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[Nathaniel Deveraux]

Day 38, Season Fall, 513 AV

Nate needed supplies. There was just two problems with this plan. First, he was almost broke. Though that was nothing new; living hand to mouth was pretty much par-for-the-course back in Syliras, so why should it be any different here? The real issue, of course, was that the Drykas didn't give him much chance to go out and hunt and earn a living. Which was a bit of a problem. How the petch was he supposed to make money to feed himself, to say nothing of his sisters?

The other issue was that the sorts of supplies he needed were... different than most hunters tended to go for. Sure, he could do with a few more arrows in his quiver, or some leather armor to protect his skin, but really what he was in the market for was plain old cloth. A nice roll of it, if he could manage it, nothing fancy. As long as it was relatively clean. Bandages were difficult to come by in the field, hard to improvise, and a dirty bandage was oftentimes worse than no bandage at all. But where to get the kind of cloth he'd need?

There was a shop that Nate remembered passing by a few times, during the whirlwind rides through Endrykas on the back of Arundel's horse. He remembered seeing bolts of cloth inside that tent, and a flash of red that caught his attention. Red hair wasn't terribly common, and he'd always thought his sisters were unique in that aspect. He was frankly somewhat curious about that, now if only he could actually find her shop. Petch, why was he so bad at navigation?!

It was... left of here. No wait, right! Nate turned right, and was faced with two Striders staring back at him, in front of a tent that clearly was not the shop he was looking for. What? He'd been sure this was correct! Had he made a wrong turn (or twelve) somewhere? Nate tried to backtrack, but kept bumping into these petching Drykas and all their petching horses and he was just starting to get really frustrated- wait!

Nate noticed red hair, bounding off in the opposite direction. Nate figured that it was probably the Drykas woman he was looking for, and while it could also be Kat or Lea, he wouldn't be opposed to meeting his sisters either, so he chased off after it. The chase took him past several other tents, and he nearly upset a table that had been set outside for one purpose or another, but he eventually caught up to the red hair. It definitely wasn't Lea or Kat.

"Wait! Please wait..." he called to the woman in Common, trying to get her to stop. About that time, he rather wished he knew at least some Pavi. So few of the Drykas even spoke Common, he wondered if she even understood what he was calling, and he wasn't sure how much longer he was going to be able to run after her. He desperately hoped she'd stop, or else he might lose her in the crowd, and then he'd never find her shop, most likely.

[Naiya]

The packages that loaded down her arms did little but spur her on as she made her way through the traffic of the city. Some bundles, tied, hung from each of her arms, others were stacked upon the same, only adding to the balancing act as she attempted to keep the swaying of the packages from causing her to drop them all.

She stepped around a young Drykas and his mare who seemed to have decided that she was no longer willing to carry the load upon her back. Behing her someone grunted as she cut too close into his path and she murmured an apology as she stepped over a pile of manure. She easily fell back into the flowing pattern of people as she moved through the shopping district, for it was one she was quite familiar with. Unless you were shopping off to the sides of the path, you had to be moving smoothly to keep out from underfoot.

Focused as she was, the common words were almost lost to Rue in her hurry to return, the weight of the cloth in her arms not one she wished to bear much longer than necessary, already feeling the angry red marks that would be left on her skin for who knew how long. As always, though, she couldn't ignore a voice raised over a crowd, for too often she was the one calling for attention. She stepped to the side of the path, moving out of the way of the other Drykas as she turned to look for the source of the call.

Her eyes lighted on a man who seemed to be having trouble making his way through the crowd, a new Drykas and presumably the one who had called out. The question was though, who was he looking for?

[Nathaniel Deveraux]

Well, at least he was in the right place. For other people that might not be such a big deal but for Nathaniel, it was a source of immense relief. After all, where else would a clothing store be but in the middle of the tent city's market? Unless the woman in question decided to set up her shop on the edges. Petch. Nate hadn't thought of that.

Well, there was only one thing to do. The woman had turned slightly when he'd called, so he had a few chimes to run up to her, almost stepping into a pile of manure that he barely missed as he caught up. Fortunately, Nate had dealt with similar crowds before, but that was in Syliras where instead of manure one needed to avoid stepping on Pycons or dropped ceramics or other such things, while avoiding carts of people carrying things to and from shops instead of horses and tents and tables set outside.

Nate's lungs fairly burned when he finally caught up to the woman. He noted with some interest that she had a fairly large load in her arms; mostly cloth so that just further confirmed that she was who he was looking for. Taking a tick to catch his breath, he indicated with his hands the bundle she had in her arms.

"D-do you sell cloth?" he asked, still trying to catch his breath. Nate grimaced. he really should practice more, he should not be out of breath, even if he had been sprinting flat-out for a few chimes. In any case, nothing doing for that now. Nate just gulped a few more mouthfuls of air before explaining in more detail.

"I think I saw your shop earlier," he tried to expain. "Umm, maybe I could help you carry some of that?" he offered. Really it was the only thing he could think of to convince her to show him to her shop, though in retrospect if she was the proprietor of her shop she wasn't likely to turn away a potential customer regardless.

[Naiya]

The question of who he was looking for was quickly solved as he dashed through the streets towards her. Or maybe she had been the only one to stop, and so he would plead her help. Regardless she waited for him, shifting her weight onto her back leg as he approached so there was more room for him to stand out of the flow of people despite her laden arms.

He was rather out of breath by the time he reached her and it didn't help her understand his common any better for the gasping breaths he took. All the same her knowledge of Common came from listening to her father negotiate trade, so 'sell' and 'cloth' were both words she found hard to miss.

She nodded in response to the question, but of the rest of his words were for the most part lost on her. It caused a frown to furrow her brow as she struggled to piece together meaning.

"I sell, yes, but Common is..." Without her hands to gesture she was stuck once again with a best guess answer, "little. If need I help?"

She shifted again frustrated once more by her Common and tired of holding the cloth in her arms. Maybe she could convince the man to come to her shop and talk, then she could get rid of the burden in her arms, and put them to use communicating.

She looked pointedly at her arms then spoke once more. "Is heavy, mind we walk? Can show what sell?" She threw in the last almost as a sort of bribe, hoping that it would inspire him to walk beside her as she stepped back towards the main path through the district.

[Nathaniel Deveraux]

The girl's Common was, as expected, rather limited, although Nate had come to expect it of most of the Drykas. With no Pavi to speak of, and the limited Common of most of the people in this city, it was a miracle he was able to communicate with anybody at all. Still, he was able to get the broad-strokes meaning of her statement, and nodded.

"Sure, yeah, of course," he replied, and she indicated that they walked, which he took to mean that she would show him to her shop. And for no reason at all that Nate could understand, he held out his arms and offered to take a bit of her load again.

"You sure I can't help carry some of that?" he offered. Inside, Nate was wondering what the petch was happening. Why was he being so nice to this girl? He just met her! Not to mention she almost certainly was a Drykas, which meant she was one of the tattooed petchers that had taken he and his sisters from their home. Why should he treat her with anything but hostility and distrust?

Except he did need help getting the materials he'd need. And she hadn't really acted like some of the other Drykas here, dismissive or coldly hostile or on occasion just outright hostile right back to him. It was easier being hostile to such people. In any case, Nate waited to see if Rue would accept his offer to carry some of her load. If she refused, he would follow her onto the main path, so that they could talk further once they reached her shop.

[Naiya]

Rue eyed the man a moment as he asked again the words that were little more than just sounds to her 'carry some of that', but this time he offered his arms towards the cloth she was carrying. Her eyes lit up with excitement as she put two and two together and she nodded, her expression of excitement quickly softening into one of appreciation.

"If is no trouble? Much thanks, sir." She stood still a moment as he gathered the top most stack of bundled cloth and she couldn't help the sigh of relief at the lightening of her arms.

Feeling much more ready to help the man she nodded to the still crowded path, "Follow me." She said with much more confidence, knowing from recent experience that she had the correct phrase in Common.

The shop was only a little ways ahead of them, just past the weavers with the image of the rising sun on their pavilion. She turned sharply into the shop and dropped her load of cloth to the inside of the entrance before turning to await the man.

He was not far behind her, she imagined it was easy enough to follow the spot of red through the others - though red hair had begun to show more often through the city.

[Nathaniel Deveraux]

Nate would be lying if he said that communication with the girl wasn't... difficult. It wasn't either of their faults; he didn't speak Pavi at all and she clearly only spoke a little Common. But that didn't change the fact that it made their communication either very blunt and to the point, or utterly nonexistent and dependent on hand gestures and incoherent grunts.

Under most other circumstances, Nate might've been happy to learn Pavi. But the truth was, Pavi was the language of the people he really hated most at the moment, so he was doggedly determined to not pick any of it up. Regardless, despite himself, he did catch the odd word or two along with the occasional hand gesture. It was really impossible not to, as they were spoken or signed repeatedly either at him or around him. The most obvious ones, hello and goodbye, was really quite impossible to not pick up. Others, such as please, thank you, food, and what, were becoming familiar despite his almost bull-headed insistence on not wanting to learn.

The girl seemed quite happy to lighten her load, and Nate carefully plucked the top few sheets of cloth from her burden and laid them across his own arms. For how light they looked, the cloth was surprisingly heavy. Nate might have been impressed with the fact that she had to carry it all by herself if he wasn't so busy trying not to bump into every single Drykas and his horse on the way to her shop. As it was, it was all Nate could do to avoid dropping his bundle as he followed the woman's red hair to her shop.

Nate did notice the picture of the rising sun on a nearby pavilion. Honestly... if he had better skill in navigation he'd be able to make use of such a landmark to find his way back here. But the truth was, there were just so petching many tents and pavilions in Endyrkas he knew by tomorrow he'd get this confused with the other tent he saw the other day, the one with the setting sun. Or was it the image of a hawk flying into the sun. Petch. Now he couldn't even remember.

In any event the girl disappeared into a particular tent, turning into it almost abruptly and Nate almost tripped on his own two feet realizing he'd almost gone past it. Backtracking slightly he followed her in and entered just as she dropped her load just inside the entrance. Figuring that since it was part of the same load, Nate dropped his package there as well before turning toward the girl. He realized with a start; he didn't even know her name.

"Uh, hi," he began. Oh, real smooth, there, Nate, he admonished himself. Yeah, OK. That was just about the worst introduction he'd ever made. Clearing his throat slightly, Nate tried again.

"I was wondering if I could buy some cloth. I don't really need anything fancy or expensive, because I really am just intending to use it for bandages..." What Nate failed to mention was that he had tried to procure said bandages from the Opal clan tents, but they jealously guarded their supply and wasn't keen on even selling it.

Nate supposed he could understand; better to save the bandages for those who made the effort to go to the healers. Not to mention there was probably a limited supply to begin with. But the truth was, Nate was going to go into the field soon, and he needed at least some form of bandage. Actual bandages would be best, but any semi-absorbent material could be jury-rigged to do, like linen or wool.

"Oh! My Nathan is name," he said, but his grin quickly turned to a horrified look when he realized what he just said.

"Uhh, I mean my name is Nathan!" he quickly corrected. Gods! Nate felt like slapping himself. Hard. What the petch was wrong with him?! "My Nathan is name"? Really? This girl was going to think he had a speech impediment! Or maybe just that he'd been dropped one too many times on the head as a baby. Nate was extremely glad that his sisters weren't here to see this. They would have a field day with it.

x

[Naiya]

Despite her best effort, Rue couldn't suppress the laughter that escaped her lips. Even with her sparing grasp of Common, she was hard pressed to miss the humor in his mix up.

She straightened, brushing a stray lock of hair out of her face as she pushed back her laughter. "I am sorry." She managed as she composed herself. "Na-than," She tried to mimic his pronunciation of the foreign name, "My Rue is name." She spoke with mock seriousness, holding the look for only the briefest moment before she broke into a grin. "It's nice to meet, I think I can help find what need."

All joking aside, she knew it was important that she do her job and help him find what he was after. Thankfully she had just been purchasing new cloth, and her personal interest in some clothing that would last a bit longer in the heat meant she had some extra that might be just what Nathan was looking for.

She crouched beside the new pile of cloth searching for the right bundle. "Ah. Here it is." She mumbled pulling a bundle out from near the bottom of the pile.

"Ramie." She offered him the fabric for inspection, unsure if it would suit his purposes.

[Khida]

Nathaniel Deveraux

Nate, should you return, PM me and I will grade your posts.

Rue Nightsong

Skill	Points
Acrobatics	+1
Observation	+1
Socialization	+2

• Acrobatics: balancing packages while moving
• Nathaniel Deveraux: a little tongue-tied

Notes

This really didn't get far, but I awarded what I could. Please PM me if you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade. Also, Rue, please edit your request to show this thread has been graded.