naive as a foreigner sometimes. Did they say when they'd be back?"

Tyson shrugs and answers, "Not really. It sounded like she had some supplies or merchandise to see to." He leans back himself and looks over the occupied tables to see if anyone was about to ask for a refill, then picks up a folded bit of paper and flips it at Anisa. "Oh, and Fadwa dropped this off for you."

"They may still be at the docks," the doe muses to herself. "If they don't show up before too long, I'll go see if they're there." Anisa catches the paper mid-air, setting her mug aside as she unfolds it. "What's this?"

Dear Ms. Anisa Snowshoe, the note reads. Please bring yourself and the following items to the given address. Looking forward to meeting you. It's signed A. Al-Firaih, and includes a detailed lunch order and an address in the Nobles Quarter. The writing shows some skill at calligraphy.

Anisa arches a brow at the letter. "That's pretty audacious of her," she comments, "just sending me an order like that. She doesn't even know me, for crying out loud." With a snort, the doe tosses the paper back onto the bar, and takes another drink from her mug. "I'm not a delivery girl, for Dagh's sake."

"You are today, apparently," Tyson teases. "They paid in advance for the lunch. We usually send Benjamin on delivery runs if Fadwa doesn't come to pick up the order, but he's not available right now."

The white Lapi frowns, smoothing back her ears with a sigh. "I guess it gives me a chance to meet her, and see what she's subjecting Aaron to. What time am I supposed to go over?"

Glancing at the Chronotopian clock above the mantle, Tyson says, "Aisha usually takes her lunch around noon. You can probably kill an hour or so. I suggest a shower, you smell like you've been stuck in a closet for five days."

"I feel like I've been in a closet for five days." Finishing off her drink, the doe scoots the empty mug over to her brother and hops down from the stool. "I'm gonna go shower. If Calli shows up while I'm up there, tell her to wait for me."

"Sure thing," Tyson says, his attention already wandering. "Don't forget to clean out the fur-trap when you're done."

---

The transition from the High Crafters Quarter to the Nobles Quarter is marked by ever larger yards and higher walls and fences. The shade trees along the cobbled roads also show signs of getting better care and attention, and the roads are kept clear of the droppings of Dromodons and other beasts of burden.

Carrying a large basket packed with fresh bread, cheese, rice-pudding, fried veggies and a bottle of wine, Anisa makes her way to an address in what one could consider the 'low rent' district of the Nobles Quarter. An ornate carriage waits just outside the high walled lot, next to the open wooden gate, manned by a dozing Savanite in a somewhat frilly uniform.

Eyeing the strange carriage and apparent porter, Anisa approaches the gate of the house, and makes her way towards the front door. "At least she fits in here," the doe mutters.

The flagstone path leading up to the house is nearly overgrown with weeds, despite some token effort to keep it clear. All around are signs of long neglect; brown lawns, overgrown garden plants and a few dead trees. The foliage buzzes with the sounds of insects and Creens fighting for space. The house itself is both familiar looking and foreign – a squat, single story building like a sharp-angled 'U', with pillared sides and a small garden (complete with overgrown, dried-up fountain) in the central space. It looks like somebody's attempt at creating an Olympian villa on a budget.

Flopping an ear at the strange state of the decor, Anisa approaches the door, and after a deep breath knocks several times on the front door.

The main doors are opened by Fadwa, the tigress-bodyguard, revealing a large skylight-lit room that runs nearly the entire length of the left wing of the house. The bodyguard steps aside, holding a finger to her mouth in the universal 'please be quiet' sign. Deeper inside, Anisa's sensitive ears can pick up voices.

Blinking at both the sudden prompt and to make her eyes adjust to the inside light, Anisa steps inside the house, and focuses her ears on the conversation. "Have I come at a bad time?" She whispers.

"The mistress is with a potential renter," Fadwa whispers, and motions Anisa over to the only pieces of furniture in the huge, empty room: a simple wooden bench and one of those wooden 'folding tables' that one can buy in the Bazaar. They are set next to the fireplace at the far end of the room, opposite a doorway that presumably leads to the rest of the building. Dust motes drift lazily in the sunlight from windows set in the ceiling and along the courtyard-facing wall.

"They seem awfully small," comes a recognizably Gallee voice from beyond the doorway.

The white doe takes a seat on the bench, placing the basket in her lap. She continues to eye the building, keeping her ears attuned to the conversation.

A softer Lapi voice replies to the poodle's, but Anisa can't quite make it out before the voices recede further down some hallway.

"Did you have any trouble finding us here?" Fadwa asks quietly in an attempt at small-talk. From somewhere further down the hallways – possibly even in the opposite wing of the building – the doe can just pick up the sound of a startled gasp.

Sighing, the small rabbit swings her dangling feet from the bench, and sets the basket on top of the table. "No," she whispers back in response, "I haven't been on this side of town much, but it wasn't hard. Your mistress is in Real Estate?" She swivels an ear at the gasp, straining to hear.

"She wishes to be," Fadwa replies. "That is why she accepted this property from her father. I fear it may be too much for her to handle, however."

Anisa nods to the tigress. "So that's why you two are here? It does seem to need quite a bit of… er, TLC it seems. But considering the part of town it's in, she'll probably find someone eventually."

Footsteps echo to Anisa's ears now, heralding the arrival of a matronly, well-dressed Gallee and a younger male poodle that seems to be floundering in her wake. On their tails is Aisha, wearing a flattering Ha'clohi of golden zolk that matches her own incredibly golden fur. In her haste to keep up, the silver chains that hang in half-loops from her ears tinkle like bells.

Anisa's own ears perk at the trio's arrival, but she remains quiet for the time being. Gallees, she thinks, no wonder it's a hard sell…

"I'm sorry, Miss All-fiery," the matron says, "but this house is just a bit too… decadent… for my sensitive young Hector." She puts her hand on the shoulder of the young man (Hector, presumably), who looks wistfully back the way they came.

Furrowing her brow, the white doe points one of her ears reflexively in the direction the small group just arrived from. How this place could be considered decadent is beyond her.

"I'm sure that with a bit of renovation… " the golden Lapi begins, but seems to run out of air. "Thank you for your time, Madam, and may you have better luck finding a home for your fine son elsewhere," Aisha says.

The Himaatian doe sees the poodles back to their carriage before returning and finally noticing Anisa. "Oh! You must be… Anisa?" she asks, as if uncertain.

Standing from the bench, Anisa puts on a smile and nods to the other Lapi. "That's me! You must be Aisha- Aaron's cousin, right?"

"Well, I'm the cousin of his sister-in-law technically," Aisha says, regaining a bit of her composure. Standing up straighter, she looks more the well-groomed Noble – especially with the delicate silver chain jewelry on her head and ears and obviously expensive clothing. For all of that, though, she is still obviously a teenager that is probably away from home for the first time and clearly in over her head.

"I must admit, I expected you to be bigger," the golden doe offers.

Smirking at first, the white doe gives a bit of a chuckle. "Well, I'm no Amazonian or anything. Aaron must be telling stories about me again." She gestures towards the basket. "I hope everything's to your liking, I came over as quickly as I could to keep the warm stuff warm and the colds cold."

"I'd quite forgotten the time," Aisha admits, and then tells Fadwa to set out the meal for her and her guest. She takes a seat on the bench next to Anisa, and then smoothes out the fabric of her Ha'clohi. "It has been quite a disappointing day for me so far, so I look forward to a cheerful meal."

Anisa gives a look of surprise as it becomes evident that she is to be the second diner, although since Aisha's only companions are meat eaters, it does explain the large portions. "So this is why you came to Rephidim? How long has this place been empty?"

"Five years," Aisha bemoans. "I could have found any number of renters for such a property in Abu Dhabi, but on Rephidim it just does not seem to fit in. No wonder my second cousin was so happy to give up the deed." With a bit more vehemence, she says, "It's all his fault that nobody will take this place!"

Fadwa wears an 'I've heard this a thousand times already' expression on her face, all but rolling her eyes, as she sets out the meal and pours each doe a glass of wine.

The white doe sets her ears sideways at the sudden outburst, but nibbles on her meal anyways. "Maybe if you contracted someone to do some work on the place? There's lots of carpenters in the Bazaar that would jump at the chance to work in the Noble's Quarter, and plenty of Earth Mages to work on the yard." She looks around the inside of the room. "It wouldn't be that hard I don't think, but it'd take money."

"It would take exactly two-thousand three-hundred and eighty four shekels," Aisha complains, and has a sip of wine before touching her food. "And that is just to restore it to its original condition. To make it suitable as a home fit for Rephidim tastes would be even more expensive though."

Anisa frowns, she hadn't expected the costs to be that high – and it seems Aisha knows enough without her advice. "I see… do you have any other properties?"

The golden doe sniffs, as if holding back a tear, and explains, "No. Women in my family are not allowed to own property, and my father only agreed to let me take on this deed because it was far away in Rephidim and already deemed worthless. If I can impress him by making it profitable, then he will consider allowing me to manage more properties and perhaps even own them."

Anisa nods silently at this, mentally making note that she had almost forgotten how the world outside of Amazonia worked, despite how shortly she had been there. "So you have to sell this one first… " Taking a sip of the wine, the doe's ears twitch in thought. "Hey, I know how you could get off to a good start – Aaron and I have a friend who's an Earth mage. Maybe we can pull a favor from her, and she can take a look at the courtyard." She wipes her mouth off with a napkin, and leans back. "It won't solve all the problems, but it's a start."

"Yes, Spring Meadow," Aisha says between nibbles of bread. "She let me into Aaron's house. I am quite peeved with him for buying a house on his own, when I had hoped to sell him this one. But I see no point in wasting efforts at renovation which will be ultimately fruitless. I have yet to find anyone of means who has shown any interest at all in this place."

The frown returns as Anisa listens to Aisha's tone. "Maybe they'd be more interested if they could see what's possible with it?" She shrugs, and takes a bite of bread. "Some people have a hard time using their imaginations."

Aisha's ears twitch. After another sip of wine, she appears to warm to the idea. "I suppose it couldn't hurt," she admits. "But my cousin Hannibal built this place to be a clubhouse, of all things, and squandered his money on it. Gentleman's Clubs do not turn profits, and even when he tried to turn it into a brothel it lost money. I'm not sure making the garden pretty will be enough."

Halfway through a sip from her glass, Anisa chokes on a gulp. "cough A- coughwheeze brothel??" She clears her throat, then takes another quick swig to quell the coughing. She looks at Aisha in disbelief. "This place was a brothel?"

"For about a week, yes," Aisha says, not surprised or alarmed by Anisa's reaction. "I don't think it actually did any business though before Hannibal's creditors made it necessary for him to leave the island."

Anisa just stares at the other doe for a small while before speaking. "Isn't that… illegal here anyways?" She looks to the opening of the hallway, then back at Aisha. "What's back there that made that poodle lose it?" She nods her head towards the hall.

"Come on, I'll give you the tour," Aisha offers, setting down her food and standing up. "This place has some pretty unique features."

Taking another quick bite of bread, Anisa hops down from the bench. "Er, I'll bet… "

Leading the way, Aisha brings Anisa into the hallway. Like most villas, the halls always run along the courtyard facing wall. Immediately beyond the huge main room is a narrow kitchen area unsuitable for preparing any sort of substantial meal, and next to that is a water closet and basement access. The hall turns to the right to run along the back of the building, which consists of three fairly nondescript rooms not much larger than Anisa's own bedroom.

"The rooms were just for club members that were traveling and needed a room to sleep-over in for the night," Aisha explains, as they approach the next turn into the wing opposite the main one.

Anisa nods. "Seems normal so far."

"Yes, but that's about to change," Aisha says in a tone bordering on dread. The hallway turns right once more, and the wall runs unbroken for the full length of the wing save for two doors towards the far end.

"It can't be that bad, can it," the white doe asks. "I mean, it's not like he drew pornography on the wall or anything."

"Hannibal spent a lot of time in Tizhar, and was enamored of their architecture and habits," the golden doe explains as she opens the first door into a large, open room. Two sunken Olympian-style communal baths nearly fill the room, with the rotting remains of a curtain that served as a partition hanging from the ceiling between them.

Anisa gazes into the room, and flops an ear. "It's odd to have one of those in a Rephidim house," she says, "but I don't see why that's cause for alarm… "

Along the wall rest two benches, and plenty of hooks and shelves for hanging and stowing clothing. "It seems to summon up some odd notions among the Nobles here though," Aisha says. "But even this isn't the truly bizarre part."

Actually, considering the baths at Amazonia, these wouldn't be too bad, Anisa thinks to herself, following behind the gold-furred doe. "How bizarre does it get?"

"Judge for yourself," Aisha says, and brings Anisa into the hall and through the second door, which leads into a narrow, tiled room with a bench and storage for clothing. Two heavy-looking doors with what appear to be airship portholes mounted in them are the only other features. Aisha opens the first one to reveal a small room completely covered in ceramic tiles, with built-in tile-covered benches and a mass of plumbing along one wall that resembles a steam radiator on steroids.

"It took me awhile to figure out what this room was for," Aisha admits. "It was just so… unbelievable."

The white doe stares at the room for a bit, then shrugs. "I'm stumped, what was it for?"

Trying look as serious as she can, the young doe says, "The men would take off their clothes, sit in here, and fill the room with hot steam. It was supposed to be relaxing, or healthy, or something. It must be a Gallisian thing. It would certainly explain all that curly hair."

Anisa flares her nostrils, both at the hair and at the explanation. "Okay, that is pretty weird – not to mention gross. I don't see how getting your fur all dewy is relaxing." She turns to Aisha, puzzled. "But still, that's not too bad. I can think of a lot worse things that go on in brothels. Some might see this as a novelty."

"This was built for the original clubhouse actually," Aisha says, shaking her head. "I'm pretty sure the next room was just for humans or reptiles," she notes, and leads Anisa to the second room off of the changing area. This one is a mirror of the first, save that it is paneled entirely in wood except for a tiled region around a ceramic, gas-flame heater.

"I thought that perhaps this was a giant oven for curing meat at first," Aisha says.

Anisa sticks her tongue out at that thought, and can't help but chuckle at the strange images popping into her head. "Weird… why would someone want to force themselves to sweat?"

"Why do men do anything that they do?" Aisha shrugs. "I think the people who I've shown this to so far imagine it belonged to some Temple Inquisitor who liked to take his work home with him. Do you think a Naga would find this an appealing feature though? I'd hate to have to do business with one, frankly."

"They might," Anisa muses, tapping her paw to her lips. "I know they like the heat, and they probably like the humidity too."

Aisha sighs, and steps back out to the hallway. "Leasing to a Naga would be as humiliating as renting to Kavis," she laments. "But at least a Naga doesn't need a functional kitchen."

Anisa nods with a shudder. "It'd prove you could rent it, too. Is there more to the place?"

"There is the basement, which is mostly just old plumbing to support the baths and torture chambers," Aisha says, gesturing back through the doorway to the rooms they just left at the mention of 'torture chambers'. "The grounds are not exceptional."

Anisa nods. "It is peculiar, I'll give it that. Still, you might be able to find a buyer. Maybe some one who'll use it as something other than a house?"

"Would that were rich idiots as foolish as Hannibal," Aisha says, opening a window to let in some fresh air. "But he was surely one of a kind, and I don't know what else this could be used for besides as a clubhouse for eccentrics."

The white doe laughs. "Well, I'm sure that market exists somewhere out there, maybe if-" She cuts herself off, her face suddenly dropping in thought. "Clubhouse… hmmm… "

"I'm sure the neighbors won't object to Nagai moving in," Aisha says, mostly to herself. "How bad can they smell, after all? They could keep their ghastly yiffles in the basement."

Grinning, Anisa looks to Aisha with a twinkle in her eye. "Actually, I think I may have another idea. I'll have to ask around a bit though… "

Breaking out of her private musings, Aisha turns to look at Anisa as if she'd forgotten the other doe was there. "You do? Well, I'd certainly be interested in what you find out, Anisa," she says, smiling to the white doe.

The white doe strokes her own ear in thought. "It's just an idea for now… but… hmm… " The rabbit does a few more mental notes, then nods with a grin. "I have to go now- to find some things out. I hope you don't mind?"

"Oh, not at all," Aisha says, waving her hand. "I should return to the house and prepare for dinner tonight. I promised Aaron I would thank him for his hospitality by taking him somewhere nice. It was nice to meet you in person though, since Aaron was not terribly descriptive in his letter."

Anisa perks an ear at the mention of dinner, but makes no comment on it. "He's like that. It was nice meeting you! I'll probably- or rather, most likely see you soon." Picking up the empty basket, the doe makes a half jog to the door. She waves as she slips outside, then runs down the street with a grin on her face, and an idea in her mind.