40th of Fall, 520
The night was cool and windless, with unfamiliar stars turning high overhead. Oil lamps, candles and glass lanterns were lit in the Bazaar, which showed no sign of slowing down despite the late hour. Madeira supposed it never would. She didn't know much about the Outpost since she discovered it half a year prior, but she had worked out three solid facts about the new territory. One: trade was the lifeblood here. If the flow of money stopped passing through its veins even for a moment it might just curl up and die.
Madeira slipped through the crowded Open Sky Bazaar with purpose, humming to herself. She paused with a note of interest at the corner of a shabby covered stall that displayed taxidermy animals in various stages of completion. She ran a gloved finger over the exposed teeth of a snarling panther head and stepped inside.
This particular booth seemed rather unpopular, and thus was a bubble of calm amid the shuffle of late night shoppers. It had no sign, consisting of only a few tables and a canopy of dark fabric. The vendor was dozing on a stool in the back corner of the small stall. He didn't notice his customer at first, but he jolted to attention once his eyes managed to lift themselves from the book in his hand.
"Good evening! What can I do for you, Miss?" He struggled to his feet and smiled like he'd been waiting for her all his life.
That was the second fact: in the land of commerce wealth is king. Madeira returned the smile, noting the way the man's eyes lingered over the jeweled headpiece in her hair and the diamonds wrapped around her throat and wrists. The stars embroidered in her black dress reflected prettily in his brown eyes. She never left the dovecote without looking like a princess anymore, and thus could be counted on being treated like a queen.
"Good evening. You have some wonderful works here. I'm looking for supplies to start my own project. Do you sell bones here?"
The man was nodding before she had even finished the sentence. “Yes, ma'am, all kinds. Let's see, I've got peacock, monkey, even got a Kriital, somewhere..."
In the end Madeira purchased three skeletons, a complete chimpanzee, a mostly intact Ta'rukahl, and a preserved yowelwing with its pelt. She had paid for the items and the vendor was just wrapping them in boxes, ready to deliver to her home in Lhavit, when she worked up the courage to ask him another question.
"Do you know where I can kind more... exotic remains?"
"Exotic? How do you mean?"
Madeira chewed on her painted lip, her gloved hand tracing the air as she fumbled with what she wanted and what she was willing to admit. The last thing she was sure about the Outpost was that whatever one could think of, and even what they couldn't, could be bought there. She didn't want to admit her interest in Malediction, but she knew somewhere in this city was someone willing to sell her exactly what she needed to do it.
Animal corpses were fine for her skill level, but it was about time she pushed herself. If an animal's death could give her the alexandrite brooch and cursed ring, what could a human's death be? A monsters? She had a lot to learn and this was how she was going to do it.
"Maybe exotic isn't the word. But what I'm looking for is certainly more rare." Her tongue curled around the r's, and they came out of her mouth sharply pointed in darker directions. "Maybe even monstrous."
The vendor's eyes snapped up to hers and then tactfully away. He swallowed noisily. "Oh, I don't think you'll find anything like that up here, Miss. The Habub, maybe, but not here."
It was an unfamiliar word, but the way he said Habub immediately caught her attention. He said it like a curse, quietly and with his lips rolled back like he was limiting how much of his mouth made contact with the sound.
"A black market", she guessed, watching his reaction closely.
"Ah, no miss, there's nothing banned under Xyna's rule, it's just…" he petered off, fussily straightening the corners of a package. “I wouldn't recommend a gentle lady like you go to a place like that. That's all."
A secret pulse under the sunny, prosperous Outpost? Curiosity pulled at the corners of her lips. "How do I find it?"
"Spooks!" Madeira called some time later, beating out her starry skirts as she exited the Bazar. The glow inside the market seemed to banish the night, leaving it to collect under eaves and in candle-less windows.
"What?"
The creature slunk out of the dark towards her. His black fur might make him nearly invisible in the dark, but the gleam of his bone plates and the noxious scent of licorice that haunted him assured he couldn't sneak up on anybody.
"I've just found out something very interesting", The hem of Madeira’s dress twirled as she turned to face him, her hands clapping once, excitedly. "How do you feel about going on a little field trip to this city's second, secret market?"
It was phrased as a question, but from the glint in his master's eye Spooks recognized that he didn't have a choice.
"A black market? Doesn't that sound a little, I don't know, dangerous?" he sat on his haunches and yawned mightily.
"It's a market, not a warzone. And besides I have this", she shook back her sleeve, exposing a tiny crossbow on a beautiful black brace, "and you", she motioned to all of the cat-thing, from his enormous claws to his armored back to needle sharp teeth. "We'll have a quick look around, get what we need, and get out. We'll be back before the midnight rest."
Madeira slipped through the crowded Open Sky Bazaar with purpose, humming to herself. She paused with a note of interest at the corner of a shabby covered stall that displayed taxidermy animals in various stages of completion. She ran a gloved finger over the exposed teeth of a snarling panther head and stepped inside.
This particular booth seemed rather unpopular, and thus was a bubble of calm amid the shuffle of late night shoppers. It had no sign, consisting of only a few tables and a canopy of dark fabric. The vendor was dozing on a stool in the back corner of the small stall. He didn't notice his customer at first, but he jolted to attention once his eyes managed to lift themselves from the book in his hand.
"Good evening! What can I do for you, Miss?" He struggled to his feet and smiled like he'd been waiting for her all his life.
That was the second fact: in the land of commerce wealth is king. Madeira returned the smile, noting the way the man's eyes lingered over the jeweled headpiece in her hair and the diamonds wrapped around her throat and wrists. The stars embroidered in her black dress reflected prettily in his brown eyes. She never left the dovecote without looking like a princess anymore, and thus could be counted on being treated like a queen.
"Good evening. You have some wonderful works here. I'm looking for supplies to start my own project. Do you sell bones here?"
The man was nodding before she had even finished the sentence. “Yes, ma'am, all kinds. Let's see, I've got peacock, monkey, even got a Kriital, somewhere..."
In the end Madeira purchased three skeletons, a complete chimpanzee, a mostly intact Ta'rukahl, and a preserved yowelwing with its pelt. She had paid for the items and the vendor was just wrapping them in boxes, ready to deliver to her home in Lhavit, when she worked up the courage to ask him another question.
"Do you know where I can kind more... exotic remains?"
"Exotic? How do you mean?"
Madeira chewed on her painted lip, her gloved hand tracing the air as she fumbled with what she wanted and what she was willing to admit. The last thing she was sure about the Outpost was that whatever one could think of, and even what they couldn't, could be bought there. She didn't want to admit her interest in Malediction, but she knew somewhere in this city was someone willing to sell her exactly what she needed to do it.
Animal corpses were fine for her skill level, but it was about time she pushed herself. If an animal's death could give her the alexandrite brooch and cursed ring, what could a human's death be? A monsters? She had a lot to learn and this was how she was going to do it.
"Maybe exotic isn't the word. But what I'm looking for is certainly more rare." Her tongue curled around the r's, and they came out of her mouth sharply pointed in darker directions. "Maybe even monstrous."
The vendor's eyes snapped up to hers and then tactfully away. He swallowed noisily. "Oh, I don't think you'll find anything like that up here, Miss. The Habub, maybe, but not here."
It was an unfamiliar word, but the way he said Habub immediately caught her attention. He said it like a curse, quietly and with his lips rolled back like he was limiting how much of his mouth made contact with the sound.
"A black market", she guessed, watching his reaction closely.
"Ah, no miss, there's nothing banned under Xyna's rule, it's just…" he petered off, fussily straightening the corners of a package. “I wouldn't recommend a gentle lady like you go to a place like that. That's all."
A secret pulse under the sunny, prosperous Outpost? Curiosity pulled at the corners of her lips. "How do I find it?"
Ledger :
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"Spooks!" Madeira called some time later, beating out her starry skirts as she exited the Bazar. The glow inside the market seemed to banish the night, leaving it to collect under eaves and in candle-less windows.
"What?"
The creature slunk out of the dark towards her. His black fur might make him nearly invisible in the dark, but the gleam of his bone plates and the noxious scent of licorice that haunted him assured he couldn't sneak up on anybody.
"I've just found out something very interesting", The hem of Madeira’s dress twirled as she turned to face him, her hands clapping once, excitedly. "How do you feel about going on a little field trip to this city's second, secret market?"
It was phrased as a question, but from the glint in his master's eye Spooks recognized that he didn't have a choice.
"A black market? Doesn't that sound a little, I don't know, dangerous?" he sat on his haunches and yawned mightily.
"It's a market, not a warzone. And besides I have this", she shook back her sleeve, exposing a tiny crossbow on a beautiful black brace, "and you", she motioned to all of the cat-thing, from his enormous claws to his armored back to needle sharp teeth. "We'll have a quick look around, get what we need, and get out. We'll be back before the midnight rest."
x
