[The Great Bazar] A Day at the Market (Tyuru)

[Eris]

Eris laughed – a brief sound that rarely escaped her lips. “A distraction, eh? I rather like that.”

Was she seriously considering this? But, why not, after all? She had just dished out 30 gold mizas for a new dagger and she wouldn’t mind having her money compensated. “I am staying in a room at Traveler’s Row, so no housekeeping will be necessary. And I can mend my own clothing well enough. But payment is quite welcome, though I don’t know how you plan to pay my fee if you had the need to steal cheap fruit,” Eris said, not really caring where the girl would get the money, as long as she paid.

“If you are really serious about this, then we may as well start right now. No better place to practice thievery than in a crowded market place,” Eris said, her pulse quickening at the prospect of a job, no matter how simple.

“Say five gold mizas for this lesson and we’ll see where things go from there. And you should really give me that paper,” she added, holding out her hand expectantly.

Eris was looking forward to giving a demonstration of her skill. But this being nothing more than a demonstration, she resolved not to actually keep the money she stole. After all, it would be even more of a challenge to put the stolen articles back into the target’s bag afterward. Joel had always told her that in order to steal, one must first learn to return. She had laughed at that particular lesson at the time, but after years have passed, she learned just how right Joel had been.

Suddenly, it occurred to her that she did not even know the girl’s name. Introductions have always been secondary to Eris. In her field of work, having someone know your name was a liability and most business transactions were conducted anonymously. “My name is Eris, by the way. And you are?”

[Tyuru]

‘A distraction, yes. I can be extremely distracting.’

She handed over the ledger, unable to stop the smile that was growing on her face. ‘Eris,’ she repeated, nodding. ‘It’s a pretty name. I would ask where you come from, but I wouldn’t want to pry.’ Tyuru had to bite her lip to keep from asking any personal questions. This wasn’t a tea party.

‘I’m Tyuru-, er, of the Ruby Clan.’ She realised too late that she’d said the automatic response she’d always used. Who cares what clan she was in? It wasn’t like she would go back. Even though she missed it terribly.

‘Anyway,’ she smiled, glossing over the awkward silence she’d created, ‘your mizas…’ she shook the coins into Eris’ hand, ‘and my complete concentration…’ she bowed jokingly, replacing the bag in her pocket, still smiling. ‘Let it be known that not many people have my full attention.’

[Eris]

Eris nodded upon hearing the girl’s name. She must have realized some time ago that the girl was a Drykas, but the thought hadn’t really surfaced to the top of her mind. She hadn’t had many dealing with the Drykas people and consequently had no idea what this Ruby Clan was.

Eris smiled, starting to actually like the girl - in a roundabout, cautious way. Pocketing the coins and the ledger, she surveyed the crowd around her. The bazaar was as busy as ever, with people mulling about in every square inch of the place. She would have to start with something easy.

“There are basically two techniques to retrieving an item from a target’s clothing or bag,” Eris launched straight into her little lecture. “The first is to be as inconspicuous as possible and simply reach into the target’s pocket when he or she isn’t looking. Personally, I favor this technique. But before you can successfully go through with it, you would need to become proficient in concealing yourself and your movements, and using the surrounding sounds to your advantage. It will take time for you to learn that, so for now, it is best that you stick to the second method. This one is better demonstrated than explained.”

A second after she finished speaking, Eris was already moving through the crowd. She brushed her hand through her hair as she walked, effectively covering the upper part of her face. All of a sudden, she seemed to stumble, one foot caught behind the other. Her hand fell away from her hair, landing on against the coat of a middle-aged man. The man stopped walking and looked around to see who had run into him, but by that time, Eris had already ducked behind a particularly tall man. The crowd pushed against the man, snapping a him to get a move-on and he was obliged to do just that. Not losing the man from sight, Eris turned to where Tyuru was standing, making sure the girl was paying attention.

Eris clutched the money pouch in her hand, briefly wondering if she should perhaps keep it. But no, she had resolved to return any money she stole during this little lesson. Catching up with the man, she once again brushed against him, dropping the pouch into his coat pocket.

Then, she leisurely made her way back to Tyuru. “This one was a little too easy, seeing as he kept his money so close to the surface. Usually, it takes a bit more work than that to get the job done. I got lucky, but you should never depend on luck. The trick is to choose the right target. That woman, for example,” Eris said, pointing at a young woman holding the hands of two children, and watching another little boy running in front of her. “That woman is clearly too busy to notice if anything went missing from that bag slung across her shoulder. You can try a similar maneuver on her, if you wish.”

“But do return whatever you take before she notices it’s gone. We’re not here to earn money right now,” she added sternly.

[Tyuru]

Tyuru listened intently as Eris spoke, imagining reaching into a satchel or case while walking, coolly casual and staring straight ahead. It did seem a little more complicated. Her eyes tended to give her away.

She seems to know a lot about this, Tyuru thought wryly, smiling a little as she watched Eris in fascination. It was masterful, the perfect timing she used to trip, the well-made mask of a thief pretending to be an innocent. It was beautiful in its own way, Tyuru decided. She liked to try to find the beauty in everything. It kept one happy and, in some desperate cases, sane.

When Eris turned to her, she nodded inconspicuously to show she had been observing and that she was impressed. She realised she’d been watching a bit too obviously and tried to look more casual, pretending to study the exotic spices for sale in the booth nearest her, looking to Eris from the corner of her eye.

It surprised her when Eris returned the moneybag. It was just as efficiently done as stealing it. I suppose every cloud does have a silver lining, she thought. Stealing can mean returning.

Tyuru straightened and gave a smile as Eris returned. She didn’t say anything, but Tyuru was buzzing inside. How well done!

‘It seems difficult,’ she responded when Eris suggested she try. ‘But I suppose I could at least try… and don’t worry, I promise to return anything I take,’ she said with a mischievous smile. What if I get caught? She wondered. She’s already saved me once. I hate being in debt.

She sidled closer to the harassed looking woman, not looking directly at her, wondering to herself what she thought she was playing at, doing this here and now. What would she take? She didn’t know the contents of the young woman’s bag. What if she took too long, what if someone noticed, what if, what if…?

Too late; Tyuru was within touching distance of the woman. She passed her going in the other direction on the side the bag was on, moved in what she hoped was a smooth manner toward the woman and saw an opening. The child clutching the woman’s hand moved forward excitedly to point at something and the mother turned her head away, her expression the kind a patient mother gets when humoring her child. The child’s movement forward allowed a clear path to the bag at the woman’s side and Tyuru moved closer in the instant she looked away, slipped a hand into the bag, closed her fingers around something and pulled gently but quickly. Without looking down she brought her hand down to her side and half-hid it in her skirt as she had done with the pear, managing to keep her arm loose and to stop her shaking hand from letting go of whatever she had grabbed. She continued walking and stopped a few paces away from the young mother, who was oblivious, and examined the object in her hand.

It was a smoothly carved wooden horse, the kind a father makes for a daughter as a gift. She let her fingers dance over the grainy surface softly, admiring it for a few seconds, before concealing it again in the folds of material at her side and moving toward the mother in a nonchalant kind of way (she hoped). Dropping it back in was no easier; she walked quickly and drew level with the mother, then pretended to see something interesting on the other side of the woman and used this as an excuse to cut directly behind her, miraculously aiming correctly and slipping the beautifully carved horse back into the bag. She didn’t look down or at the young woman, but kept walking and studied the stall she had pretended to be interested in. The mother kept her eyes on the boy running in front of her and didn’t seem to have felt anything in the slightest. None of the children had, either; the smells and sounds and atmosphere of the busy bazaar had them full up to their senses.

Tyuru’s heart was beating and she felt exhilarated. Amazing. It was the same sort of reckless excitement she got the night she ran away.

Slowly she made her way back to Eris. ‘It’s a miracle I didn’t mess up,’ she gushed, staring at her hands. ‘I normally never get such delicate things right… I was so sure she’d notice me!’ She bit her lip, stopping the flow of words, and gave Eris a tentative smile. ‘Did I do it right?’ she asked, taking on a slightly more dignified tone. ‘I don’t think the technique was quite as good as yours, I just got lucky… the right place at the right time, I suppose.’ The smile became a grin. ‘I guess my luck has been used up.’

[Eris]

Eris watched Tyuru as she made her way toward the young mother. What if the girl was terribly incompetent and gave herself away? Would she be obliged to make another excuse for her? Eris didn’t know whether she would want to involve herself if she did make a mistake. Joel would have told her to run at the first sign of danger. Then again, she did take the girl’s money…

Fortunately, the little argument going on in her mind proved unnecessary. The girl actually pulled it off, reaching into the woman’s bag just as she was distracted by her tyke. Children were so often the cause of trouble. Eris held her breath as she watched Tyuru draw away from the target. What if she changed her mind about returning whatever she took, or what if she simply lost her nerve? Perhaps I shouldn’t have told her to return the item – that might just prove too much of a challenge for a beginner.

Once again, Eris’s doubts turned out to be uncalled fory, allowing Eris to relax a little. She had forgotten how nerve-racking this kind of thing could be. It’s been a long time since she worried about a job as simple as lifting an item off a passerby. And this time, it wasn’t even her doing the lifting.

Eris found herself amused by the girl’s obvious exhilaration at her success. “You did well for a beginner. You did start out a tad stiffly, however. If someone was watching you with a trained eye, they would have realized what you were after. Your timing was good – both in taking the item out and putting it back in,” Eris said thoughtfully. “I might even say you’re somewhat of a natural at this. Most people struggle with finding the right moment to reach for the target, but you got it just right. With more practice, you could excel at this.”

"Hiding the item in your skirt was also a good move. I never thought of skirts as particularly useful before," she added wryly.

“Moving on,” Eris continued. She was unused to teaching anyone her skill and wanted to cover all the bases. “It’s usually easier to steal a money pouch if you can cut the string of the satchel holding it. It’s also best to have a weapon on you when doing something like this, just in case-”

She stopped midway, realizing something. “Do you carry a weapon?” she asked.

[Tyuru]

Tyuru was used to being praised, and Eris didn’t disappoint. Tyuru felt a warm flush at being called a natural, then questioned in her mind if she should be flattered at being called a natural thief.

She was unable to ponder this as Eris asked if she carried a weapon. Tyuru thought of the crudely sharpened stick still hidden down her tunic. It was hardly sharp enough to deal any damage. The real weapon was hidden at her belt.

She held up a finger in a ‘one moment’ gesture and reached into the inside of her wide, intricately tooled belt. There was a small, hidden pocket sewn on the inside toward the left, which was Tyuru’s dexterity. She had sewn it there herself, but it had previously been used for trivial things such as handkerchiefs or extra change. The pocket now held something much more important, however.

She withdrew her hand, and with it, a dagger about the length of her hand.

Tyuru had enough sense to move closer to Eris and turn away from the crowd, hiding the weapon with her body, laying the blade against her arm, holding the leather bound grip tightly. It was a dull iron-gray color and had beautiful knotwork patterns engraved up the side of the blade. The grip was wrapped in soft brown leather. The hilt was set with one red stone, a ruby, and it was a balanced, deadly weapon.

Tyuru, of course, did not know how well-made it was. She had taken it the night she ran away, stolen from her father’s bedside, and kept it in the belt-pocket in case of emergencies. She had a very rudimentary knowledge of its use- how to hold it, how to swipe with it –but other than that, she had no idea how it could be used effectively.

‘This is all I have,’ she told Eris in a tone that sounded as though she were discussing the weather. ‘I don’t know how to use it properly and I only recently acquired it… I hope it’s sufficient…’

[Eris]

Eris cocked her head to one side, carefully examining the weapon laying in Tyuru’s hand. This wasn’t a dagger – it was a work of art. Eris had never particularly cared for the outward appearance of weapons. Even now, when she had recently ordered a custom-made dagger from a local smith, she asked for no specific decoration. But this – this was something else. She couldn’t imagine slitting anyone’s throat with that. Good thing the girl didn’t seem to have murder in mind.

“You say you don’t know how to use this.” Eris mused, trying to figure out how the girl might have come by this dagger.

The dagger looked to be a family heirloom and probably worth a small fortune, on account of the gemstone. If she had inherited it properly, she would have known how to use it. So, if she didn’t inherit it…

“Did you steal it?” Eris asked, her voice openly incredulous. The girl was just a beginner, after all. The previous owner of this weapon must have been a wealthy merchant or a noble. There was no way she could steal something so valuable from someone so wealthy. And yet, she must have gotten the dagger somehow…

[Tyuru]

Tyuru looked away. ‘Stealing only recently came into my life...I... it was, uhm...' she faltered, took a breath, and started again. ‘It was my father’s. I, uh, had to find something and I needed to take some things with me, so I took it in case. I don’t think he minded too much, he had lots like this. You know Drykas,’ she smiled, making eye contact once more, ‘we like to show off. When he made this, he couldn’t resist decorating it a little. He makes beautiful weapons. Beautiful in a curious kind of way.’ She shivered. A deadly kind of beauty, the kind that enthralled and sickened you all at once. ‘I don’t think he ever really intended to use it for killing people. It was for hunting.’

A thought struck her. ‘Do you know how to use this? I mean,’ she said, ‘can you teach me?’

[Eris]

That made sense – it was much more likely that she stole the dagger from her father rather than from a stranger. She didn’t seem to be bitter when talking about her past – so why had she left her family? At least, Eris assumed she left them, seeing as she seemed to be here alone. She wanted to ask, but reconsidered at the last second. She knew that she didn’t like to answer personal questions herself, so why would Tyuru?

Eris let out a dry laugh, “Of course I know how to use it – it’s sort of the way I make my living. I-" She was on the verge of explaining that she was an assassin of sorts, before she caught herself. It wouldn’t do to reveal her occupation just yet. The girl might have a change of heart and decide to report her to the knights.

Eris crossed her arms across her chest, looking the girl up and down. “You want me to teach you to use it in what way, exactly? To cut satchels or flesh?” she inquired bluntly.

[Tyuru]

‘Remember when I said I was a distraction?’ Tyuru asked, crossing her own arms as well. ‘I suppose sometimes it doesn’t do to be too distracting. I want to learn for self defense.’

She considered Eris as she spoke. It seemed like she had been about to ask more about her past. She couldn’t help but correct any assumptions the woman might have had. Her pride was too great. ‘I left, you know,’ she said, speaking to her boots. ‘I wasn’t banished or driven away or kidnapped. I was stupid and I didn’t think and I left. So I suppose I’m not really a disgrace. I left because I wanted to.’ She seemed to be speaking to reassure herself. But really, what could she have done to disgrace herself, anyway? I’m being silly, she decided. Her family probably missed her like a limb and were still grieving her inexplicable absence at this moment.

Once again, she was shaken from her thoughts by another, more insistent one. ‘Wait. You make your living using daggers?’ Her eyes widened. ‘I knew it! You’re-’ her voice had grown louder and she hushed it, leaning closer. ‘You’re an assassin, aren’t you?’