A Chance Meeting [Kelmar Hedos]

[Liena]

Tilting her head Liena leaned in closer to him for just a moment, studying him after he admitted to not knowing much about Konti’s, it was refreshing to hear someone admit they didn’t know everything.“My kind … they do not like to be the bully on the school yard. They are gentle creatures.” She paused looking back at those chained up before speaking again “….but we are loyal to those we deem worth our loyalty.” She looked back at him “We have something referred to as ‘The Call’ … it is our life goal to fulfill this – that is what has led me here for better or worse and I’ve accepted that.” She took a few steps away from him, this time heading for the edge of the walkway while her eyes peered out at the passing boats in the canal. What was she trying to prove? Perhaps, in her mind, if she shared some about herself he’d share some about himself? That wasn’t likely, to learn more about this character she was so curious about she was going to need to fish into his past without him knowing. Liena’s eyes settled primarily on a woman across the way, she was the general crop of Ravokian citizens, a human but she held Liena’s interest enough for her to look over her shoulder “Tell me what you know about her, what you see …” She spoke loud enough for the male to hear her while she nodded at the woman waiting for a boat on the other side of the canal. Within the span of a few immeasurable breaths her eyes gained a faraway look within the depths of her hood as she delved into the Chavena looking for the woman’s specific chavi. The chavena was beautiful and she couldn’t be sure she would find the right strand of chavi but time was different in here and therefore it moved with different rules then it did in reality where she had left her acquaintance who probably wouldn’t even notice what she was doing.. It was like moving through a tunnel of beautiful multicolored waves and strings and to find the right chavi was like listening to music but without the sound, it was as if the sounds became a tangible vision and you were just waiting for the right tune. As Liena engulfed herself in this world she finally found it, the woman who she was searching for. She focused on the particular chavi and was engulfed in a series of sporadic visions watching the beauty, tears, and darkness of the woman’s entire past before she pulled out of the Chavena like flipping a switch. Liena gave him a few moments to answer, within those moments the woman boarded a ravosala and disappeared around a corner before Liena looked towards him again, approaching if he didn’t approach her. “Her name is Elimina, she is the daughter of a shoe-maker and jewler and she is married to an abusive husband who likes to think he is Rhysol’s gift to man-kind even though in reality she puts him to bed every night steeped in his own vomit and reeking of booze.” Liena watched him casually “I am worth being under someone’s wing because I’m a quick learner and determined to be good at whatever I set my mind to, I also have a few tricks up my sleeve that I can only guess whoever becomes my companion does not and vice versa.” She nodded at him as she paused for only a breath and then ended with “I have a lot to offer should I choose to.”

[Kelmar Hedos]

Liena's justification of her longing to be in the city was completely lost on the snoop. Not that he didn't get it, Kelmar understood perfectly, it was just utterly stupid. A whole race deluded into thinking that there was something calling them to fulfill, that each one had a destiny to carry out, and that they would listen to it above their own logical thought processes and needs. The thought was laughable. One's own interests should always be to themself, lest someone try to cheat you out of what you need. Kelmar had made the mistake before of thinking that there were things more important than the self, and the result was poverty and destitution. After all, you can't do what you think is good if you're not around to do it. "Your kind sounds soft," Kelmar said to her back as she turned to walk. It did not look like she was leaving, rather taking a new direction. "If your entire people fool themselves into thinking there is a greater purpose than that of the mind, tending to this call before tending to the self, then it is no wonder so many are enslaved." As she stopped at the edge of the canal, he moved to follow her, joining her just on the edge of the water. She had not yet proven herself worth much to him, but he was patient. Already he had asked outright, to see what she had to offer. "You yourself have admitted to being deluded by this call, which you say has led you here. So far I have seen nothing that would separate you from any other of your kind, nor have you made me confident that you are capable of finding someone who would value you enough to have your back." His words were sharp and pointed, aimed at getting into her mind. Someone who worked with him needed thick skin and strong will to lie and cheat and suffer abuse to get to the ends. When she asked him to analyze some random woman, he was immediately skeptical and resistant. Why should he do anything she asked? What reason did he, a citizen of Ravok, have to listen to her, especially in a place like this where all it would take was a few shouted words to have her enslaved and dragged into the pavilion not even a few dozen metres away? They were not questions of inherent superiority, they were questions of immediate capability. If he so wished it, there was nothing - so far as he could tell - that she could to to prevent her capture and enslavement. That was what it came down to, and that was where her miscalculation and failure to think ahead hurt her most. And he would take the opportunity to show her and teach her to not be so much of a petching fool. "Think about where we arw," Kelmar prompted. "The slave market is less than a chime's walk from here, and here you are an obvious foreigner without citizenship papers. If I were to holler right now, they would be on you in a moment, and your entire freedom in this city would vanish just as quickly. Your call would lead you to imprisonment and slavery if I wished it. I am sure the Larks would be quick to buy you up as well, they are very impulsive when buying the fairer of female slaves." No reaction was prompted from Liena though as she simply stood there facing the woman. Perhaps his message did not go through. This would be one tricky woman to deal with if she did in some way prove useful. "This is why I am not confident you will last long here in this city. You are incapable of both planning out ahead and understanding how much power you have over people. Life is more than information, especially mine. It is the application of and the action on such information that will make or break you in this city. The merchant who knows why his customers are leaving is powerless unless he knows what to do about it and does it. The fighter who knows how to counter a strike is useless unless he can apply such a technique under pressure and in an adaptable situation. You know that you have my ear and interest, or I sincerely hope you've guessed by now, but you continue failing to know how to best grab my interest further and make me confident in you. Show me that you are worth an investment, for already I have gone much father than I usually would for a troublesome associate." Then she started spewing some nonsense, probably about the woman she had pointed out earlier. She had left not a moment ago on a ravosala, but such an insignificant person was not even worth his thoughts. Chances were he hadn't entered hers, so why concrn himself? However, Kelmar became intrigued with what Liena was saying. On the one hand she could just be making it up on the spot, saying conceivable facts pieced together to impress him and make him think that she could somehow read the woman's past. Anyone even mildly capable of putting together and improvised story could oull it off. Yet stranger things existed in the world, and on the off chance she really had somehow learned of the woman's past, well, the possibilities from there only opened up more. "So you say," Kelmar conceded. If that was not an act, then there was pplenty she could be useful for. "But you still have not demonstrated to me that you are indeed capable of learning." He stared her dead in the eye, his black deceptively calmm irises unmoving. "You have my full attention. Now do something to your advantage."