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

[Eris]

Eris nodded, accepting the girl’s version of the story. She wouldn’t have cared if the girl had indeed been exiled or kidnapped from her home. To Eris, family meant very little and she never expected it to mean more to others.

Eris’s eyes narrowed and a soft hiss escaped her parted lips. So, the girl guessed. To be fair, she did make it rather simple for her. At least she had the sense to quite down before blurting out the truth. The baffling part was that Tyuru actually sounded excited about it. Most people would turn around and run.

“Let’s say I am,” she said quietly. “Don’t tell me you’re actually happy to hear that.”

Few people would be happy at meeting someone who killed for a living. It wasn’t a much south-after profession, but Eris began to suspect that the girl might be after learning more than just simple pickpocket tricks. She wondered briefly if she could ever teach someone to kill. It had certainly come easily to her own teacher. Joel seemed to enjoy teaching her the tricks of the trade and he certainly did it well. But it wasn’t until she was on her own that she truly learned what it meant to sink a dagger into someone’s throat. She looked over the girl in front of her. She seemed so blithe and carefree, Eris couldn’t imagine her killing another human being.

[Tyuru]

‘I’m not sure,’ Tyuru said, a slight expression of confusion coming over her. ‘It means you’re dangerous, right? But not to me. I mean, what could I possibly do to harm you, anyway?’ She said this like the thought of her weakness disgusted her. ‘I came to Syliras to find someone to teach me to protect myself, and maybe once I got a hang of that, I could possibly learn to steal or infiltrate or any other number of things like that. I don’t think I could learn to kill. But I think I could learn to… uh, incapacitate.’

Again, she was speaking as though to herself, and now she looked up at Eris. ‘As I said before, I’d like you to teach me about all you know. It’s always good to have an apprentice, wouldn’t you say?’

She imagined plunging a dagger into someone's chest, how it would feel, how it would look to see the life draining from someone's eyes. She could never do that, not voluntarily, she decided. The thought gave her shivers...

[Eris]

“Incapacitate… a pretty synonym for killing,” Eris mused. “I suppose you could be useful in some regards. Though I think you will find that once you “incapacitate” someone for the first time, it’s a slippery slope from there.”

She tilted her head to one side, surveying the crowded bazaar. It would be better to see what the girl could do on her own before setting out to teach her something as dangerous as the use of a bade.

“For now, let’s just see that I earn those five mizas. I’d like to see how competent you are in choosing a target. Why don’t you perform the same maneuver as earlier, but this time, chose your own target. If it goes well, I’ll see about teaching you how to use that dagger properly.” As soon as the words escaped her lips, she wondered if this was a good idea. What if the girl chose the wrong target and got caught? Well, then she wouldn’t be worth teaching.

[Tyuru]

‘Yes, I suppose it is a more delicate term. But it sounds better. Like… putting someone to sleep. Less violence. Less intention to do harm. More to stop harm from coming to yourself.’

She uncrossed her arms and held them behind her back instead. ‘The same maneuver. I could try. What’s a person if they don’t try, right? I mean-’ she bit down on her words. ‘I’m sorry. I talk when I’m nervous.’

Tyuru’s eyes swept the crowd. There was a general flow to it; people on the left were heading in one direction, people on the right in the other. She studied faces. There were ones she passed over; confident ones, relaxed ones, faces that looked as though they couldn’t easily be distracted. Then she found one.

The member of the crowd she locked on to was a thin teenage boy in the clothing of an apprentice of some sort. He had thick, curly brown hair, a pimply face and was holding a vast amount of scrolls, some of the parchment spilling from his arms. It seemed he’d lost his master from the way he was searching the crowd, standing on his toes to see over the heads of those in front of him. Tyuru located his master – a short but nonetheless imposing man who was dressed in fine clothes and was examining different kinds of inks and quills on display in the crowd. The young boy looked to be going in the wrong direction.

Tyuru decided to try what Eris had done – an accidental kind of robbery. Perhaps if she knocked into him he would be so busy seeking his master that he wouldn’t look toward her. She began walking deliberately toward a stall behind the apprentice, even straining her head to get a better look at it. Then she tripped.

Unfortunately, she misjudged it. Instead of falling toward his arm and reaching for his side pocket, she ended up colliding with his torso. In the instant she realised her fall was misjudged, she thought perhaps when she knocked him down he would attend to his scrolls first and she would be able to disappear into the crowd.

Another unfortunate event: the teenage boy caught her.

‘Are you alright?’ he asked, holding her arms firmly and somehow managing to stop the rolls of parchment from cascading toward the floor. She cursed herself mentally. So stupid.

‘Yes, I’m okay,’ she said, giving a shy smile. ‘I’m so sorry. It’s my feet. I must be the clumsiest girl in the world.’

One more experienced than the boy might have noted the way she made herself relate to him. He looked to be clumsy, so she became clumsy on purpose when she was discovered. The same, more experienced person might also notice that she didn’t do it quite so well and was still a complete amateur at this kind of thing.

Tyuru looked down at the scrolls. ‘Oh, you’re an apprentice,’ she said, looking up at him again from under her lashes. At the same time, she subtly moved closer and one hand reached toward the satchel hanging from his shoulder. She shielded this from others by standing so that her body blocked the view of her arm from any who might be looking. She locked eyes with the apprentice and gave him an admiring look, all the while cursing herself and deciding on the best exit strategy.

‘Y-yes, I am,’ the boy said, standing a little straighter. ‘I’m learning to read and write.’

‘How clever of you!’ she said, real admiration showing in her eyes this time. She’d never learnt a single letter of the alphabet. ‘I could never do that.’

Her hand found the satchel’s catch and she slowly lifted it, keeping eye contact with him. He seemed flustered at being paid so much attention.

‘I don’t know,’ he said, a smile spreading on his face. ‘I’m sure you could learn.’ His gaze was straying from her face. Normally she’d be used to this, but she couldn’t risk him seeing what she was doing.

In a moment of panic she made a wordless exclamation and fell forward on to him once again, her hand reaching into the shoulder bag and grasping what felt like a velvet bag. She pulled it out and hid it in her skirt by grabbing a handful of the material. With her other arm she pretended to support herself on his shoulder, drawing his attention away from the hand she’d used to steal the bag. Her face was pressed against his arm.

The bewildered boy did drop some scrolls this time, staggering under Tyuru’s added weight. ‘Wh-what’s wrong?’ he asked, straightening his cap and supporting Tyuru by her arm.

‘Weak ankles,’ she smiled apologetically. ‘I must have injured one when I tripped.’ She searched desperately for a way out, still cursing herself.

‘I think I see my father!’ she said, straining her neck to look at a nonexistent member of the crowd. ‘Thank you for being so kind! Goodbye!’

With that, she disappeared into the throng of people as quickly as possible, rejoining Eris, glancing behind her to make sure the apprentice had lost sight of her. He had, and he looked more bewildered than ever.

‘Stupid, stupid, stupid…’ Tyuru muttered, coming to a halt beside Eris and sighing. ‘I’m sorry. That didn’t quite go as planned. I meant to do something along the lines of what you did, bump him, steal something, then disappear. I suppose I used up all my luck on the first attempt. But look,’ she held up the bag, which clinked dully, ‘I got something.’

Pulling it open, she expected to see gold or silver. Instead, there were a multitude of small ink bottles. There were all kinds of colors and consistencies, and they meant nothing to Tyuru. She sighed again in frustration. ‘Oh well, I guess you can’t always strike gold, right? Should I return it? At least it’ll be easier than getting it.’

((Hehe, another Disney reference. Weak ankles. I decided she was doing far too well. She's Mary-Sue-ish enough as it is. Finally, some difficulty.))

[Eris]

Eris watched the girl intently as she disappeared into the crowd. The target she had chosen seemed to be a good one at first – young and overwhelmed, making for a perfect combination. For a split second, Eris allowed a sigh of relief to escape her lungs. Of course, that’s when everything went wrong. Her eyes widened at Tyuru collided with the boy completely, instead of simply brushing past him. And then she started talking to him… Eris slapped her palm against her forehead – hoping against hope that the girl would still be able to salvage the situation somehow.

She could only hear snippets of their conversation, but the boy seemed positively enthralled with her. Now all she had to do was make her exit. But no, she tried to go after the satchel one more time. Eris realized that she had never been a spectator to such a nerve-racking situation. Go! Just go! She decided that if the girl didn’t get out of there in the next five seconds, she’d do something about it.

Mercifully, the boy’s awkwardness mixed with Tyuru’s charm seemed to do the trick. Like so many men confronted with pretty young women, he seemed to have taken leave of any common sense he might have possessed. A stranger bumping into someone twice in a row is definitely a warning sign. Of course, that warning is easily ignored when you’re a wishful teenager.

Eris felt completely spent of energy when Tyuru returned. At first, she was only able to manage a grunt in response to the contents of the bag. Then, gathering her thoughts together, she finally spoke, “Well, I suppose it could’ve been worse. At least you talked your way out of it.”

“Do return it if you can. That boy will probably have a fit if he notices his inkwells are missing,” she said with a sigh.

[Tyuru]

Tyuru just shrugged. 'Sure, I'll return them.' She was still disappointed with herself. But she'd gotten away.

Looking once again for the young boy in the crowd, she spotted him still searching for his teacher and starting off in the wrong direction. She started toward him, but changed her mind at the last second, instead going toward the old master she’d seen near the booth selling ink and quills.

As she approached him she arranged her features into what she hoped was a worried expression, then said, ‘Excuse me, sir?’

He turned to face her and she held out the velvet bag. ‘A boy that might have been your apprentice dropped this. I would have given it back to him but he disappeared so quickly.’

The man gave her a searching look and she had to work hard to keep the innocence shining through her eyes. He took the bag. ‘A tall boy, curly dark hair? Carrying a lot of scrolls? Where has he gotten to?’

Relief showed on Tyuru’s face. ‘Yes, sir, just as you described him. He went in that direction.’ She pointed in the general direction the boy had gone in.

The man thanked her and left, and she took a moment to breathe a small sigh of relief. Thank the gods that’s over, she thought, and returned to Eris.

‘I had to go to the old man, I’m not sure I could have distracted the boy long enough,’ she said to Eris, studying her nails. ‘Again, I’m sorry I messed up, but,’ a light came into her eyes, ‘will you still teach me?’

[Eris]

So eager to learn and so unwilling to be discouraged... . Eris hated to admit it, but the girl reminded her of herself a little. When Joel had first started teaching her, she was so full of questions, eager to remember everything, eager to accomplish everything she tried… That had worn off with time. After her first kill, emotions seemed to have numbed and her enthusiasm mellowed. Would Joel have approved of my teaching someone else? Eris scowled slightly to herself. But why must I always ask his approval? Even when he is not there, I recall his advice and go over his lessons and ask myself what he would say! To hell with it!

She bit her lip, wiping the scowl of her face. “Against my better judgment… Yes. We can work something out. It might be a good idea to start off with the dagger. It’s always best to know how to use a sharp blade if you ever run into any trouble. We would have to meet somewhere out of the way, of course – where we wouldn’t arouse suspicion. The Bronze Woods, perhaps – better to travel there on horseback,” Eris was now thinking out loud, laying out a plan for everything as she was so often prone to doing.

Suddenly, something occurred to her. “You do own a horse, right? Being a Drykas and all…” Eris sincerely hoped that the girl loved horses as much as the rest of her race. The last thing she wanted was to have to teach Tyuru how to handle a horse. A mount was often crucial in planning escape routes and covering ground in a short period of time. She knew that she wouldn’t have been able to survive without Rhine by her side for the past two years.

[Tyuru]

Tyuru took the opportunity to study Eris as the woman was in thought. So in control, Tyuru mused, her own thoughts full of respect. I wonder what sort of things she’s missed out on in life. I would pity her, but she doesn’t need it. Besides, I doubt she even knows what she missed. Even if she did I don’t think it would bother her that much. But I wouldn’t know.

Tyuru chuckled when Eris asked about her horse. ‘Of course I have a horse. How could I have gotten here without one? I’m a Drykas, for heaven’s sake. He’s at the stables. I have more or less enough experience when it comes to riding a horse. At least, I can make him move.’ The thought of the huge stallion waiting patiently at the stables made her smile a little. No matter how annoyed she pretended to be with him, she actually had quite a soft spot for Horse. ‘Anyway, he practically steers himself. Of course, you’re right about the wood. It would be better to practice in private.’

((Ick, writer's block. It should be cured soon. Sorry...))

[Eris]

“It’s settled then. We’ll meet at the Main Gates tomorrow morning. By morning, I mean dawn. You oversleep – you can forget about learning anything,” Eris said curtly, unconsciously channeling Joel’s own words to her seven years ago.

Her mind was already racing ahead, planning out exactly how she would go about teaching someone to fight. She would have to learn to dissect and explain all the techniques that had become second nature to her. And she would have to be careful not to actually hurt the girl – or let her hurt herself for that matter. And then, there was the possibility that Tyuru possessed more talent in the way of the dagger than she let on… It was a foolish and baseless suspicion to hold, but Eris held it nonetheless.

Most would consider it paranoia, but Eris thought of it only as self-preservation. She had seen people tricked into fights and card games, thinking they were playing against a rookie ; when in reality, they were faced with a master of the sport. Joel had performed that routine many times at the gambling houses they visited along the road. They rarely stayed in those towns more than a day. Eris grinned slightly at the memory, realizing that she missed the road. She even found the impending excursion to the Bronze Woods to be refreshing – anything to escape the stifling, walled city for a while.

[Tyuru]

Tyuru could hardly hold in her excitement. Knowledge was something she enjoyed as it gave her vanity some sort of validation. She was sick of not being able to defend herself. And perhaps this exercise would help her in her quest to find Issak.

'Of course. Dawn. I'll be there even earlier.'

(([Bronze Wood] Only my Wit is Sharper than my Dagger (Eris)))