Can Empires fall?

Chapter 2

The King's Hall was beside the hall itself a big plaza on which several market stands were offering different goods. The place itself, even though it was called the King's Hall, was centred around one big fountain made from the same grey stone the rest of the plaza was made of. The fountain, which, while it might have seen days of glory, now looked sordid. In the fountain's mid was the statue of a praying, kneeling and cloaked angel. Though it was late morning Chiras could still see bits of light emanating out of the angel's palm, which due to its magical essence would illuminate the centre of the plaza at night.
At the very base of it were three figures sitting beside the common folk walking around. Two of them were talking to each other, and the third, though clearly a part of the trio, was not participating, as their head was pointing downwards into a book, which they were clutching in their hands.

The one not engaging in the, otherwise joyful, conversation, was completely wrapped into their cloak with the hood up, through which only the light-skin chin and the end of silver-white hair would peek out. The face was clearly scarred because you could see the end of a several centimetres thick scar reaching down to the tip of the chin. The body type looked rather feminine from what Chiras could tell. The person looked to be tall.

The shorter person of the two talking looked to be a halfling having a body with quite the belly. They were wearing round eyeglasses with two very thick glasses, very short, well-kept hair, bushy eyebrows, and green eyes. They had a brown leather breastplate with a golden tree on it, which is the symbol of the house of Edas, who were the royals ruling over this region, with a white shirt under it, which had seen better days and had a dagger in a sheath and several potions on a belt around their waste. In their hand, they were clutching a wooden staff.

The last person had a thin and more slender curveless dark skin body. Wearing a dark-green cocktail dress, which reached down to their knees. The dress was strapless. Black curly hair was reaching down to the middle of their back. Their face was marked by a black stubble beard. One of their eyes was light green and the other one was golden. Around their wrist, they had a golden bracelet, and around their fingers several rings, which seemed to have different gemstones like rubies or emeralds in them. As they were wearing no weapon, it became clear that this person was in free time clothing. It was warm enough for the dress though.

Chiras looked at the Tiefling walking next to her. "I presume the three at the fountain are your misfits?"
The Tiefling just chuckled in response and waved their hands. The halfling realised it first and jumped happily up and down, then seemed to excitedly speak to the taller person, after which both of them waved back. The cloaked person just waved lightly.
"My wonderful friends", Ezra started the conversation with a big smile, "Are you ready to meet our newest addition to the group?"
The halfling responded with big joyful eyes "Yes, always! Is it this one???" A big smile was on the halfling's face as they pointed at Chiras.
"Yes, indeed she is our newest addition, why don't you talk for yourself, my darling?", Ezra said and then did a small stage bow, leaving her in the foreground. As she didn't start directly, Ezra gave her a little push and whispered, "don't be shy, they won't bite... unlike me," chuckling a bit.
"Yeah... I-I am Chiras. I can punch things... like really good... and I- Uhm I am very athletic... I guess? I got trained as a monk, so I am taught in martial arts and stuff... but I left because monks suck and-"
At that point, the cloaked figure interjected: "Why do you think you fit in here?"
"Because she is a misfit like us!", the halfling excitedly squeaked.
"Are our standards that low?", the figure replied.
"Stop being so grumpy, Tyr, and yes, they are!", the person in the dress answered with a rather deep voice and a raspy laugh after finishing.
Tyr sighed and quietly said, "Fine..."
Ezra now stepping back into the foreground began to chuckle. "I'll excuse myself for Tyr's behaviour, she isn't as trusting as the little man Fergus here and our big princess...?", they looked expectantly at the person in the dress, who showed their bracelet, which had "she/her" engraved on them. "Yeah, our big princess Karal. But Tyr is not only a great wizard but also one of my dearest friends."