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Mitsu was rather sad to hear there might not be anyone there anymore. Would it be pointless to go if that was the fact? She turned to Shun at his question and thought it over before nodding. Finding out more information might not be a bad idea. It was possible they could find someone who had a little more detail about its location than just up north in the mountains.

"Thank you Ma'am." Mitsu bowed slightly in thanks though realized after that probably wasn't the cultural norm here. Oh well.

After that they headed off again looking at the different shops that were set up. "Where should we try?"

"An Inn?" Mitsu looked ahead to see where Shun was indicating. It probably wouldn't be a bad place to start. An Inn would likely deal with the majority of travelers. Maybe even someone from Howling Crest! It was starting to look like they might actually find this place and Mitsu was getting excited as a cause.

"Alright, let's go." The lycan kept pace with Shun on the way to the Inn looking up at the sign that read 'Raven's Haven.' Quirking a brow at the name she went inside and headed toward the reception desk. That would probably be the best place to start right? Except...there was no one there. No one except a large wide eyed raven who sat perched and still on the counter like it wasn't real.

Mitsu stared at the bird before she curiously reached up a hand to touch it. It was only then that the raven came to life, tilted its head, and snapped at her hand.

"Ah!" Mitsu jerked her hand back, her eyes wide as she checked her hand to make sure she still had all her fingers. Yep...all there.

"I..I'm fine," Mitsu muttered. The bird hadn't gotten her but it had frightened her still. She continued to stare at the bird a little uneasily and took a step behind Shun for safe measure.

The raven tilted its head this way and that to look at Shun ruffling up at the hard glare. It began to puff up before it shook its head. "Not even so much as a please." It spoke in a very proper oxford tone. "Sit here all day and all I get are the people that want to poke me and 'do this' or 'do that'. Bah." It seemed to have a knack for imitating a woman's voice as it spoke. Whether that was an insult to Shun it was hard to say. "And then there's the noisy scarelings..." The bird continued to mumble on for a time. Obviously it's life was suffering. When it looked up at Shun again it seemed to finally remember what it was supposed to do. "Oh right."

It hopped back along the desk and flew to a chair that seemed to be occupied. There resting was a skeleton, bones slack and barely holding together. The bird perched above it and tilted down just enough to peck at the skull. "WAKE UP!"

Amber lights blazed with alarm in the skull's empty eye sockets and the skeleton jerked to life, bones clacking and creaking as it looked around for the sudden need to be awake so quickly. "Gee, Teddy, ya nearly gave me a heart attack." It placed a hand over its empty chest cavity, making a show of looking startled and heaving with air to calm down.

"Right....if only that were possible." The Raven retorted. "You have patrons."

The skeleton turned, its jaw hanging slightly slack. "O...oh. OH!" The skeleton quickly grabbed his jacket that had Raven's Haven printed on the left breast and threw it on before running to the front desk its mouth opening slightly in lieu of a smile. "How can I help ya?"

The skeleton tilted its head in thought, its eye lights dimming as it concentrated. "Howling Crest....Howling Crest." A long bony finger scratched at it's mandible idly before its eye lights grew bright with realization. "Ah! I know the place. Up North with all the snow and the cold and the...." The skeleton shivered then as if it could really be cold. "Not a nice place to travel. Why not stay here where its at least a little warmer. We have free breakfast."

Mitsu finally stepped forward then, peeking around Shun's arm. "D..Do you have directions so that we might find it?"

The skeleton's teeth clicked together. "Not sure how to get there myself. I think I have an old map that might show it." The desk manager pulled away from the counter and began to rummage out of sight. Papers went flying as he searched, the raven only sighing and shaking it's head. Apparently there was going to be a mess to clean up later.

"Ah HA!" The skeleton finally came up with a rolled piece of parchment. As it stood it flattened it out and looked it over. "Ah, there we are. Howling Crest." It placed a bony finger at the top of the map where in fine print in read Howling Crest. As the old lady had said it looked like it was in a mountainous area.

At the mention of a price for the map the skeleton leaned on the counter like he meant business now. He had an air about him like there was going to be an epic haggling session. "Well this is a pretty old map. Priceless really. You seem like nice people though. Good people. For you." He looked at the pair as if assessing their value. "One silver seed."

"You dunderhead." The Raven hissed. "Who taught you how to haggle."

"Whaaaaat?" The skeleton asked raising its hands. "That's really about all its worth I mean look at it."

"You're supposed to set the bar high not at rock bottom." The Raven explained slowly like one might do with a child.

"Hey hey hey...this is pretty high let me tell you. I don't think I've seen anything this old since I last saw Uncle Berny and I certainly wouldn't pay a silver seed for him."

While the two continued to banter among themselves Mitsu pulled a silver seed from her pocket and slid it across the counter. Carefully she reached for the map and slid it toward her. This action seemed to go unnoticed. He had said one silver seed after all.

With the map in hand Mitsu looked at Shun and then back at the Raven and skeleton that continued to fuss and were obviously lost in story telling. There was no break in the conversation so she merely waved before heading toward the door.

Once they were free of the Inn Mitsu looked over the map a little more charting the course they would need to take from where they were to where they needed to be. It looked easy enough on paper but Mitsu knew better than to hope it was so close.

"There is...one thing." Mitsu rolled up the map carefully and looked around trying to spot what she needed. When she spotted it she took hold of Shun's hand and led him toward one of the stores. The front window was decorated with warmer articles of clothing and as Mitsu entered she grabbed for a black and gray scarf right off the bat and turned around to loop it over Shun't head and then wrap it around his neck. She wasn't sure he had anything warm enough and the skeleton had mentioned snow. While she could fall back on a fur coat if needed Shun was stuck with trying to fight the cold with clothing that wasn't meant for such cold weather.

Shun had picked out a pair of gloves as well and Mitsu hoped they would be enough. If anything she would do her best to keep him warm and when it seemed they were ready Mitsu nodded.

"Okay, let's go..." She was excited and nervous all at the same time. While they had finally found a map with Howling Crest on it the fact that it had been so hard to find in the first place left a small hint of doubt in her heart. Would it really still be there? She wanted to see this place so badly, it was possible she could learn something about her family but if it wasn't there.....if she was making Shun hike out into the middle of no where for nothing....She would feel terrible.

"Are you sure....we'll find it?" She asked before they had gotten too far outside of town.