[Riverfall] Good News For People Who Love Bad News (Emma)

[Griffith]

Summer 510 AV
Day 18
Various Locations, Riverfall

Zhongjie Warren Nestled behind tall rock structures and larger trees, an area among the second tier locales is set aside for the Zhongjie Warren. The brilliant colors of the many tents and myriad goods sold at Riverfall’s bazaar attracted the curious eyes of any visitor passing by even considering the area seemed to be slightly secluded by the natural barriers the market was situated behind. Throughout the year, but most importantly during the frigid winter season, the barriers serve to provide shelter and a relatively comfortable environment more conducive to carrying out business. The rocky crags protect the tents from much of the snowfall and winds during those colder months and serve to channel a breeze through a shaded region of the city when the sweltering heat can drive buyers away from the market and down toward the refreshing waters during the summer. The portable shops and colorful pavilions of Zhongjie Warren are removed of all their merchandise every evening and replenished well before the sun rises in the morning. The merchants are mostly blue-skinned Akalak but some of the stands have humans tending to their operation. Most attendants employ young Akalak to assist in setting up shop every day by fetching the products from homes or storage areas and bringing them to the bazaar. This relationship puts the young men to good work and teaches them valuable lessons about responsibility at a young age. Each vendor is only permitted to sell items with permission of the city and a percentage of money flow is taken by Riverfall as is a common practice with any business allowed to operate within the beautiful city. However, trading for goods is also allowed and the city does not require any revenue from these transactions. Because of the financial relations with the city, most vendors in the bazaar sell their items for very fair prices. The Akalak in general will not consciously cheat a customer, but a false sense of stability and security could catch visitors off guard if they run into a merchant with less-than-noble motives. It is important to keep your wits about you in case the Akalak seller allows its darker nature to take over during the business process. Concerning the type of goods found, it is a common conception that if a specialty store does not carry the product, it can be found in Zhongjie Warren. All sorts of goods and general products are sold and though it may not be common, highly valued rare items can sometimes be found on the tables under the tents as being a port city on the edge of the Suvan can bring many different trinkets native to lands far away.

Griffith shook his head at an Akalak hawking his wares who had glanced at him hopefully. While he was certain the blue giant truly was selling excellent pots, he wasn't here to shop. He was looking for someone.

To be more specific, he sought Emma. The feline Kelvic had recruited him and three others to accompany her on her quest for treasures prior to Valterrian times. Her means for choosing where to search? An ancient tome written in Nader-canoch, or the Ancient Tongue. Said book was something of a travel guide for famous places during pre-Valterrian times. But Kelvics weren't known for being very academically capable. Which brought things around to why Griffith was around: he could speak and - with time - translate that tome into Common.

But now there was a slight problem. He'd decoded part of the first section, telling about the southernmost city worth visiting. But he didn't need to translate the rest. He only needed the name of the city. Hazadhar. Now known as Hai. The ruins-turned-jail used to house the worst of Ahnatep's criminals.

He needed to find Emma. Needed to convince her to either skip or put off visiting this place in particular. The scholar was intricately familiar with the history of the Benshira. Hazadhar had played an important role in that.

He was searching Zhongjie Warren - a bazaar - because he'd noticed by now that Emma had something of an obsession with things which interested her. If there was any place within the city he was likely to find her, he figured it was here. He needed to find Emma.

[Emma]

There were only a few places more likely to draw Emma to them than somewhere with so many interesting stores. Treasure troves were a given, but other than that, all she cared for was in such places, and easily available for a thief of her caliber. Of course, she flocked there because any number on interesting objects had a tendency of "Falling" into her pockets, always much to her honest surprise. Best of all was the food. Anything with fresh baking or cooking involved had better be chained down while she was near, or it was likely to vanish, and a few shop owners had already found a good number of their edibles missing after she passed by.

Emma's current appearance confirmed this fact, or would if any had seen her. Light as a feather, she was relining on a canvas roofing that some poor salesperson had erected for shade, the material soft, and a few nearby crates making it easy to climb. It was high enough so that Emma couldn't be seen from the ground, and sturdy enough to not create an overly-obvious bulge if viewed from below. Yes, above the crowds Emma rested, her right hand behind her head as a pillow, her left holding what was left of an assortment of fried and breaded seafood on sticks. She might have even dozed off, were it not for her catching sight of a rather familiar tuft of hair in the crowd coming towards her. A moment's inspection told her it was Griffith, currently walking almost directly under her resting spot, and soon to move on.

Now, if there was anything Emma disliked almost as much as taking orders, it was chasing after people. Hoping to catch Griffith before he was away again, she sat up quickly, putting all but two of the remaining edibles in her mouth. She then hurried over to the edge of the canvas roof, being careful to get her balance, and just as the mage passed, she let herself drop, her lower legs hooked over the horizontal beam to keep herself up, hanging upside-down not a full two feet from his face.

As she suddenly appeared before him, she grinned broadly, chuckling to herself, eyes shutting as they had a tendency to do when she smiled so foolishly. Combining that with the fact that she was upside down, which made both her hasty pony-tail and the back of her jacket fall the opposite way from what they normally would, the five or six skewers in one corner of her mouth, and that she was holding still more food, holding one of the two items out to the mage directly in front of her, she looked completely foolish, and were it not for a heart-attack inducing entrance, she could have been mimicking something one would see in a traveling comedy show. Still smiling broadly, her left hand extended more, the motion causing her to swing slightly as she offered the food to Griffith.

"Want some fried fish? It's really good!"

[Griffith]

Griffith wore the same clothing he had on the day Emma had met him, sans the turban and plus a set of fingerless gauntlets, the ends of which disappeared into the arms of his tunic. Another thing he'd never been seen carrying before was an iron staff slightly taller than himself, which clicked against the ground every other step.

He nodded politely to yet another vendor, eyes passing over the man without really seeing him. The Benshira passed beneath an overhang of canvas, glancing between two stalls and into an alleyway further distant.

Nothing. It was strange. Someone as upbeat as Emma wouldn't be able to keep her head down if she was around a place like this. If her reaction to his magic was similar to how she reacted to most interesting things, he almost expected to find her drooling in a corner somewhere, too dazzled by all the strange and wondrous sights to pick a direction to begin exploring in. Either that, or she'd be making off with anything flashy that wasn't nailed down; he'd checked the waterskin she'd made off with for leaks. He'd found none.

Then he found her. Or rather, she found him. Distracted as he was by looking down the alleyway as he walked, he almost ran into her. Of course, this did nothing to reduce just how much of a fright she'd give most people. The scholar jerked to a halt, and his free hand twitched towards the lower part of the staff he held; an indication to the trained eye that the magician had some idea of how to use it. He recognized her after a moment, ceasing the motion which would have ideally ended with an iron stick connecting with the side of her skull and let his free hand fall, trembling from the adrenaline surge Emma had triggered.

Ignorant of how close the Kelvic had just come to achieving a probable concussion, she offered him... fish. Fish was just one of many things unknown to the Burning Lands, and in the two years since his arrival, Griffith had managed to make himself try some. He'd caught a whiff of them when they were being brought in by boats, and since most things tasted like they smelled... Well, he hadn't been eager to test the theory. Yet the same person who had initiated him into Reimancy had managed to make him take his first bite of the stuff, and the wizard had enjoyed fish since.

But... She had so many of them, judging from the number of sticks coming from her mouth. He took the proffered skewer uncertainly, looking around. "Um..." He'd planned to do two things when he'd found her. The first was to remind her about her comments in the tavern; more specifically, that she'd treated him as though he needed reminding or threats to take proper care of the tome he was working on for her. The second was to convince her to give up on Hai, at least for the time being. But the girl's tendency towards thievery made him uneasy now. "Emma, where'd you get these? I might want more," he lied. In truth, the warlock was asking more so that he would know which booth to avoid until the Kelvic - and possibly he - had finished off her likely ill-begotten food.

[Emma]

Emma remained mostly unaware of Griffith's intention as he reached for his staff, thinking he might have just needed to steady himself. The action did draw a momentary inspection to the object, but with almost no result. A metal pole. How... unexciting. Definitely not something she wanted to lug around, and unlikely to vanish with her after their meeting.

The fish had at least smelled very good. Griffith's question about them was met with mild confusion, though. Emma's smile faded to what might have been a small frown of concentration, her wide golden eyes opening and looking about, as if thinking perhaps her surroundings would tell her the answer as she chewed it over, both figuratively and literally. A moment passed before she finally looked at Griffith again, her cheeks still bulging slightly with food as her head tipped to the side and she shrugged, all of which made her look even more comical than before as she spoke around her mouthful of seafood.

"Dunno. I jus'... found 'dem!"

She was speaking the truth, at least from her perspective. All she knew about it was that she had walked by a stand selling different foods, and only after she was well out of sight had she even noticed that they were in her hand. Naturally, she assumed she had simply found them somewhere and picked them up. After that, it had been a simple question of why she should let the meal go to waste. After all, if they had been in the street or something, the vendor couldn't sell them anymore, and no one else would want dirty... breaded... steaming... delicious... (well, you can guess from there).

Retracting the hand that had held out her offering to the mage, Emma quickly clapped it to her head, catching the brown cap that was about to fall off of her head from the reversed gravitational pull. Her grin returned as she did so, and with a loud gulp she cleared her mouth of the remaining edibles before speaking again.

"Come on up! It's really nice."

Without even a moment's hesitation or a small grunt of exertion, the young woman bent at her waist, her left hand now reaching out to grab the edge of the cloth as she pulled herself back up, crouching there waiting for Griffith, refusing to speak at all until he had joined her.

[Griffith]

Griffith blinked up at Emma as she admitted having no idea where she'd obtained them. She'd found them. Like she'd found his waterskin, it seemed. He cast another look about. Someone was bound to notice her hanging off the sheet of canvas. And Someone was also likely to notice the number of skewers she possessed. The odds that Someone was a food vendor? Moderately high. Better not to take the risk of sticking around.

He turned back to the goofy Kelvic, ready to suggest they head elsewhere. Instead, he found her clambering back up the sheet of canvas, expecting him to follow. He looked around, confused for a moment. How in the world had she even gotten up there? The Akalak were strict about discipline. If any of them saw her up there, they'd be unlikely to hesitate in calling her out. Or him, for that matter, if he joined her.

Then his eyes came across a pile of crates near one side of the stands Emma lay atop. He raised an eyebrow at the arrangement of the boxes. If that was how she got up there, it was a surprise she wasn't spotted. But maybe...

Griffith walked around to the other side of the pile, keeping an eye on the nearby vendor. When the man was busy with a customer, the wizard cast one last nervous look about to make sure nobody was watching him before he set to climbing the stack, trying to keep a box between him and most of the street's inhabitants whenever he could. It was slow going. Heights were another thing the Benshira was not excessively good at dealing with. It was less that being so high frightened him in itself insomuch as that a fall could result in injury. Plus, if he moved too quickly, he might draw more notice than he was already bound to attract.

Sure enough, several passerby gave him an odd look. He ignored them, hoping they would say nothing. All things considered, he was fortunate. None of the Akalak bothered to call a guard or speak to him. Perhaps they assumed he worked here? The mage put it out of his mind, pressing on.

He reached the top about a chime after Emma had disappeared back up onto the roofs. He spied the Kelvic crouching on her canvas rooftop, waiting for him to join her. There was a slight gap between the top box and the roof. The scholar threw his staff across, aiming the pole to fly above Emma's head. The he braced himself and - after taking a deep breath to steady his nerves - jumped across the gap.

He landed heavily next to the Kelvic, pitching forward to land on his hands and knees. Griffith kept his arms and legs spread out somewhat as he tried to turn to face his employer, as though afraid putting too much weight on one spot might break the heavy canvas.

"I have news," he said, wasting no time. The fried fish was all but forgotten in his hand as he spoke. "I've got the first place the book talks about decrypted."

[Emma]

Emma watched with what appeared to be a good amount of amusement as she followed Griffith's progress with her golden eyes from her perch. He was by no means graceful, a concept the Kelvic had never really understood, her own comfort with her body and it's motions something she took for granted. All she knew was that most people, especially humans, and even more than that human males, had such a problem. Had Griffith spared a glance to her as he climbed, he might have even seen her giggling a bit, one gloved hand pressed over her lips in a small attempt to not be rude.

When the man landed heavily next to her, she only laughed more, the energy turning their resting area into a trampoline, bouncing even the nimble thief off of her feet as she laughed, falling back as well. She didn't bother to sit back up as she re-opened her eyes, gazing up at the clouds and deftly blowing the ever-irritating strand of hair from her face. It really was a beautiful...

Then Griffith brought up the book, and she snapped back to reality. Right, they had work to do, and he was in possession of her most treasured possession. Still, the day was too nice for even such dour and serious thoughts to dampen her mood (Not that they normally would), and she sat up with a sigh, examining the one treat left in her hand. Skewered shrimp, covered in roasted coconut. Delicious! Taking a bite, she slipped the first one off of it's skewer into her mouth with a satisfied smile before she spoke past the small morsel.

"Alright. Where is it?"

[Griffith]

Griffith didn't move much from the way he'd landed initially, as though still afraid that shifting about in excess might disturb some imagined balance. He managed to sit back after a second though, freeing up his hands. He pulled one of the small fish from his skewer. He wasn't certain of the type of fish, but he knew that they could be from either the Bluevein or the Suvan Sea. The latter would be saltier. He bit into the morsel as he gazed across the marketplace. Oh yes, definitely from the ocean.

The Benshira had wasted no time in mentioning his discovery, but now... Looking around, the market was crowded. Far too many people. Sixty percent of the population was composed of giant blue-skinned men who could still see them atop the stand from a sufficient distance. Another thirty percent was composed of Humans and their various subraces. But ten percent of the population was composed of other races, among which could easily be other Kelvics. All it would take was a single one in animal form with good hearing to pick out their conversation. And this was sensitive material, to say the least. What was more, shadows were growing long.

He spared a glance to the sky, identifying Syna, the Sun Goddess as being on the descent. It would be dusk - if not outright sunset - in another bell, at longest. That wouldn't help them here. Akalak could see relatively well in the dark. Moreover, it meant the bazaar might start to close down. If the locals went to take down this tent, he and Emma would be discovered rather quickly. And then good luck explaining the skewers no one would remember selling them.

He looked back to the Kelvic, shaking his head. "Too crowded here. Too many eyes and ears. I know another place we can go. Shouldn't be nearly this many people."

[Emma]

Emma frowned as Griffith spoke. Too many people? What did he think they were doing, spying? It was treasure hunting. It took a lot more than someone overhearing a location to endanger their haul. There would also be the fact that the odds of someone hearing and knowing someone whom might want to attempt what they were set to do was minuscule. On the other hand...

A grim thought crossed Emma's mind. She did know of a few people who were bound to be in the city by now who would die for the information Griffith had. an untold treasure from this ancient tome... the book had been paid for in blood many times over the years, and she would not be afraid to wager it happening again should the information fall on certain ears. Plus, the Bazaar was one of the most crowded areas of Riverfall. The odds were getting better and better...

"... Alright. Do you have somewhere in mind?"

As she was asking, the feline Kelvic stood atop the tarp. She was still light enough not to create too much of a dent in the fabric, nowhere near enough stress to break it, but the sudden appearance of two footprints in the cloth might have upset the vendor if he saw. She quickly tucked the skewers into one of her many pockets of her pants, then moved to the edge. she crouched down again for a moment, thinking. she might have just jumped normally, but the Tigerhooks still strapped to her back made tumbling across the ground all but impossible to lighten the impact.

She soon found an answer, though. Just like when she had greeted the mage, she turned her back to the precipice, then fell back, her lower legs catching the lip of the tarp, leaving her suspended from it. The clerk happened to be looking in the other direction, examining where Griffith had come up after someone asked why his assistant there had left. He of course had no assistant, and was just now rising to take a look. Emma smiled slightly. the Akalak seemed like the sour type, and if he never knew they were up there, then there would be no confrontation, and since they hadn't broken anything, there was nothing that needed to be said anyways.

Nimbly, Emma tipped her head back to look at the ground, letting her gloved hands fall towards it before she straightened her legs. Immediately, she dropped, slightly bent arms absorbing the energy from her fall of a few feet silently, albeit with some strain, leaving her in the equivalent of a crouching hand-stand for a moment before she shifted her weight so her feet fell in front of her, hands pushing off simultaneously to make the backwards somersault complete with her ending in a standing position. With a satisfied sigh, she looked up, now removing the one stick she still had with food on it from her mouth and holding it between her fingers as she adjusted her hair with her free hand, looking up to Griffith expectantly.

[Griffith]

Emma had frowned after Griffith had finished speaking. Then she'd frowned deeper. Either she was about to ask why, or she was giving the suggestion a serious working over. He was about to speak again when she stood, effectively interrupting him. He assumed she'd made a decision and reached out to retrieve the staff he'd thrown.

"Yes," he managed before turning back to find her standing near the edge of the canvas roof. "What're you-"

She started falling backwards. The Benshira's eyes widened, thinking she might have slipped. He rushed forward, already knowing there was no way he could catch her in time. Besides the 'Shyke!' chant going through his head, his mind was blank, in retrospect. He never considered the dents he must have made in the vendor's ceiling as he stood, feet digging into the material for traction. He never considered that his own mad dash might take him over with her. Her appearance on that day in the library had reminded him that he'd left Eyktol in search of glorious adventure, and he'd be damned if he was letting her die before they'd even set out.

The Kelvic's legs seemed to catch the edge of the roof. The scholar was convinced it was a desperate bid to stop herself. He reached her, switching his staff to his left hand before looking over the edge, free hand extended to catch one of hers if she were flailing about. But no sooner had he arrived than she seemed to lose her grasp, tumbling to the ground below. But... It wasn't as far as he'd thought. Her legs seemed to stop in their fall...

Then Emma completed her backflip, and what she'd done clicked for Griffith. He breathed a sigh of relief deep enough to actually make him deflate against the roof as his head hung over the side of the canvas, looking down at her while she looked up at him expectantly. She'd given him quite the fright; his hands wouldn't stop trembling from the adrenaline rush.

He wasn't the only one to be alarmed. Several Akalak had noticed the display, even if none of them were the shop's vendor, mercifully, who was about to start climbing the pile of boxes. Their faces would be remembered now for sure. Time to go.

Griffith took a steadying breath before pushing himself off the sheet he lay on and swinging his legs over the edge. He took a moment to thread the skewer through his sash and take up his staff. Then he pushed off, holding the staff out to one side with both hands. As the ground rushed up to meet him, he thrust the metal pole downwards, causing it to make a sharp clang as it absorbed most of the impact of his fall, and the magician landed heavily, falling into a crouch much like he had when he leaped from the boxes earlier.

Their saving grace was how crowded the market was. The sound of metal on stone was not so unusual as to draw attention; most importantly, the clerk who ran the shop had just reached the top of the mountain of boxes, and was occupied looking around up there. The Benshira didn't have to take a second look around to know that they needed to disappear into the crowd, and quickly. "Follow me," he told Emma, leading her through the masses.

A few chimes later, they'd left the market area, likely giving any followers the slip in the process. The feline Kelvic was a thief and at home on the streets, but it was Griffith who'd spent the last two years here. While any Akalak worth their weight would be more familiar with the city's layout than he, the mage did his best - right up to point of leading Emma to the Third Tier and then proceeding to bring her back up to the Second Tier via another route.

Depending on just how oriented Emma was within Riverfall, she'd realize that he was taking them closer to the sea-side of the Second Tier. The wizard led in silence; he was partially focusing on getting there quietly and partially fuming at himself for drawing that much attention back there.

"You gave me quite the scare back there," he said after several minutes of walking, eyes still alternating between scanning the path ahead and the trail behind. "That was reckless. There's no way word of what happened back there won't reach Riverfall's government." In a city focused on discipline, reputation was important. Someone breaking the norms of society as regularly and boldly as Emma should have been arrested by now. If nothing else, she'd definitely have been warned. Moreover, one had to find work within a week or arriving in the city, or they would be asked to either step up or leave. Furthermore, now he was involved. The Kelvic was unknown around here. The scholar, on the other hand, had inhabited Riverfall for two years. If he ever came back here, taking up his old job - or any job, for that matter - would be manifold difficult.

But the Benshira hadn't lied when he'd said she'd given him a fright. For a brief moment, the young man had been certain that his search would be over before it had begun. And that wouldn't do. Not now that she'd come along and stirred up that desire to seek ancient knowledge he'd nearly lost.

[Emma]

Emma followed Griffith in relative silence as they journeyed throughout the city to escape attention, a concept Emma seemed to have trouble comprehending, despite how good she could be with it at times. She continually stopped whenever she saw something of interest, though the mage managed to get her moving again each time before anything of real importance slipped into her numerous pockets to join the used skewers. So a few oddly shaped pebbles went missing from the road, no one would mind. Besides, she was sure to return the glass beads she had been examining as Griffith had pulled her away to their rightful owners (Assuming she remembered to).

You see, the biggest issue with stealth that Emma was having was that she saw no need for it. As far as she was concerned, she had done nothing wrong. She'd done no harm sitting atop the canvas, despite what the locals might thing, and she failed to comprehend things like "Manners" even in human society, where they were much looser. So why try for stealth when it wasn't needed? She was about to point most of this out to Griffith when the pair stopped, and Griffith began to reprimand her. Luckily, she was distracted at this point by a rather interestingly shaped cloud overhead, and she examined it for a long moment, not hearing Griffith at all, even continuing to look for a long second after he had finished speaking before returning her attention to the man with a neutral expression.

"Alright, why did you bring me here? Where is 'here', for that matter? And why is this so much safer?"