The story so far: Our heroines have stolen one of the seven things they need to enter the Thieves' Guild, and are in hot pursuit of the competition. They've just been directed to someplace called Mindy's...
The street, and especially the intersection, are full of the commotion of any large city: people, vunnocks, carts, riders, carriages, chickens, stalls, dirt, unidentified glop, and noise. Lots and lots of noise.
Nikole wrinkles her nose, but soldiers on. Er, thiefs on.
Large wooden carved signs proclaim that the street you're on is "Sage Street", and the cross street is "Wizard's Avenue".
Nikole keeps a close watch on her bag, too.
Darklis, overall, looks more interested in the street goings-on than the signs. Every once in a while she mutters, "He'd be an easy mark," but she's being /good/. No point in getting caught for pickpocketing when you're trying to get into the Thieves Guild.
Nikole keeps going south, then. If nothing seems likely after a few blocks, she'll stop someone and ask.
The street past the intersection is no calmer, but it's lined with shops: used clothing, wool, soap and candles, unidentifiable scraps of glass, etc. About halfway to the next intersection you spot a small sign saying "Mindy's."
Nikole says "There it is!"
Darklis blinks up interestedly. "Where?"
Nikole points. "Over there, by the pile of soap."
Darklis blinks again, and says, "Oh," wisely. "She must be very clean." Towards the pile of soap she marches.
Nikole grabs Darklis's shoulder. "Wait!"
Mindy's appears to be a tiny little cottage squished between two larger buildings, dilapidated and almost invisible unless you look closely. The pawnshop on one side and the soap stall on the other overwhelm it.
Darklis squeaks and stops. "What?"
Nikole says "Let's watch for a minute and see if any of the boys are hanging around."
Darklis eyes Nikole. "Isn't this sort of a bad time to be checking out boys?"
Nikole elbows Darklis. "The ones who want to steal our spoon, bonehead!"
Darklis oofs. "They don't even know we /have/ it, *bonehead*."
Nikole says "You think they wouldn't try to beat us up just to steal whatever we might have?"
The door to Mindy's starts to open.
Nikole sidles behind a stack of used ale casks.
Darklis sniffs. "You're paranoid." But then she half hides behind the ale casks, too, peeking out.
Nikole whispers, "Better safe than sorry."
Reynard (the red-headed kid) steps out, looking most pleased with himself. He shuts the door carefully and strolls off, south.
Darklis wrinkles up her entire face. "Darn it."
Nikole whispers, "Want to jump *him* and see what he has?"
Darklis whispers back, "He's not my type. I think we should go talk to Mindy."
After a few seconds, Beauregard slips out of the pawnshop and wanders casually after Reynard, staying well back.
Nikole whispers, "Okay. Wait 'til they're gone."
Darklis giggles quietly. "Besides, maybe Beau'll jump on him and then we'll just have to jump Beau."
Nikole giggles.
Beauregard is pretty definitely shadowing Reynard, who as far as you can tell hasn't noticed. They disappear into the crowd.
Nikole shrugs. "Let's go."
"Wait." Darklis' turn to grab Nikole. "Wait another minute just to be sure none of the others come out."
Nobody does.
Nikole stops. "Okay. I can't see how more then one person could hide in a place like that."
Nikole says "See?"
Darklis mutters. "Okay, okay."
Darklis slips out from behind the ale barrels and heads towards Mindy's again.
Nikole follows along, keeping an extremely nervous eye on, well, the whole city.
Nikole must have a very large eye. Darklis hesitates, and then taps politely on the door that is apparently Mindy's. "Should we just go in?" she whispers.
The door of Mindy's is solid oak, with a knocker, and a very small hole about halfway down.
Nikole is unable to resist peering through the hole.
The hole narrows inside; you can't see anything through it but darkness.
Nikole straightens up quickly.
About ten seconds after Darklis knocks, you hear a shuffling from inside, and a thin voice calls, "Come in!"
Darklis cautiously pushes (pulls?) the door open.
Nikole turns and checks the street behind her before following Darklis in.
Inside it's small and cramped, but the shop seems to extend far back into the cluttered darkness. In front is a large wooden desk with grooves across it and many drawers, like an apothecary's cabinet. At it sits a small wizened gnome.
(There isn't a race called gnomes, but that's what he looks like; hairless, glasses, about four feet tall, big nose.) He looks up and smiles. "And what can I do for you, young ladies?"
Darklis blinkblinkblinks down at the gnome. "Hullo. We're looking for Mindy."
Nikole bows politedly to the strange creature, eyes wide.
"Aaaahh." He folds his hands on the table. "And what would you be wanting with Mindy?"
Nikole says "We're looking for a wizard, your, er, honor?"
Darklis, at the same time, says, "I was wondering if she knew what a lethe-snifter was?"
The gnome giggles, an unpleasant bubbling sound. "No wizards here, young ladies! You must be new in town."
Darklis snifs. "*She* is. *I've* been here two whole days."
Suddenly a voice from out of the dark says, "Awk! Young ladies! Awk!"
Nikole jumps!
Darklis nearly shrieks and does gibber, elbows flailing.
Nikole drags a remarkably large knife out of her bag!
Darklis flails some more at Nikole and tries to prudently step out of the way of the knife.
"Shut up, Violetta," calls the gnome without rancor. He looks down at Nikole's knife and grins, toothlessly.
Nikole tries to avoide stabbing Darklis!
"Nice toy," the gnome says, crooking a finger. "Lay it here on the table, miss."
Nikole turns dark red and tries to conceal the knife both quickly and subtl- "Huh?"
Darklis, in awed interest, whispers, "What was that?"
"The knife," he says patiently. "Put it on the table."
Nikole glances nervously sideways at Darklis.
The gnome grins at Darklis, though his eyes are still alertly on the knife somehow. "Don't mind Violetta. She's my alarm."
Darklis makes big shrugging eyes at Nikole. You're the one who pulled a knife. Put it down. Sheesh. He's four feet tall. What's he gonna do, bite your ankles?
Darklis says "I never heard a talking alarm before."
Nikole carefully sets the knife on the table. "I'm sorry, sir! Your alarm startled me."
"Hee hee hee! I noticed." He continues snickering and bubbling as he picks up the knife, turning it over in wrinkled brown long fingers. "Mmm. Darkazoi work?"
Nikole says "No, Piarres of the Irazoki made it. He's my brother."
Nikole says "...sir."
Darklis whispers, "Sir?"
Nikole makes big nervous eyes at Darklis.
"Aahhnhm. Hm. Pfhm. Hm."
Eventually the gnome stops pfhmning and says, "Not often you see something like this. A curiosity, but a minor one. I'll give you thirty-five."
Darklis blinkblinks, and her eyebrows go up. Cool. She sort of sidles back to take a look around the shop. Maybe there's something that looks like a lethe-snifter.
Nikole says "I'm sorry sir, but I can't sell it. It was a present from my brother."
There's a flapping and shifting in the darkness in front of Darklis.
Nikole picks up the knife and tucks it back in her satchel.
He blinks, surprised. "Well, what do you have for me, then, young ladies? Hmm?"
Nikole says "We just wanted to ask you a few questions, sir."
Have? Darklis looks at Nikole. Well, there's always Nikole... She bites her lower lip, and rolls her eyes at Nikole. Trade stuff for information, that's probably want he wants.
The gnome cackles. "Such as where Mindy is? And a wizard? And a lethe-snifter?"
Nikole blinks. "Aren't you Mindy?"
Darklis says "Those are all good questions!"
Darklis peers at Nikole. "The newsboy said Mindy was a girl."
Nikole says "Oh! Well, you didn't *say*!"
Darklis says "I thought you were *listening*!"
Mindy laughs. "Very good, young lady! Perhaps you're not that dim after all. Now why would you be wanting a wizard?"
From the darkness, Violetta mutters. "Young ladies! Awk! Thirty-five!"
Darklis blinks. Oh dear, now she's all confused. "We need a finger bone," she says lamely. "But I dind't think a wizard would want to give one up so I hoped maybe we could find one who'd come with us..."
Nikole says "Just for a few minutes!"
Nikole says "Tomorrow morning at nine..."
Darklis adds, "Tom..." and then nods at Nikole.
The gnome stares at you.
After a minute, Mindy begins to cackle again. "That's a good one! Bring a whole wizard!"
Darklis stands nervously, until Mindy starts laughing, and then she looks a little hopeful.
"You must be newts. Two young ladies in one year, my my."
Nikole says "It seems easier than just a finger bone."
Darklis mutters, "I'm getting really tired of being called that."
Nikole rolls her eyes. "We're applicants to the Thieves' Academy, yes."
Mindy waggles his finger at you. "Seems easier, but it's not. Wizards aren't like you and me. They don't like us, wouldn't help us for a pound of gold, unless it took their fancy."
Darklis, brightly, says, "Nikole would take a wizard's fancy!"
He leans back in his chair. "Mindy's not for finding wizards. Who told you that?"
Nikole says "Well, that's what Darkl- hey!"
Darklis looks Smug.
Nikole glares at Darklis!
Darklis looks Smugger.
Mindy snickers.
Darklis looks *Smuggest*, just like on Sesame Street. "Um, a little girl selling newspaper."
Nikole looks sullen. "Well, if it's not that easy, do you know where we could find a wizard's fingerbone? Or a lethe snifter?"
"Hannelore?" he snorts. "Not likely. She's a sharp one, that is."
Mindy has a tooth or two after all; you can see them in this grin. "No idea."
Nikole says "Do you know where we could find someone who knows?"
With a heavy flap of wings and the sound of something metal falling to the floor, Violetta sails out of the darkness and lands on the back of Mindy's chair. She is without a doubt the ugliest bird you've ever seen.
Nikole jumps! But doesn't pull a knife this time.
Darklis stares at the bird. "What *is* that?"
Darklis adds, "Do you know what a lethe-snifter is?"
Mindy ignores the bird. "Hmm. Ahem. Pfhm. Well, if I were a newt looking for a fingerbone, I'd look for a wizard with no further need of his, and get there before the rest. Not an easy thing to do; I wonder what the masters were about?"
Nikole shudders. "I reckon I like our plan better, even if it means Darklis has to kiss him."
He blinks blandly at Darklis. "Violetta's a parrot, young lady."
Darklis nods wisely. "Oh. A parrot. It's, um. Interesting." She wrinkles her face up. "Maybe we could go rob a wizard's grave."
Mindy coughs. "Ahem. Well. I'm not here for the instruction of newts, young ladies; do you have anything to sell or trade?"
Darklis hasn't got a lot more than the clothes on her back, and frowns unhappily.
Nikole digs through her bag. "How about this?" She brings out a copper armlet worked in complex knot-like designs, set with small ovals of red stone.
Mindy squints. "Give it here."
Darklis squints, too, avariciously.
Nikole passes the gaud over, but leans over the table to watch Mindy examine it.
After rummaging in a drawer, Mindy brings up a thick glass lens, and proceeds to peer at every inch of the armlet, muttering, "Hmm, phfm, ah," to himself.
At last Mindy looks up. "Enh. You didn't steal this, did you?"
Nikole shakes her head.
"That's what I thought." He sighs, resignedly, and hands the bracelet back. "You don't know what Mindy's is, do you?"
Nikole says "Um, no?"
Nikole is ready to be very embarrassed.
Darklis shakes her head, mutely.
Mindy says, patiently, as if to a small child, "Mindy is a fence. You bring things to Mindy. Mindy prices them for you and finds buyers. And sometimes, Mindy gets word of interesting things coming in to the city."
"Awk!" confirms Violetta, shifting on her perch.
Nikole says "Oh."
Nikole says "Well, have you heard of a lethe-snifter coming into the city?"
Mindy blinks blandly. "Never heard of such a thing."
Darklis sighs. "How much would it cost for you to have heard of such a thing?"
Nikole hasn't put the bracelet away.
He grins widely, showing teeth. (It's gross.) "Ah, now, that's a different question. The hardest item on the test... I wouldn't tell young Red, not for all his family connections; why should I tell you?"
Darklis, reasonably, says, "Nikole's cuter than Red."
Nikole says "Because we're offering to pay you? That- Shut UP Darklis!- That's how the city works, right?"
Mindy cackles. "Depends on your tastes, dunnit?"
Darklis grins innocently at Nikole, and lifts her eyebrows at Mindy. "Well, I guess so."
Nikole turns red again. Eventually it's going to stick that way.
"Indeed it does, ahem phfm hm ah. Hm. Pfehm."
"Hm." He stops pretending to look abstracted. "Shall we say...two hundred."
Nikole says "Fifty, and Darklis will give you a kiss."
Darklis makes a very quiet strangled sound, and -stares- at Nikole.
Nikole looks Smug.
Mindy chuckles. "One of these days someone's going to take you up on an offer like that, and you'll be sorry, young ladies. This isn't the mountains."
He leans forward, causing the parrot to awk and flap for balance. "Two hundred, and no nonsense. Now, if you've nothing worth that much yet, I might have some other pointers..."
Nikole says "How much for the pointers?"
Darklis says "Pointers towards what items?"
"Well. Ahem. Pfhm." Mindy rocks back and forth, thoughtfully. "I sent young Red off to a certain shop, which just happens to have acquired a most spectacular set of matched pearls recently."
Mindy adds, "Now, the pearls are for the test, but there's no shortage of other fine things about; one of them'd net you your answer and a nice piece of change besides."
Nikole looks over at Darklis.
Darklis oohs. "Seven? Um, what else was there, Nikole?"
Nikole says "Pearls, fingerbone, gold bar, Diamond Carp, holy water, lethe-snifter."
Nikole says "Oh, and the spoon."
Violetta and Mindy snicker in unison, an octave apart.
Nikole eyes Mindy.
Nikole says "Okay, we've told you something, now you should tell us something."
Mindy's brows shoot up. "Didn't I just tell you where the pearls were?"
Darklis says "No, you told us you'd sent Red to a shop that had them."
"So I did, so I did...phfmphfm. Hm."
Darklis hahs quietly, and then shakes her head. Little spikes of badly cut hair stand out with the motion. "What about the diamond carp?"
"Then you'll just have to beat him there, won't you? The shop is Frond's, and you might find it east of here, on the Wizard's Avenue." He grins. "Ah, the carp!"
Nikole looks expectant and hopeful.
Darklis manages a very cute and hopeful look, herself.
Nikole doesn't need to try to look cute, of course.
Mindy appears to seriously consider this for a moment, then shakes his head. "Noooo...I don't think so. I'll do this much for you, though, young ladies; bring me an item and I'll tell you if it's one you're after."
Nikole manages to not look disappointed. "Thank you!"
Nikole gives Darklis a 'this is no good; let's get out' look.
Darklis looks fairly impressed, actually. "Thank you, Mindy." She grins, and then actually *does* lean over and kiss him on top of the head. "You were very helpful."
Nikole blinks!
The gnome turns pink. "Ahem. Pfhm. Go on now, ladies; there's work to do."
Darklis grins and waves. "We'll see you later!" And out she goes, almost skipping.
Nikole goes, quickly! "Come one, we have to catch up to Red!"
Outside, Nikole says, "I reckon it's true, what they say about city girls!"
Darklis nods! "Look for Beau, he's clumsy so maybe we'll see him." She blinks. "What's that?"
Nikole nudges Darklis with her elbow, and goes off to watch her side of the street as they go along.
Darklis finds a passer-by, and stops to look small and helpless. "Excuse me, sor. I've lost my brother. He said he was going to Frond's. Can you tell me the fastest way to get there?"
Nikole is still towards her side of the street, making sure Beauregard or Red doesn't slip by with her pearls.
The passerby, an older, shabbily dressed man, peers down at Darklis suspiciously, but can't think of any reason not to answer her question. "North one street and east, girl."
Darklis smiles happily. "Thank you!" She runs off down the street.
The man calls after Darklis, "And stop batting your eyes, you're not fooling anyone!"
Nikole follows after Darklis, looking Smug.
Darklis shoots a grin over her shoulder at the guy, and shrugs unrepentantly. Zoom north and east!
North is Wizard's Avenue, the intersection you just crossed. It stretches out to the east and west, bustlingly.
Nikole stands on tiptoe to see if she can see Frond's from here.
Darklis elbows Nikole. "D'you want Red to see you?"
Nikole says "No, I want to see him!"
No Frond's is visible. The further east you go, though, the more refined the passerby look, and the more paint and less dirt the shops have.
Nikole says "You reckon there's an alley behind? He'll probably go out that way."
Darklis clears her throat, and looks Nikole over. How is Nikole dressed (compared to the passerby)?
Most of the passerby are wearing embroidered tunic and trousers, with several of the women in square-necked dresses and their hair bound up in coifs. Many people have brooches holding their cloaks in place, or clipped into their hair.
Darklis, tentatively, suggests, "I have an idea."
Nikole looks nervous already.
Darklis says, "You look a lot finer than I do. They'd be a lot more likely to believe you came in to buy something, huh? Than me?"
Nikole looks down at herself. "I look pretty ordinary, I reckon, not like someone who buys pearls."
Nikole says "Anyhow, do we want to go in, or just wait for Red to come out?"
Darklis shakes her head. "Not for pearls, just for something else. If you could get the shopowner talking to you and make him think you're interested in buying something maybe I could sneak in and get the pearls. We don't know if Red'll get them, so I think we should count on ourselves."
Nikole says "But if Red already has them, that won't work. And if he's in there and sees us -- I can tell everyone he's a thief!"
Darklis says "Well, if he's already got them then we chase him down and thump him. No, don't do that, because that'll make them wary about thieves."
Nikole says "If he's got them and is already running away, I don't reckon we'll ever catch him. It's his city."
Darklis says "But if he's in there you could ... I don't know. Make them pay attention to him. Say he's your brother or something and that he's touched in the head and that's why he's saying he's not your brother."
Nikole says "I could go back and get my nice dress. Then I might look right."
Darklis says "Well, if he's not in there and he's got them already we'll just have to try to find something else."
Darklis says "But if he's *in* there we don't have lots of time!"
Nikole nods. "We'll try it. Come visit me when I'm in gaol."
Darklis starts to fade back. "We don't want people to see us together here," she says, and sort of clings to the walls of the buildings, trying to become invisible.
You cross Lavender Street, and now the atmosphere is distinctly more upscale. No more vunnocks, and most of the women are in dresses with elaborately wound-up hair. Both of you stick out like a sore thumb.
Nikole nods and keeps walking, trying to look rich and prosperous, like maybe someone who just came down from the mountains and sold a herd of vunnocks and wants to spend the proceeds on something better than anything she could get out in the boonies.
Nikole cannot possibly look like a rich local, so doesn't try.
Darklis just tries to hide! Skulk skulk!
Immediately ahead is a very large intersection indeed, where three streets cross. There's a well at the center, planted with flowers all around.
Nikole looks around the intersection for a sign that says Frond's.
Darklis looks around the intersection for Red, who must stick out as much as they do.
Frond's is a whitewashed building with a large gilded sign, just a little bit up the street to your left. No sign of Red.
The building next to Frond's contrasts sharply with it; it's large, hulking, stone, and has several grumpy armed men lounging around it. A narrow alley runs between it and the shop.
Grumpy armed men. That's not good. Darklis aims nervously for the alley. Skulk skulk.
Nikole looks up at the sign as she passes by.
Which sign?
Nikole looks at the sign on the grumpy building with hulking guards.
There isn't one.
Nikole does not look nervous. Not at all.
The alley is empty. It's barely wide enough for Darklis, and featureless on both sides, except for a few discreet piles of garbage.
Darklis, luckily, is pretty narrow herself. She hunkers down and waits for Nikole to go into Frond's.
Nikole goes right into Frond's as though she had every right to be fleeced there!
Darklis doesn't dare peek to see how Nikole's doing, so she'll give her a minute or thre before she tries sneaking in.
Inside, Frond's is spacious and elegant. A woven carpet covers the floor, and oil lamps light the displays placed around the walls in wooden cases. The proprietor bustles up to greet Nikole. "Welcome, young lady. What may I do for you?"
He peers genially down at Nikole from a height of over six feet and over a beaky nose. "Ahem. We haven't seen you before, have we?"
Nikole affects a Darraidou accent. "Well met! I was just, well, the drive was good, and I was wantin' somethin' pretty..."
Nikole looks around at all the pretty things.
He wrinkles his nose, slightly, but hides it well. "Quite, quite. Well, you've come to the right place. Frond's has pretty things of all descriptions, to be the envy of your clanmates' eyes." He snaps his fingers, in the direction of the back of the shop. "Mirabelle?"
Nikole beams. "I heard your store was the best."
The pretty things include a collection of turquoises set in silver, hair ornaments and broaches and rings, twists of gold and silver and copper, a few emeralds carefully couched in polished wooden boxes, a string of pearls laid across black velvet in what's obviously the place of honor, a fashionably dressed dark-haired girl, and Reynard. The last two are leaning in a doorway at the back, making eyes at each other.
Above Darklis, in the alley, there's a scrabbling noise.
Darklis puffs her cheeks out, and gives Nikole one more mi--uups. She looks up.
Directly above Darklis, Beauregard is clinging to the edge of the roof, trying to get a leg over.
"Mirabelle?" the man repeats impatiently. Mirabelle tears her eyes away from Reynard, makes a face, and then composes herself into an expression of sweet patience. "How my I help you?" she asks, sauntering over to Nikole.
Darklis grins, and stands up, and reaches up to tap on Beauregard's calf. "Hey," she whipsers.
The proprietor, in turn, wanders back for a man-to-man talk with Reynard. You can hear the opener, "Fred Frond here..." and then the volume lowers.
Nikole does an exaggerated double-take at Reynard's presence!
Beauregard emits a strangled yelp and falls off the roof. Fwump.
Nikole glares venomously at the floozie! "You can keep your paws off my Rey!" Shoving her aside, she stomps toward Reynard, 'ugly scene' written all over her!
Darklis, no doubt, goes down under him. Ow. "Get up, you lug," she hisses, and pushes at him.
Mirabelle surveys Nikole from top to toe; her expression doesn't change, but her voice is acidly sweet. "I beg your pardon?"
Reynard turns around, with the expression of a man watching a piano fall on him. "Uh...", he begins, helplessly.
Fred Frond blinks confusedly. "Oh, I say..."
Nikole has already stomped by Mirabelle and is bearing down on Reynard! "What do you think you're doing with this FLOOZIE?" She grabs Reynard and shoves him back against a wall! "You two-timing miserable tomcat!"
Beauregard grunts and rolls off of Darklis. "Oh hells," he wails. "Now look what you made me do."
Beauregard glares at Darklis. "Okay, where's the other one?" He peers about for Nikole.
Nikole says "Have you been telling her you love her too? You *PIG*!"
Nikole's voice rises in volume and pitch with each denunciation!
Darklis swears and climbs to her feet. "Inside. Go on over the stupid roof again and distract them that way. I'm going in." And she peeks out of the alley, and scurries towards the door.
Reynard reacts like a scalded cat, dodging away from Nikole's grasp. "Hey! Cut that out, you wench! Um," his eyes flick to Fred and Mirabelle, who are starting to look most unhappy, "I don't know her! Get her off me!"
Nikole says "Oh *now* you don't know me!"
"Oh, fuck," wails Beauregard, but starts grimly climbing up the side of the house again. clinging to the boards with fingers and toes.
Nikole says "You miserable louse! How could you do this to me?"
The noise of an altercation is plain to hear from the street in front of Frond's. Nikole's voice is screaming something.
Nikole turns to Mirabelle. "I bet he said he loves you, right? He's never seen anyone as beautiful as you? Never slept with anyone better?"
Nikole says "I bet you *believed* him!"
Fred waves his hands helplessly. "Oh dear. Mirabelle, get them out before they knock something over."
How exciting. Probably other passersby are noting the commotion as well, but Darklis slips inside, opening the door as little as possible, and trying to stay in shadows.
Mirabelle advances on Nikole, the light of ire in her eyes. "I don't know who you are or why you think you know this poor gentleman, but get out."
Reynard bubbles in relief. "I'm so sorry, sir and madam, truly, this is none of my doing."
Nikole turns her nose up at the floozie and goes back to terrorizing Reynard! "After I finish with you, there won't be enough for you to -- STOP TRYING TO WEASEL OUT!"
Nikole tries to bang Reynard's head against the wall!
Noone notices Darklis; they're all glaring at each other except for Fred, who puts his hands over his eyes and wails, "My shop..."
Reynard grabs for Nikole's wrists, trying to pinion her.
Pearls! There are lovely pearls over there in a place of honor! Darklis keeps low, almost slithering on her tummy, around the edge of the room, preferably in the direction fewest people seem to be facing. Pearls pearls pearls!
There's a scrabbling scratching noise from the roof, a wail, a thump, and Beauregard lands in front of the doorway.
Reynard's head goes THUMP, he grabs Nikole by the forearms, and then everyone turns to stare at the doorway.
Nikole attempts to cover for Darklis' thump by screaming at the top of her lungs, "YOU BASTARD!"
Darklis, who knows that Beau's climbing the roof, is probably the only one who doesn't do more than glance very very briefly at the door. She almost giggles, but that would give her away. (Beau's thump! Not mine!) Creep creep! Almost to the pearls!
Mirabelle, sensing the real threat, dives for Beauregard. He scuttles inside, feints to the left, and snatches a large emerald cabochon bracelet from its box!
Fred wails, "Guards! Guards!"
Ack! No! No guards! Guards are bad! Darklis can get the pearls if there are no guards!
Keep everybody's eyes on the door, Beau. Darklis rolls a little bit out from under the table, and snakes a hand up towards the pearls.
Reynard grabs for both Nikole's wrists with one hand, and slaps at her face with the other. "Shut UP!"
A string of pearls on black velvet slide very nicely, and Darklis snags them with fingertips, drawing them into the palm of her hand. Yes!
The instant the pearls leave the velvet, a loud gong starts ringing. Bong! Bong! Bong!
Nikole pulls her face out of the way. "Don't tell ME to shut up you SCURRIDEN!" She pivots around, swinging him toward Mirabelle and pushing him into her! "Go ahead! Stay with her then, if you like her so much better than me!"
Reynard squacks like a startled chicken as he's flung into Mirabelle, who was busy tackling Beauregard's legs. They all go down in a heap, Beauregard's fist still grimly cluching the bracelet.
ACK. Bong bong bong is not what Darklis wanted to hear! Is there a back way out? Bong bong bong! ACK!
Fred Frond waves his hands some more. "Guards! Hurry!" He eyes Nikole nervously, as though she were a wild animal. "Shoo. Go away."
Nikole turns and looks down at Beauregard. "Go steal someplace else! I'm tryin to have a fight!"
Heavy feet start approaching outside.
There is a door in the back, right behind Nikole and Fred.
'Shoo, go away' sounds like a darned fine idea. Darklis looks up, around, back, *anywhere*! Is there anywhere to get away?
Yay! Darklis scrambles to her feet -- enough of subtlty -- and heads for the door.
Nikole says "Fine! I'm going!"
Nikole gives Reynard and Mirabelle another shove and stomps theatrically toward the front door.
Reynard knees Mirabelle unceremoniously in the groin, and pushes her backwards into the doorway just as three large familiar-looking grumpy guards appear in it.
Frond stares at Darklis despairingly, and moves to block the door. "Not another one!"
Mirabelle screams as her hand is stepped on. "Get them!"
Darklis dives at Frond's ankles. Actually, to go through them, through the door. Run! Run!
Beauregard scuttles, rather like a beetle, towards the same door Darklis is going for. Reynard draws himself up and folds his arms.
Nikole is completely oblivious to the goings-on behind her and is trying to get out the door the guards are coming in.
Nikole's mantle-end has slipped off her chest; her shirt has a plunging neckline crisscrossed with laces (like a pirate shirt) and with embroidery on each side, framing a fair amount of heaving and flush.
Frond grabs for Darklis. "Oh no. You're not going anywhere, miss." He looks pleased to have identified at least one certain fact.
The guards stare gratifyingly at Nikole. "Uh...", one of them says after a minute, "what's the trouble?"
Reynard points at Nikole. "_She_ tried to start a fight so that her accomplice could steal something. I think."
Nikole shrieks! "I *WHAT*? You think your lies will get you out of this?!"
Nikole turns on Reynard again!
Reynard screams back, "I've never seen her before in my life! Arrest her!"
Mirabelle crawls to her feet, her hair in disarray and a bruise on one cheek. She flings herself at Nikole, scratching and biting.
Nikole says "If you don't want to see me anymore, just say it! You don't have to make a sce- YEEK!"
Nikole goes down in a heap under the shopgirl! "Get off me you tramp!"
The guards stare, fascinated, at the catfight.
Reynard coughs, attempting to look dignified. "I beg your pardon, sirs. These ladies..."
Darklis squeaks in dismay, trying to dodge Frond's grab. *She* wants to go somewhere, very much indeed.
Nikole yells, "SHUT UP!" while trying to get Mirabelle off her!
One of the guards nudges with a toe at Mirabelle. "Um...who should we arrest?"
With a deft twist, Frond pins Darklis's arms and drags her back, holding her against him. "Over here, guards! This one!"
Beauregard promptly scuttles out while the doorway is clear. Frond wails and aims a kick at him, but his arms are full of Darklis.
The guards are loath to tear themselves away from the sight of Nikole and Mirabelle. Particularly Mirabelle's bodice and Nikole's legs, both of which are showing to increasingly good advantage.
Nikole shrieks at the guards! "What are you doing? He's getting away!"
Darklis kicks and shouts, trying to break free.
One of the guards coughs, recalled to himself. "Uh, right." He steps gingerly over the catfight, shoving Reynard to one side.
Frond keeps a firm grip on Darklis, and tries to shuffle to the front of the room. "_Excuse_ me! Guards?"
Darklis can't decide if she should drop the pearls or not. If she does they won't get them but if she does she can't be actually *blamed* for anything. If she doesn't it'll take a miracle to get out of here. Augh.
Nikole rolls over to pin Mirabelle under her, rolling right into the leg of the guard trying to step over them and knocking him over into his comrades!
The guard is pushed off balance a bit, but into the room, not out of it. The others snicker as he staggers, coughs, and salutes Frond. "Uh...receiving prisoner, sir."
Darklis suddenly stops struggling, going absolutely completely totally limp, so that *all* of her weight is suddenly hanging from Frond's arms.
Reynard backs into a corner, suddenly silent.
Frond squacks, trying to hold up Darklis deadweight and talk to the guard at the same time. "Yes, yes, take her away. And go after the other one!"
The guard glares at his compatriots, who are still lounging in the doorway watching the entertainment. "You! Go after the other one!"
Darklis attempts a slither, as Frond squacks and tries to hold her up. Hopefully his grip will have loosened!
The other guards salute and edge away from the door, trying to keep Nikole and Mirabelle in sight as long as possible. One of them ventures, "Three on the country girl?" and is promptly matched.
Darklis, with a squeak of relief, wriggles free, and tries to fling herself past the guard.
Nikole gets Mirabelle pinned beneath her, so she can disengage and jump up, and then be extremely dismayed at the condition of her clothes.
Nikole scowls at the guards. "Likin' the show?" and tries to stomp past them out the front door, probably taking their eyes along with.
The guards are a few yards away, laughing and cheering both sides on.
Mirabelle lunges half out of the doorway and grabs at Nikole's ankles. "Come back here you wench!"
Reynard chooses this moment to step over her and out the doorway, and run like mad.
Nikole says "Hey! What are you grabbing me for? There's your precious Rey!"
Mirabelle shrieks and scrambles to her feet. "Come back here you coward!"
Nikole turns to fend Mirabelle off if she tries anything. Of course, now she's facing the guards in her ripped shirt.
The guard grabs for Darklis, but is distracted by the shrieking from the doorway.
The guards outside cheer, predictably. Mirabelle screams like a fishwife and turns toward Nikole again.
Nikole is an astoundingly bright shade of red for someone with her complexion.
Frond wails, "She's getting away!"
Darklis is like the Artful Dodger! She dodges the guard! She dodges towards the front door! She certainly tries to stay out of Mirabelle's way!
Nikole tries to wrap her mantle around herself while fending off Mirabelle.
Mirabelle hisses, and pounces on Nikole for Round Two.
There's a Mirabelle in the front doorway, whose attention is on Nikole but whose body is an effective barrier.
Nikole falls back before Mirabelle's assault, luring her out of the doorway!
Mirabelle does a flying tackle at Nikole and misses, going thump into the dirt.
Several groans come from the guards as money changes hands.
Darklis leaps for the open door!
Nikole says "Hah! That'll teach you to run around with my Rey!"
The guard and Frond leap after Darklis!
Nikole dusts her hands Smugly and steps away from Mirabelle, right into the path of the guard.
Darklis hopes the guard and Frond leap right on each other!
Darklis makes it through the door, and runs for it!
The guard reaches the doorway just a second after Darklis, bawls, "After her!" to his comrades, and starts to run without looking...smack into Nikole.
Nikole goes down under the impact of a guard twice her size! "OOF!"
Darklis is very very sorry that Nikole is getting run smack over, but Nikole has not got the pearls, and so can't be blamed for stealing them. All she has to do is say she never saw Darklis and she should be fine. So Darklis keeps right on running.
The other guards start pelting after Darklis, except for one who guiltily remembers they were supposed to be chasing Beauregard and takes off that way.
Nikole says "Hey! Get off me you ox!"
Nikole pushes ineffectually on the guard's chest!
The guard picks himself up, oofing. "Hey! Uh, sorry, miss."
He looks to Mirabelle, who is still frothing on the ground. "Um, you want me to arrest her, ma'am?"
Darklis, obviously, runs back the way she came, because the further to the west she gets the less she sticks out.
Nikole wraps her mantle around herself again, to prevent any remaining guards from getting more than half an eyeful, and stomps off in the direction Reynard went.
"Yes!" wails Fred Frond agitatedly, appearing in the doorway. "Arrest _somebody_, you lugnuts!"
"Ookay," says the guard, and starts for Nikole.
Nikole says "Hey!"
Nikole says "You can't arrest me!"
"Get her!" shrieks Mirabelle, sitting up.
Nikole points at Mirabelle. "Why don't you arrest *her* for immoral behavior?"
The guards run doggedly after Darklis, but she has no trouble staying ahead of them.
"Cause she's paying," says the guard stolidly. "Come with us, miss."
Nikole says "NO! Get your hands off me!"
Nikole runs for it!
Once Darklis reaches a part of the street that she looks less like a sore thumb in, she stops running. Becomes downright casual, in fact, and finds a group of kids playing a game to join in with.
The guard reaches out a hand for Nikole, far, far too late.
Darklis looks somewhat older than the other kids, but she's equally grubby, and the guards run right past.
Nikole is gone! She runs, not as fast as she might since she has to use one arm to keep her mantle from blowing away from her chest, but pretty darn fast!
The guard runs after Nikole!
Darklis keeps an eye down the street for Nikole, and digs into her not-very-deep pocket to find a couple of small coins. These she tosses to the kids she's playing with, if they'll spread out and create confusion once Nikole gets past them and before the guards arrive.
Nikole runs toward the well and its flowerbeds, leaping over the flowers, between anyone trying to get water, onto the rim of the well, onto the opposite rim, between the people and over the flowers on the other side and gone!
The guard, not being insane, does not attempt to leap the well, but goes around it, losing precious seconds.
Nikole wraps her mantle around herself again, and tries to lose herself in the crowd. Any crowd.
The crowd is not pleased to be lost in; it's elegant and full of itself and has no tolerance for grubby hill folk. But it is large and concealing.
The guard's footsteps quickly disappear in the maze of sound.
...and our heroines split up.
Darklis retreats to the corner where Hannelore was selling newspapers, and waits on Nikole.
Hannelore is no longer there, but Argus is. Specifically, he's being thrown out the front door of the Guild on his ear by two large thieves.
Darklis edges forward again, once the large thieves leave. "Um," she says, "What happened?"
Argus spits out blood. "Owww..." He props himself up on his elbows. "Oh, it's you."
He musters a tired smile. "Piece of advice. Don't try for the spoons."
Darklis clears her throat. "Um. Okay. We won't."
Darklis, brightly, says, "I heard there were pearls down at Frond's, that way," and points.
Argus perks right up at Darklis's words. "Really? You mean you're not going for the pearls?"
Darklis shrugs at Argus. "Not up *there*. I don't look fine enough. You're good-looking, though. You might be able to do it."
He glows, and scrambles to his feet. "Hey, thanks."
Argus starts to wander off, and then stops and scuffs one toe in the dirt, thoughtfully. "Favor for favor. There's a tavern called the Mint Mark, off that way" - he points southeast - "and I'd bet that's not a coincidence. I was going to go there next, but you can have first crack at it."
Oh, hell. Darklis starts to light up with a smile, and turns down towards the southeast, before hesitating and turning back. "Argus..."
Argus has started to walk off again. "Yeah?"
Darklis clears her throat. "You sure you don't want to team up with me and Nikole?"
He grins, cockily. "You girls having trouble?"
Darklis, acidly, says, "*You're* the one who got thrown out of the guild on your
ear. I'm trying to do you a favor."
Argus reddens. "Hey, _you_ just try. I'd like to see you come up with anything by tomorrow. Girls!" He stomps off.
Darklis clicks her tongue. "Good luck with the pearls," she calls after him, and heads southeast, sticking her hand in a pocket to feel the pearls. Stupid boy.
Has Darklis looked at the pearls yet?
Darklis hasn't! She should! Once she's made sure they're there, she hms, and skulks off to a nice shadowed place, to peer at them.
The pearls are very nice. They lie smooth and lustrous in Darklis' hand, and as far as the eye can see they are perfectly matched. There's just one problem...
Darklis is going to kill herself if they're not real.
They look real. But there's only six.
Darklis counts them. Five times. She keeps coming up with six pearls. "Well, *shit*," she says, and stuffs them back in her pocket
On the plus side, that means they only need to find one more pearl. Perfectly matched. Sheesh. Maybe if there's another string of seven pearls somewhere, Darklis can sell this one. Oh! Sell it! Mindy might know where the *seven* pearls are and trade the information for the six! Or one of the six, maybe. Anyway. Hands in her pockets, Darklis heads southeast again, to look for the tavern.
There are two ways to go southeast; Wizard Avenue, which is the street you just took to get to Frond's, and the next street down after Mindy's, which you haven't been on yet.
Darklis takes the next street down after Mindy's, as she'd just as soon not meet the guards on Wizard Avenue again.
This is Quarter Street, a broad thoroughfare etc, and it leads obligingly southeast. It's lined with shops and stalls and houses, slightly seedier than the ones you saw to the east. Nothing you haven't seen before, except for one with a picture of a big metal mold on it.
Darklis eyes the sign with the big metal mold. It is not /exactly/ like a bar of gold, but it is a big metal thing, and so she curiously approaches the place.
The shop with the metal-mold sign is small and faintly disreputable and grimy. The door's not locked, though.
Darklis chews her lower lip, and shrugs, and pushes the door open, poking her head in. "Hello?"
Inside, it's a bit dim, but Darklis can make out shelves of bottles and bags and small gleaming metal things. "Don't just stand there, come in and close the door," snaps a female voice.
Darklis blinks and comes right in to the Crucible, closing the door, more because she was told to than because she wanted to. "Hello," she repeats.
The woman at the counter in front of Darklis is middle-aged, swarthy, with long black hair and a lot of brass jewellry. At a guess she's got ten bracelets on each arm, in addition to the large earrings and the odd-looking prong in her nose. A heavy-linked necklace with a green stone dangles on the table as she leans forward. "No, dearie. Were you wanting something?"
"Oh. Where am I, then?" Darklis looks around the room curiously. "I'm looking for a lethe-snifter," she adds after a moment. "Do you know what one is?"
The woman blinks. "I don't know, dearie, but if such a thing existed this'd be where you find it. Here we have all kinds of magical apparatus. Now what would you be wanting with lethe? That's an alchemist's tool..."
Darklis straightens up, eyes brightening. "Is it? I don't know anything at all about it, not even what it is." She looks around the room curiously. "What do you do here? Sell magic things?"
The woman laughs. "This is a shop of magic and power!" Her voice drops, and she waves an arm theatrically around the room. "Here are ingredients for powerful spells, enchantments to guard your virginity, enthrall your true love, speak with the dead, you name it." More prosaically, she adds, "And all ten percent off!"
Darklis blinks. "I don't have a true love." She grins. "But I'll remember. So what's lethe?"
"Well, you should get one!" the woman persists. "Nice young girl like you ought to have a lover to take you dancing. Lethe, now, that's a tincture of mercury and cinnamon..." She turns away to run her hands along a row of vials, and sets one on the counter triumphantly. "There."
Darklis wrinkles her nose. "First I have to get into the guild. Later I'll think about a lover." Curiously, she picks up the vial, holding it to the light. "So how do you snift it?"
"That I don't know," the woman admits. "Why would you want to?"
Lethe is silvery and heavy, like, well, mercury, and slides about interestingly in the vial.
"I don't," Darklis says, "but one of the Masters seems to want a lethe-snifter. Are there *other* kinds of snifters?" She looks curious, and tilts the vial around, watching the stuff slither.
"Oh!" Enlightmentment comes over her face. "You're a newt!"
"Well, don't steal anything from my shop, young lady," the woman says, taking back the vial with a snap.
Darklis groans, and then heys! "I wasn't *going* to. I can't steal a snifter if I don't even know what it is. Besides, they never said we had to *steal* everything. They just said to show up with it."
She sniffs. "No snifters here, miss. If you're here with honest coin to buy, that's another thing, but steal _my_ wares and there'll be a curse laid."
Darklis -stares- at the lady. "I'm not gonna /steal/ anything. All I'm trying to find out is what a lethe-snifter is, and maybe how to make one if there's not really a such thing."
The shopkeeper shakes her head. "Never heard of such a thing." She continues to eye Darklis warily, but waves her hand around the shop. "Anything else you're looking for?"
Darklis sighs. "Well, what's a *snifter*?"
Darklis keeps her hands right in sight, too, so the grumpy lady doesn't flip out entirely.
"I've no idea," she says. "Perhaps one of the other alchemists in the city would know."
Darklis sighs again, and frowns at the floor. "Where would I find another alchemist?"
"Well," says the woman impatiently, "there's the Diamond Carp, up north, and if you really _must_ seek the obscure, there's Bud's to the south. And if you're not going to buy anything, kindly stop wasting my time."
Darklis's eyes widen a little. "The Di...okay. I'm sorry. Thank you you've been very helpful goodbye." She scurries out, and dances a little jig on the street outside.
Darklis finishes her jig, and has a moment of Raging Indecision, wherein she tries to decide if she should go look for this Mint place, or if she should head straight for the Diamond Carp. Wibble! And where's Nikole, anyway?
Darklis decides, finally, on trying to find the Mint, and Nikole, and thus marches up the road again, occasionally doing little jig steps.
Nikole lies low on the other side of the large crowd for a couple of minutes, until she reckons the guards have given up. Then she walks south on Athelas.
Nikole reckons that if she keeps going this way, she'll run back into Sage and can go north to get back to Mindy's (and the Guildhall and such). So she keeps going.
Athelas Street is definitely the bougeouis shop section, not that Nikole knows the word. You see weavers, spinners, a bakery/pub named The Rising Loaf, a church, and the like.
The next intersection down is another major one, with a large cross street and a well at the center. Lots of people, mostly shopkeepers and other working folk, cluster about the well and then go on their way.
Nikole looks down at the wreckage of her shirt, and looks for someplace to buy a new one before going to meet Darklis.
There's a weaver's shop next to the church; at least so you guess, from the crude representation of a loom on the sign. And a tailor's a bit further down.
Nikole goes down to see if that intersection is Sage; whether it is or not, she then goes back and pokes her head into the tailor shop, hoping against hope it's being staffed by a woman.
The intersection is Quarter Street, and it runs northwest-southeast. The tailor isn't a woman, but he looks very sympathetically at Nikole's clothes, and offers her a shirt for ten.
Nikole looks all young and bedraggled and victimized. "Um, I'm not sure I have that much..." She counts five out of her purse and looks unhappy.
The shopkeeper is kind but firm.
Nikole pays 10. But it better be a good shirt!
It's a nice shirt, bleached white cotton, and it fits Nikole well. The neck is square, with a little dip in the center where one is supposed to conceal cleavage with flowers.
Nikole thanks the tailor grudgingly, wraps the end of her mantle across her chest again, and sets off on Quarter Street, still hoping to intersect Sage.
Quarter Street is a major thoroughfare, running as it does from West Gate to South Gate. Herds of vunnocks and baskets of chickens and bales of cloth rumble slowly down it in both directions. After a few more minutes of walking, Nikole has reached the intersection of Quarter and Lavender Streets, and if she is paying attention sees a tavern called "The Mint Mark", with a bar of gold on its sign, squatting proudly on the corner.
Nikole certainly notices that, gold bars being much on her mind.
Nikole stops and looks around to see if there's anything nearby that looks like a mint. She doesn't know what a mint looks like, exactly, but figures it has high stone walls and surly guards.
There's nothing around Nikole that looks in the slightest like a mint. No guards, in fact.
Nikole is thirsty after being in a fight and being leered at and running around, so she goes in, sure.
Inside the Mint Mark are lots of patrons, mostly laborers and shopkeepers, eating their lunch and drinking beer but not very much of it. It's a bit shabby, but everything is scrupulously clean. Everyone turns to look at Nikole as she enters, including the short bald head and the large red lizard sitting on the bar.
Nikole smiles nervously and approaches the bar.
Several men smile genially upon her, and make room on the bench running around the bar. "What'll you have?" says the head cheerfully.
Nikole peers curiously at the head, trying to see if the neck goes through the bar, and if not, how it could turn.
On the wall above and behind the bar, held there as if by magic, is a single bar of gold.
The head peers right back at Nikole. Now that you're up close, you can see that it's attached to a body, just a very short one. "Yes, lady?"
Nikole smiles. "Beer, please?"
The lizard, which is about two feet long, swishes its tail and flthllbts its tongue out at Nikole.
Nikole edges away from the lizard. "Is that your lizard?"
"Coming right up!" The head disappears from sight for a minute, and then a hand reaches up with a tall glass of dark ale.
Nikole says "Thanks!"
Nikole gratefully takes a long drink.
The men seated at the bar chuckle. "That's Pumpkin," one of them says. "He won't hurt you, less'un you bother him."
Nikole says, somewhat dubiously, "Oh. Well, I won't bother him, then."
Nikole looks around with wide-eyed curiosity (no acting necessary). "Wow. Is that real gold?"
The bartender's hand fishes a beer nut out of the dish on the table and flicks it into the air, towards the lizard. Pumpkin rears up sinuously to catch it, displaying long sharp teeth.
The bartender beams proudly, and points up to the bar of gold. "It is! That's the bar that made my bar famous. Got it from a captain in the wars, twenty years ago."
All the men at the bar nod assent, and one of them hastily calls for another round. He nudges Nikole. "Don't get him started; that's a three-hour story."
Nikole blushes a bit, but admires the gold bar, with an eye toward the obvious. For example, is it attached to an exterior wall?
The Mint Mark is a bit smaller than it looked from outside, so there's probably another room directly behind the bar. More worryingly, you notice the air around the bar sparkles a bit, as though dusted with glitter...
Nikole unfortunately ignores the advice of her fellow drinker and asks, "What's that sparkling? Is it --" wide eyes "-- *magic*?"
"Tee hee!" says the bartender, refilling Nikole's glass. "Yes it is, little lady. That's a field of protection laid on by a true wizard. Keeps my bar - both my bars - safe and sound."
Nikole looks immoderately impressed. "Wow. Where'd you find a wizard?" She takes another sip or two or three.
The bartender glows. "Oh, I don't reveal secrets, little lady. But Kempe's got his ways and means."
Nikole looks impressed some more. "Kempe? That's you?"
Nikole's neighbor to the left hiccups a bit drunkenly and snickers. "ways and means to count your beans and care but for your heart it seems...
Nikole blinks at the man.
Kempe scowls, flushing a dark red. Quickly, the man on the other side of Nikole says, "Uh, you've had enough, old son," and pulls him off by the arm. The bar gets visibly tenser.
Nikole looks around confused, waiting for someone to explain something to the cutely mystified young lady.
The bartender coughs, and visibly tries to calm down. "Kempe, little lady. That's me. And what's your name?"
Nikole says proudly, "I'm Nikole of the Irazoki."
The man who dragged the rhymster outside comes back and beams on all and sundry, clearly trying to defuse tension. "Well, that's a right pretty name. Nikole, may I buy you and Kempe a round?"
Nikole beams! "Sure!"
More beer is poured, and the bar relaxes somewhat. After Kempe moves away to attend to another customer, the man who bought the round whispers, "Don't rile him; he's had, uh, love troubles lately."
Nikole whispers back, curiously, "Oh?"
He nods, soberly. "Kempe was after this rich dame up northeast; mean as a snake, she was to him, as good as her name. Aspasia." He accents the "asp".
The lizard hisses, lazily, and Kempe's head snaps round. "Don't say that name in my bar!"
Nikole jumps!
The man cowers. "Sorry, Kempe, I was just trying to explain to the lady you're a wronged man."
Kempe bristles. "Wronged! Stabbed! Doomed!" He glares at Nikole as though it were all her fault. "Treacherous lecherous asp!"
Nikole blinks innocently. "What did she do?"
The other men at the bar hunch their shoulders, as though preparing for heavy weather. Several of the patrons in the back slip out.
Nikole looks completely innocent. And cute.
Kempe thumps his chest. "_I_ am a poet."
Nikole nods...
Kempe seems to think Nikole should get it already. "So I wrote her poetry! Odes, sonnets, clangorous langorous sestinas of sentiment! Some of my most brilliant work!"
Nikole ventures, "And she didn't like it?"
Kempe attempts to stab himself in the chest with one hand, demonstratively. "She _laughed_. Cutting me to the quick. No appreciation for art or love, only shallow wit. Snit? Snit. She's in a snit, and next Thursday at her "salooon" - he accents the word ludicrously - "she's going to read it out loud. To her friends. Over tea. And little biscuits."
Kempe disappears from sight abruptly, as he sits down. You can hear his voice floating up from the depths behind the bar. "oh woe..."
Nikole says "Oh, that's terrible!"
Nikole says "Can't you get it back?"
A melodramatic sniff. "Oh, if only I could!" wails Kempe. "She's got it in her "boooodoir", I know it. Just waiting. Like a timed spell. Foul and fell. And she won't sell."
All the men at the bar shake ther heads, solemnly. "It's bad." "Very bad." "Not good." "Grim."
Nikole says commiseratingly, "That's terrible. I hope you think of something soon."
Kempe snuffles. "You've no idea what a blow it is, to a sensitive artist. I'd give anything to avert this doom."
Nikole leans over the bar to where she can see Kempe. "Anything? At all?"
A bald head rises out of the bar, still sniffing. "I mean it. Do you know anyone who might persuade her to see reason?"
Nikole says quietly, "I have some friends who have some friends. If they can get you the poetry, will you give me your bar of gold?"
The bar goes silent from sheer shock. Kempe blinks. "My bar of gold?"
Nikole says "You said anything."
Nikole hadn't meant the whole bar to hear that, but oh well.
There's a lot of hushed whispering. Everybody hangs on Kempe's words. "I did," he admits wistfully. "But...what would I name my bar then?"
Nikole says "The Merry Bard?"
He blinks. "No, no, not quite right. "Merry" is not what an artist of distinction should be. Still, there's a seed there..." Kempe hms abstractedly as he fills glasses - everyone has gotten thirsty, listening.
The man next to Nikole proposes helpfully, "You could put your poems in the field above the bar!"
Nikole says "The Wise Bard? Anyway, is it a deal?"
Kempe brightens. "Yes! As a symbol of my triumph! Thank you, Martin." He claps Martin on the forearm, standing on tiptoe to do it, and refills Nikole's glass. "It's a deal."
Nikole beams. "I better hurry, then!" She drains her glass. "I'll see you soon, I reckon."
Nikole says "Oh, whereabouts does this unpoetic lady live?"
Fifteen-odd hands point north. "Right up Lavender Street," says Martin somberly. "Our prayers go with you, little lady."
Nikole beams. "Thank you!"
Nikole steps out of the bar.
Everybody waves Nikole out of the bar. You can hear Kempe until the door is closed, muttering, "Sage Bard? No...Sage Poet? No..."
Darklis, jigging, notices Nikole coming out of a doorway up ahead, and jumps up and down, shouting, "Nikole! Nikole!"
Nikole says "Darklis!"
Nikole runs over to Darklis! "You got away!"
Darklis charges up the street, beaming! "So did you! I found the Diamond Carp! and I know what lethe is now! and Argus told me where this place called the um something Mint was where there might be a bar of gold!'
Nikole beams and points to the sign behind her.
Darklis looks up at the sign, and the bar of gold on it, and her eyes widen. "Oh! You found it? Did you get it?"
Nikole says "They have a bar of gold, and I know how to get it. We just have to get some stuff the owner wrote back from some woman named Aspasia!"
Darklis says "Bless you."
Nikole says "She lives up that way, on Lavender Street."
Nikole grins. "Aye, it's a pretty wretched name."
Darklis points north. "There's an alchemy shop called the Diamond Carp up that way!"
Nikole says "I reckon we're going that way, then!"
Nikole says "What's lethe? Did you find out what a snifter is?"
Darklis ohs. "But there were only six pearls. I wanted to go to Mindy and see if he had a set of seven we could exchange maybe. Lethe is this neat silvery heavy slippery stuff that slides around and I don't know what a snifter is but the grumpy lady thought that perhaps somebody at the Diamond Carp might know! Or at um Bud's down south if we're slumming."
Nikole says "Let's go to Mindy's and see about the pearls, and then to the Diamond Carp and Aspasia's?"
Nikole scowls. "Figures Mindy only told us where to find six pearls. I bet he'll trade us seven tiny ones and make a fortune selling the big ones."
Darklis says "Eh, maybe he didn't know. We'll get a good deal, I'm sure."
Nikole grins. "Are you going to kiss him some more?"
Darklis's ears turn red. "He was *nice*."
Darklis says "And he *did* help us."
Nikole inspects Darklis's ears carefully. "You like him!"
Darklis protests, "I do not!"
Nikole says "Then why are your ears that color?"
Darklis scowls all over. "'cuz you're making fun of me. Now c'mon. I sent Argus down to Frond's to try to steal the pearls, so at least *he's* out of the way. Let's go."
Nikole says "Well, if you can get us a better deal by kissing him, I won't stand in your way!"