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Elka was stretched out on a bench seat, arms resting on the back of it while her legs reached far under the table. Not a very lady-like pose, but hey, who cared when the inn was this super quiet. Entaria wasn't even around, giving the girls on duty all the time in the day to laze around. The cook didn't care. He, too, was resting on a chair in the kitchen, chewing on a hunk of bread from one of the many loaves he had made that day, expecting more buying customers than had actually come in. All that bread was going to go to waste, now. Or it would. Elka and the other girls would sneak their share by the end of the day, as they often did on days like this. Entaria was none the wiser. Or, if she was, she never cared where the leftover food went. Elka was betting on that one. Little seemed to escape the innkeeper's notice.

Breathing in deeply, the Ice woman let it out slowly, opening one eye to watch Pamalaya silently walking out of the kitchen, a muffin held tightly in her hand. Entaria was off gathering supplies for the rooms upstairs, having also expected it to be busier. Normally she'd have sent one of the girls, usually Elka, to buy supplies but when it was busy she needed all hands on deck. For a little while it had been. Thirty minutes of constant orders. That was when she had left to do the shopping herself.

Elka watched the Wind girl walk past the counter and into the staff room, the door swinging behind her. All the better. She didn't want to share the large dining space with that one.

The door to the inn swung open and still Elka remained on the bench against the wall, her eyes closed and her body half in a doze. She heard the person walking towards the counter. As an employee, she should be getting up and seeing if the customer needed anything, but she could really be bothered. Entaria should be nearby somewhere. The innkeeper always was.

Another door opened in her other ear, closer to where she was. Still she kept her eyes closed, trying to relax until the shrill voice of Pamalaya laid into her about being lazy while the rest of them were working. Opening golden eyes to yell back at her, caring little about anyone else that might be in the inn, Elka's gaze landed instead on a creature whose head was poking out of a bag. She startled upright, pointing a finger at it in horror.

"What is that doing in here?!"

The pointing finger was soon joined by a second hand as the Ice woman threw her arms into the air, half-turning around as if to leave. She wasn't paid nearly enough to deal with customers like this.

"Whether it is or isn't shouldn't be as important as if you should just bring a creature in here like this." She said this much more quietly than before, aware of the other girls in the room now staring at the pair. She really didn't want to answer nosy questions later on, but it seemed like she might have to. Were animals allowed in here? Usually, yes. If they were small, of course. Would Elka let on about that? No. She didn't like random creatures tramping all over the floor and giving herself more work and anxiety to deal with. She would shoo this woman out the door long before Entaria ever returned.

Except that Entaria had just walked through the door, her arms heavy with supplies that she quickly dropped off onto the counter before walking over to where Elka stood. With the other girls still staring at them, it was a dead giveaway that there was something going on in this corner that might need the attention of the owner.

"What is going on over here?" the Shifter asked, looking from one girl to the next, offering a friendly smile to each with eyes that warned no nonsense.

Elka pursed her lips. She thought she'd said that pretty clearly, but perhaps the Yaeli was just dumb. But before she could open her mouth wide enough to say it more clearly, Entaria walked through the door, carrying a large armful of supplies. The Zenan instantly closed her mouth against the retort lying on her tongue and started debating different kinds of escape. Could she just run? Hide away in the storeroom? Yes, though she couldn't hide the pale blue of her skin and the darker tone of her hair. She was the only Ice on the staff. Most of the other girls were Shifters like the owner, except for Pamalaya, who was a Wind. She thought she'd had more time. Clearly not. Time was ticking away as the older woman made for them, following the stares of everyone else in the room.

"Uh..." Again, her attempts to talk were thwarted, as the Yaeli answered for her. Elka couldn't help shooting a glare at her.

"I see," Entaria responded, looking from one girl to the next. The Zenan deflated a little under the intense stare from the Shifter, knowing she would be getting a talking to later on about trying to refuse someone away. "If the animal is small, it is fine. Let me see. Oh! A radaku! What a cutie." Elka winkled her nose, looking at the wall. How anyone could think those feral creatures cute, she had no clue. "What was it you were needing, than, Teletta? I am Entaria. I own this inn,"

Watching with growing irritation at not being able to speak her mind about the subject in the presence of her boss, Elka continued to slightly glare at the Yaeli woman for causing all this trouble for her. Meanwhile, the older Shifter was still cooing over the tiny pup in the bag. Entaria had a fondness for animals, but it just hadn't been in the cards for her to do anything with it. She always loved seeing the small pets that her patrons would bring in with them, even if it made some of her employees a little uncomfortable. Really, if it was small enough, and especially if it was well trained, there was no problem.

"Yes, I think we can help you with that. So long as he doesn't bite anyone." Turning towards the Ice woman, she raised her eyebrows, warning her to obey and do her job correctly. Elka sighed, beginning to dig in the apron pocket that covered her expensive dress. Before she could extract the notes she had tucked away, another animal was produced for them to see and she let out a shriek, both hands raising in front of her body defensively as she backed away from the creatures.

"Okay, but that is a wild animal!"

"Elka! Room, please."

A flush of anger colored the tops of the Zenan's cheeks as she once more dug into her apron pocket for the notebook she used to keep tabs on what rooms had been taken.

"I apologize for her behavior," Entaria calmly said, as Elka continued to pore over her notebook much longer than was necessary. A mixture of prolonging the moment she would have to be alone with this crazy lady and her wild animals and a little bit of being unable to concentrate long enough to make sense of her scribblings. She had a neat hand from her many years of growing up with a personal tutor. With her nerves so frayed and strained as they were, the words were swirling before her eyes like snow in a blizzard. "I will be sure to send up some meals later free of charge." Elka's eyebrows furrowed even further and the Shifter sighed before gently taking the notebook from her hands. "How about you go clean the pots and I'll show this young lady to her room." The look she gave to the young Zenan woman was stern and warned against arguing. Not that said Zenan woman was about to. She'd much rather clean the pots than be near these animals, In fact, she'd rather clean a whole stable than be around an animal.

"Fine with me," she replied, holding up her hands in defeat. With one last look at the Yaeli woman, Elka turned and walked away, disappearing into the kitchen.

The older woman gave another sigh. "Again, very sorry about that. We seem to have a few vacancies." She tapped the notebook, than started off towards the stairs. "If you'd please follow me, you can pick out the best one to suit you."