Ursula's Coffee Trip (LPA2)

Morning.
Coffee.
Assignments.
Morning.
Coffee.
Classes.
Research.
Morning.
Co--
"Oh, damn it."

Ursula's Coffee Trip

"Is this fine?..."
Ursula stepped away from the wardrobe to look in the mirror. A plain dark blue dress was usually enough of a "disguise" to go out into the city. Though, she hadn't been there in a while, and the whole situation with the Emperor and rumors of witches… This may look too conspicuous.
Still, it's not like she was an actual witch, right? She had nothing to worry about. Her education in L'Anguille was good enough proof of her not being just another Luna Nova dropout. And, still, the prospect of getting mislabeled as a witch was scary enough to make her plan out multiple escape routes while she was going downstairs to the empty halls of the Academy.

...

By the end of her planning session she'd already greeted a bunch of early bird students in the Library and was on her way out of the school. She gathered up everything that was left of her courage, and went through the huge open gate of the front entrance. Less than a minute and a quick dash later, she was already sitting in the back of Broomstick's carriage. Broomstick started moving. The slow thumping of her hooves against the damp soil underneath, the light breeze smelling of recent rain and the familiar dreary sky with precisely zero patches of sunlight helped the witch calm herself down.
"Why am I so concerned about safety, anyway?" she mumbled to herself, looking over to Broomstick. "Am I getting old?"
The horse's only reply was a quick whinny.
"Yeah, I think so too," she said, a bit louder now, letting out a giggle.
The horse's horn flashed as soon as they were out of magic detection range, and the Warp swallowed both of them whole, gently spitting them out in an empty alleyway of Cannington's dock district.
"Thanks, Broomstick."
The salty air hit all of Ursula's senses as hard as a kick to the face. She squinted from the change in lighting and all the reflections from the tiny windows planted in between the rough wooden bracing, as she was examining the street. It was completely empty, so she hopped off the cart and ruffled the unicorn's mane. She had no idea where Amanda had gotten a unicorn, but not asking that exact question was a part of the contract that allowed Ursula to use her service in the first place.
Whatever. Right now only one thing was truly on her mind. She'd rushed through the rest of the northern district, and got to the pub on the edge of the docks. Her eyes darted around from the huge anchor above the entrance to the shabby-looking bracing on the edges of the building.
"When'd this happen?" Ursula uttered to herself, as she wondered who in their right mind would allow this to be built. As she was standing there in the middle of the street, something else caught her attention. A tiny sign off to the side, pointing down to another platform right under the pub, that went down almost to the sea level. "Sem's Curios," it said.
With a light chuckle, Ursula marched on towards the tiny staircase.
"At least it's a good view," she thought, looking over the vast sea spreading over the horizon, and the glittering reflections of sunlight coming from the east. As she turned around she was greeted by what basically was a hole in the wall with a countertop-looking plank on the bottom, and a pair of disinterested green eyes staring at her.
"Welcome to 'Sem's Curios', what can I get you." The hissy voice, sounding as bored as ever, repeated the usual phrase that Ursula's gotten used to by this point.
"Well, hello again," quickly said Ursula, approaching the counter with a light grin.
Sem perked up. "Ooh! You're back! You're back! Chariot Du Nord, right here for the first time at my new location!" Sem whisper-yelled, throwing his furry arms into the air.
"Yes, yes, keep it down." Witches have always been the main source of revenue for this old cat, so Chariot did get where he was coming from. She continued, "what's up with the new location, anyway?"

Sem's expression changed back to his usual bored look. "They moved me out of the space upstairs the second they got an offer from some rich cafe chain owner. Everyone's lost the last bit of decency they had, I say!" he hissed, shaking a clenched fist at the ceiling, where the bar was located. "Now I have to work and live with an entire bar's full of sailors above my head."
Ursula's experience with both bars and sailors was very limited, but she knew what to expect. Or pretended to, at least. "That's… Pretty terrible," she replied. "Can you get me the usual?"
The cat sneered as he crouched over to one of the still unopened crates next to him, leaving only his tail swaying back and forth over the counter. "Sure I can. You know, just hearing your cute accent would be enough compensation for me, if I didn't have to pay out the tail for this stuff," Sem murmured, before opening the crate of freshly roasted coffee beans. "Speaking of accents, have you heard anything about the Bretonnian spy lurking about?"
"No, what about them?" The witch leaned over closer to the countertop right as the crate was put down on it with a grunt from the shopkeep.
"You do know there's a war on, right?"
"Is there?"
"It's not official yet, but you know how it goes. First they send in the spies," explained the beastfolk, while carefully pouring the expensive coffee beans into a jar, "then they throw jabs at the border patrol to find weakness, and only then the war starts..."
Silence. The other witches could really care less about the troubles of the government, as long as the new authorities left them alone, but Bretonnia and Albion being at war with each other did affect Chariot.
Sem sighed and finished, "I hear a lot of rumors from those sailors upstairs, though I suspect that this one isn't just a rumor. I also think that you could probably help these people, if you wanted to. You're not like those other witches." The jar flew right into a pouch on Ursula's belt, exchanging places with two gold coins.
"I'll see what I can do. You take care." The witch turned around and quietly walked away back to the top level.
"Yeah, you'll need it more."