Open Chronicles All That Glitters

[Avrael]

The river was dull, churned up, and busy. The streets bore the wear and dust of countless feet and wheels. The buildings were hard and cold. And the sky was bright, cloudless, and cold.

Avrael had come to this place with no preconceived notions of what to expect, no mind as to how many beings would be here, and no preparation for the smell. It was rotting fish, and body odour, and brine. But it was also pies and breads cooling in window sills, and soups being offered for sale by dumpy men in low tents, and soaps from the laundry hung between buildings to dry. It was the wet planks of ships, and slippery cobbles, and weathered leather. It was overwhelming to her sensitive nose, and also glorious.

It was the perfect place to sparkle.

She had inquired with a burly man selling wooden tools as to how to go about finding her own spot to sell her glittering wares, and he had grunted and waved a rough hand down the street. The Merchant Council was who she needed to speak with, but they were apparently a fair walk away. The komodi sucked on a fish head she had found sitting beside a barrel, abandoned with nothing but its fins for company, while her bare feet carried her along the cobbles.

 

[Kara Orin]

In front of a merchant’s stall, Kara’s eyes scanned an assortment of jewelry on display. She looked over everything – from rings, necklaces, and more. Her expression remain unchanged – neutral.

“Anything caught your eye, miss?” the merchant asked.

When Kara’s eye fell upon an earring, the merchant quickly said, “That would look lovely on you! I normally sell it for two doca-“

“Sorry,” Kara interrupted as she backed away from the stall, “Just browsing.”

The merchant immediately dropped the price, yet Kara continued to walk away. This was the third jewelry stall that Kara browsed this day. She did not purchase a single item.

As Kara walked down the cobblestone path, she passed by the Komodo Avrael. At first, Kara just glanced over her. Yet after a second delay, her attention snapped to the gaudy jewelry Avrael wore.

Stepping toward Avrael – who stood over half a foot taller than Kara – she called out to the Komodo with, “Excuse me!”

Kara reached out to tap Avrael’s arm.

“You look amazing,” Kara told Avrael, despite likely not knowing what the Komodi’s standard for beauty is, “Just where'd you get your jewelry?”

 

[Avrael]

The bustle of the area included the din of conversations in undertone and the yells of merchants hawking their wares, calling back uninterested potential clientele. And so it was that Avrael didn't pay any attention to the first call out from the pale teenager. It was the tap on the arm that brought her to a halt.

Avrael blinked in surprise and jerked ever so slightly at the touch, then looked down at the dark haired young woman. The komodo was not accustomed to being touched unexpectedly. It seemed most non-Komodi had something against her scales? Or her clothes? She honestly wasn't sure what it was all about.

You look amazing. "Oh!" A smile lit up Avrael's face at the unsolicited compliment. She was proud of her looks, and pleased to be recognized for the efforts she went to. The follow-up question was even better.

"I make it," Avrael replied, the points of her teeth evident in her smile, delicate fish bones poking out of the corner of her mouth. She thrust a hand into a deep pocket in her trousers and withdrew a small wooden box, which she opened to reveal a variety of minuscule pendents. "This is my craft."

 

[Kara Orin]

Once Kara got Avrael’s attention, her hand retreated from the startled Komodo.

“You make it?” Kara questioned after Avrael’s declaration.

When Avrael revealed the pendants in her wooden box, Kara took a few seconds to visually examine the komodo’s wares. She scratched her chin while silently gazing at it. Unlike with the previous merchant’s jewelry that she saw, Kara’s eyes widened.

Looking back up to Avrael, Kara quickly asked, “I must visit your shop one day. Where is it?”

 

[Avrael]

Avrael nodded in confirmation, pleasure evident on her face and in her body language - shoulders back, chin high, eyes gleaming. She had not expected to find clients before even setting up a booth.

She quietly closed the little plain box when Kara's attention lifted, and safely stowed it back in the deep trouser pocket. This was only a sample, something she kept at the ready for when she was on foot. Everything else was in the pack Avrael wore.

"I have no shop," Avrael admitted, her shoulder rising and falling in a delicate shrug. "I only just arrived here and was seeking the right folk to set up my own space." The komodo had no timeline in mind for how long she might stay in Elbion - either until her wares were all sold, or interest waned and it was best to move on. "Are you seeking anything in particular?"

 

[Kara Orin]

“No shop?” Kara muttered after Avrael just told her.

As the Komodo continued to explain, a greedy grin formed on Kara’s face. When Avrael asked her question, Kara shot a single finger up in the air.

“Just a single custom request,” Kara answered as she wrapped a finger from her second hand around the finger she extended earlier like a ring.

“How well is your engraving?” Kara asked.

 

[Avrael]

A custom request? This girl was enthusiastic. It wasn't common for Avrael to receive special orders, but she welcomed them all the more for that fact. It was even less common to have a client who beamed so brightly with just the request, before any product had been started.

"My engraving is some of the finest you'll find done without the use of magic," Avrael replied, not entirely boasting. She honestly had not seen anywhere in her travels skills of fine metal working detail any better than her own.

She chomped down the remaining fish spine and tail, swallowed the crunchy snack, then took Kara's raised finger in a gentle grasp. "You have delicate hands," she observed, turning Kara's hand over and studying her digits. "Do you need a ring making? That will take time.... Or engraving of one you already possess?" Avrael's bright canary eyes lifted from her inspection up to the dark haired girl's face, all business.

 

[Kara Orin]

Kara’s left eye twitched as Avrael finished the fishy snack. Then a couple blinks followed as Avrael touched her finger. Her smile faded for the moment that Avrael took to look over her fingers.

A faint smile returned when Avrael looked back up to Kara’s face.

“Time isn’t an issue for me,” Kara replied, “A new ring would give you more freedom to be creative, right?”

 

[Avrael]

Avrael released Kara's finger and instead hooked her thumbs in the straps of her pack. She hadn't noticed the moment of apparent discomfort from the human girl, so engrossed was the komodo in her thoughts.

"Oh, most certainly," Avrael nodded. The prospect of this project was getting progressively more intriguing. How creative was the girl thinking?

"If there's somewhere with a table we could use I could do some sketches based on your ideas. Do you know this area well?"

 

[Kara Orin]

“Of course,” Kara replied.

Pointing to a street to her left, Kara told Avrael, “There’s a tavern a bit that way.”

Taking a step in that direction, Kara continued with, “With the sun still high, it shouldn’t be too rowdy.”

As Kara began the walk to the tavern, she asked Avrael, “How many years have you been a jeweler?"

 

[Avrael]

Avrael made a mental note to ask Kara afterwards if she could direct her more specifically to the Merchant Council, since the girl was familiar with the town. Avrael was more accustomed to open plains and foothills than enclosed streets with multi-storey buildings where she couldn't see anything beyond the next intersection. Hence, she often got lost in larger towns and cities.

The komodo stalled briefly when the human mentioned a tavern. Avrael's past experience with dining establishments hadn't been entirely positive. But perhaps if it wasn't busy, as Kara suggested, it would be okay. Avrael nodded to accept the choice of location, then began walking along beside Kara.

How long had she plied her trade? That was not a question Avrael had been asked in a very long time. Her gaze went skyward as she tapped her fingertips, lips working silently as she thought back. After a short span of silence, her bright eyes again found the girl's face. "A little over a century," she finally replied.

Avrael lifted her chin as she scanned down the street, trying to see beyond the bodies walking with and against them at any varying rate of haste. "How far is the tavern?" she inquired.

 

[Kara Orin]

“A century?” Kara uttered with wide eyes, “No wonder you’re so skilled.”

When Avrael asked her question, Kara replied with, “It’s just about…”

Kara turned a corner down another street. Then, she pointed at a building with the sign “Lazy Day Tavern” hanging over the entrance. The establishment was squished between two other buildings. The paint on the sign and tavern seemed overdue for a recoating.

“Right here,” Kara finally said as she began to walk to the tavern entrance.

The closer the pair got to the tavern, the louder the noise from within got. A pair of human men burst through the entrance from within bar. Despite there being several hours of daylight left, they were stumbling and slurring as they left.

Kara pushed the swinging door open. The smell of tobacco filled the air. The bar had two-third of its seats occupied while three-quarters of the tables were occupied. The conversations of the patrons deafened the noise of the crowd outside.

“Yep,” Kara began, “Not too busy. Let’s grab a table.”

 

[Avrael]

Avrael almost missed Kara as she turned down a side street, having been paying attention further down and not to the steps of the shorter woman. Righting her path, her yellow eyes took in the tatty sign and her ears recognized the boisterous clamour coming from within.

The komodo's steps faltered as the two men lurched out of the pub and her face paled somewhere beneath her scales. Avrael knew drunk when she saw it. And smelled it, for that matter. She wrinkled her nose at the stench of the men and the overwhelming wafting tobacco smoke, but followed behind Kara into the establishment none-the-less.

There are a lot of humans here, was her first thought once her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. A lot of human men. Avrael's tale twitched in agitation. The komodo had a bad feeling about this place, but it was her client's choice...

Thankfully for the moment the patrons all seemed too involved in their own conversations, drinks, and meals to be bothered paying attention to the pair entering. She scanned the room and found one small table crushed behind two others that were vacant, about as far away from the bar as they could get of those seats which were unoccupied. "There," she pointed, raising her voice just loud enough to be heard by Kara.

 

[Kara Orin]

Kara looked over to where Avrael pointed.

“Alright,” she said as she headed over to the empty table.

A few patrons took a glance toward Kara and Avrael for their own reasons. One man – at least ten years Kara’s senior – that looked up had the same type of cloak as Kara.

Not long after Kara took a seat, a brunette, lithe waitress found her way to the small table to politely take orders.

“Some fruit juice and chicken skewers, please,” Kara requested first.

The waitress turned to Avrael to see if the Komodo wanted anything. Kara reached into her robe and began to rummage around for something within.

 

[Avrael]

Avrael watched the other patrons from the corner of her eye as she crossed the bar, until their attention went back to their own evenings. So far there didn't appear to be anything to be concerned about, but the komodo was still on edge. She placed her pack on the floor and perched on the front of the hard wooden chair, bag between her feet.

"Ah..." She faltered when the waitress came over. Avrael was not accustomed to being served. And she had no idea what kind of food this establishment would have available. "Some.... meat? Cooked, perhaps? And bread would be nice."

The brunette gave the komodo a quizzical look, clearly not thinking that her request was a proper order. "All our meat is cooked, ma'am," the waitress replied, obviously thinking it not was something that needed to be stated out loud. "How about I bring chicken for you both?" Avrael nodded, a slight blush darkening her scaled cheeks.

When the lithe woman walked away, Avrael bent down to her pack and pulled a small notepad and thin stick of charcoal from a side pocket. She placed them both on the table, then folded her hands together over the set. "What do you have in mind for this ring?" she queried, preferring to get back to business and try to ignore the other patrons.

 

[Kara Orin]

“Straight to business?” Kara said with a half-smile.

When Avrael revealed her notepad, Kara plucked a single parchment from within her robe. She rolled it out on the table to reveal its contents.

The paper contained several drawings clearly displaying distinct patterns on a “flattened” and crudely sketched band. The patterns maintained a distinct order, and some appeared to be characters of some type of script. If Avrael possessed such knowledge, she would recognize it as a runic pattern.

“One with this engraving, exactly,” Kara told Avrael as she looked at the Komodo square in the face, “Though I’d be happy if you took some liberty in the final look.”

 

[Avrael]

Avrael responded with a tight smile of her own. "Business is what we're here for, after all."

The komodo touched the proffered parchment lightly, scrutinizing the design. She could not read, had never learned any letters, so the runes meant nothing to her. The lines were simple enough, but the entirety of the piece presented was complex to be put on something so small as a ring.

"I am glad that time is not an issue," Avrael stated, looking up from the parchment to find Kara staring at her intently. "This will take some fine detail work. May I take the parchment? Or would you prefer I copied - sss!" Her words were cut short and a sharp hiss issued between her teeth as a large man stomped on her tail and leered over the table.

"Wha's a purty little thing doing wit' a liz'rd like this'un?" The brute directly at Kara, apparently using what he thought to be a wooing voice. He was hairy, beefy, and had a thick beard that covered the bottom half of his face. He smelled of liquor and tobacco, but so did everyone else in the bar. His eyes then fell on the parchment on the table and narrowed in interest. "Wha's this then?"

 

[Kara Orin]

As soon as Avrael asked for the parchment, Kara began pushing it toward the jeweler. Her head twitched back at Avrael’s sudden hiss. While komodos were stereotyped to frequently hiss by Elbion’s humans, this was the first time Kara ever saw a Komodo just hiss mid-sentence.

When the brute suitor began to speak, Kara looked over to first see the large man himself and then his foot atop Avrael’s tail. Her face full of surprise from Avrael’s hiss shifted to just a neutral, relaxed one.

Before the man could finish his question, Kara closed her eyes and reached over to her right shoulder with her left hand. When she touched her shoulder, there was a pulse of magic. The other mage in the Lazy Day Tavern looked up.

Kara opened her eyes. Looking at the man, she gave him a faint smile and told him, “Thanks.”

When the man's attention turned to the parchment, Kara added, "College business. Maybe we can get to know each other when I’m done?"

 

[Avrael]

Avrael was astonished by Kara's apparent indifference to the boorish man and Avrael's own distress. The komodo was in pain, and also embarrassed, and her client didn't seem to care.

Her gaze flickered between Kara and the man she had thanked, confounded as to what had transpired between them. Was there some secret Avrael had missed? Annoyance suddenly bubbled up in her chest, but she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply through her nose. It's simply business. It was not as though the girl herself had caused Avrael any specific hurt.

Standing abruptly to her full height, Avrael whipped her tail which caused the man to stumble off of it from strength he evidently had not expected from the lithe feminine komodo. She slid the parchment across the table and rolled it into a loose tube. "We are done," Avrael advised, forcing a smile onto her face. "The price will be twelve docatto. If that is to your agreement, find me in a Pnerian month. I will have your ring ready." She held her hand out across the table to Kara to shake.

 

[Kara Orin]

Once the man stumbled back, Kara’s forced half-smile quickly dissolved and gave way to her normal scowl. A few patrons nearby saw the kerfuffle and began to whisper. The waitress that was nearby paused.

Kara then looked up to Avrael and listened to her proposal. Not even a second passed by until Kara rose from the table as well. The sturdy table wobbled as Kara braced herself on it to stand.

“That works for me,” Kara told Avrael as she gingerly extended her hand. Despite that, she gave a firm handshake.

“And if you need a place to sell your wares, let me know,” Kara added.

 

[Avrael]

Avrael accepted Kara's handshake with a nod, acknowledging the offer of help for a place to sell. Avrael couldn't imagine what help the youngling could provide, but would consider it if she could not make arrangements with the merchant's guild.

The komodo picked up her bag and stepped away from the table. She brushed past the drunk man, and pressed a copper piece into the hand of the waitress. "You can cancel my order," she said, then left the bar and its whispers behind.

 

[Kara Orin]

Kara stayed by the table as Avrael left the bar. She suddenly looked down in a moment of thought.

They never bothered to settle where to meet.

After a second, Kara shook her head. If Avrael wanted to find Kara prior to the month’s end, the symbol on Kara’s cloak would give Avrael an idea of where to start. She was not the only one to openly sport it in the town. Though, finding one that personally knew Kara would be a challenge.

The drunkard approached Kara and restarted his attempts to woo the girl. The man placed a hand on Kara’s arm. Instead of the faux appreciation of his attempt, Kara gave the man a frown and a swift knee to the man’s groin. The drunk fell over – toppled by both the low blow and the fact that Kara activated body strengthening magic just before Avrael got up from the seat.

Similar to Avrael, Kara placed some coin in the waitress’s hand.

“Sorry for the disturbance,” Kara told the waitress just before she exited.

Kara would disappear into the Port District – either to be found by Avrael or to eventually seek her out after one month.