She walked into the tavern after a week on foot, sleeping beside the road. She was filthy, bedraggled, exhausted and exhilarated.
Her abandoned alchemical experiments nagged at her constantly, but she knew that proper results require a stable and sterile environment and the forces of light and shadow had intruded upon her life in Raven's Reach, she would have to establish a new laboratory, under different circumstances.
She looked around and sat wearily at the bar, fishing a coin from her purse and sliding it silently across to the bartender. He nodded to someone behind her and pushed her coin back, gave her a tall ale and a plate of sumptuous roast beast, fingerling potatoes and carrots.
She turned and saw a handsome blonde man striding over. He said in a singer's fine voice, "A warm welcome to the Shining City of Light. I'm Delio Wynn, a humble bard." He bowed low.
She smiled slowly and shyly. Delio smiled broadly and sat down beside her. "You've a tale, I'll warrant."