[The Great Bazar] A Day at the Market (Tyuru)

[Eris]

44th Day, Spring of 510 A.V.

Eris looked to be just another potential customer to the vendors – wandering idly through the bazaar and occasionally stopping to look at a particular stand. What she was actually doing, however, was following a short, bald man. He stopped at almost every stand, fondling each shiny object on display and trying out every pastry he could find. So, Eris was obliged to stop as well, pretending to be interested in everything from carpets to carrots. In truth, she was quite tired of tailing the man. It would have been so much easier to slit his throat and take that oh-so-valuable paper in his coat pocket. But, of course, it could never be that easy. Her employer had insisted that she leave the man breathing - not her usual style, but she was getting paid extra for the inconvenience. So here she was, waiting for a good time to bump into the target and grab the ledger hidden away in his pocket.

Eris let her gaze wander away from the man’s shiny head for a moment to look up at the ceiling of the bazaar. It was the first market she’d been in that actually had a ceiling, seeing as it was located in the basement of Stormhold Castle. She preferred to work in the open air – more escape routes and better ways to cover one’s tracks.

Eris brushed the hilt of her dagger, her impatience growing.

[Tyuru]

It was stifling.

Tyuru was feeling slightly claustrophobic. The pressing bodies of the people around her, added to the imprisonment of the roof above her but the wide space around her, made her feel rather like a caged animal. It was so different to her homeland, the beautiful Sea of Grass, where everything was wide open and free…

Thoughts of home were driven from her mind as her stomach growled. Her week’s worth of food had been diminished a good two days beforehand and the pangs of hunger echoing around her stomach were growing ever harder to ignore. She had never been this hungry. She recalled the sleepless nights she spent trying in vain to slip into blissful unawareness but used, instead, watching with jealousy as her horse nibbled at the grass (he was now at the stables – Tyuru had paid the stable boy with something other than money). She had even tried nibbling at the pale green shoots of grass herself.

The numerous smells of food rising around her were intoxicating. She followed her nose, staring at food like it was the most wonderful thing in the world. She looked like such a peasant, she thought, catching a glimpse of herself in a polished silver plate on display in a nearby booth. Her hair was disheveled and her clothing was dirty.

She bumped into a bald man who was inspecting an expensive-looking silver statue on display. He didn’t pay her the slightest bit of attention, but she felt something fall from his coat.

A small collection of papers.

Tyuru picked the ledger up and looked for its owner, but he had disappeared into the crowd. Straining her neck and standing on her tiptoes, she tried and failed to find him in the throng of people gazing at the goods being sold.

But what could a book do to relieve her hunger?
She couldn’t read – that was a luxury reserved for elder members of the clan – and the paper was worth little. The ledger meant nothing to her, but she kept it lest she run into its rightful owner. He probably didn’t even know it was gone.

Nearby was a small stall with fruit and vegetables being sold on it. The seller was a large, beefy man with almost no neck and a large, bushy beard that made his neck seem to be even less, as well as a large, evil-looking parrot on his shoulder.

The vegetables were fresh and Tyuru could smell the apples and pears from five feet away. The smell was so intoxicating that she could hardly stop her mouth from watering. The other smells of baked bread or pastries weren’t nearly as scrumptious as this, the aroma of nature’s goodness and gifts.

She considered the gold in the hidden pocket of her skirt. The red draw-string bag it was in. The amount that was there. 100 gold mizas. Not very much. Not much to spare on food. Who knew what other things might come along to spend it on?

Tyuru sidled closer to the stall, feigning interest in the items displayed in the neighboring booth (wooden carvings similar to those her brother had once made). Could she do it? she wondered. Could she steal? Maybe if he would just look away…

She was within grabbing distance of the pears when a customer drew the shopkeeper’s attention away. In the split second his head turned her hand shot out and seized a brown pear, her arm coming down to her side quickly and casually, hiding the fruit in the folds of her skirt. She acted normal, ambling away. She would have gotten away, too, if it wasn’t for the devilish parrot on the shopkeeper’s shoulder.

It gave a loud squawk that sounded suspiciously like ‘Thief!’ The fruit seller turned and spotted her, seeing the pear half-hidden in her skirt.

‘Thief!’ he bellowed, bustling out from behind the stall and grabbing her roughly by the arm before she could make it a few paces. She struggled, pulling at his wrist, trying to escape. ‘No,’ she said pathetically, her words disjointed, ‘no, not a thief, just looking, honest-’

‘You’ll receive the full penalty for this!’ he yelled, the parrot on his shoulder flapping its wings and squawking, glaring at her with its evil yellow eye.

[Eris]

Eris drew her gaze back to her target, but the moment of distraction had turned out to be a mistake. Her eyes grew wide as she watched a girl bump against the man, causing the ledger to fall out onto the ground. Either this girl was a professional or extremely lucky. Not that the luck in getting that ledger would mean anything to her. But to Eris, having been following the man for days, that paper meant everything. She released an exasperated sigh and began making her way through the crowd toward the fruit stand.

Just as she was within grabbing distance of the girl, she moved sideways, reaching for a pear on the stand. It was a clumsy move, one which proved to Eris that the girl’s retrieval of the ledger was nothing more than a happy accident. Seeing the vendor grab the girl, Eris inwardly groaned. All she needed was that ledger – that stupid ledger, worthless to anyone else besides her employer. And how could she get it the girl carrying it was dragged away by the vendor?

Oh, how she hated interfering in the misfortunes of others.

“I beg your pardon,” she said smoothly, moving to stand in front of the fuming vendor. “But I believe my sister was simply getting the pear for me. I did leave a copper miza on your counter and I was sure you had seen me put it there.”

And indeed, the copper miza was lying on the counter as if it had been there all this time. When in reality, Eris had only slipped it there half a second before she had spoken.

The vendor seemed to redden even more, but this time it was surely from embarrassment. “I… uh… sorry, miss. Must ‘ave been distracted,” he mumbled as he released the copper-haired girl from his grasp.

Quickly, the vendor turned away, ready to assist another customer and Eris was left glaring at the thief.

[Tyuru]

Gratitude flooded through Tyuru and she turned to thank her rescuer, rubbing her wrist where the vendor had gripped it so brutally. Around her, the people’s curious looks were less and many were turning away, their attention captured by the many exotic items for sale.

The woman in front of her was shorter than her but not by much and undoubtedly older. They had the same thin frame and the woman’s hair was a few shades darker and brighter than her own. No wonder the vendor believed her so quickly, Tyuru thought. We could be sisters.

The expression on the woman’s face drove this thought from her mind. I would never scowl at someone so, Tyuru thought, not after helping them.

Not a good first impression, then.

“Thank you so much,” she said earnestly, fearing she’d somehow angered the woman. “I’m sorry, it was foolish of me. If you hadn’t saved me, I might have lost a hand… or worse. I apologize for the trouble…” She swallowed, her throat dry. “I can repay you.”

Before the woman could speak Tyuru drew out the small red bag of gold from the hidden skirt pocket and shook three copper mizas into her palm and held out her hand to the woman, offering her the glinting coins. “My appreciation.”

[Eris]

Eris let out a sight - one of resignment rather than annoyance. She was fully prepared to be angry at this girl, but she just looked so innocent and clueless… She had made a rookie mistake in taking the pear and Eris could very well remember a time when she would have made the same one. The difference was that Joel had been there to prevent her from doing something stupid, whereas this girl didn’t seem to have anyone watching over her.

“Keep the money,” Eris said, holding up her hand. “I hear that a person should do one kind deed a month, so consider this to be mine. I would, however, very much like that paper you’ve been holding onto. My little bald friend seemed to have dropped it. He’s just so scatterbrained and he’ll surely become hysterical when he realizes it’s not where it should be.”

She gave the girl a smile that she hoped would inspire trust. The day was a pleasant one – with the sun shining and birds singing above ground. With all this cheeriness going on, Eris would hate to use her dagger to retrieve the ledger.

[Tyuru]

Tyuru would have insisted that she take the money but there was something in the woman’s voice that made her decide otherwise. With an apologetic grimace she dropped the coins into her pocket and felt the paper brush her fingers.

No sooner had she felt it than the woman asked for it. Tyuru looked uncertain and fidgeted with the ledger in her pocket.

‘Perhaps I could accompany you in returning it to him,’ she suggested, thinking that perhaps a reward might be offered in the form of a meal. The man certainly looked rich, besides, he could read and write so he must have some spare change somewhere. Miserly Tyuru didn’t want to waste any of her own gold if she could help it. ‘I hope he hasn’t gone too far.’

[Eris]

Eris felt the corners of her mouth twitch in irritation. Now she’d have to return the ledger to the very person she had been trying to steal it from. If she were to do that, she’d have to start all over again. Somehow, the prospect of following the man all around town for another few days didn’t appeal to her.

She could tell the girl the truth, of course. She had tried to steal that pear, after all; mayhap she was an aspiring thief and would understand. And if the girl decided to blab the information to someone, Eris could always go back to the fruit vendor and tell him the truth. Yes, she rather liked that plan.

After a moment’s pause, Eris spoke, “That’s quite noble of you, but I won’t be returning the ledger to the man whose pocket it fell out from. There is another person who has much more need of that paper. He had asked me to retrieve it from the bald man, but you seem to have done my job for me. Now, I promised that man that I would get the ledger for him and I’d hate to disappoint.”

This time there was quite a bit more steel in her smile.

[Tyuru]

'Ah,' Tyuru said, a smile brightening her face. 'A thief? Or perhaps, you've just been hired as one. No offense to you, of course, I’m sure normally your jobs require slightly more skill.’

During the endless journey across the wilderness, Tyuru had considered many career options. She’d decided that of course she’d need employment. Perhaps as a seamstress? She did have some of the necessary knowledge, after all. Her mother had seen to that. But no, Tyuru had thought, she didn’t want such a boring job. Imagine sitting there, day in, day out, doing nothing but working her hands to the bone?

There was one possibility that kept nagging at her. Thievery. Or better – a job in the assassination industry. She knew she might be too soft a person for such a harsh job. Her heart might fail and, in turn, so would her job. But part of her had been hardened by the events of her past and it was this part that caused her to say what she said next to the annoyed woman who had saved her.

‘I’d like you to teach me.’

(Ehhh, sorry about the whole character-delving bit, but I've been doing some mega character revision and I figure this could explain why such a young girl who dislikes harming others would want to learn to kill.)

[Eris]

Eris’s eyebrows rose in surprise. The girl was happy?! Happy to have met a thief and wanting to be taught? Eris’s first impulse was to flat out refuse, grab the ledger from the girl, and disappear. But then, this would become just another regular day and Eris would have to return to her room at Traveler’s Row, bored out of her mind. But teaching someone… That would certainly entail a break from routine – the routine that had started to get on Eris’s nerves in the past few weeks.

She had never considered teaching someone; didn’t even think it was an option. It had only been two years since she had left her own teacher, but in retrospect, she had learned in those two years more than she ever learned from Joel. What would Joel say to this? Eris didn’t like to seek her old teacher’s advice, even in her own mind. But right then, one of Joel’s little life lessons would sure come in handy.

She took a deep breath, almost ready to come to a decision. “And what is it exactly you want me to teach you? How to steal fruit?” she asked, a small smile playing on her lips.

(Don't worry about it. Character-delving is always interesting to read and write. I do it quite often )

[Tyuru]

Her smile only widened at the understated look of surprise on the woman's face. Finally, someone to teach her something worth doing. Something to earn something, if that makes sense. It did to Tyuru, and she rummaged in her pocket, retrieving the red drawstring bag of money.

What would her family say, she wondered, if they knew? Her mother would have a fit. Her father would snort, but be grudgingly supportive. Her sister would have a heart attack. Her brother would congratulate her, perhaps tell her not to pay too much.

She missed them, even if she denied it.

‘Not to steal fruit,’ she grinned, ‘but items of more… merit. For example,’ she drew the ledger from her pocket, ‘items that will bring profit.’

And maybe I could learn a darker art, she thought, but she did not say it. She still doubted her own ability to kill.

‘I can pay you,’ Tyuru said, her mind back in the present. ‘If you have your own house, I can do rudimentary housework. I can’t cook very well, but I can always learn. Or,’ she continued, the words falling from her lips in a rush, ‘I could mend or weave clothes. I can do that. Kind of. Anyway, even if you don’t require any services, I can pay. I learn fast, I really do. Well, mostly.’

I sound foolish, she thought. I sound like I’m a little girl again, overeager to accompany the men when they go out riding.

‘Besides,’ she continued, her grin becoming a small smile, ‘you’d always have a distraction in case of emergencies.’