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Zumei was tired, more tired than she had been in years. It was honestly surprising to her the way her limbs argued against her. Dealing with the vryhx had left her beat up, and so she had figured the best way to rest if off was to find herself a good inn or tavern to nap in. Maybe they'd let her sleep in the stables if there wasn't any room inside? The inviting smells hit her first, stomach clenching angrily when she spotted the small building nestled outside the current town. It looked more traveler's way station than actual inn, but she figured it would do.

Wandering into the building the boisterous noises of travelers and adventurers assaulted her ears. A wide grin came across her face, energy hyping her up. Zumei bopped her head along to the music, distractedly sliding into a booth and surprising herself when she bumped against a solid shoulder.

"Ah hells, my bad. Mind me sittin here?" she laughed, turning to look at the person and coming up short.

"Oh don't be so dramatic, handsome," Zumei said with a wave of her hand, getting comfortable in the seat and peering over at the map the pretty stranger held. She was curious to know what he was so seriously considering, especially given the atmosphere around them. She'd never been good with maps and the detailed scribbles intrigued her as much as the grumpy stranger did. At first she thought he was simply Yaeli, but the pretty green of his eyes made her think a little differently. Zumei thought it very rude to ask just what someone's parentage was, so she figured leaving it be was the best option for now. Instead Zumei did what she always did best and continued to talk to him, his obvious disdain completely lost on her.

"I'm Zumei, nice to meet you," she grinned, very gently extending her hand out to him to make sure she didn't spill more on his map. "If you're worried I can buy you another! And help you scribble the notes on them."

She wasn't good at art, but it didn't really look artful. More documenting something specific. "Are you looking for something? Like a treasure hunter?"

Zumei looked at the glass and wondered how many days work it would take to earn off their best bottle of wine. It couldn't be that much, could it? She was a pro when it came to odd jobs, and had spent time around Zena working at an inn much like this one some time ago. To her mind all of them worked the same, so surely the work would be simple. She had sizeable earnings from her own fight matches, but preferred to work things off instead of using the gold. Just in case. Zumei waved to the closest of the waitstaff, grinning as a somewhat tired Yaeli wandered warily over to her.

"What can I help you with?" she sighed, sidestepping another patron as they bumbled by.

"My new friend here wants the best bottle of wine you have. I'll take care of it all," Zumei grinned, poking her thumb against her chest.

The woman nodded and scurried off, allowing Zumei to turn back to Cyril and his map. "That's fun. Never thought to do that. Though I just sort of...end up places?" It was a bit of an understatement given her current predicament in Yael. She'd looked for the biggest fight she could find after leaving Sauti behind again, and somehow that had meant coming to the wild lands of Yael. Before that it'd been snatched up by dretch. Anything to get her mind off her troubles even if it meant certain danger. "So not from here then, but you look the type to know their way around. Smart and all that."

Zumei shook her head, trying to think of any semblance of a goal. Getting stronger? Fighting big creatures? She already did those things so she didn't think of it as a goal but more just her lifestyle. "Oh I came here to fight a vryhx! And have just sort of hung around since then. At least for the moment. Before that I was kidnapped by dretch! And somewhere in between participated in a fight ring!" Avoiding thinking of her feelings had resulted in a wild few months, which had helped in burying all of the unnecessary things. But the place she thought she was going to be just....wasn't an option now. Her expression darkened at the thought before she shoved it away into its little box in the back of her mind, grin spreading over her features once more. "So no, no places to be or goals. Just doing tasks as I find them."

Having explained her own lack of goals, Zumei watched curiously as the waitress came and left just as quickly as she was sent away. The man beside her was....odd. Not bad. Just odd. In her attempt to see what was so special about his wine he'd been drinking over the fancy stuff she shifted closer to his side, peering at the bottle. It didn't look as fancy as the other one. "That's a really smart way to go about things! But why'd you send the bottle away? I owed you like you said."

She considered calling the woman back over with the fancy bottle again, but also didn't want to annoy her if her seat partner sent it back once more. There had to be a reason for it though? "Was it something about the wine? Or some sort of uh.....not wanting to owe me?"

"Yeah! A wild time! Though I'm really only good at fighting so just playing to my strengths, I guess," Zumei shrugged, thumb idly brushing at one of the more severe scars on her arm. She didn't notice the doubting look he gave her, instead her eyes focused on the wine offered. She'd never really had a taste of it, always considered it a bit too fancy for her, but wasn't opposed to trying it. "I always follow through with things, you know. What good is my word if I go back on it?"

Zumei leaned over and took her own glass of the wine, sniffing at it while thanking the Yaeli woman for her time. It was different from throwing back a pint after a brawl, and Zumei figured downing it in one go was not the proper way to do it. She chose to take a sip, nose scrunching as the strange flavor hit her tongue.

"So I'm not allowed a name, but can I ask other things?" Zumei attempted to start, not really sure how to handle the conversation with the man. He was interesting! But also didn't seem to like talking so much....Maybe it was her?

"I'd agree to a lot of things - as long as it's fun that is. So a little thing like fancy wine is worth it!" Zumei was very curious about the man and all his talk of reason. To her, it didn't matter if it wasn't the reasonable thing to do. She didn't really follow reason. Whatever was fun, whatever put a smile on someone's face or allowed them to have something nice. She'd do it, generally no questions asked. Zumei had heard his type of words before though. Being told she was reckless or headstrong, not thinking her actions through. Since it rarely got her into trouble she didn't care. And if it did get her into trouble, well, she could always fight them.

"Mmmm. Nope. No directions. I find my way around eventually," she admitted, not wanting to go into detail about how she just wandered until she happened upon things. "What do you do for work? You don't look like you fight, or if you do I've never seen you around. So what sort of fun do you get up to?"

Zumei gasped at his statement, growing ever more excited the more she spoke to him. She attempted to calm herself as to not annoy him more than she already had, however she didn't think she was doing too good of a job at it. Every word that came from her felt like it bothered him, but she really did like conversing with the stranger. She wanted to learn about his performing, what he did, how he did it. First thing first, she had to answer some of his questions. It wouldn't do for him to think she was some sort of criminal going around bullying people. She wasn't that type of person! Even if she did enjoy getting into fights.

"No, no, I'm not a criminal. Like I told you I was here to fight a big beast! And I did!" Zumei laughed, rubbing at her arm. The scars there were still a bit more fresh compared to some of the other injuries she'd obtained in the past, but she doubted she could point to a claw mark and have him believe her. He didn't seem the type to even consider it. "I typically do more fight ring brawls, but finding big enemies or doing odd jobs is equally as fine."

The mention of Belrea did give her slight pause despite trying her best to avoid that portion of his statement. It wasn't that it was bad, but since she'd been avoiding a certain Belrean it felt weird to hear about it. "If you're a performer you must be super talented! What sort of thing do you perform? Are you an actor? Or do you juggle?" Zumei launched into more questions, fighting her negative thoughts with more interesting things.

Zumei laughed, an almost bark of a sound as she nodded at him. She was growing to enjoy the harsh way the man spoke, his no nonsense attitude refreshing to handle. She liked the honesty over forced politeness, and even if he didn't think the same she still found the encounter to be one of the most exciting things that had happened on Yael. "It's been worth it I'd say. It doesn't matter if people are nice to me or not, if I can help I will. Have to keep my muscles good for something." The only time she had really considered working as a guard was when she was traveling with Howth during his research adventures. Since then she hadn't considered it, instead choosing to throw her entire being into more and more dangerous situations. Her relative disregard for her own life was part of what made her a good fighter, at least she continued to tell herself that. If she were to be a guard again in any way she would have to be more careful than she had been in at least a year or more.

"No, I doubt you would do anything for free, handsome. Better to keep those skills hidden to cash in on them, yeah?" Zumei teased, taking a sip of the wine she had been neglecting in exchange for her rapid fire questioning of the man. She grew a bit more serious with her words, concern creasing her brow. "Though being a performer out by yourself is dangerous. For many reasons. Not gonna assume to know how capable you are, but uh....well would be a shame to see you get into a situation you can't handle, handsome."