The Littlest Commander

"Are you sure this is the place?" Gala Galala said up to her equally fresh-faced adventuring companion,

"I wouldn't expect Miss Miounne to send us halfway across Eorzea to the wrong building" Northota Berkwyb replied down, not taking her eyes off the mundane warehouse at the edge of Vesper Bay.

Gala and Northota were still new to this whole Adventurer business; Gala, a stout Lalafell with short brown hair had within the last year developed a serious case of wanderlust after years of smithing weapons for the growing number of mercenaries and travelers in the wake of the Calamity; finally acting on her impulses a few months ago when she booked a charter carriage to Gridania. Northota, on the other hand: a tall pale Roegadyn woman with her black hair pulled back into the smallest ponytail imaginable; wanted nothing more than to get out of Limsa Lominsa, her last job going so far south that even being on Aldenards' coast looking toward Vylbrand was giving her a sense of unease.

Still, the two of them looked like tourists, both staring at the unremarkable stone building. Old faded notices being it's only decoration, nothing else to confirm to the pair that this was in fact, the headquarters of so-called "Defenders of Justice" The Scions of the Seventh Dawn. Nothing else to say that this wasn't the wrong building, in the wrong town.

"Well, no use standing out here in the hot sun. If it turns out we got the wrong place, we can rent a bird back to Ul'Dah and ask that lovely barkeep if she knows anything" Gala broke the silence, already trotting her way toward the door before Northota could stop her.

The door to the warehouse belied impressions as Gala entered the much cooler kept room, it's interior giving the feel of a waiting room, with the occasional cloth hung across the wall, wooden end tables holding copies of various publications from across Eorzea, a small stove in the corner with a kettle, the distinct smell of citrus incense and…music?

♪ Deep in the desert of my heart A lonely flower blooms…♪

Yearning for the heavens above♪ To quench my thirst for you.♪

Sure enough, the room was filled with soft-spoken singing from the only other person in the room, a Lalafell from what Gala could see; facing away from the door and obscured for the most part by the chair she was standing on, a pair of large yellow feathers being the only thing Gala could tell as she slowly, unbeknownst to her, falls to the sirens song.

"Oi! Tongs, ya cant go barging into every place we-" "Uwaaaaaaah!" Northota gets cut off by the shrill scream of the singer as she realizes she wasn't in the comfort of solitude anymore.

The interrupted Lalafell turned her chair around, giving the pair a good view of her. A young woman in a pink tunic, leather gloves and a dark red beret with a large yellow feather pinned to it; Gala could see her pale lilac hair framing her face; her dark purple eyes staring the two of them down, full of color without pupils, and freckles? Could she see freckles right in the middle of her face?

"I would appreciate it if you didn't sneak up on me like that, thank you very much!" The young Lalafell protests, "Now, this is private property. If you aren't here on business, I'll have to ask you to leave!"

"My apologies, sorry, we were sent here on behest of Yda and Papalymo, we're just not sur…" Northota's words melt into the background as Gala just stands, entranced. She sees the Lalafells face soften at the mention of colleagues, her expression turn to puzzlement then apology. She asks something to her and Northota but she doesn't hear it. She turns back to a book on the table in front of her, looking at it for a moment before turning back and saying something else to the two of them.

"Ya got a downstairs? Well alright, we'll head down and sorry again for the bother, miss" Northota apologizes again to the Lalafell, stepping across the room to the stairwell leading to the headquarters proper. However it's not until she goes to hold the door open that she realizes her short companion isn't with her.

Northota goes back up a step or two to peek back into the waiting room to see Gala; having not moved an inch, still staring right at the Lalafell who has now turned back to her book, not really even noticing that Gala was still there.

"Oi, Freckles. Come on" Northota goes back up the stairs and goes to lift Gala from her planted spot to infront of the stairs, "Leave Miss Tataru alone, will ya? Can't have ya spacing out like that when we got people expecting us down there"

Finally Gala was broken out of the Siren's Trance, shaking her head to fully regain her thoughts, "Oh sorry, dont know what came over me"

Northota takes the first steps down the stairs, going to hold the door open as Gala starts, taking one last look in the Lalafells' direction.

The Lalafell, Tataru, glances up from her book and sees Gala, and flashes a warm smile in her direction.

Gala can only smile back with a sheepish laugh, waving softly as she descends past her line of sight.

"Hey, Legs, what'dya say her name was again?" Gala asks, increasing her pace to keep up with Northota as they stride though the underground halls of the Waking Sands.

"Tataru Taru, she said she's the receptionist here. Didn't think those two worked for people important enough for that…" She trails off, muttering to herself how someone like Yda managed to get a payroll.

"Tataru…" Gala says her name to herself slowly, "That's a very nice name. I hope next time I can actually say hi to her"