Closed [The Market] Black Sheep (Fraha)

[Kovac]

Timestamp: 21st Winter, 512 AV
Location: The Market Place- The Stained Glass Gallery

The vast length of the Stained Glass Gallery, usually an open and vacant expanse of stone platforms and columns lit up in multiple colors by sunlight cast through the windows, was now temporarily packed with colorful canvas stalls and the population of Inartan's milling about. The din of music and voices lifting the Nari tongue rose above the mass of crimson-headed crowd.

Kovac had descended into the crowd, making his way to his first and only planned stop, Lexi's Leather. He had only one sontav, for some reason never getting one for his right wrist, and the one on his left was getting pretty scratched and faded. He didn't need them for falconry, like others did, but Kovac liked how they protected his arms when he used his bow, and during the occasional altercation. Weaving his way through the gingers, the Avora slipped under the canopy of Lexi's stall.

"Well...if it isn't my favorite dark customer!" The woman declared with a predatory twang. A good fifteen years Kovac's senior, the saucy inartan leather merchant always joked with the half-Vanthan inarta, and he always flirted back. "Humbly yours Lexi! Looking for some new sontav." He smiled at her and winked.

"I haven't seen you around for a while, thought you might have given up on ole Lexi. I hear you are no longer with that Endal bitch." The woman continued as she helped the younger archer find a pair of bracers that fit. "Now maybe you will give someone with some real experience a go." She laughed, and Kovac joined it.

"You are too much woman for me mistress Lexi." Kovac teased. Lexi held up a pair of leather sontav. They were black with the image of barbed arrowheads stamped into them. "I am, and you would love it darling! Here try these, I know you like black. They are four pinions, but for you, you bad boy, they are six pinions." Kovac took the bracers from the leather worker and examined them.

"Perfect...you always know what I like." He taunted, laughing again. Kovac dropped six pinions into the randy woman's open hand, then slipped the leather bracers onto his arms. The Avora gave Lexi a nod of approval. "See you soon Lexi." As he turned to leave, the woman gave him a sound smack on the arse, which caused Kovac to jump and yelp. "You'd better, half-breed!" She admonished.

Kovac scooted out of the cougar's lair, bumping into an unsuspecting woman. Kovac laid hold of her arm to keep from stumbling over her. "Watch it you clumsy..." His irritation was erased when he looked down at the girl. She was as non-inartan as he. Long, dark hair, golden skin, and unusually bright eyes marked the woman as a foreigner. Aware that she may not know Nari well, Kovac hoped she did not understand that he was about to insult her. He switched to the Common language, which he knew pretty well.

"You should be more careful." He began to chastise the outsider. She was attractive, or maybe it was that she didn't look like everyone else that made her so interesting. No...she was attractive. His tactics changed.

"My name is Kovac." He introduced himself. "You are a long way from home, what are you doing up here?" Kovac's inquiry was forward, but if he did not act quickly, he would lose her in the crowd, and an outsider was too good a find to let slip away.

Ledger :

Sontav (pair) stamped - 10pn

[Fraha]

Fraha looked at the colored glasses that would’ve been spread everywhere across the so called stained glass gallery. Nice, colored glasses but no big deal. Her eyes were passive, disappointed almost, to see one of the Inatras major pride point. Sure it looked nice but it was just a damn glass, anyone could do it, no big deal, nothing special. Her aversion for art was getting stronger every year since she was around ten years old, There was no point in it to her, nothing to worship, nothing to admire unless it was a really impressive opera. But never mind, the place was full of people, mostly redheads, light and dark ones. It looked funny yet interesting, Why would they have red hair here? Why was so common here and not where she came from? All interesting questions which she couldn’t know the answer of. But it was no time for that, she needed to make contacts, important ones, she needed someone who is well rooted in this city, someone who knows a lot of stuff about a lot of people, someone like a…suddenly something touched her arm, she didn’t see where did it come from but instinctively she grabbed the foreign hand with her opposite one and quickly turned around to see who’s the owner. ”You should be more carefull!” Said the guy with an unhappy tone. She looked at him with wide surprised eyes as she’d expect more of a thief that would try to ran off, or a redheaded figure. However what she saw didn't seem like any of two. Instead it was a black haired man which after a quick pause talked again. His tone seemed less aggressive now for some reason and his question was very direct, an inappropriate normally but rather legitimate in this circumstances. Fraha was confused and after a second she answered "well,I'm.. I'm a traveller, tourism I guess and what are you doing?" asked she with the same tone he used. Not the best comeback but in so little time that's all Fraha could think of. She then left his hand which was still awkwardly held by hers and backed up one step.

[Kovac]

Kovac could not pin down the origin of the woman's accent as they conversed in Common. It sounded exotic, adding to the intrigue she elicited in the half-Inartan. The Avora's gaze dropped to her hand, still clutching his wrist. She had reacted switfly when they collided, quickly grabbing hold of him. Kovac surmised the lovely woman had some experience or training to instill such confidence and control. After she realized she still held him, the dark-haired girl released Kovac.

"Well, I'm... I'm a traveller, tourism I guess and what are you doing?"

"I live here, that's what I'm doing here. Look, Wind Reach can be a strange, rough place. If you need some help getting around, or having a good time, I would be happy to help." Help a gorgeous foreigner? Kovac was more than game for it.

"But I can't just call you stranger, or lady, or baby...I suppose...do you have a name?" Kovac employed his playful, wry smile.

[Fraha]

With surprise Fraha notice straightforwardness of the guy, was everyone like this in Wind Reach? ´Strange rough place´, well it might be true actually, she could agree after just few days but so much sudden good will from a stranger? That was definitely unusual but still, fate or not, that was just what she was looking for. She was about to answer when Kovac asked her name in a really..singular way, totally unexpected. If she were to be less tanned a blush would be obvious even to a blind man now as Fraha’s mouth remained slightly opened for few seconds, her brain was processing a proper answer. After an instant she smiled but still with surprise in her eyes asked “…what?” Was she overreacting? Maybe, but despite she was supposed to avoid such situation and remain focused on her objective there was a sort of intrigue. “You may call me..Fraha, nice to meet you Kovac” she leaned out a hand confidently to greet him.

[Kovac]

The outsider's expression revealed how Kovac's forward approach caught her off guard, to the delight of the Avora. His grin maintained a steady, confident beam.

The half-breed's hand extended to take hold of the dark woman's, assuming that was her means of greeting. "Welcome to Wind Reach, Fraha." Kovac stretched her name out as he spoke it, tasting how the foreign name felt on his tongue and lips. His eyes made an unashamed journey from the crown of her raven-maned head down to her booted feet. She was pleasing to look upon, a bit thin, but the hunter detected muscle beneath her lean limbs.

"Looks like you could use something to eat. Come with me, we'll get you something." Kovac, still holding the Fraha's hand, gently coaxed her to follow. "Come on, I won't bite. Now tell me, where did you come from where the people have golden skin?"

[Fraha]

“Thank you, Kovac.” Fraha pronounced the fellow’s name exactly as he did with hers, even with slightly more emphasis. This new acquaintance was a really intriguing one, his interest was exaggerated for a stranger and his smile was too constant to make it look like just normal concern about a new citizen and Fraha wondered whether or not there might be operating with a hidden agenda. As he was clearly inspecting her body, she didn’t miss the chance to quickly do the same. With short glances she could notice that his shoulders were well built and so the arms which is pretty normal. But comparing the upper body to the rest Fraha could tell that the shoulders and were somewhat more developed. Also as she shook his hand she could notice a very solid grip, specially from the index and the middle finger, the rough fingertips . This whole looked like this man had a lot to do with strings and the upper body suggested a bow, but she wasn’t sure yet as these were only thoughts a sequence of thoughts that would sometimes start and now interrupted by the quick and kind invitation of her new encounter. Did it really look like she was hungry? As he asked that Fraha she gave him a skeptical look, not only for the question but for the fact that he was still holding her hand while she was shaking it. "Come on, I won't bite. Now tell me, where did you come from where the people have golden skin?" Kovac was so confident in whatever he was trying to achieve, it was almost cute. She giggled admiring his sauciness and started to follow with him still holding her hands. “ I come from Yahebah, it’s down in the south, and you are one considerate guy Kovac…” she pronounced his name again the same way she did the first time “…but where are we going?” she curbed slightly as they were moving. The crowd was faded more and more as they were walking out of it. “Someone told me Wind Reach can be a harsh place, why should I trust a man I just met who’s dragging me by hand somewhere?” asked Fraha with a curious yet amused expression.

[Kovac]

Kovac could not explain his particularly uncharacteristic friendliness towards Fraha. Sure, he was flirting, that was a give, but he always did that. But he had been caught by a rather cheery mood, and the task of showing a stranger to Wind Reach a good time was a welcomed distraction from the daily routine. Besides, he had his new sexy sontav to show off.

When he heard the name of her home, Kovac whistled. "Yahebah? I have heard the name, supposed to be way at the bottom of the world, where its always hot and nothing grows. Sounds like kind of a drag to me." The hunter commented, his eyes searching the stalls as they walked along.

“Someone told me Wind Reach can be a harsh place, why should I trust a man I just met who’s dragging me by hand somewhere?”

Kovac stopped, looking down at his hand, still clasping the young woman's. His gaze lifted back to her, giving her a boyish grin, his hand releasing her's. "Well, that is true, its good I found you. No telling what might have happened to you if an unscrupulous Inarta crossed your path. But I can keep an eye out for you now." His smile broadened.

Kovac's eyes spotted his destination,in an out of the way corner, near the entrance to the gallery. "Come on." He encouraged, this time allowing her to follow of her own free will, "I promise you that you will love this." The half-breed laid on his most disarming smile, hoping to tempt the attractive Benshiran to share a treat with him.

[Fraha]

Kovac’s comment made some memories arise in Fraha’s mind. For an instant the city where she grew up flashed in her eyes in a storm of memories, if she wasn’t exploring the world she would probably miss her home a lot. Yet, how give him wrong about a sea of sand being boring? As he said it she smirked in sign of agreement with a bit of ironic pity in her eyes “Yeah, it actually is kind of like that”. When he stopped to look at their hands she kept track of his eyes, smiling at the uncommon yet somewhat awesome manners of the half breed . When their gaze met again she slightly tilted the head to the with a curious expression and an alluded smile. He had a really nice smile, and Fraha couldn’t do anything but naturally trust the guy, what’s the worst that could happen anyway? The place was crowded and her trusted Blades got her back, literally. How could she say no to such gentle smile? “Well, since you promise, let’s go” and they both walked. “So…where do you come from? You don’t really look like all these gingers..” gingers, a term rather new to her. She would hear it the first time at the Rearing Stallion, back in Syliras in a conversation between two young men, one seemed to habe returned from Wind Reach not long ago and was mention the vast quantity of “hot ass gingers”. So Fraha assumed it wasn’t a bad expression and as such didn’t notice the bad look one or two apparently proud Inatrians gave her. Her expression was the same as before the question. .

[Kovac]

The half-breed enjoyed hearing the Benshiran woman speak, she had a thick accent to her Common speech, which only made the girl seem more exotic to the hunter. She agreed to accompany him, though whether it was wise on her part was yet to be seen. Kovac was harmless, if not a bit heavy on the flirting, especially today, and especially with a beautiful foreigner.

“So…where do you come from? You don’t really look like all these gingers..”

"Well, I am from here." Kovac looked at the woman confused. He had lived in Wind Reach all his life, and for a moment, he forgot how different he appeared from the sea of light-skinned redheads. "I was born here. Oh, yeah, well, My father is Inartan, but my mother was a Vantha. I got her hair and her skin."

Kovac lead Fraha to a stall at the back corner of the Gallery, a sign reading Decedent Delights hanging overhead, though the Benshiran would not recognize the Nari script. She certainly would recognize the aroma of sweet treats that lifted from the stand. One of Wind Reach's head chef's assistants manned the stall. The selection was small, the majority of rare supplies like chocolate long expended for the year, and the ration of sugar set aside for such luxuries dwindling. But it was early enough in the Winter season for the last of the delicacies to remain.

There were a selection of candied apples, a few candied berries and some spun sugar, little clouds of puffy sugar wrapped around a wooden stick. Kovac looked at Fraha with a beaming smile, as if the meager offering of sweets were some grand display of the finest confections.

"Pick anything you like, Fraha...my treat." He turned to the Benshiran and leaned on the counter. "So tell me, great traveller, where all have you been?" Kovac had been...well..nowhere. Aside from the hunting trips into the Unforgiving, he had seen no other settlement on Mizahar. Few of those in Wind Reach ever did. Simply crossing the Unforgiving to get somewhere else could be a deadly propsition of you did not travel by Wind Eagle. Yet this petite young woman had done just that.

[Fraha]

“aha, I see“ nodded Fraha asking herself what could a Vantha be. An association with the word vanity popped in her mind instantly and the behavior of her new friend could only strengthen the opinion about those people, yet it was just an impression. Also a quick summary of what could have happened between his parents pictured itself briefly in Fraha’s thoughts. The Vantha mother would most likely come here and meet the Inatra father, or the Inatra father could have brought her from the Vantha people place after meeting her for some reasons. Yet it is more likely to give birth to a child in a friendly environment then why would the mother give birth here? Was her family here also? If not, did she run away from something and came here? And why the heck was Fraha thinking so much about it? Before she realized she was standing in front of a sweet view. A selection of beautiful and most likely delicious sweets was posing for her waving fragrances of mixed nature. She looked back at Kovac as he proposed to offer her a treat. What to do? She kind of wanted that mysterious sugar cloud that looked like cotton but why make him pay for this…she thought she shouldn’t do it on order to avoid finding herself in the situation of owing him something back. But all this paranoid pondering was made while staring at that awesome cotton sugar cloud so there wasn’t really an option, besides why not take advantage of the situation for once? As a result when he gave her the choice she broadly smiled while looking at the cotton candy “really?”asked she before biting her lower lip “hmm I wonder what’s that cotton cloud, if it’s good I’ll take one of those” Cotton sugar, wow looked interesting and for a moment she wondered how would they create such thing. She also turned to him as he asked about the travels. Where had she been actually, the locations were countless since the long journey to Syliras crossed many onther places. “mmh, I’ve Travelled from Yahebah to Syliras, it’s like of this is the known Mizahar…” she joined the indexes and the thumbs to form a circle using both hands to show him something of a map “…Yahebah is here and Syliras around here…” she was using the other fingers to somewhat indicate the locations she meant “…and I mainly went thru Eloab, Anhatep, Clairdon, Kenash and partially the Suvan Sea until I finally reached Syliras” she sighed slightly “So yeah that’s about it, I stood in Syliras for almost a year and then, things happened, one thing drags another, and so I went to Wind Reach, where I met some really weird people I have to tell ya” she giggled at the end of that statement. “and what about your travels, adventures or hobbies?”