The story so far: Darklis and Nikole, questing for items to win favor at the Thieves' Guild, have used wit, charm, and cleavage to gain six pearls and one spoon. After an encounter with bad poetry, they're off to Mindy's for an evaluation of the new loot...
Nikole looks around for a store that sells hats as she walks.
There's no shortage of shops; this looks like a professional district. You spot a sign with a hat, cloak and dagger on it.
Nikole says "Hold up a minute, Darklis."
Nikole goes and looks in that shop.
Darklis holds. "What're you looking for?"
Nikole says "A hat."
It's a small shop full of hats on pegs, nearly covering the rough wooden walls. There's a counter, but no one behind it. The only person in the shop is a middle-aged woman standing in the middle of the room, reading a handbill.
Oh, of course, a hat. "Whyyyyy?"
Nikole browses the hats, looking for a nice one that doesn't seem too expensive.
Nikole whispers to Darklis, "I reckon this hair of mine is pretty obvious, and maybe it would be better if it wasn't."
Darklis, helpfully, whispers back, "We could dye it!"
Most of them are frilly little hats with feathers, or else big masculine hats of coarse dark cloth. There are a few larger women's hats of velvet, and some bit floppy sunhats, but those look quite expensive.
Nikole whispers, "Takes too long, and I like my hair!"
Darklis, still helpfully, suggests, "I could cut it for you. I cut my own hair!"
The woman reading the handbill eyes Nikole and Darklis dubiously. "Er...do either of you know how to read, dears, by chance?"
Nikole goes over to the woman.
Darklis looks studiously interested in a hat.
The woman's broad flat face creases in a smile. "Then if you wouldn't mind, dear, do you know what that word there is?" She points with a large thumb to the word "demitasse" in the middle of a paragraph.
Nikole sounds it out. "De mi tas..." She shrugs. "Half of something?"
She frowns, moving a finger over the rest of the sentence and reading each word laboriously. "Holding..her...de-me-tass-ee...delicately...in...two...fingers...she...read...the...first...powem. Maybe it's a book?"
Nikole is struck with a horrible thought, and quickly reads the rest of the item.
Darklis, argumentatively, says, "You don't hold books in two fingers. you hold little things. What else does it say?" She comes over to peer at the paper, not that she can read it.
The title of the article is "Slumming Uptown: One Woman's Story." It seems to be part of an ongoing, very badly written serial about the lives of the rich and famous. This particular bit is about, yes, an exclusive tea-and-poetry gathering held by the renowned society hostess Aspasia.
Nikole reads the article carefully for a) information on how to burgle Aspasia's poetry box, and b) clues to what a demitasse is.
Darklis looks impatient. "Read it aloud so I can help guess."
Nikole reads aloud obligingly.
There's lots of lists of names you don't recognize, descriptions of stylish clothes and rooms, and details of a tea ceremony. The only pertinent information is that the poetry readings are held in Aspasia's drawing room, and that a demitasse must have something to do with tea.
Darklis says "It must be something you drink tea out of. Or a cookie or something to dip in tea."
Nikole has seen people make fun of how city folk drink tea, so she can guess. "I reckon a demitasse is a small teacup. Half-sized."
The woman nods. "Reckon you're right, dearie. Thank you kindly. You read very well, never mind the accent; where you from?"
Nikole says, somewhat proudly. "The Nuin Mountains. I'm." and hushes up. No point broadcasting her name.
Her brows shoot up. "You're a long way from home, then. What brings a young girl to the city unescorted? You should be careful, dear, not that I've a wish to be nosy but if you'd seen the things I've seen in my boarders you'd run back to your mountain quick as your legs would go."
She nods aside to Darklis. "You, now, dear, you've the look of one of us. You should know better."
Nikole says, perfectly truthfully, "The vunnock drives are this month. Lots of Nuinish in Carbuncle right now."
Darklis straightens up all proud. "I'm a city girl," she agrees. Nevermind that she's not from .this. city. "I keep an eye on her." She tilts her head at Nikole.
Nikole says "Hey!"
Darklis blinkblinks perfectly innocently.
Nikole looks around. "Is the shopkeeper here?"
The woman grins. "Ah, so that's the way of it. And you're here for new clothes to take back?" Her shrewd eyes have been darting all over the both of you, sizing up every detail of your appearance.
"Aye, he's next door. Noo-oorris!" Her voice rises to a bellow. "Cust-omers!"
Nikole nods.
A lanky man in an apron slips in through a hole in the wall on the left side of the room. "You don't have to bawl like a cow, Ursula. I was just coming back." Every inch of him, from fingers to face to apron, is splotched with black ink.
Ursula snorts. "That's what you said half an hour ago, dear man. Never mind. Here's two young girls who won't give their names looking for hats."
Nikole blinks at the ink, but already knew city folk are peculiar. She takes the green hat she picked out off the peg. "How much for this one?"
Nikole ignores the comment about names, not quite able to bring herself to lie outright.
Norris eyes both of you sharply, clearly waiting for names, then shrugs and takes the green hat. "Twelve, for that one. Good cloth."
Darklis giggles. "I'm Dara," she says, when the woman comments about the names. "Did you fall into an inkpot?" she adds curiously to Norris.
Nikole watches the hat nervously, afraid that it will end up black-spotted.
Norris nods to Darklis in a somewhat more friendly fashion once she gives her name. "How do. Very nearly!" He cackles, and so does Ursula. They seem to find this very funny.
The hat is in fact getting slightly ink-smudged.
Nikole says "Careful! You're getting ink on it!"
Nikole tries to recover the hat.
Ursula explains, "Norris here is a printer by choice, but so few folk here can read the hats come in handy. Tsk, she's right, man; watch your hands."
Darklis rolls her eyes, and asides, "She's fussy," to Ursula and Norris.
Nikole regards the hat sadly. "Well, it might have been worth twelve before, but I'm not sure it is now..."
Norris looks irritated, and pulls the hat out of reach, scrubbing the ink off with a cloth. "Don't mind Ursula here, she's the queen of gossip. And don't tell her any secrets. Hmph! Nothing wrong with a little ink."
He hands the hat back to Darklis with exaggerated care. "Eleven, then, since you're the careful sort."
Darklis will take it, but it's Nikole's hat.
Nikole peers critically at the smudge. "I don't think that's coming out."
Ursula snickers quietly, watching with great interest.
"It hardly shows," defends Norris. "Ten, then."
Nikole holds the hat up to the light. "Hardly shows? It's clear as a cow pat on a clean floor! But I really like the color, so I'll give you four for it."
Norris squawks in horrified indignation. "Four!" Ursula bursts out laughing. "You're a sharp one, mountain girl!"
Norris eventually agrees to six, with much muttering.
Nikole grins. "My pa taught me how to trade for vunnocks when I was tiny."
Nikole pays six for the hat and the really barely noticeable smudge.
Norris glares at Ursula. "You needn't laugh, woman. Have you ever gotten the rent out of your deadbeat?"
Darklis grins at her toes. "Told ya she's fussy."
Nikole points her tongue at Darklis, thanks Norris, and skips out of the shop (perhaps a bit unsteadily).
Ursula winks at Darklis. "Stick with that one, girl, and let her take the blame. She's noticeable."
Darklis laughs! "Good advice," she agrees, and then darts out after Nikole.
Ursula begins explaining to Norris querulously about the difficulty of getting rent from an evil magician as you leave.
Darklis pauses in the door. "Hey. Is an evil magician like a wizard?"
Outside, Nikole tucks her hair up into the cap- She pokes her head back in. "You know a real wizard?"
Ursula says "Yes," and Norris says, "No," simultaneously.
Darklis says "Which one?"
Norris waves a hand disgustedly. "Silly old Ursula's just fallen for his line. He's a faker."
Nikole says "I need to see a wizard, you see" - she looks fairly embarrassed - "...oh.""
"And if he'd threatened to summon a demon and burn down _your_ house, you'd think twice too!" retorts Ursula. "There's something odd about that little runt, I tell you."
Darklis comes back into the shop, all bright-eyed. "Natalie -- that's her -- needs a love potion, see. This boy, Rey, *really* likes this other girl who's a tart, but Nat likes *him*, and we want to make him fall for her. D'you think we chould talk to your wizard?"
"Have you ever _seen_ him do magic?" counters Norris, oblivious.
Nikole has no trouble at all turning dark pink.
Darklis is apparently Perfectly Oblivious to Nikole's pinkness.
"There was the black vunnock," Ursula begins, and then gets distracted by Darklis. "O-ho! Setting your cap for the cute ones, are you, girls?""
Nikole mutters, "*Dara*!"
Norris mutters, "Girl talk," and promptly departs, in a cloud of ink.
Darklis nods happily. "He is pretty cute, all red hair and fussiness, just Nat's type. But the girl *he* likes," and her voice drops to a secretive whisper, "has even more bosoms than Nat does." Back to a normal tone, "So, you see, we need a love potion. Do you think your wizard could help?"
Nikole pokes Darklis!
Darklis oofs and grins widely, alllll innocent.
Ursula chuckles in a horrifyingly maternal fashion. "Men are better than cheese, young lady, but is it worth mixing with wizards?" She snickers appreciatively with Darklis in Nikole's direction."
Nikole says "And maybe he can get Darklis a chest, but only if he's a master wizard."
Nikole looks sullen *and* embarrassed. Because she is.
Darklis *sniffs*. "*Some* boys like a girl with a mind and don't get all caught up in bosoms." She nods cheerily at Ursula. "I think it is! Can you tell us where your wizard is?"
Ursula wheezes with laughter. "Now, now, no cat-fights in the shop. If you want to talk to my boarder, you'll have to find him first; he hasn't been home in three days."
Darklis hmphs. "Do you know where he goes when he's not home?"
She sighs querulously. "But if he made you a love potion, he'd have money to pay the rent and no nonsense, there's a fact. Try the bars?"
Darklis nods. "What's his name?"
"Werle, he says. Not his true name, of course - wizards hide that - but if you ask around for him folks'll know the name."
Nikole mutters, "So that's why you don't have any boyfriends" in Darklis's direction.
Ursula giggles. "If you go on like that all the time, it's a wonder either of you has hair left."
Nikole says "Whereabouts is your house? Where should we start looking?"
Darklis Masterfully Ignores Nikole.
Nikole scowls at the comment.
She purses her lips thoughtfully. "Well, he knows better than to hang about my house, for certain. You might look east and southward. But that's not a quarter girls should go into alone."
Nikole says "Dara will go, then. I reckon she'd be right at home there."
Ursula shakes her head amusedly. "You two are going to kill each other if noone else does. Be off now, and if you've need of a place to stay, my house is on Sage street. Reasonable rates and meals provided."
Darklis sniffs. "Fine, I'll just take your Rey for myself." She smiles at Ursula. "You've been very helpful! Thank you!"
Nikole beams at Ursula. "Thank you!"
Ursula goes back to reading her handbill as you leave.
Outside, Nikole finishes tucking her hair up into the cap, and takes off her mantle and folds it up and ties it to her satchel.
Darklis follows Nikole out a second time, and watches her fix herself up. "To the Diamond Carp?"
Nikole hopefully looks slightly less distinctive now (possibly because men won't be looking at her face, hair, or clothes).
Nikole says "I reckon we should look at Mistress Aspasia's house, too."
Darklis starts listing things on her fingers. "The Diamond Carp, Mistress Aspasia's house for the gold, Mindy's to trade the pearls, and east to find...Wrede? Was that his name? And we have the spoon. And maybe the alchemist will know what a lethe-snifter is."
Nikole says "Werle. And he might know about lethe-snifters too."
Darklis nods. "Okay. Which do you want to do first, Aspasia or the Carp?"
Nikole says "I reckon Aspasia's is closer? But Mindy's is closest, so you can stop in and make cow eyes at him some more."
Darklis *scowls*.
Darklis says "I didn't *either* make cow eyes."
Nikole says "Oh, you're going to kiss him again!"
Darklis says "I am NOT."
Nikole says "Well, if it gets us the- what we need, I can stand to watch."
Nikole says "Why not? You did last time."
Darklis says "He was /nice/."
Darklis sulkishly wheels and stumps back towards the south, and Mindy's.
Nikole only teases Darklis a little more. "It serves you right for saying I like that that WEASEL!"
Darklis, snootily, says, "Next time I'll say Beauregard."
Nikole wrinkles her nose and pokes Darklis in the ribs. "At least Reynard is a handsome weasel! And not ninety years old like your men!"
Darklis says "Hey, at least old men have money."
Nikole says "Oh, so that's what you like in men?"
Nikole stops teasing, since we're at Mindy's doorstep.
Darklis snorts, and knocks and marches into Mindy's again.
Nikole smirks and follows Darklis in.
Beauregard looks up with a start. Mindy is deep in contemplation of the emerald bracelet, through a lens.
Nikole glares at Beauregard.
Darklis, triumphantly, says, "I *knew* you'd be here!"
Darklis knew no such thing, but hey, why let him know that?
Beauregard glares right back. "_Geez_ you girls ruined everything. Why'd you have to come busting in?"
Beauregard says, "We almost had the pearls! And now they'll be on their guard."
Darklis says "*You're* the one who FELL OFF THE ROOF."
"Only because you startled me!"
Darklis elbows Nikole, just in case Nikole has the idea to blurt out that they *have* the pearls.
Nikole says "He fell off a *roof*?!"
Mindy says mildly, "No fights in my shop." Beauregard shuts up.
Nikole giggles uncontrollably.
Darklis sniffs. "Well, at least *nobody* will get the pearls, then, and you don't have to worry about somebody else getting them."
Mindy puts the lens away. "Nice work, young man. Mmm, phefhm...ninety-five."
Nikole says "And if someone else tries, maybe they'll get thrown in gaol and cut down the field."
Nikole says helpfully, "You could go back and try again. Darklis and I won't startle you again."
Darklis adds, "Promise!"
Beauregard glows, and turns his back self-importantly on you to make the transaction. "Not likely. The pearls are cursed, now; the smart course is to try something else."
A flash of gold and a flash of green change hands, and vanish, deftly, and Beauregard takes his leave with a bow. "Thought you were going to sell her to a wizard," he says to Darklis mockingly as he passes.
Darklis wrinkles her nose. "I couldn't get a good price."
Nikole turns red. "Hey!"
Nikole glares at Darklis!
Darklis grins apologetically.
"For a chest like that? Tsk." He leaves.
Nikole says "Darklis wants the scrawny onld men all for hersel- GRR!"
A bubbling snicker rises from Mindy's corner.
Nikole folds her arms across her breasts, and glares sullenly.
Darklis, still grinning, crosses over to Mindy. "So," she says. "I wonder if we can work a trade."
Nikole mutters to herself.
Mindy fixes Darklis with a beady eye. "Sorry, I'm not interested in purchasing her either," he says solemnly.
Nikole says "I'M NOT FOR SALE!"
Darklis giggles. "No, not Nikole. Although," she says, all solemnly, "I might trade her for a lethe-snifter."
Mindy giggles some more. "Seriously, young ladies, what do you have for me? Pearls?"
Nikole resumes sulking.
Darklis giggles more, and sits down, making sure her back is to the door. And then she pulls the pearls out of her pocket, nestling them in the palm of her hand.
Nikole keeps an eye on the door, in case any boys should show up.
Mindy extends a gnarled hand. "Mm-phfm, I thought so! Let us see."
Darklis goes ahead and places them in Mindy's hand. "They're nice, but there's only six," she says. "I wonder if you have a set of seven smaller ones we could trade for."
He blinks surprisedly. "Only six?"
Darklis says "Count 'em."
Mindy counts the pearls carefully. "Did you drop one?"
Darklis looks depressed. "No. That's all there were."
Click-tsk-phfm. Mindy pulls out his lens and subjects the pearls to a long scrutiny. Finally he looks up. "Right pearls, wrong number. Hmm."
Darklis makes a face. "I don't think the Masters would like it if we told them they goofed up."
Nikole mutters, "I reckon Darklis could distract them from counting pearls."
"They didn't," says Mindy with asperity. "The word was seven, and I'm never wrong." He phfms a bit. "What did that idiot Frond say about them?"
Nikole says "We didn't *ask*."
Darklis squints! "Do you think *he* stole one of the pearls?!"
"Tsk. Careless. No, he's not the type. The last pearl must not have been added yet."
"We were *stealing* it," Darklis says acerbically. "It's hard to talk to somebody when you're robbing him. Well, *shit*."
Nikole says "Do you have seven matched pearls we could trade for?"
Darklis sits back with her arms folded. "D'you *...what she said."
Nikole says "The Masters didn't say it had to be any particular set."
Mindy squinches his lips up, thinking. "Frond's gets its gems from the south. Most likely the pearls were brought in separately, by different merchants. Ha!" He snorts mirthlessly. "Matched pearls are rare as hen's teeth, especially seven."
He reaches a decision, and tucks the pearls away in a drawer. "You'll have to get the last one. Find where the merchant is staying and steal it from him before he reaches the shop; they'll have the guard doubled, by this time."
Nikole says "If different merchants brought the pearls, how could they be matched?"
Darklis says "Hey!"
Darklis stares as Mindy tucks the pearls away. "How come *you're* keeping them!"
Mindy looks annoyed. "You don't send a trove like that all together, girl; don't you know anything? They were matched at their city of origin, split up, and reassembled here."
Nikole says "Oh."
Mindy grumbles. "I should've thought of that myself...we should've made the snatch tomorrow morning, when they were complete. Now it's harder."
Nikole says "Yah, why are you keeping our pearls?"
Nikole says "Too hard for *boys*, maybe."
He blinks at Darklis surprisedly. "You can't go taking them about the city. Never mind your competition, anyone else'd kill you as soon as look at you for them."
Darklis scowls a little. "You won't trade them or anything."
Nikole says "We weren't going to tell anyone we had them!"
Mindy grins. "These pearls are meant for me, young ladies; I want the seven of them presented to the Masters as much as you do. They'll be safe here."
Nikole says "Well, okay, but if you don't give them back, you won't get Darklis."
Darklis squacks!
Mindy doesn't giggle. "This is serious, young ladies. Find that pearl. The most likely merchant from the south, fmmm hmm, will have just arrived, most likely. If you can relieve him of his burden before he reaches Frond's we will all be much happier.
Nikole says "What's his name? Where can we find him?"
"Could be any of a number of men, alas. As to where, phfm, he's most likely camped near the farmer's market; there's a campground there where folk coming into the city to sell goods stay. Doubtless he could afford better, but all that group are stingy as bankers."
Nikole says "How can we tell which one? I reckon they won't be waving banners about it."
Mindy grins mirthlessly. "That's what makes a thief a thief, innit? You got the pearls, I reckon you can find this fellow." His gaze sharpens to gimlet-piercing, on Nikole. "Or if you can't, one of the other newts will. This is too important to risk."
Nikole says "What makes these pearls so special?"
Mindy looks at Nikole like she's asked what color the sky is. "Pearls are _rare_, missy. You know where they come from?"
Darklis says "Oysters."
Darklis makes a clam-shape with her hand. "They grow inside 'em. Bits of rot get in and they polish 'em up."
Nikole says "So they come from the ocean."
Nikole shrugs.
Mindy nods vigorously. "And the odds of finding seven oysters with nice smooth even pearls precisely the same size and shape...well, you could look for a lifetime. Many do."
He folds his arms. "And that is why you must find the seventh pearl. Now. Before you set off, have you anything else for me?"
Nikole says "Not yet, but maybe we'll need money later."
From the darkness, Violetta mutters, "Awk! Oyster spit!"
Darklis eyes Mindy a moment. "Will you keep *all* our stuff safe if we find other things?"
Mindy blinks. "Of course. If you can't trust your fence, you're in sad shape indeed. And Mindy, being the official fence of the Guild, is the best and safest of them all."
Darklis taps a fingertip on the desk, and then Looks Meaningfully at Nikole.
Nikole says "Can you keep this safe too?"
Nikole produces the spoon.
Darklis beams. Wise clever Nikole.
Nikole is not at all sure this is a good idea, but at least this way, we know where to steal everything all at once.
Mindy stares, thunderstruck.
Darklis is not entirely sure it's a good idea either, but figures it's a *better* idea than getting jumped by the boys and losing everything.
After a full minute of silence, he squeaks, "...you got a _spoon_?"
Darklis beams. "*We*," she says, Oh So Smug, "got the *spoon*."
Nikole says "Aye. Just because boys can't do something doesn't mean it's impossible."
Nikole tries to not look smug, and fails utterly.
Mindy blinks. "Well. Well, Phmfhm. Well."
Darklis doesn't even bother trying not to look smug.
Slowly, he begins to grin. "Tomorrow's ceremony will be interesting, indeed yes. I'll keep the spoon safe for you, if you like, indeed."
Nikole hands it over. "Take good care of it. We got it once, but I don't want to go through that again."
"You'd better!" Darklis says, and nodnods vigorously at Nikole's words.
"I imagine not." He snickers, turning the spoon over and over in his hands fascinatedly. "There must be some high times going on in the offices right now..."
With an effort, Mindy recalls his attention to the present and tucks the spoon away in another drawer. "Ahem. Pfhm. Any other startling achievements, young ladies?"
Nikole says "Not yet!"
Darklis says "Not yet." She winks. "But we'll be back!"
Nikole grins at Mindy and goes off to do something else astonishing.
Mindy leans back in his chair. "I've no doubt of it, young lady." He closes his eyes for a nap.
Darklis giggles and follows Nikole. "I guess we'd better go for the last pearl next, huh?"
Nikole says "Aye. That seems to be the most impressive one, after the spoon."
Darklis shakes her head. "I think the lethe-snifter would be the *real* trick. But I think we should get the last pearl. Which way did he say?"
Nikole says "By the farmer's market, which I reckon will be by the gate."
Nikole starts off toward the gate. "How're we going to find the right one?"
Which gate?
Darklis says "It'll probably be the best-protected one. We'll steal that one."
Nikole goes southeast, where Mindy pointed.
Nikole says "I mean, which merchant? This is *Carbuncle*. There'll be a million of them."
Quarter Street looks just as it did before, maybe a little busier in the heat of afternoon commerce. You pass the Crucible, and the Mint Mark.
Darklis says "We'll find somebody who looks friendly and I'll tell them I'm looking for a job and want to work with a merchant so I can See The World and we'll find out who the newest people in town are and what kinds of stuff they carry -- because I'd like to go to places where they have *pretty* things, jewelry and horses, not just grain."
Nikole says "Good! It's about your turn!"
If you keep going southeast past the Mint Mark, you eventually come to a well, which seems to be the center of the quarter from the number of people around it. Lots of farmers and housewives drawing water, beggars, travellers, horses, and pickpockets.
Nikole says "Is this it?"
You don't see any campgrounds or market stalls, but they can't be far away. People are carrying water off in all four directions.
Darklis says, "Yes," like she knws what she's talking about.
Nikole watches people who look like travellers to see where they go.
Most of the foreign-looking and farmer folk seem to be heading either further southeast along Quarter street, or striking off due east across the grass.
Nikole leads the way east, then; if people start turning south, she'll follow them.
Darklis follows after, looking interestedly at carts and people and Stuff.
As you pass the well, a hulking shadow sticks out a very large hand and tugs her sleeve. "Alms, missy?" it inquires in a deep bass voice.
The figure, when you turn to look at it, is massive, swathed in dirty rags, and doesn't smell very good. The face is hidden by a hood.
Nikole jumps startledly! And looks down confusedly at the figure.
Nikole isn't used to beggars; she looks at Darklis.
Darklis almost runs into Nikole, and frowns and shakes her head. "Don't have any," she says abruptly, and grabs Nikole's arm and marches onward.
Nikole is marched onward.
From the darkness inside the hood, the deep voice booms, "Alms for the poor." The hand grasping Nikole's wrists is extremely large and formidable looking, and does not let go as Darklis tugs her onward.
Nikole is yanked to a stop! "Hey! Let go of me!"
The nails on the hand are sharp, yellow, and over an inch long, even though they're not currently digging in.
Darklis oofs and is yanked too, by proxy. "Hey! Let her go! Ew." She stares at the claw. "Ew."
The figure says patiently, "Not nice to neglect the poor."
Nikole tries to slip her wrist out between the thumb and forefingers, but is well and truly caught. "Let GO!"
Darklis says "Oh, give it a bloody alm."
Nikole looks minded to start a fight but Darklis knows what to do in cities. She forks over the smallest coin in her purse.
The other huge hand swallows the coin, and the first hand releases Nikole's wrist. "Thankew, missy. Remember the poor."
Nikole says "I'm not likely to forget!"
Darklis mutters, "I *am* poor," and tugs on Nikole again. "C'mon."
Nikole hurries away from the disgusting beggar.
Yellow teeth gleam in the shadow of the hood before you turn away.
Nikole says "You won't be poor after tomorrow morning!"
Darklis says "That was an *icky* beggar."
Darklis shivers, and moves along, looking for a likely-looking site to start job-hunting.
The people trudging across the grass all seem to be heading for a huge cluster or tents and stalls up ahead. The right side seems to be the campgrounds, and the left side the market.
Nikole makes a face. "Aye. I wonder what he does when people don't give him alms."
Darklis, cheerfully, says, "Probably rips people's arms off," and heads for the market cluster.
Nikole makes sure she knows where her knife is.
Nikole follows Darklis, nervously, keeping an eye out for down-on-their-luck trolls, boy thieves, people looking down her shirt, and the myriad other hazards of city life.
The market, as you draw closer, seems to be almost entirely livestock. Chickens, geese, funny-looking small blue birds, pigs, goats, vunnocks, and rabbits mill around making lots of noise. There are also many fruit, vegetable, wheat and grain stalls.
Nikole's stomach growls.
"Sausage onna stick!" bawls a penetrating voice. "Getcher sausage onnna stick!"
Darklis' stomach, reminded, also growls, and she looks around. "Maybe we could get some bread and cheese." Saliva drowns out her words. "Or sausage..."
The sausage guy is an enterprising-looking man with sharp features. He waves one of his sausage-sticks around above his booth.
Darklis digs deep in to a pocket to see how much money she has. It's Not Very Much, but she approaches the sausage guy anyway, and looks pathetic. "How much for a sausage?"
The sausage man eyes Darklis up and down. "Five, miss."
Five! Darklis' only *got* six pence! Or alms. Whatever. "Oh," she says pathetically, and turns away.
A big, heavy hand clamps down on Nikole's shoulder from behind.
Nikole mutters to Darklis, "You don't want that stuff anyway. If you eat vunnocks you'll be crapping san-Yipe!"
"Five pence for a sausage?" booms Uncle Goratze. "Crane, you're a rat bastard. Don't you cheat my niece."
Nikole says "Uncle!"
Darklis squeaks. Uncle?
Nikole drops out from under the hand, turns and throws her arms around the man!
Crane gleeps in fear. "Sorry, ladies." He hastily hands two sausage-onna-sticks to Darklis. "My compliments."
Darklis lights all up and beams at Uncle! My friend! She takes the sausages and bites into one happily.
The sausage is extremely greasy, and you don't want to think about the ingredients, but it tastes good.
Uncle Goratze returns Nikole's hug enthusiastically. "So, my dear, what brings you to this quarter? No crown jewels here!"
Nikole edges away from the sausage extortionist, and anyone else who might be listening in. "Do you know any merchants who might carry expensive gems? We have to get seven matched pearls and we only have six!"
Family connections! Good idea! Darklis monches on her sausage happily and listens.
Goratze blinks and shakes his head, looking puzzled. "Nothing like that here. Come on back to the tent and have some real food, and I'll ask about."
Nikole says "Um, okay, but not too obvious? I'll tell you the story when we're alone."
He snorts. "_Trust_ me. That I should live to see my own niece call me obvious." His voice seems far too loud, but in truth it doesn't carry far through the din.
Nikole blushes. "Sorry, Uncle! I'm just nervous. Not used to the city..."
Uncle Goratze brings you both back to a large tent full of vunnocks and the smells thereof, and feeds you rice and tomatoes and chicken. Lots of relatives fuss over Nikole and peer curiously at Darklis.
Nikole says "Oh! Uncle, this is Darklis, my partner in crime. Darklis, this is my uncle Goratze, the best vunnock breeder in all the mountains."
Nikole scarfs down the food, having been quite busy since breakfast.
Darklis, around a mouthful, says, "Hullo, Uncle Goratze."
Uncle Goratze beams genially on Darklis. "Any friend of Nikole's is a friend of mine. Don't eat the sausages."
Darklis already ate half of one, oh well!
A number of discreet women and boisterous children just happen to pass by Goratze in the next few minutes and whisper to him. He shakes his head at Nikole. "Nothing like that here. Are you sure of your source?"
Nikole introduces cousins as they wander in and out, too.
A number of the young male cousins choose to hang around, eyeing Darklis interestedly.
Nikole says "Well, Mindy said the pearls would have been brought in separately."
Darklis says hello as politely as she can while eating, and nods. "Pretty sure. He wasn't positive it'd be this gate but he thought it likely."
Nikole tells Uncle Goratze the whole story, since nine this morning. And the cousins; she knows they aren't going to turn her in.
Everyone settles around in a circle to listen to Nikole's story, appreciatively. They laugh in the right places and clap whenever something gets stolen. One or two of the bolder boys congratulate Darklis on her skill as a thief.
Darklis looks a bit overwhelmed and baffled by all this Family, and notices some of the cousins noticing her and beams a lot and thanks them.
Nikole downplays the part with her shirt getting torn off, until she notices that all the boys are paying attention to Darklis, at which point she does mention it.
"Well," says Uncle Goratze at last, "this is a livestock quarter, and most of the folks who stay here come to sell vunnocks or beets or suchlike. The campground might have some merchants, but not many, and mm, not the sort to carry expensive things. It's a bit risky."
The boys snicker appreciatively at Nikole's mention of her charms, and nudge each other.
Darklis says "But nobody'd expect it, either!"
Nikole nods. "I reckon it's someone who looks pretty ordinary, not worth robbing."
"This is true," he admits. "Perhaps you should have a look."
Nikole says "Do you know who's come from the South in the past day or so?"
Nikole says "I reckon that unless they just arrived, they'd have already given the pearl to Frond."
Goratze shakes his head. "I can tell you who's come in to sell vunnocks, but what do we care about merchants, niece? You're asking the wrong tribe."
Nikole says "I was hoping someone'd been over to the other merchants to get pretty things for Kattalin."
Nikole eyes the older boys.
One or two of them look abashed. Goratze snickers. "You got something, didn't you, Lessin? Speak up boy!"
Lessin looks terribly apologetic at Darklis. "Um...yeah. But back west, at one of the shops. No place to buy things here."
Aw, man, and Darklis thought Lessin was cute, too. But he's got a girlfriend. Sheesh. Figures. Darklis siiiighs.
Goratze nods. "That's what I thought. You go ask about in the campground, girls, but there's no shops there. Just visitors."
Nikole nods, and gives Uncle Goratze another big hug. "We'll try that! And I'll come see you again before you go home!"
Nikole hugs a few of the cousins, the ones she likes best.
Darklis hangs back and looks out of place and smiles uncertainly.
Everybody waves to both Nikole and Darklis.
Nikole hugs Uncle Goratze again and goes to look for pearls!
Outside the tent, Nikole grins at Darklis. "I reckoned you only liked old guys! How come you were making cow eyes at Lessin?"
The campground is just southwest of the market. It's much more demure-looking, just an assemblage of tents and watering troughs and strings of horses, with a few people wandering around quietly. No signs or markers.
Darklis tosses her hair, which sends uneven spikes every-which-way. "I wasn't."
Nikole says "You were too! You got all long-faced when he owned up to buying something for Kattalin!"
Darklis huffs. "I did *not*."
Nikole says "Just because he's buying Kattalin presents to get her in his bed doesn't mean he doesn't want a girlfriend!"
Darklis /eyes/ Nikole. "Oh. *Right*."
Nikole says "It's true!"
Nikole says "Lots of people sleep with Kattalin. It doesn't stop them from getting real sweethearts."
Darklis snorts. "She's probably all bosoms like you are and nobody who likes her would ever like *me*."
Nikole looks embarrassed. "Well, she is pretty big that way, but I wager Lessin thought you're cute anyway."
Darklis says "Hmph."
Darklis says "Let's go find the dumb pearl."
Nikole looks around for a campsite that looks like it was set up recently.
There are a number of them.
Nikole says "Wine comes from the south. Look for wine. And make up a reason why you want to go south."
As you make your way through the tents, you can see a crossroads at the far end of the campground, with a couple of buildings clustered there.
Nikole keeps an eye out for wine, herself.
You can't see anything in the way of actual goods. Some tends have strings of vunnocks outside them, some have a wagon or two. Some have nothing.
Darklis suggests, "Weather's better," and looks for wine.
Nikole says "You want to see the ocean? What're those buildings over there?"
Darklis shakes her head. "I donno. You're the one who can read."
Nikole heads over toward the buildings to see if they have signs.
The buildings seem to be a tavern, fetchingly called "The Salted Slug", with a picture of a dead slug, a government building of some sort, and a collection of troughs.
Nikole says "I bet all the caravaneers are in the tavern there, so I reckon that's where you go to get a job."
You want Darklis to go into a place called the Salted Slug all by *herself*? Whimper. "Well...okay."
Nikole says "And if someone asks, you're looking for a caravan that's just come in, because you reckon they won't have hired anyone yet."
Nikole says "I can go in too, but not with you, unless you reckon I should look for a job too."
Darklis looks dubious. "Somebody might recognize you."
Nikole says "Aye. I'll go in by myself, so if you get in trouble I can help?"
Darklis nods. "Okay!" and in she goes.
Nikole waits a few moments, and then goes in as well.
Inside, the Salted Slug is dingy and dirty and nearly empty. A tired-looking frowzy barmaid dozes on her stool, and a couple of rough-looking traders sit at a table in the crner.
Nikole looks over the traders. Do they look like they just got in off the road? In any case, she goes to the bar to get a drink.
Darklis hsm. This does not look terribly promising. There are not dozens of boisterous and drunk caravaners to take advantage of. Oh well. She makes her way up to the bar and the barstool.
The barmaid blinks at the noise, and sits up. "Whatcherwant?"
Continued next week...