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Turick lay Minaiya in what he hoped was as comfortable a position as possible, and began the process of stripping off what excess clothes he could in Lin's presence to dry off. "Where ARE WE, anyhow?"
"East."
"Wow... that's specific."
Lin glared towards him briefly from beneath a convenient blanket. "It's the best I can say... we're not even to a major town; this is probably a mere farming outpost...”
Katron just shook his head as he removed his shirt and laid on the floor next to one of the two beds in the room. "(Don't squabble with him... that's always what they want...)"
Turick turned a glare in Katron's direction. "Didn't he ever learn Common? I hate it when he talks. I don't know if he's bad mouthing me or what!"
Lin looked over, the firelight reflecting off her eyes with the crimson glow of the room. "('They'?)"
"(The Dark Ones... They only seem to live to confuse, bother and kill... He's no different...)" Katron said simply, with little emotion as Turick growled, rubbing his head at Katron's lack of Common.
"(Elaine told us that you were a cold-blooded murderer. Are we to believe that, too?)"
"(They have taught you false tales... yet I speak of experience with his people...)" He fell silent. "(I have killed no one who hasn't earned the passage to the next... I am no murderer...)"
She fell silent, and tugged the blanket closer to her as she looked back into the burning logs. "(The people of Elaine sentenced you to like-death. Will you judge me as harshly as Turick?)"
He looked forward, seeming to see nothing, running a hand absently over his left arm. "(The ones who tattooed me with these blamed me for deaths they did not want on their own hands...)" He sighed. "(I shouldn't judge as harshly or as quick as I have... I am sorry. I still do not trust this 'Turick' yet, though... my warrior's experience gives me reason...)"
"(I don't want to hate the man my friend traveled with or the one my sister died for...)" She spoke indirectly, and turned to Turick. "(But it's hard...)"
"What sort of supplies do we have, Turick...?"
"Well... considering that all the stuff me and Min got from our travel is back on my horse at the village... we got the clothes on our backs and some pocket change..." He grumbled. "I think 'We're screwed' fits pretty well." He glowered at Katron, who watched the fire. "You didn't answer me. Does he speak Common? I don't like how you two just go into talk between each other... Though, he'd probably be as confused as I am if I were to speak Dark Elvish... if he doesn't know Common..." He shook his head. "Bah... nevermind. That blank face of his gives me enough information."
“... The records say... well... unofficial records say he was put into spell-sleep centuries ago... I'm not sure if Common was even spoken so-um-commonly, back then... but what I speak is an eastern dialect... my family has always spoken it, and it was taught to Min as well. There are multiple languages spoken in Elaine, truthfully.”
“And obviously, none that I know... If he could speak Dark Elven, it would be amazing...” The dark elf grumbled and stuck his tongue out at Katron, who shook his head and spoke a few words forcefully to Turick. The younger's eyes widened and, emitting a growl, returned the phrase to him.
“(Umm... what did you say?)” Lin looked tentatively towards Katron. He smugly chuckled.
“(Whatever an elf said before I killed him.)”
Lin grimaced, and looked back at Turick. “I assure you, he had no clue what he just said...”
Turick's eye twitched. “He had better not have... That is the most obscene curse in the Drow society!”
“That wouldn't surprise me. He says he learned it off a dead man...” She gulped, glancing back and forth between the two of them.
Turick grimaced and turned his back on them, lying at the side of the bed. “Feh... Forget it. He's looking for a fight.”
Katron continued to smile smugly as Turick turned over. “(He gives up too easily.)”
“(I wish you would TOO.)”
Katron turned his eyes from the fire and settled down at the edge of the hearth. Lin looked down nervously as the small gap between her and the fire that Katron resided in. Pulling the blanket more closely around her, she shivered in the heat of the dim firelight and looked over at her friend once more, checking for the reassuring rise and fall of Minaiya's chest where she lay beneath the few slim covers they could scrounge up. Lin couldn't help but feel uncertain in such close company, and sighed as she nudged away from the fire to gaze out the window, not setting her head down to rest for a long time that night, guiltily sitting on the bed as she listened to the whispery beginnings of snores escape from either side of the floor.
"Ugh... Where are we going, anyways? I'm hungry." Turick grumbled as he adjusted Minaiya, who rode piggy-back that day.
"East... they say that's where our dialect came from... if you have a plan, I'd love to hear it right about now. Besides, there's a larger city this way, if I remember. We have to earn some coins, quick, or at least some food..."
"I have no CLUE... 'only thing I can think of is stealing some grub, but that's just me, and you'd probably dislike that..."
She sighed, pushing her arms a little deeper into the crooks of her arms as her stomach rumbled silently. "I dislike hunger more than the notion, but getting caught more than either... it's too risky, truthfully..." She rummaged through her side pouches, unsuccessful until the end, when she pulled out a bag she held in front of Turick. "You should have it. You need your strength."
He took the bag from in where it'd been brought in front of his eye, and gave it a short inspection. "Here," he grabbed for a brown stick from the pouch and then shoved it into Lin's vision in the same fashion as she had, chewing as they walked. "You guys should have some too; no need for you two to starve..."
"I'm not hungry..." She replied quickly, switching hands to hand it to Katron. "(It's just some dried meat... but it's all we could find. I offered to Turick, and he wants you to have part.)"
"(I am fine... My hunger can wait until the next town.)" What seemed like a smile crept its way onto Katron's face.
Lin looked uncertainly back at the trail, and replaced the pouch along with her feelings, for the moment. "Perhaps we could pawn something?" She said offhand, to try and cut the silence. She motioned her hands in a unspecific way as she inspected the party.
"Like what? Katron doesn't have anything and I don't think I have much either..."
She pointed to the ornament on his head. "There's that... I'm sure you could hide your ears with the wrap by itself..."
Turick did a double-take. "Ne? You want to pawn the jewel-thingy? I don't think it'd be worth anything... barely enough for BREAD..." He shifted Min on his back as she slipped off to the side slightly. It was hard to keep a person from falling when they couldn't cling to you. "And I'm not hiding my ears..." he said with a slight snort to his tone.
"But it must hurt to bandage them down like that... why don't you take it off, then? It'd also be cooler, you loose heat through your head-"
"I just don't WANT TO, ok?!" he shouted, before he mumbled something under his breath.
She drew back at the shout, and then stopped dead in her tracks. "You're such a fake! 'I just don't want to'. You can't even admit that you're ashamed of your ears! I'm not so naive as Minaiya!"
"I am NOT ashamed! People just don't take favorably to people who travel with DROWS, ok?!"
“Well of course, they can't tell by you angled features or dark skin ALONE that you just MIGHT be drow, hmm?” Lin looked up at him from beneath dark, sleep-deprived eyes with an expression of pure dibelief.
He sighed. ".......... fine... I am ashamed... happy?" He grumbled.
"I'm certainly not happy to be LIED to every time people see fit to try and 'protect me'!" She growled, and stomped off ahead of him with a swish of her hair.
"Protect you? I'm looking out for MYSELF..." He mumbled as he followed, Katron still shaking his head slowly without understanding.
"Then you're saying you don't trust me."
"Sheesh... you're confusing, you know that?"
"Feh. Like you're one to talk..."
He growled and just shook his head as he let out an exaggerated breath. Katron put a hand on Turick's shoulder to stop him. "(Stop your fighting. Both of you are being stubborn. Let me carry Minaiya.)" He motioned his words the best he could to Turick before lifting Min off of turick and onto his own back.
Turick seemed to understand without Lin's help, and allowed Min to be taken from his back. "Fine Katron..." He shook his head.
The next few hours passed in relative silence, and even more so for Katron, who couldn't understand the rude names Lin and Turick called each other from time to time, though they may not have understood each other anyhow.
"Finally, town... here..." Turick unfastened his adornment and tossed it to Lin. "Since we're in need of money, go and pawn the damn thing." He retied it the best he could without the ease of the simple pin.
"You can pawn it yourself!" She tossed it back at him, resisting the urge to force its imprint into his face. "I'm not some gopher for you, I have my own plans!"
"It was your idea!" he growled out.
"It's YOUR stupid 'worthless' ornament," She closed her eyes in frustration. "I only suggested! If all you need me for is that, I have better ways to use my time..."
"Fine!" Turick turned on his heels and stomped off down the dusty path, into one of the many directions that sprawled out before them.
The town itself was like a spider web, branching off wherever it needed to grow or expand, a cart or a merchant taking up whatever small triangle or shape of nook he could along the crowded streets.
"(We should find a room to place Minaiya for the time, Lin.)" Katron shifted Min in his arms.
"(Ahh-hm... yeah... but someone will have to watch her... I wouldn't trust her in a room by herself, even locked...)" She uneasily shook her anger aside as she looked at Minaiya.
"(I will watch her... You and... 'Turick'... can do what you please in the town...)"
"(I hate to admit I was going to ask, if you hadn't offered,)" she scratched her head and sighed as she rearranged her headband. "(There's not much you could probably do if you can't speak to the residents.)"
"(Yes. That, and they might not like my shame.)" He shrugged to his tattoos. "(They might find me too.... 'weird')"
"(For pity's sake! You're not the only one with TATOOS! No one here has any idea of their significance!)" She shoved him forward a little, down the street. "(Let's head this way... no more talk of Elaine today...)"
"(Okay, Lin...)" He nodded as he allowed her to shove him forward. They headed down the first street that approached them, the only thought on Lin's mind was to continue head east, and to continue watching themselves as if every occupant of the city knew them by sight. To her, there was no option of being caught.
Lin pointed to the door of a rather normal-looking building. "(It's a bar, but do you see the posting to the right of the door? It says there are rooms availible...)"
He nodded and walked ahead of Lin. He opened it with his shoulder, and it swung easily around its post as he shifted Minaiya slightly to get them both inside. An older woman blinked as Lin and Katron came in, thick brown curls bobbing slightly as she tilted her head up and down t take their entire group in.
"Um. Hello." Her eyes were wide and took Katron in repeatedly. "Can... I help you?"
Lin pushed in from behind him. "Our friend just came down with some heat stroke on the road. We were hoping for a room till the morn..." She smiled nervously, not sure how best to “sell” the situation.
"Of course, we have an extra room upstairs. Are you looking for a cheap room?" She still looked at Katron, even as she obviously spoke to Lin.
“We don't have much money..." She began, hoping to have the inn-keep make the first offer.
"Oh, Really? How much do you have, dear?" She looked at Lin, but her eyes kept wandering to Katron as he shifted uneasily under the notice.
"We've got just 5 Drohks to our name, ma'am..."
She put a finger to her lips and let out a small "hmmm." She smiled, "alright dear, you can have the room for 2 Drohks, BUT!" she giggled. "You have to tell me why this young man has such weird tattoos." She giggled nervously.
They really do think they're “weird”. Lin nearly choked. "It's... a mark of bravery in our village. He's won the past few tournaments... and the red-" I feel terrible... I hope Katron never finds out what I'm saying- "are marks of royalty... he's one in line to power, but it's very distant-" how am I going to explain why we have so little MONEY then?! "but we decided to journey, but we haven't found much work on our way..."
“Ah, I see! (heart)" She smiled a bit to warmly for Lin's comfort. "And he speaks? He doesn't seem to be very talkative."
"I'm-" I don't like that look on her face. "His translator. We speak an eastern dialect..."
"(What is taking so long, Lin...? Why does she keep looking at me like that...)?" Katron shifted as the woman's eyes lit up.
"Ah, I see he does talk. Well, I guess I'd best let you go put your friend in the room. Have fun now." She held out a key. "The third room on the left."
“Have fun”? Lin thought sickeningly. I hope I'm inferring more than I should... "Thank you!" Lin tried her best to look more pleased than she was as she handed the woman the 2 pieces. She was less pleased when she saw the room...
"(This... is a room...? My coffin looked more comfortable...)" Katron mumbled as he laid Min on the bed. "(How are we to find the dark-)” There was a bit of a pause as Katron licked his lips in thought. “-Turick?" He finally said the name, almost clumsily.
"(I have a feeling that 'Inky's gonna find us when he's good and ready... looking for a single person in this town would be counter-productive. All I'm going to try and find is work...)"
Katron nodded. "(Well... do you have any idea what you could do?)” Katron paused again. Lin was beginning to worry whenever he had to “think” about what he was saying. “(On another thought... nevermind.)" He shook his head. "(I'd rather not know what a woman must do for work now...)"
Lin couldn't help herself from reddening. "Hu-" Her words dropped off with a hiss as she failed to regain her composure. "(How could you assume such things about me?! You're no better than that stupid ELF!)" She cursed the rest under her breath vehemantly as she slammed the door on the room and stomped off into the hall.
He blinked slowly. "(I do not know the customs now... 200 years is too long a time...)" He sighed. "(Trinity, what am I to do...?)" He slid to the ground and held his head as he leaned against the bed they'd laid Minaiya onto.
"(I don't belong here...)"
"(Bah! Stupid Lin... pissing me off and shit.)" Turick cursed in rough Dark Elven speech as he spat. "(Now I have to sell my gem and I don't have any clue where to do it!)" He grumbled as he passed a shop that look promising, ducking back to it to peak his head in. "Lo..." He whispered slowly, stepping inside. He nodded to the shopkeep as he approached the counter. "I want to sell something."
The shopkeep eyed him over the rims of delicate-looking spectacles, and returned his gaze to a scroll he'd unrolled across the counter, old parchment over the darksurface, barely distinguishable as wood.
"Did you hear me? I said I would like to sell something."
"I heard you, boy." He continued scanning down the scroll, this time not even looking up from where his hands traced down a row of symbols.
Turick lowered his eyes to a thin line. "Then look at least." He placed the gem on the counter and crossed his arms. "How much could I get for it...?" He turned his mouth to the side, knowing he'd get a poor deal if any deal at all.
He finally rolled up the scroll and set it was a heavy clunk against the wooden counter. "It's amber, at best, and glass at worst..." He picked it up, and held it up to a small pocket of light which came in from a flap in the canvas roofing.
"Uh-huh. Go on." Turick nodded his head impatiently.
He glanced over at Turick, and gave him back the piece. "I don't deal in costume jewelry, and I don't DEAL with impatient ruffians..."
Turick's face suddenly changed completely, going from strained to surprised in a moment. "I'm sorry, my companions sent me to sell this and I'm not in a decent mood... I'm sleep deprived, hungry and just a tad ticked. So could I PLEASE sell this...?" He said as he rubbed between his eyes.
He picked the piece back up from the counter where Turick hadn't picked it up yet, and he brought out a scale. "You're lucky you apologized... I don't know many other merchants in town who's even SPEAK to a dark elf..." He looked over his glasses before continuing to inspect the broach. "You're a horrible knot-worker..." He coughed, almost a chuckle.
"I usually don't have to tie them... I have, er, HAD the broach to hold it." He smirked. "So, what do ya' think? Worth anything?"
"It's glass, but it's NOT tin... and I know how to convince a lady of a piece's good heritage." He looked up, closing his eyes as he thought. "I can't give you more than... 43 silver, though... jewelry isn't a large market here... but I'll give you an even 5 gold, since it's for 'your companions'." He smiled weakly and ducked under the counter.
"Thank you sir, we've been hit with a lot of shit recently, lost all my stuff and we spent our money on a room at the last town. Bad Karma, you know."
He waved him off as he came back up with a bag. "I don't need a sob story... emotions ruin a businessman, they say..." He smirked, and set five large coins in Turick's palm. "Keep it somewhere you'll notice the weight...there are many sticky fingers and quick knives in this town..."
"Thanks again." He nodded. "I'll keep an eye open for them... Good luck." He smiled and walked out of the store. "(Nice guy.)" He shrugged and walked down the street. "(Now. Where is the closest inn...?)"
Lin stepped down the stairs in an angry huff, not listening kindly to the squeaky complaints of the well used steps and creaking banister as her eyes darted to the faces of a multitude of customers who swamped the eagerly darkened crevices of the room, jovial and raucous conversations carrying loudly from the candle-lit corners.
Brown, silver-streaked hair passed by in a blur, and the same inn-keeper woman she'd met before turned to face her with a stretched smile on her face.
“You're looking for work, did you say?”
“Ah. Yes.” Lin still wasn't certain if she trusted the expressions the woman made, or the way she never dropped that ever-present smile.
“I was hoping I'd heard right. Will you help out here-?”
“I-I can't cook.”
“Mix the Spirits?”
“Only to clean a wound.”
“That's not quite what I had in mind-“
“Where's the roast boar, Marjet? I've been waiting a short ETERNITY!” came the loud masculine voice of one such customer from across the room.
“Coming, Jack, patience, MAN!” She turned back to Lin with a tired grin tickling the edges of her mouth. “They come once a month from the caravans and they think they own the place just because they remember one pretty face.”
Lin looked up at her elder with bewilderment. The older sighed, and sent a kurt look at Lin's clothes before Lin finally returned it with a glare at the excess attention. Marjet finally let out a breath.
“Can you wait tables?”
“I suppose.”
“That's not the attitude I need. WILL YOU OR NOT?! You're WELCOME to find work elsewhere!” For the first time, her smile broke, and Lin cringed at the sight of the strain the woman must have been holding back.
“No. I-“
“No, what?”
“I want to work-no-I NEED to work, ma'am.”
“Go get changed. You're not showing off ANYTHING in THAT.”
Lin suppressed the appalled look she almost gave the woman as she was “escorted” to the back of the establishment with a few shoves and a great deal of leading. She did her best to try and look at her surroundings, but any time they paused a moment, she found it was only so that they might open another well bolted wooden door, or move an obstruction of pots, food crates, or supplies out of the way. Perhaps four doors and 5 crates later, they finally arrived into a large walk-in closet.
Lin eyed the tiny sparkles and soft sheen of lace and velvet that peeked from under some of the sheets that were tacked around the room with wonder. She had rarely had the chance to see more expensive clothes before in her life, let alone a room so full of them that each seemed to compete to show her it's grandeur and fine taste. She turned her head as she realized again that Marjet was shuffling under one of the smaller cloths.
“Ahh... this might work...” The cloth fluffed a few times as Marjet was obviously pulling something from the area beneath. Lin peered in closer as the she finally wrestled her prize free of the storage area.
“What is it?”
“Well... what are THEY, dear. Corsets, petticoats, blouses, sashes.... “
Lin stared into the large wooden box suspiciously. “You intend for me to wear such things?”
“Of course. Now, just for waiting tables, you needn't have all the fancy under-things. I'd say, this light corset, and a dress, now... that one's too small for you...”
Lin swallowed with a grimace. Something about the entire box left a bad taste in her mouth, and she had to hold back her instinctual glower as the lady held what to her seemed more like a white sack with random straps hanging from it than a true “dress”.
“How do I wear that?”
“Oh don't be stupid, girl!” Marjet gave an exasperated look as she tossed the pile at Lin. Lin barely had time to adjust her balance as her vision was completely obscured by the clothes.
“MARJ! I've got a special CUSTOMER here!” Lin began to try and unravel them from her head as she heard the female voice yell from somewhere past the closet they were in.
“Take'im up to the third floor, dear. Come back down if you need anything.”
She heard footsteps just outside, and recognized the sound of solid working shoes echoing along with hard heels. By the time she'd pulled the mass of fabric off of her, there was only Marjet standing in the doorway, speaking with another man with a pot in his hands. Their conversation was low and quit, and soon enough he headed off in the direction Lin thought the bar was. It was hard to remember exactly which directions they'd gone from the front until then.
“Slip it on, girl. I have to see if it fits, after all.”
“But... you're-“ Lin let the statement break, and finally began to strip off what clothes she had, and turned the other direction as she tried to figure out which way was up. Marjet decided to show her instead.
“This is the yoke. Raise your arms.”
Lin froze reflexively, down to a mere slip and bodice of her own between her and the older woman.
“Hmm. You'll have to take that off too. Don't worry though; the corset will hold them up.” Lin couldn't help the glare she held then, though she changed it as soon as she realized how angry she looked. The older woman chuckled at the sight of her face, which only made Lin feel more distressed as she gulped down the acidic aftertaste of her words.
“That's good. Now, you put this on first-no... that's the armhole...”
Lin had twisted the straps around her head, which Marjet dislodge and slipped down to her shoulders, and reached around Lin's waist. Lin cringed at the manuever, and soon realized that she was pulling the vest-like piece around her.
“Put your arms through these. Yes, and buckle those... hmm... I'll have to let out the sides. No. Buckle it first.”
Lin obeyed as best she could, and turned as Marjet fiddled with the ties and straps, finally holding onto Lin's shoulders and turning her around to face a mirror Lin hadn't realized was even in the room. Lin blinked at her reflection, finally having a chance to see where each odd layer had contributed.
She turned slightly, lifting up the large bell sleeves and feeling the stiffly boned structure of the “corset”.
“It looks great on you. The skirt is actually shorter on you than I expected, but it should be fine.” Marjet's smile had been replaced with a smug look as she grabbed Lin's hand to lead her back out to the tables. Lin followed uneasily, the queasy and uncertain feeling in her stomach stronger than ever.
But. We really need the money. I have a plan...
