After a week, they reached the gates of Grumor. Jesika pulled her hood tighter around her face to ensure that she wasn't recognized. The guards noticed them and came down from their towers to approach them.
"Who are you four and why are you here?" one of the men asked.
"We're travelers. Merchants. We've come to set up shop in Grumor for a while," Darryn answered.
The man nodded slowly, seeming to buy the story. "What kingdom is your allegiance to?"
Darryn shook his head. "We're independents, sir. Our allegiance is simply to peace and harmony. It is why we never stay any one place long, as to not grow any attachment to one place."
The men glanced at one another, then back at them. "We've had a few of your kind here. You've never caused trouble before. Where are your beasts though?"
"We don't like to travel with them. They aren't very great for combat and we wouldn't want them getting hurt or lost. I'm sure you can understand."
The man grunted, then turned to the other guard. "Lower the gates. Let them in."
The guard quickly ascended the tower and slowly the gate lowered. The four of them walked through, their eyes glancing around.
Grumor was huge. And highly prosperous. But in a different way than Querencia. Where Querencia was known for their traditions and their culture, prosperous because of their independent businesses and great agriculture, Grumor was more industrial. Their ways of life were a lot more progressive, the majority of their economy coming from royalty and/or corporate businesses. Where Querencia was famous for agriculture, Grumor was a leader in metalwork and the mines.
On the surface though, the two kingdoms looked very similar, only Grumor was a bit warmer. They walked the streets, looking around.
"So, what's the plan, Jes?" Rowan asked.
They had agreed to not call her "Your Majesty" while here, neither would they say her full name or even her full first name, in case someone would recognize it. In public, it was strictly to be Jes.
"The plan is to first find somewhere to stay for the night," Jesika replied.
"But I'm hungry," Darryn interrupted.
She shot him a glare, but Aquila smiled, rubbing her stomach. "I'm pretty hungry too, Jes. We've been starting to run low on food. We can't continue living off of berries much longer."
Jesika rolled her eyes, sighing. "Fine. We'll find a place to eat and take a load off for a while. Then we need to start looking for places to stay."
The group nodded and they started off. They chose one of the first diners they passed, a small, simple one. They went inside and came to the counter, ordering. The people working smiled at the size of the group. Jesika got the feeling they didn't get this much business often due to the larger diners. Once they had ordered, they found a table near the back to eat.
***
An hour later, after a satisfying late lunch, they hit the roads once again to find a place to stay. They stopped at several larger inns, but all of them were either far too expensive, royal, or full. By the time they found an inn to stay in, it was late at night and their feet were tired.
They found themselves in one of the smaller villages of Grumor, standing in front of a very small, but cozy looking inn.
Aquila groaned, clutching her foot as she balanced on the other. "My feet are killing me after walking nonstop. I sure hope they have vacancy. Not sure how much longer I can go. At this point, I'm almost willing to sleep on the streets for the night."
