Not Seeing is Believing (Solo)

[Taln]

20th of summer, 511 AV Taln thrived on the strict schedule and routine work. Not that he enjoyed the structure per say, but rather it gave him a clearer road map to go about his day in as normal a fashion as possible. If asked about his vision, he would be unable to describe it, but the closest approximation would be viewing the world through a mirror smeared with petroleum jelly. It had taken him almost a solid year to memorize his home of Wind Reach. While Inarta with full sight were easily lost, Taln had an advantage over the others: his hearing was almost supernaturally acute. The man's sense of touch was extremely over developed as well, making two senses highly attuned to compensate for half the loss of his vision. This made the maze-like warrens a comfortable home for the man who relied so much on hearing and touch rather than the almost useless sight in the dark and twisting tunnels. Today was one of the few days that his day off coincided with market day and his vivid green eyes gleamed at the possibilities. There were certain days it was great to be a dek and this was one of the rare few. Most Inarta were either selling their wares or buying them. They had a great habit of tunnel vision on these days, automatically overlooking anything that appeared dek. Since most dek wouldn't be buying or selling anything, they were just an anonymous shadow to be overlooked. Fifty paces from the mouth of the warren, the tents were set up, with each booth in the same place, with the same people, selling the same thing. There was an opportunistic beauty in such predictability that made the tall man smile. Each booth was set exactly ten paces apart with the common merchandise up front left and right, twenty paces facing each other. The more expensive, higher end merchandise was located the farthest away at seventy five paces. Market days were rich times, however, he paid a price for it with his hearing being so sharp. The crowds were loud enough to make his head ache for a solid day and being around so many other bodies, messed with Taln's sense of touch and intuitive spacial relations. Still it was the perfect day to take advantage of being 'just a dek.' 'Hmm food first.' He smelled ripe melons still fresh and cool because of the early morning. No meat cooking yet, which was a shame but they wouldn't start that aroma until a bell before lunch to whet the crowd's appetites. Oatmeal simmered somewhere just to his left and he thought it was a shame it wasn't something quite so portable. It just wasn't a food he could chance at any rate. The fruit seller would take about another half bell to finish set up of the stand so now was the time to grab and walk. Swiftly, he grabbed a box marked with the yellow sticker on top and shuffled toward the fruit merchant. He slumped his shoulders and bowed his head until his entire posture looked defeated and exhausted to even the sharpest observer. Taln trudged, using his toes to check the footing with each step, noting gladly that the sweepers had done their work well a bell ago to keep the road smooth. He let the box drag his fingers down as if it were a heavy load. Only melons weighed that much at the fruit stand and only the fruit merchants and dek knew that. The Avora merchant barely saw the working dek, and turned her attention back to sorting her unpacked wares. Taln set down the box just loud enough to sound heavy, but not so much as to get scolded for carelessness. With deft hands, he grabbed the quarter full box next to the empty one he'd set down and casually picked it up with an obvious ease to emphasize it's emptiness. Keeping his head down and his feet shuffling, he walked the exact fifty paces to the mouth of the warren. Changing the shuffle to a swift half jog, he weaved through the tunnels with ease, counting his footsteps through the memorized turns. With the swiftness of a shadow covering the sun, he ducked into the space for extra towel storage with his bounty. The dek whistled softly when he opened the box, silently thanking the gods for his ability to memorize. Fresh melons were hard to get so early in the summer and he'd just walked away with what looked to be about a half dozen. He felt over the melons with large, sensitive hands and found only one soft spot. Taln shrugged, realizing his sight had failed him in thinking there were six small fruits rather than the four large ones his touch revealed. Sitting with his back against the door, he dragged the box between his large feet and took out his battered talon sword to cut into a fine breakfast. On opening the fresh ripe melon, he smiled to himself. It was going to be a -great- day to be a dek.

[Taln]

After a good breakfast, he decided to sneak in a nap while he could. It was normally a fairly temperate place that stayed the same winter or summer--except at night in winter and noon in summer. He relaxed his back against the door, relying on the change of temperature to wake him to time's passage. As his own alarm system, he kept a large hand spread out on the floor near the bottom of the door. He closed his eyes and exhaled, falling into a light doze the moment he finished the breath. An ugly dream clawed at the frayed edges of his mind and he frowned in his sleep. "I said stay still, lowlife beast." The imperious Avora paced back and forth in icily beautiful fury. Taln could only comply, ignoring all survival instincts that flared with his temper. At six feet, he could easily kill the woman with no effort. She barely reached his shoulder and yet life determined it was her prerogative to do as she pleased. The woman planted a foot in his back, knocking him off balance and face first into the saltwater baths. The sudden breeze of someone walking by the door brought him to full alert. Taln shook the dream from his eyes and listened intently as someone passed the door--and kept on moving. It was a brisk confident stride, so it had to be a higher caste instead of the shuffling step of a drudge. He dragged a hand over his face and realized he was sweating. It must be after noon. Once all sounds in the warren passage faded, he poked out his head to look around. Just enough light entered the area and he held out his hand at the light source. Taln turned his gaze to the shadow and saw it was only a finger's width of shadow--not quite one bell. 'They'll have started cooking the meat now and laying out the better glass items to show them off in the hottest sun.' he thought, heading back out of the warrens. He trailed his left hand along the wall at waist level. His fingers dragged over a series of bumps noting it was the right tunnel from his earlier direction. The tall Dek paused by the doorway, gathering his thoughts for what came next.