Completed Melodies in Ravok

[Ireth Telemnar]

Ireth had to quicken her pace to keep up with the man. Ravok was busy today, especially here in the merchant district. "Talia? Of course, we have been friends since we were little. Though I haven't seen her in a while... How is she? Oh!" A huge man rushed down the walk, shoving Ireth into Tallis. They fell, luckily against a building and not into the lake water.

[Tallis Ishtari]

Summertime in Ravok meant throngs of people on every street and canal with the greater majority of them looking for something. That something depended on who you were. Some came for the shopping and the one of a kind items you could pick up from anyone of the many merchants in the district. Others loved the canals when it came closer to evening when romance was in the air. Then there were those that came to do business, legal and other wise. He particularly loved this time of year because his income from stealing was higher than in other seasons. Even as they walked he had his eyes looking for potential prey. It was just a habit he would not look to steal anything with Ireth walking next to him.

He was busy looking down at one of the canal boats that had a school of fish eagerly rising to the surface to feed on bread some of the tourists took to throwing down into the canal when he found himself shoved against a wall. It seemed he cushioned Ireth from the full impact of the wall. His eyes narrowed at the large man and was about to say something rude but decided against it. “Are you alright?” He asked Ireth as he gazed over her body to see if she truly was. “If it weren’t for you being a friend of my sister I’d give him a good shove and send him into the canal… and she’s fine. My sister that is, she’s hasn’t been doing much of anything lately. My parents have been trying to get her to find the time to go to the shop and learn the gem setting trade.”

The large man had stopped one building down and was busy chatting with another man. Tallis could not resist the urge. “When I run up there and push that guy into the canal will you run? That is if he doesn’t drag me into the water with him.” Tallis raised a brow and waited for her reply. Mischief filled his eyes but he would only do it if Ireth would let him. "I mean you don't have to run, but I can guarantee he won't be happy when he gets out of the water."

[Ireth Telemnar]

Ireth hadn't been hurt, though she hoped Tallis was alright. She felt like she'd squished him. Standing up and brushing herself off, she followed Tallis's gaze. The man was a brute, but even so Ireth tried awfully hard not to engage in violence. Her forte was peace, her flute melodies were peaceful, her songs soothed. But then again, she was human...

"I'll run. But where do I run to?..."

Tallis was gone before he could answer, so Ireth took off. Dodging the people, steering clear of the places where her rush could dump her into the canals. Her pack slapped her back brutally, she had the silly picnic basket and her cloak clutched in her arms. It was a strange thing, to run. One doesn't often run in the Floating City. If not for the distractions and obstacles, she might have felt like she was flying.

Down the walks and over bridges, Ireth ran until her chest heaved and her legs were on fire. Looking around, she was somewhat shocked to discover that she had run all the way to the south docks! And there was the bakery, the one she'd come to all her life with her mother. She stumbled through the door and into the shop. Maeraya, the baker and friend of her mother's, let out a gasp when she saw Ireth's state. Fortunately, the only other person in the shop was Mawraya's young apprentice.

[Tallis Ishtari]

His intent was let Ireth chose but when she hesitated he took matters into his own hands. In a dead run, and dodging oncoming people, Tallis ran headlong into the large man. The impact landed the man in the water and him on his ass. Never could he have imagined that outcome. He was sure the man would be pushed easily enough into the canal, but not only did he end up on his backside the corresponding splash got onto him.

Tallis stood and pointed his index finger at the man. “That’s for plowing your way through everyone that got in your way.” The applause from the crowd did not help the man’s disposition and as predicted the man was angry, very angry. Tallis did not need to take a hint. Staying and confronting the man was not going to be up for discussion. He was on the run again, but this time he was laughing.

By the time he was a few bridges down from where he had left Ireth he tried to look for her. The large man would not be able to catch up to him especially in wet clothes. But where had Ireth, his accomplice, gone off to. He stopped and placed his hands on his knees trying to inhale as much air as he could into his lungs. He was far from out of shape, but the impact of hitting the large man to some out of him.

Angry shouts cascaded down the walkway that was alongside the canal. There was no doubt he was being followed by a very large and pissed man, and no doubt shoving people out of his to get to him. Tallis chuckled. “You like following me so much, try following me now….” Tallis knew the city better than most of the longtime residents. He used that knowledge to his advantage and crossed bridges, and canals, and from one dock to another. Being slightly overconfident on his prowess to lose people in a crowded city he suddenly found himself on the south docks. His hair had dried, finally, and so had his shirt. The pants were still damp, but that was not his worry at the moment.

“Ireth!” Him yelling for her and thinking she would answer was like expecting a snowball to last in a desert. “Forget it Tallis… you lost her too.” The smell of fresh bread raised his spirits some. After all, who needs a friend when you can have fresh bread.

[Ireth Telemnar]

"Oh, by Rhysol's Voice, what have ya been doin' ? Look at ya girl! Ya look like ya been runnin' all the way from the other side o' town!" Maeraya took Ireth behind the baker's counter and began mothering her: washing her face, pouring her a drink, even making that silly little clucking sound mothers make.

Ireth smiled and shook her head, still trying to catch her breathe. "Maeraya, enough. I'm fine. Please, just give me a minute."

Ireth desperately wished she could have seen Tallis push the man into the canal, if he managed to do it at all. Tallis may be tall, but the bothersome man was still twice Tallis' size. She'd thought maybe she'd heard the splash, but this is Ravok. There were splashes all over everywhere.

The scent of fresh bread finally brought Ireth around. She calmed down long enough to take in the bakery. This shop had been a highlight of Ireth's childhood. Every time her mother would come to buy bread and to gossip with Maeraya, Ireth came along. It let the women of the Telemnar house out for a break without the men. And when Ireth's father died, it was Maeraya that took Ireth in while her mother mourned.

Maeraya clucked again and ran a weathered hand through her gray-white hair and sighed. "I swear girl, sometimes you are more like that father of yours than is good for ya."

The ringing of the bell on the door caused them both to look up.

[Tallis Ishtari]

After sniffing the air for period of time he let his nose guide him. It was amazing that he was able to smell anything at all with all the other scents that arose from the dock area. You had the smells from the lake itself, but then there various smells that emanated from the people that were on the docks, the smells from cargo being unloaded from the boats, and a few others. They all mixed into a very interesting brew of smells, but somehow the smell of food could be discerned through it by any hungry male.

Finally he was within sight of a bakery. It was the obvious source of the delectable aroma that teased his nose. He did not need the sign above the doorway to tell him he was in the right place. The only question he had now was did he want to spend the money for the bread. He stood in front of the door for a minute mulling the question over. People that passed by him must have thought he had lost his mind to just stand in front of the door and not going in.

Once he made up his mind that getting a loaf would be a good idea he pushed the door open. A tiny chime of a bell rang out but that was not what took him by surprise. His eyes landed on a gray haired older woman, but that was not who caught his attention. “Ireth?” He said as he walked toward her and a crooked smile crossed over his face. “How did you…? I mean I thought for sure I had lost you after I pushed that rude guy into the canal. You should have seen his face when he hit the water!”

[Ireth Telemnar]

When Tallis walked into the baker's store, Ireth couldn't help but laugh. They had run across the merchant's district and through the docks. How did he know she'd be here?

She got up from her chair and took Tallis by the shoulders, laughing. "I wish I could have! Oh, it must have been priceless! However did you find me?"

[Tallis Ishtari]

It was quite a tale to be told and Tallis went over each detail starting from the shove and how he ended up on his ass. He chuckled and smiled throughout the telling of the story. When it came to how he had found her he just shrugged. “It really was an accident.” He said. “I was so intent on losing the guy in the city that I Iost track of where I was. Then I came here to the south cock and the smell of bread lead me to here!”

The gray haired lady just stood with her hands on her hips and looked as though she was disgusted with his story. Tallis wasn’t really sure as he thought that today’s adventure today was pure brilliance. “When I told you to run I did not think that you would run to the other side of the island though! Why did you run so far you didn’t have to run but a few blocks?”

The scents that came from the over alerted Tallis as to why he had entered the shop in the first place. The breads that were presented in the display looked very good. He would wait for a moment before indulging his taste buds until he had heard what Ireth had to say, and if the gray haired lady would let him stay after the harrowing tale he had just told.

[Ireth Telemnar]

That made Ireth laugh even harder. Her over-worked lungs felt fit to burst with the onslaught of this laughter. "You...you...you smelled your way here!!" She doubled over, clutching her stomach as the laughter shook her body.

Eventually she straightened up and took a deep breath. "That was the most fun I'd had in ages! I haven't run like that since I was a little girl! Wow..."

Ireth pulled Tallis into one of the booths that were in the bakery, mostly used by costumers waiting on special orders, though sometimes used for gossip and eating. "I don't know why I ran so far. It was like I wasn't thinking. I was...flying! It was so incredible!"

[Tallis Ishtari]

If knew the truth that his life was a dangerous one she might think twice about accompanying him anywhere. For her benefit he would leave out that he associated with organized crime in the city. In a lot of ways Ireth was like his younger sister, still naïve about the darker side of the city. She knew it was there but did not know the part it played in the city and its economy along with the politics. Then there was the part that certain underworld figures wanted to get their hands on him for bigger jobs. His primary role for them was as a message runner and had been for many years. Tallis intended to keep it that way, and the best way was to disappear for long period of time. That meant leaving the city that he loved and knew so well.

“I’m just happy that everything turned out alright and no one was hurt.” He said with his eyes still gleaming. Seeing her eyes sparkle with laughter was enough of a hint to know that she genuinely had a great time. “I don’t want you thinking that I do this sort of stuff all of the time.” He shrugged before putting his hands on the table and interlacing his fingers. “It just seemed to be the right thing to do at the time.”

His eyes went to her bag that contained what he guessed was her most prized possession. “You’re flute wasn’t harmed from all the running you did was it?” A clearing of a throat again remind him that the gray haired lady was still standing near them. From the corner of his eye he saw her. Tallis searched his memory to try and remember who she was. It was no use, he could not remember. But the way she was standing there made him think that he should remember. Had he at some point made her the target of one of his pickpocket episodes? He did not think so because he tended to target tourists and drunks who would never remember how much money they had spent trying to get drunk.