[Pig's Foot Tavern] What Now? (Caela)

[Deltan Colari]

64th of Fall, 514 A.V.; 9th Bell That petching, lying, whoring--! And so on and so forth. As Deltan made his way downstairs into the almost-empty common room, he continued swearing under his breath. What else was there to do? That harlot had used him and then taken everything but the shirt on his back. He had awoken rather pleasantly in bed, though with that vague feeling that something was wrong. It had taken him a minute or two to realize that someone should have been in his bed; after all, he'd never shared a bed with a woman before that night. Naturally, it wasn't instinctive. Reaching an arm over to the empty place, he had chuckled, expecting her to already be up and getting dressed. Unfortunately, she'd already done that and left, along with his money and sword. When Deltan had finally realized that Mirian had been using him all along, he had shouted and raged enough that one of the bar keepers had come upstairs to shut him up. Eventually, the young man had cooled down enough to go downstairs without drawing attention and likely starting a fistfight. In his present state, he knew it would be dangerous for him to deal with too many irritating people. It would be bad for his health, given that he had no weapon now. So, he had simply walked out into the brisk morning air, making his way back in the general direction of the Pig's Foot Tavern. It was the only place he could think that Mirian might be...But he really doubted it. What he needed to do was calm down. Deltan had to be careful; even in the daylight, he got too many considering looks from muscular men who thought he might have something of value. Fortunately, he was plainly dressed and had no obvious wealth, so they mostly left him alone. Besides, he looked belligerent and angry. Why would they bother with prey that would fight back if only to spite them? Deltan slowly cooled off as he walked, working out his energy with quick steps that made his boots sound loudly in the street...Or would have, had he there been less traffic in the streets. Most of the women and children kept out of his way, though he still had to grudgingly move away from those men who seemed unlikely to move away from him. A part of the young man took a perverse pleasure in making those weaker than he was move aside. It helped him feel better about his foolishness the night before. To think, he had thought Mirian had liked him. Petch her. Eventually, Deltan managed to find his way back to the tavern--after close to an hour wandering around--and stalked into the common room. Deltan approached the bartender, a sour-looking gentleman who gave Deltan a disliking glare as he approached. "Can I get'cha something?" the man asked, eyes boring into Deltan with a hateful gaze that made Deltan want to hit him. Taking a deep breath to make sure he was under control, Deltan said calmly, "Where are the guards? I was robbed last night." Then abruptly, Deltan remembered that there were no guards in this thrice-cursed city. Before the bar tender could reply, Deltan spoke again, "Where can I get work around here?" That was important; he needed money to afford another night somewhere...and a cheaper place to stay than the Drunken Fish. He didn't expect the bar tender to be of any use; the man seemed singularly unhelpful, but it never hurt to ask. He hoped he ran into Mirian again sometime; he'd love to get even with her. As it was, Deltan wasn't paying any attention to the tavern anymore; he was too angry to think straight. Only when one looked him in the face could they tell he was angry for certain; he was controlling it rather well. Considering he wanted to beat someone--anyone--to a pulp, at least.

[Caela Dorin]

The dancer was getting quite good at rising early these days. It was a habit that seemed to be working out better than expected. She'd always been amazed at anyone who could get up with Syna but Caela was starting to get there herself.

The seventh bell had seen her rolling out of bed and gathering her training gear together before she headed to the area around Sunberth's bathhouse. It was away from the activity of the city, which even at that early bell was shifting from night revelry to daylight business. It was set apart, quieter and more private than anywhere else. Sure she'd met people up there before - some who'd left her ill at ease - but since she'd begun getting to the place well before the ninth bell the unplanned encounters had all but stopped. She always had time to jog a circuit around the building a few times before doing push ups to keep her arm strength up and practising kicks and punches although minus any sort of target. She was growing healthier and fitter she knew and the dancer quite liked the feeling of empowerment it gave her.

A soak in the warm waters of the place was well worth the five coppers, washing away the sweat of her labours not only from the morning but also those of the previous night's work. It left her refreshed. Once her morning exercise was over the young woman had the day to herself. Almost.

Merv, her employer would always let her know what times he wanted her to work at. Usually it wasn't until the evening time when there were more customers about the place and a certain calibre of entertainment was needed but occasionally she'd have to cover someone else's shift as well as her own. Caela was a good dancer and both she and Merv knew it. No extra money in it unless someone threw it at her but covering someone else meant that if she couldn't work the other girls that she covered owed her. It was perhaps a bit early to ask about shifts but usually the owner had some idea of how much he'd need her to work and if he didn't, she could at least let him know where she was if he needed to send some gutter rat to send her a message.

Her bag was dropped off at her room first and so it was just hitting the ninth bell when she arrived at the Pig's Foot, the place strangely tranquil with so few people in it to make noise. Or at least it would be if some man wasn't interrogating the bartender. Probably had had too much to drink the night before and it hadn't worn off yet. She didn't pay too much attention to the loudmouth as she sauntered up the bar, leaning casually on an elbow once she checked that the area where she was putting it wasn't sticky with ale or worse. The man had mentioned guards she'd thought but that couldn't be right. No one in their right mind would talk about guards like that in Sunberth. Mercenaries, yes but guards who dealt with robberies? No, they stayed with stalls to prevent robberies, not to retrieve the stolen goods of some idiot too careless to look after them in the first place.

The blonde scrutinised him as he seemed to wait for a reply from Merv. If her employer chose to deal with him then she'd have to wait so she might as well do something to occupy herself. His face was younger than she'd thought, not really a man but not a boy either; he was somewhere in between. He was furious too. He kept that rage out of his voice but the set of his face seemed... No, she couldn't be sure. Maybe it was just the angle that she was viewing him from that was playing tricks on her eyes. A quick up and down glance to see the rest of him revealed a physique of a fighter. Maybe a mercenary, maybe a labourer. He was a blow in though, an outsider. He'd asked where to find work, which meant that he wasn't familiar with Sunberth. Didn't seem to be any weapon on him either unless it was concealed but then that was more of a woman's trick than a man's although Caela's on dagger was boldly on display sheathed at her hip.

"Caela?" The bartender's voice had her attention snapping to him instead. Seemed she'd been favoured over the other. Too right. The man didn't know who he was messing with by being gruff with the owner anyway. Merv was more dangerous than he seemed and the dancer knew it. "You wanna know 'bout work?" The blonde nodded, a flicker of a glance towards the man beside her. Who had Merv asked? Well, he was looking at her so she assumed it was meant for her. He'd paused though, which left her in doubt for about half a chime before he answered her unasked query. "Should be same as normal. Where ya gonna be at?" The dancer considered. Plans for the day had been tentatively made, a series of possibilities to occupy her time. She settled on one.

"I was thinking the market. Thought I might check out this magic crap they've got for sale, see if it's anything special," she explained with a crooked smile. Merv snorted, shaking his head. "Crap is righ'," he muttered before waving her off towards the door. She was free to go. His next words stopped her though, held her back to see what would take place. Her employer had turned his attention back to the stranger, condescending to speak to him this time although his words were far from helpful.

"Ye gonna buy something or not? If not, get out. Don't need nobody coming in here an' wasting me time. If ye only came in to ask questions then you can petch off." Straight talking, too the point as always. His words drew a soft snort from the young woman but the barman seemed done with him. Whether the young stranger was done with Merv though was a different matter. What if it really had been anger she'd seen in his face? Would he try to hit the older man, start a fit in a fit of rage? Maybe and if he did it'd be the end of him. Mercenaries would descend on him before he could do much damage but then what if he could cause some? The owner was rough around the edges for the young man looked strong, maybe too strong for Merv if his temper was raised. Caela quite liked her boss.

"Can I take him off your hands, Merv? Help him out, maybe?" She'd stepped in to save her boss from possible harm with little thought and if her actions had been hasty they couldn't be withdrawn now. She'd returned to the bar now, back to leaning on the counter top. Her fingers hovered near the man's arm but she didn't touch his arm, ready to draw him back if he resorted to anger although if it happened he was more likely to turn on the dancer instead.

[Deltan Colari]

Deltan did not notice the young woman who had approached until the bar keeper addressed her. The young man clenched his fists, willing away the urge to use Flux to bash the bastard's face in. Besides giving out undeserved punishment, Deltan would very likely break his hand in the process. In this city, he heavily doubted he'd survive with no money and a useless hand. As the sour-face man spoke with the woman--Caela, apparently--Deltan stewed in his own anger, losing ground in hiding it. Now his posture spoke of the anger within him, muscles tense and ready to do violence. Ordinarily he was not an angry man; Right now, however, he had little recourse for his emotions. What could he do, but be mad? Most of the conversation between the two was lost on Deltan, though Deltan did catch the man's words for him. "Ye gonna buy something or not? If not, get out. Don't need nobody coming in here an' wasting me time. If ye only came in to ask questions then you can petch off," the man said unkindly, and Deltan shoved down another stab of fury. If he hurt someone, it wouldn't be some smart-mouth codger with a chip on his shoulder. Abruptly, the woman stepped closer and offered to "take him off Merv's hands." That annoyed him, though why he could not say. Still, she'd mentioned helping him. That was more than this Merv would do. Deltan's blue eyes flicked to the hand she rested near his arm, and he took a half-step back to put space between them. He was in no mood at all to deal with touchy women, after last night. "Go 'head," Merv said with a dismissive gesture, immediately turning back to serve real customers, though he did keep half an eye on the young man. Despite that, Merv didn't seem even slightly worried that Deltan would hit him. After all, Deltan would end up with a knife in the chest if he tried. The young man tried to force the anger out of his being, though he succeeded only in caging it for the moment. He faced Caela with a flat stare, too angry to notice more than that she might be able to help him. "Why would you help me?" He asked rather morosely, "Want to pick my pocket when I'm not looking? Go on, there's nothing there." Wench, he added caustically in his head, refraining from voicing that thought only because he needed someone who knew the city. Deltan almost felt guilty for that, though he was too angry to dwell on it. He just wanted to take back the last twenty-four hours...Though that was a futile wish. Time spent never came back on itself. The young man tugged his cloak closer about himself, grateful that she at least wasn't looking at him like Mirian had been. If he thought this Caela wanted anything to do with him in that way, he'd really have to try not to hit her. It appeared that decent, Syliran upbringing only went so far. Still, he wouldn't hit a woman unless he had a petching good reason.

[Caela Dorin]

Seems she'd been right not to touch him if his reaction was anything to go by. His gaze had only flickered down to where her fingers hovered before he'd moved away slightly. Slight it might have been but he'd made it clear that he was adverse to her being in any way close to him. It surprised her. It wasn't as if every man was interested in her she knew - she'd frightened Eleazar with her charms in fact - but it made her feel as if she was somehow repellant to him. Well then! Her hand dropped to her side as if she'd been stung, the dancer's gaze cooling by degrees. Regardless of his humour Caela was stuck with him. Merv had lost all interest in him and dumped the responsibly of him onto her. Well, she had asked for it but she was having second thoughts now. Too late to back out now but then maybe she could ditch him quick and go about her business as she intended.

For a visitor to Sunberth he was already doing well where being suspicious was concerned. He'd already got into the frame of mind that he shouldn't take everything at face value. The dancer didn't have a real motive for once, all she wanted now was to get rid of him. The way he spoke though... It sounded like he'd already been robbed. Laughter escaped her lips. "Had it picked already have you? It happens." He'd mentioned that he'd been robbed when she thought he'd mentioned guards. He obviously had said the word that she'd thought was misheard. The stranger had almost taken it as a personal affront. Thieves would steal from anyone in Sunberth if they could find the opportunity and if they were an outsider and an easy target then it was to be expected. Couldn't have been around the place long or he'd have known to have his wits about him beforehand and know that to shoot his mouth off about it afterwards.

"That why you look ready to smash someone's face in? You haven't been in Sunberth long, have you? You should consider yourself lucky that you're still alive and have clothes on your back. Now come with me before I change my mind and Merv has you thrown out on your ear." A pause and a glance towards her employer before she added. "If he decides to be nice that is." She shot a meaningful look in the newcomer's direction before she headed straight for the exit.

The dancer didn't have to help him and so if he didn't decide to follow her, it wasn't her problem. He could fend for himself for all she cared like everybody else did. If he ended up stabbed or bludgeoned to death in some alley in the near future then that'd prove that he wasn't cut out for these streets. If that was the case then she could do nothing to help him anyway. If he followed though... Then I'll stuck with him, she thought as she set off down the street. If she ran before he got out then she could ditch him anyway and- No, the streets weren't busy enough to hide her, there were no bodies to weave through and hide. Plus running in Sunberth was asking for trouble. So it was to be a casual walk and an impatient glance behind to see if she might be free or not.

[Deltan Colari]

Deltan grated his teeth as Caela laughed, mocking him. "Had it picked already, have you? It happens," she said, infuriatingly lighthearted about it. It was as though the woman thought such things happened all the time! Why would one carry coin at all, if everyone was a thief in this city? "That why you look ready to smash someone's face in? You haven't been in Sunberth long, have you? You should consider yourself lucky that you're still alive and have clothes on your back. Now come with me before I change my mind and Merv has you thrown out on your ear... If he decides to be nice, that is," Caela said, glancing toward her employer and then giving Deltan a meaningful look. Quite abruptly, she turned her back to him and began walking out of the tavern. With each word from, Deltan felt himself losing his grip on his temper. Really, he was never this infuriated; it took every scrap of willpower he could muster to keep himself under control. Throw him out? Not likely! ...Except that Deltan knew it was likely; with the muscle that Merv could afford, it would likely be nothing at all for him to have the young man removed, either from the premises or from the mortal coil if the former proved to be too much effort. With a sigh of frustration, the young man followed out after Caela a few moments later, passing by a couple mercenaries that guarded the tavern. It took an effort not to shove past them, and to instead go around them. Without a weapon for the first time in a season, he felt surprisingly naked. Deltan fell into step beside Caela, worn boots making considerably more noise than his companion's shoes. He allowed her to lead simply because he would have had no idea where to go. "How can you help me?" He asked rather grudgingly, tempering his anger to keep himself civil. If she could help him out, he wouldn't drive her away. Then, a thought occurred to him. "And why would you? You don't look much different from anyone else here." The tone in Deltan's voice made it clear that he had a low opinion of "anyone else," and that it extended to Caela by proxy. Still, he would listen if she was somehow altruistic in this cesspool of a city. Gods, Deltan wanted to hit something.

[Caela Dorin]

Of course he followed her. He was a lost soul and she'd been the only one to wave the promise of finding direction under his nose. She tried not to show her disappointment in her face, schooling her expression into one of neutrality that probably fooled no one; she was poor actress. The blonde paused in her walk to allow him to catch up and then set off again as he fell into step beside her. He gave her a little bit of a lead though because she actually knew where she was going although she didn't necessarily know what destination she had in mind. She'd just chosen a direction and headed in it without any real thought. Well, maybe not without any thought. Her steps had bent in the direction of the Seaside Market, ready to make her planned trip to look at the artefacts popping up on the stalls if the man had failed to follow. It meant that she could conjure up an answer with ease.

"You wanted to know where you could find work, right? Well, I can help with that for starters. I can also show you some of the spots in Sunberth where you need your wits about you more than others." There was a certain smugness about the woman once her answer had been rattled off, an expression that could only have said "ha" more loudly if she'd stuck her tongue out at him. He'd asked for that one really, acting as if she'd just made an offer without thinking about it. She had ears and she had a brain so putting two and two together hadn't been too difficult for her. The why was a more sensible question in her opinion although she didn't answer it right away.

The dancer looked at him sideways, eyebrows raising at his idle comment. In what was she like anybody else on these streets? She was cleaner, walked with confidence rather than swagger, her general appearance made her stand out and while the food shortage had left her a little thinner than before she was still visibly better fed than others. Caela wondered if the man was short sighted or just plain thick. Perhaps a mixture of the two considering what she knew of him so far. He'd been robbed and seemed to think that it was some personal slight., he'd walked by two mercenaries to get into a tavern where he'd obviously wanted to smash the owner's face in and he was now failing to see that the one thing that the dancer certainly was not was similar to the other denizens of Sunberth. Very bright our boy... The dancer frowned as she realised that she didn't know his name. Oh, she'd get it out of him at some stage, not that it really mattered.

"Well, I thought that if I offered to help you then you mightn't try to put your fist through Merv's face. He's my boss, you know and he pays me money. I obviously quite like money so I wasn't going to let you cut off my source of income if I could help it. That answer your question, outsider?"

[Deltan Colari]

"You wanted to know where you could find work, right? Well I can help with that for starters. I can also show you some of the spots in Sunberth where you need your wits about you more than others," The young woman said in the most infuriating manner possible. There wasn't one thing that Deltan could have specifically pointed out as offensive; the general manner of the woman simply irritated him. Though he knew he wasn't in a condition to assess someone's character, he was fairly certain that it wasn't all in his head. The young man noted with some satisfaction that his own words had offended her. The way she was acting, she needed to be knocked down a peg. That little victory--as he thought of it--dulled the worst of his anger and he listened to the rest of Caela's words as calmly as he could. Her reasoning was sound; protect her income. Had his anger really been that obvious? When she called him an "outsider," he raised his own eyebrows, seeming annoyed...Then rueful. "Is it that obvious?" He asked, letting out a strained chuckle. He still wanted to hurt someone, but at least now something was being done. Deltan wasn't aimlessly wandering or wasting time; he was learning about this city he found himself stuck in for a while. Deltan didn't answer Caela's question; he figured that was fairly self-explanatory. "So you just wanted to get me away from him." He said, then added, "Where are we going?" They'd been walking for a while, and Deltan was quite tired of having no direction or goal. If he couldn't have a plan to get himself out of this fix, he could at least know where he was being led. Surprised, he realized that he was no longer angry. Irritated and unhappy certainly, but the murderous gleam had gone from his eyes and he appeared calm enough. At least, calm enough for his gaze to start sweeping up and down the street, marking potential assailants and categorizing them by their level of danger. It was a taught instinct, drilled into him hard though he'd had no real use for that skill until he came to Sunberth. The young man had no weapon, but he still held himself like a man ready to do fighting. Intellectually, he knew he would not be much use if armed men attacked, but he still felt like he could do damage. That was dangerous, and partially the fault of his unstable emotions recently. He had to be very careful. Thankfully, Deltan's cloak concealed his lack of a weapon well enough, so many of the less courageous sort gave them both a bit of space. They would still have to weave around those strong or numerous enough to be unfazed by Deltan's posturing. It was all in the attitude, Deltan had been taught. If a man looked ready to defend himself, only those who were ready to risk their necks would cause him trouble.

[Caela Dorin]

The young woman was keeping a close eye on the man. It might be the briefest of glances or perpetually watching him from the corner of her eye but she was watching. The dancer didn't want him blowing up and catching her unawares so she was looking for any change in his demeanour that'd suggest an impending attack of temper. Everything she said seemed to spark some darkening of his expression although Caela doubted that it was personal. He was angry at whoever had robbed him and it seemed to be tainting his reactions. Unless there was some other reason that he was in a foul humour that she just hadn't hit upon yet.

The young woman knew that she probably wasn't helping matters. Her flippancy was probably annoying him no end and she just couldn't bring herself to stop. Sometimes she couldn't hold her tongue and it got it into trouble but until the trouble happened she was always having too much fun feeling somehow superior to her target. This outsider was no exception and yet she almost felt sorry for him. Not sorry enough to stop, of course.

Her light hearted speech had had a positive effect on his mood though. A strained chuckle was drawn from him when she addressed him as "outsider", the question coupled with it making the blonde turn to him with a smirk upon her lips and a slight raising of her eyebrows. "Of course it's that obvious. If you were from Sunberth, you'd know where to get work already and so wouldn't be asking here to find any and you also wouldn't ask here the guards are." She'd known what he was but it was still nice to have it confirmed and to lay out the reasons that had led to her deduction. Perhaps now he'd be in a better mood now that the ice between them seemed to have broken.

The inevitable query about where they were heading in came. The blonde didn't answer immediately. She knew where they were going, knew why she was going there but she sincerely doubted that he wanted a trip to the market. Although there was certainly a possibility of work there. Some of the stall occupiers employed guards both to mind their stuff and hold their place if anything took them away from it for whatever reason. He'd have a better hope with such work over in somewhere like the Castle Commons as they had more guards over there but the Seaside Market was nearer to the Docks. If guard work didn't suit him then she could always point him in the direction of the latter where he could be a labourer.

He held himself more like a fighter than a labourer though, not that those who worked on the Docks didn't indulge in a fight or two. The set of his shoulders, the way he walked and held himself spoke aggression. His body screamed to anyone looking at it that he wasn't to be messed with. It was doing the job of keeping most people away, many who passed them in the street giving them as wide a berth as possible. That wouldn't deter everyone though and it was making her a little nervous. If someone decided to pick a fight then there was a high chance that she'd be seen as guilty by association and become the next target if anything happened to the stranger. She wasn't sure whether or not he should be warned or not.

"I'm heading to the market. The one by the water. I have business to be doing there but you might find the work that you want there. If you can keep that aggression thing up then some seller might decide to pay you to do it and guard their stuff." Her gaze was turned on him before she continued. "Unless you aren't interested in that kind of thing. If not then you can wait until I've had a bit of a nose around the place and then I'll bring you somewhere else."

It wasn't long before the scent of brine overpowered the other smells of the city and they came within sight of the water. The dancer led the way, navigating her way down to the stalls. The pathways between them was far from clear, a flood of water at ankle height filling the ground between the elevated selling spots. The bottoms of her pants were rolled up to the knee to save them from the wet and she turned to her companion, waving a hand to encompass the wet sprawl. "The Seaside Market."

[Deltan Colari]

Deltan felt Caela's eyes on him, ignoring the urge to meet her stare for stare. She wasn't as important as the people who could and very likely would stab them in the back just for the faint hope of mizas. That was what Mirian had done, in effect. Best not to think of that now, though; he had another person to worry about...Though at least this one made no pretenses at liking him. She clearly didn't. Still, she was helping him for some reason so he'd not complain. Caela's response to his question made a faint smile quirk the corners of his mouth. He still felt faintly angry, but he could push it aside for now. Besides, this woman's sarcasm somehow made him feel better. A bit of a reflection on how foolish he felt that he'd been, perhaps. "How do you people get by without guards?" He asked incredulously, deciding to drop the topic of work until he made certain she wasn't just trying to cause him problems. Really, the lack of guards was an utter mystery to Deltan. How did this city survive? Syliras would crumble without the knights, he was certain. Then again, Sunberth didn't appear to be prospering. After all, the prices on food were outrageous. Caela didn't reply as he asked their destination, drawing a faint sigh of annoyance from him. Still, she was his only hope to find direction right now, so he had to make do. The young woman seemed thoughtful for a few moments, before eventually giving up what he wanted to know. They were going to a market? A bit pointless for him, since he had no money, but... Her idea was a good one. Act as a guard for someone selling their baubles? That, he could do quite handily. Still, it was hardly what he was looking for. But beggars couldn't be choosers. The young man considered asking what she planned to do, but it was fairly self-evident. A woman in fairly well-off circumstances--relatively speaking--at a market. She wanted to go shopping; it hardly took a genius. As they came in sight of the market, the young man chuckled a little. "Why didn't they put it on dry ground?" Unlike Caela, Deltan didn't think to roll up his pants as they approached the market, and he noticed their newly-damp state with an irritated sort of grunt. No helping it now, he supposed. "What are you looking for?" Deltan asked, dismissing his sodden pants from his mind and still keeping an eye out for any suspicious characters. The young man's tone had a certain challenge to it; he dared her to be offended at his question. He knew it was childish, but he couldn't help himself. She seemed entirely too sure of herself for his liking. Still... In a decidedly more sincere voice, he added, "Thank you for helping me. No one else in this petching city has." Then, he abruptly clamped his mouth shut. Cursing in front of a lady! Fool, he was. Where were his manners? To distract himself, he cast his gaze about the market, looking for anything unusual to draw his attention away from the woman he highly suspected he'd offended.

[Caela Dorin]

It was good to know that the man wasn't completely devoid of a sense of humour. If he hadn't been able to laugh then she didn't like to think what might have happened. He was a strong looking bloke after all and all his aggressive posturing was only driving home how bad it'd be to get on the wrong side of him. Maybe he was a decent guy and she'd just caught him on a bad day but Caela sure as hai wasn't going to assume anything. As long as he didn't cause her any harm, the dancer couldn't give a damn what sort of person he was.

His question threw her, the blonde frowning deeply as she considered it. "Well I don't know what you mean about getting by but... the city keeps going and not everyone is dead so I guess what you're asking? How we manage that much?" He'd left her uncertain of herself. The dancer wasn't as self-assured now as she was left grasping for an answer. "Well everyone's out for themselves so they all survive and some of them have similar interests so they get together into gangs. The gangs make sure that they get what they want so they organise some things. They fight, kill and rob one another, which stops any one group taking over. I don't know to be honest. We just get by, I guess." She shrugged as if to say that that was the best she could do.

Once they arrived at the market, he was back with more questions. She assumed that he didn't actually want to know why the market was located where it was. How was she supposed to know? A glance showed that he'd neglected to put the bottoms of his pants out of the way. It had been more of a whiny rhetoric then rather than a real question. Caela had never given any thought to why the Seaside Market was the way it was. It had always been that way and that was that. The next question she could provide an answer to though. "I'm not looking for anything in particular. I'm checking up on some rumours, I guess. All this magic stuff is supposed to have turned up everywhere so I thought I'd have a look around, see if it's true or just a new type of scam," she explained.

It certainly had her curious. Sunberth as a whole was suspicious and uncertain where magic was concerned but that didn't mean that Sunberthians were completely adverse to it. Magic users were bad but magical things were a source of curiosity that still deserved some caution. It hadn't stopped people buying into them, carrying around strange little doodads that could protect you from snake people and the like. They were fools to hand over mizas for them although she wondered if there were maybe a few items floating around that could do what they said they could. The young woman was skeptical of such things but it was still something fun to look into.

His sudden thanks made her shoot a bemused look his way. The speed that he'd clamped his mouth shut was impressive although she assumed that his thanks hadn't been planned. Swearing wasn't something that the blonde would really notice, let alone take offence at. "You're welcome, I guess. I'm probably not the best help you could have found though."