Solo A Search for Stability

[Gabrielle Seawind]

1st Winter 512 AV “Ten gold mizas for a job like that? That’s ridiculous. That’s at least fifteen days of journey, and that’s all you can offer?” Gabrielle was annoyed, and she made no effort of hiding it. In front of her sat a middle-aged man who looked at her skeptically. He replied with calmness… and this taunt her even more. She had run jobs for him before, mostly delivering goods from one place to the other. This was the first time that she had been given such a bad offer by him. “You see, a young man has already offered to do the job,” he said. He spoke with a drawl of disinterest in his voice. “If you cannot better his offer, then there would be no deal.” She wanted to hit him. Gabrielle was an irrational one, especially when she was angry. They were standing on the docks of Syliras just after noon. The scent of the sea was laden in the air, and she could hear the crashing waves. That at least calmed her down. Her fists were clenched to her sides and she took a deep breath. It appeared that she would have to look for another prospect as an employer, then. “Fine. Stick it.” Shrugging, she turned around and huffed off. She would look for an employer later on. For now, she would go back to her casinor and calm herself down. The sound of her boots hitting the damp wooden planks deafened her ears, but that might have been her rage. The woman was cursing under her breath. A string of Fratavan curses followed her as she walked. Finally, she found her casinor and stepped up on it. Its sails were down and it was on the further side of the docks. A few other ships of roughly the same size were near it. “This is what I get for doing these rotten jobs…” she muttered. If she could, she would just take what was hers. That was the Svefran way. But being alone made that difficult. Gabrielle sat back and felt the casinor slowly sway to the ocean waves, and the motion relaxed her. In a few moments, she had drifted off to a nap.