Closed From Criminalist to Saviour [Arlana]

[Lenz]

83rd of Winter, 513 AV


The weather was abnormally comfortable on the early morning Lenz decided to take a light stroll through the city of Sunberth.

There was a small gale in the air, but other than that, the streets were full of bustling people, some of which were heading toward the Seaside Market to see what goods were being set up for sale and others out for the simple morning walk as Lenz was.

The woman had done something special with her hair today. She had twisted her crimson hair into such a fashion that gave it the appearance of a “bun”. She made sure that she overlapped certain strands of her curly and untamable hair over other strands, the end result making her seem older and more mature.

She had only brought along with her a few mizas and the clothing she wore. Today was a casual day, her choice in fashion simply being the basic shirt and pants she wore almost every day on her travel to Sunberth.

She didn’t know what she was going to do today, but frankly, she didn’t care. Sometimes, one just needed to not have a care in the world and go wild with their freedom. Especially in living in such a lawless city, Lenz’s options were practically limitless.

Walking over the pathways that connected all of Sunberth’s buildings to one another, Lenz found herself walking amidst the crowd of locals that rushed in and out of stands at the Seaside Market. She had no intention in buying anything, but with an open mind, she decided that she could have time to browse if she felt like it.

Upon observing the merchandise displayed all throughout the area, Lenz also observed the people who were purchasing such items.

She noticed a young boy, not but ten years old she assumed, traipsing through the crowd. He wore ragged clothing and looked thin and frail. Lenz bit her lip at the sight and was tempted to go over and help the boy, but she knew better. This place was almost as bad as the rumours she had heard of Alvadas. The tricks people played on one another here were terrible.

Her gaze wavered over a few other people before a small glow of colour radiated around a young man. As Lenz concentrated and kept her attention strictly on the man alone, she saw multiple shades of pink surround him.

This man is in love, she thought to herself as she squinted her eyes, her head throbbing slightly at the strain.

As she released her attentive gaze, she noticed the man’s eyes studying a young woman a few feet in front of him. She was a rather beautiful lady with hair the colour of honey and eyes like those of the sky on a clear summer’s day.

No wonder he likes her, she thought. She’s gorgeous.

Lenz continued to work her way around people, studying them as she went before she saw something suspicious occurring out of the corner of her eyes. Instinctively, she drew her attention to the scene.

A woman with messy, dark brown hair and eyes like ice was walking conspicuously close to an elderly man, a limp in his walk a dead giveaway to what Lenz’s assumptions kept telling her.

As soon as she predicted it, the woman slipped her hand into the man’s pocket and retrieved a handful of golden coins.

She’s a thief! Lenz’s voice shouted inside her mind, her head continuing to throb since after her practice at the magical art of reading that one man’s aura.

She always had a strong disliking for people who stole people’s things, or even their lives. It wasn’t right and to deprive someone of what was rightfully theirs made her very angry.

Suddenly, her mind had reprogrammed itself to be dead set on confronting the woman. The thief quickly started to lope away, a smile corrupting her strong jawline, giving Lenz the urgency to do something. She needed to do something quickly.

Taking it upon herself to avenge the misfortunate, she threw her legs into overdrive as she jogged to catch up with the woman.

“Hey, you!” she found herself shouting as she struggled to stop a crime in its tracks.

[Arlana]

With firm steps Arlana walked down the streets, seeming like just like any other Sunberthian woman. With shopping in mind, the thief had broken her habit and stayed awake during the day, instead of sleeping through as she was used to. She shouldered her heavy bag, assured by its weight. Of course, there was no need for her to lug all her thieving tools wherever she went, but the girl never knew when an opportunity would present itself.

Almost as soon as the thought ended, her sharp eyes landed on a particular figure shuffling along the street. An old man with thinning white hair and a slight limp in his gait. No one seemed to accompany him as he made his way slowly. Smirking slightly, Arlana knew that he would be the perfect target. He probably wouldn't even notice when she stole a few of his coins. Even if she got caught, he wouldn't be able to go after her. Lovely. It shouldn't hurt to get some extra coin before spending some.

With hurried steps, Arlana kept a steady pace behind him, eyes searching for where he might put his money. Lucky her, it wasn't hard to spot the slight bulk in his pocket. The old man was practically advertising his gold - even without her, another thief would surely steal from him.

Faking a small run, she bumped right into the old man, causing him to stumble to his side. One her hands went out to grab his arm as the other found its way to his pocket. Arlana steadied him slowly and gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I'm in a hurry." Calling for a bit of her magic,she let herself expand her djed and wrap him in a faint cloak of reassurance and trust. Her figers grabbed hold of a handful of coins and discreetly dropped it into her bag. "I'm really sorry."

Before he had any chance to say anything, Arlana pried herself away from him. It wasn't even a challenge. The old man didn't even think twice about her and she had gotten what she wanted. Sometimes she wondered if she was addicted to stealing. After all, there was no need to steal from him. There was enough money in her bag to buy most things she needed.

However, a voice broke her smooth getaway. “Hey, you!”

Taken by surprise, Arlana whirled lightly on her feet. Her eyes settle on a young woman with bright red hair jogging towards her. Instead of bolting, the thief let a small smile tug at her lips as she calmly regarded the woman. The last thing she needed to do was bring attention to herself. At the corner of her eyes, she could already see the old man drifting away, disappearing into the crowd. A few people had begun staring and Arlana shifted on her feet. "Did you call for me? Do I know you?"

[Lenz]

83rd of Winter, 514 AV


Once the woman had maintained a steady pace, she was quickly halted as the theif stopped and turned around. The expression she wore was surly a mask of insight. She had studied the look of confusion many times before, she was sure.

Fires exploited her eyes, smouldering through her irises and splintering the imaginary wood inside her pupils. Lenz felt them heat up as she pictured the scenes in her mind.

She was standing face to face with a criminal, something she didn’t often get the chance to do. However, it wasn’t abnormal for such a city to be littered with such people. So why did she bother to try to stop someone when there were far worse crimes happening from right under her nose?

She felt badly for the man she had stolen from. The worst part was that he probably didn’t have a clue that his money had been taken by sticky fingers of a wrong doer. Her morals must have been condemned by the dark essence from the very souls that wandered throughout the town.

This didn’t mean she could get an easy get away. This didn’t mean she could get a write off to be on her merry way. Lenz wished there was some sort of punishment due for her, but alas the city was in anarchy, distilled by the obliteration of careless minds and despotic consciences.

The thief’s words that rolled off her tongue and trailed along her lips grated at Lenz’s nerves. She would have liked to smash the woman’s face in at that very moment, but she held in her anger.

The two of them shared that same thing in common. They both acted as if they were fine on the outside, portraying mere innocence and contentment when on the inside their emotions rattled against their chains and threatened to break free.

A smirk hinted at the criminal’s lips. Her eyes held secrets Lenz didn’t dare wish to find out. They were dark and uninviting, yet depicted normalcy that sent shivers down her spine.

"Did you call for me? Do I know you?" she asked, her smile widening slightly.

Lenz’s eyes flared, the inferno burning up inside them. Her heart was soon being quenched in misery. Her soul was becoming famished with the righteousness she craved dearly. She deemed herself worthy enough to set things straight, but something continued to tug at the back of her mind.

Her skull itched as she racked her brain for something intelligent to say. She wanted to seem older, with more authority in her voice. She wanted to seem intimidating, words of latent hostility causing the girl to succumb to confessing her wrongdoings.

It was a long shot, but she wanted to play the heroine. She wanted to try her best to transform a damned town into a better place. She was only one woman, though. How could she simply succeed by herself?

I have to try, she told herself, optimism seeping into the negativity that brimmed her thoughts. That is the most important thing for me right now.

And so she proceeded into doing what she thought was right.

“Don’t play dumb with me,” she seethed, her voice coming out relatively harsh and revolting. Her tone of voice was a little darker than she first had anticipated, but she relinquished herself by adding, “I saw what you did.”

“I understand such a city isn’t the richest, nor the kindest, but for gods sakes, did you have to steal from that man?”

She started to cross her arms then, plastering a look of both anger and annoyance onto her face. Her eyebrows were lowered, a crease forming in between them. Her nose crinkled in the slightest way as her hazel eyes leveled with the other woman’s.

“Do you have no soul?” she asked cynically.

What was she, her mother or something? It felt as if she was commanding this lady to go to the corner for a time out, or something of another. It felt wrong, her deigning the way she was.

Like lasers, Lenz’s eyes bore holes into the thief’s own icy blue orbs. She was about to demand her return the money, but she knew that would be pushing it too far. So what was she expecting would happen? She hadn’t a clue, but so far things sounded fairly mature and well planned out, but how far did she assume it would last?

How did she even know if this woman wasn’t a dangerous threat? How did she know she wouldn’t be stabbed to death right then and there? She only knew a thing or two in the arts of self-defense and the unarmed.

Worst of all, she found herself being stared at. She was tempted to take her opposition’s hand and lead her into a back alley, but that would only leave her more vulnerable. She could not be alone right now. Her patience level was diminishing, her trust vanished entirely.

“Tell me,” she leant in slightly before backing off. “Why do you do what you do?”

[Lenz]

83rd of Winter, 514 AV


Lenz continued to stare into the woman’s eyes. She needed to hold the higher ground. Although she wasn’t one for confrontation, she felt she needed to prove her worth by posing as though she had more authority.

She made herself look big, she made herself seem smart and with both physical opposition and mental greatness, she was intimidating.

She added a glare which she feigned with the best of her ability to make the act seem strong and genuine. Then, she snatched the sack of cash from out of the woman’s concealed hand.

“This is what I’m talking about,” she added.

When there still wasn’t a response, the young mage sighed loudly before giving the other woman the evil eye. She continued to gaze into her eyes until she had had enough and needed to blink away the deception.

She was done with her lecture and she was done with being in the city, but no matter how much she wished to be done with both of those things, they would never come true.

She knew now that she would forever be stuck in such a helpless, poor wasteland of thieves and petty criminals. And murderers.

“Run off,” she commanded with the most stern voice she could muster.

“Run off before I… before I…” before she what exactly? Call the authorities? The last time she checked, Sunberth was in anarchy. Who else could she call? Her brothers, hefty with muscles? She didn’t have any and she was new. She couldn’t call for a bounty hunter to assassinate this girl. Besides, she wasn’t nearly as cruel. Instead, she simply concluded that she would hunt her down herself and show that stealing was rude.

And with that, she pivoted on her foot and left. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the other woman leaving in the other direction. Satisfied, Lenz let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding in. Now, she needed to find the man the money belonged to.

She searched the premises for several chimes. She went up to several people and asked them if they knew of an old man with a cane that had walked by recently. Each time she came up empty handed.

Finally, she gave up altogether and stuffed the money in her pocket. It was a shame she couldn’t find the owner, but it would be even more of a shame to let the money go to waste.

That was when Lenz knew she was becoming corrupted by the city. Keeping another man’s hard earned currency was one thing, she supposed, but there were many other things that were far worse.

She continued to think this as she trekked home. A feint, but fairly chilly breeze chased her until she arrived in the Tent City again.

She didn’t know why, but all of the sudden she was tired.

“Where’d you go?” asked Ipisol once the woman had stepped through the tent’s flap and zipped it up behind her.

“I went to the Seaside Market,” Lenz replied.

“Did you get anything?”

“Not much,” she answered semi-honestly before lying down on her bedroll, pulling the blanket up to her neck and closing her eyes. “Now go to sleep.”


oocThis thread was abandoned, so I thought it best to finish it up and send it in for grading!