20th of Spring, 521 AV
Farren felt distinctly uncomfortable straying this far into the north side of the city but she had been asked to run an errand. Pick up a tincture from Hanh’s. Simple enough, but fraught with the sort of trouble that always came from straying away from home. Her home was south of the Mudway. The slum of the slums, but it’s streets were at least familiar to her, and she thought of them as more of a home than she ever had thought of the hovel she had grown up in.
This part of the city however was much different. From the buildings to the people, it all stared out at her with unfamiliar and unwelcoming faces as the Casinor made its way up northward. Fortunately the Svefra she’d chartered for the journey seemed to know the place she spoke of because she wouldn’t have had the faintest clue of how to navigate to it through the maze of streets that separated one quarter from another. To an outsider one part of Sunberth might have been hard to pick out from another, but to her the differences were stark. Some of the buildings here were made of bits of crumbling stone, haphazardly lodged together into a semblance of a house while a little further on they changed into entirely wooden constructions with an open air design. One thing remained the same, and that was the buildings that hugged the side of the river. They were made of a mixture of wood, and treated canvas, and raised on stilts that kept them a few feet off the ground for when the river became swollen. Right now it was just straight mud underneath the houses, and it reminded her adjacently of her brother Cleon.
Farren looked away from the houses, not wanting to think of him now. Instead she focused her gaze up the river to the point where the buildings started to thin out on either side. They must be getting close. She took in a deep breath and looked carefully over the side, wondering if she would be able to spot it before the Casinor stopped. They’d agreed to take her all the way up the river to it, claiming they could drop her within feet of the shop which was only fair given their price that left her feeling hollow on the inside. As much as she tried to get away from the profession, there was always some way of dragging her back. She wondered if she could leverage that good will in order to get them to stay and take her back when she was done here. She glanced over at one of the Svefra and caught another one leering at her which promptly dissuaded her of that notion. No, it didn’t look like that would work so it would be up to her to find her own way back, and something to barter that wasn’t her body.
The casnior creaked, and groaned as it pulled along side the edge of the river, beaching gently between two houses. Two men walked to the front of the casinor and threw a rope over the bow, letting the rope ladder slink over the side before gesturing her forward. Regretfully she accepted their help over the edge of the boat, and got groped in response. It took all of her will power to not only keep a straight face, but also feign a smile as she was on her way down, knowing that like it or not she needed to remain on good terms with those who plied the water. They all looked the same to her, these golden men with blue eyes, and besides she had to figure that had to talk about their fares with one another.
That gave her a bit of pause as she walked onto the muddy riverbank. She realized too late that she should have been more careful of her barter because if word got around and their people started to recognize her… well it was plain what would happen then. Farren worked her jaw, and shot a glance over her shoulder at the casinor and the men on the deck that were currently pushing off the muddy bank. One of them even had the nerve to give her a small wave and a wink that almost made her shudder. Her smile tightened and promptly left her face as she turned around towards the modestly sized stone building that was built about as close to the edge of the city as one could get. Judging by the fact that she could see a hint of green sprouting from the roof top she judged she was in the right place and headed straight for the front door.
Farren entered the small shop and was immediately surprised at how elaborate it all was. It had to be one of the most expensive looking shops in all of Sunberth with mortared stone for its outer walls, and built on the inside in such a way to make good use of the narrow space. Assorted bottles, vials and jars lined the wall to her immediate right while the left side was lined with a glass display case the likes she had never seen before. She thought about going over there to take a closer look at the neat labels on the bottles but before she could a young woman with brown hair came up to introduce herself.
“Welcome to Hanh’s Herbologie. My name is Sara. Can I help you look for anything?” She asked, fixing Farren with a sunny smile. Biting the edge of her bottom lip, Farren took a moment to think that over before she said.
“Yes actually, my friend sent me looking for something that will help her baby along.” Farren said tentatively as she met the woman’s eyes which didn’t show a flicker of surprise curiously enough as she nodded.
“Of course, I believe Hanh already has a tincture made up for that. Its a rather common request you can imagine.” Sara said, turning on her heal to head for the side of the store with the display cases. As the woman leaned over them, Farren followed a short ways behind her eyes roaming elsewhere on the display case, seeing a great many names on the labels that she didn’t even recognize as words. The dried bits of plant matter hanging in baskets was much more recognizable than these bottled concoctions that twisted her interest. She wonder what got Sara into this sort of work, about how they kept a shop like this secure, and many other sundry things as Sara opened up the display case and picked out a small bottle.
“Here it is.” She said, closing the case and then turning with a small glass bottle in her hand. On its label was Delaviv. “Decoct a bit of this into some wine, and give it to your ‘friend’ and she’ll be just right. This bottle contains two doses, so make sure you only use half of it.” She said with a little wink, and putting an uncomfortable amount of stress on the word friend. Farren had an idea of what she was getting at but she didn’t quite want to believe what this Sara was suggesting. Of course, she was throughly out of her depth in this situation and so she just simply found herself nodding dumbly and then following the woman over to the counter where she inspected the bottles contents briefly in front of her before replacing it all within and stoppering it up with a wax seal.
“How much?” Farren asked when she remembered to.
“1 gold miza.”
Farren’s jaw dropped slightly, but not really feeling like she had a choice in the matter Farren retrieved the handful of coins she had brought with her and counted out ten silver mizas to give the woman, giving her an apologetic look as she poured the contents into the woman’s hands. “Sorry.” She said belatedly to which Sara just shrugged, and put down the coins before handing her the bottle.
“I don’t suppose I can convince you to stay and look around?” Sara asked, and to that Farren shook her head slightly. “Nah, I really should get going. I might do a little looking on my way out though, and I expect I’ll be back if this all goes well.” She said, lifting up the bottle and giving it a little shake before turning around to head towards the entrance. The door opened a few ticks later while Farren had been caught up looking at something in one of the display cases between the front entrance and the counter. Absentmindedly Farren looked up to see who it was, and saw that it was a woman which came as a bit of a relief.
“Hello there.” Farren said softly, giving the woman a small wave before going back to looking at the display case.
WC - 1,490
.
Farren felt distinctly uncomfortable straying this far into the north side of the city but she had been asked to run an errand. Pick up a tincture from Hanh’s. Simple enough, but fraught with the sort of trouble that always came from straying away from home. Her home was south of the Mudway. The slum of the slums, but it’s streets were at least familiar to her, and she thought of them as more of a home than she ever had thought of the hovel she had grown up in.
This part of the city however was much different. From the buildings to the people, it all stared out at her with unfamiliar and unwelcoming faces as the Casinor made its way up northward. Fortunately the Svefra she’d chartered for the journey seemed to know the place she spoke of because she wouldn’t have had the faintest clue of how to navigate to it through the maze of streets that separated one quarter from another. To an outsider one part of Sunberth might have been hard to pick out from another, but to her the differences were stark. Some of the buildings here were made of bits of crumbling stone, haphazardly lodged together into a semblance of a house while a little further on they changed into entirely wooden constructions with an open air design. One thing remained the same, and that was the buildings that hugged the side of the river. They were made of a mixture of wood, and treated canvas, and raised on stilts that kept them a few feet off the ground for when the river became swollen. Right now it was just straight mud underneath the houses, and it reminded her adjacently of her brother Cleon.
Farren looked away from the houses, not wanting to think of him now. Instead she focused her gaze up the river to the point where the buildings started to thin out on either side. They must be getting close. She took in a deep breath and looked carefully over the side, wondering if she would be able to spot it before the Casinor stopped. They’d agreed to take her all the way up the river to it, claiming they could drop her within feet of the shop which was only fair given their price that left her feeling hollow on the inside. As much as she tried to get away from the profession, there was always some way of dragging her back. She wondered if she could leverage that good will in order to get them to stay and take her back when she was done here. She glanced over at one of the Svefra and caught another one leering at her which promptly dissuaded her of that notion. No, it didn’t look like that would work so it would be up to her to find her own way back, and something to barter that wasn’t her body.
The casnior creaked, and groaned as it pulled along side the edge of the river, beaching gently between two houses. Two men walked to the front of the casinor and threw a rope over the bow, letting the rope ladder slink over the side before gesturing her forward. Regretfully she accepted their help over the edge of the boat, and got groped in response. It took all of her will power to not only keep a straight face, but also feign a smile as she was on her way down, knowing that like it or not she needed to remain on good terms with those who plied the water. They all looked the same to her, these golden men with blue eyes, and besides she had to figure that had to talk about their fares with one another.
That gave her a bit of pause as she walked onto the muddy riverbank. She realized too late that she should have been more careful of her barter because if word got around and their people started to recognize her… well it was plain what would happen then. Farren worked her jaw, and shot a glance over her shoulder at the casinor and the men on the deck that were currently pushing off the muddy bank. One of them even had the nerve to give her a small wave and a wink that almost made her shudder. Her smile tightened and promptly left her face as she turned around towards the modestly sized stone building that was built about as close to the edge of the city as one could get. Judging by the fact that she could see a hint of green sprouting from the roof top she judged she was in the right place and headed straight for the front door.
Farren entered the small shop and was immediately surprised at how elaborate it all was. It had to be one of the most expensive looking shops in all of Sunberth with mortared stone for its outer walls, and built on the inside in such a way to make good use of the narrow space. Assorted bottles, vials and jars lined the wall to her immediate right while the left side was lined with a glass display case the likes she had never seen before. She thought about going over there to take a closer look at the neat labels on the bottles but before she could a young woman with brown hair came up to introduce herself.
“Welcome to Hanh’s Herbologie. My name is Sara. Can I help you look for anything?” She asked, fixing Farren with a sunny smile. Biting the edge of her bottom lip, Farren took a moment to think that over before she said.
“Yes actually, my friend sent me looking for something that will help her baby along.” Farren said tentatively as she met the woman’s eyes which didn’t show a flicker of surprise curiously enough as she nodded.
“Of course, I believe Hanh already has a tincture made up for that. Its a rather common request you can imagine.” Sara said, turning on her heal to head for the side of the store with the display cases. As the woman leaned over them, Farren followed a short ways behind her eyes roaming elsewhere on the display case, seeing a great many names on the labels that she didn’t even recognize as words. The dried bits of plant matter hanging in baskets was much more recognizable than these bottled concoctions that twisted her interest. She wonder what got Sara into this sort of work, about how they kept a shop like this secure, and many other sundry things as Sara opened up the display case and picked out a small bottle.
“Here it is.” She said, closing the case and then turning with a small glass bottle in her hand. On its label was Delaviv. “Decoct a bit of this into some wine, and give it to your ‘friend’ and she’ll be just right. This bottle contains two doses, so make sure you only use half of it.” She said with a little wink, and putting an uncomfortable amount of stress on the word friend. Farren had an idea of what she was getting at but she didn’t quite want to believe what this Sara was suggesting. Of course, she was throughly out of her depth in this situation and so she just simply found herself nodding dumbly and then following the woman over to the counter where she inspected the bottles contents briefly in front of her before replacing it all within and stoppering it up with a wax seal.
“How much?” Farren asked when she remembered to.
“1 gold miza.”
Farren’s jaw dropped slightly, but not really feeling like she had a choice in the matter Farren retrieved the handful of coins she had brought with her and counted out ten silver mizas to give the woman, giving her an apologetic look as she poured the contents into the woman’s hands. “Sorry.” She said belatedly to which Sara just shrugged, and put down the coins before handing her the bottle.
“I don’t suppose I can convince you to stay and look around?” Sara asked, and to that Farren shook her head slightly. “Nah, I really should get going. I might do a little looking on my way out though, and I expect I’ll be back if this all goes well.” She said, lifting up the bottle and giving it a little shake before turning around to head towards the entrance. The door opened a few ticks later while Farren had been caught up looking at something in one of the display cases between the front entrance and the counter. Absentmindedly Farren looked up to see who it was, and saw that it was a woman which came as a bit of a relief.
“Hello there.” Farren said softly, giving the woman a small wave before going back to looking at the display case.
WC - 1,490
.
