The smell was rather... extraordinary. In the least pleasant sense of the word. It was both pungent and astringent, making her feel like the hairs in her nose were curling up as she inhaled. Hera got the impression that were she closer to the source, it might actually make her nose sting and her eyes water. She had no idea what it was, but it was apparent they were drawing closer to the source.
“I'm actually rather afraid of the answer,” she told Iris in reply. It was moments like this that Hera truly appreciated her messenger. Oh, certainly, she was always prompt and a fine representative of Hera herself; there was little doubt that she carried out her duties with both grace and efficiency. But it wasn't the shining, clean, sanitized moments, however onerous they might appear to Iris, that made her the attendant Hera relied upon the most. If they were, she would not have bothered to bring the rainbow with her. No, it was because no matter how grungy or difficult a situation Hera dragged her into, Iris always handled it with the poise that was expected of a servant to the queen.
Hera would have hugged her, if she did that sort of thing.
“But there is really only one way to find out,” she continued her earlier comment. “And really, you don't want to remain perpetually curious, do you, dear?”
With that, Hera pushed forward through the heavy hide flap that was serving as a door to the large central building. And there she stopped dead. Because she'd definitely found the source of the, ah, odor. It was the by-product of some sort of industrial process that was taking place along the far wall. It took her a moment to recognize it as a still. She could only hope that whatever the alcohol that was concocted did not taste at all like whatever that smell was.
One brow arched as she looked over those gathered and realized she and Iris were the cleanest people, the cleanest things, in the building. Probably in the entire area. There was only one way to fit in enough to get the answers she hoped these people would be able to provide. “How much for a drink?”