Completed Amazing Art

[Amolina]

Timestamp : Day 41 of Winter 513 AV
Location: The Noble District at 7 bells in the evening
Edits: An amazing number of "haste-spellings" I couldn't live with...

Amolina was going to Yae Varone’s in the evening. She had no idea why. But she guessed it must be the blackmailer and perhaps Ebonstryfe officer Xavier who had told her to go there. All she knew was the words that had been whispered to her at the end of the public execution she had witnessed Day 4 of this winter: “Yae Varone’s. Day 41 at 8 bells in the evening. Dress up, wear a mask. Wait right inside the main entrance. Somebody will contact you. From there on, just follow.”

She needed to do a few last chime emergency purchases before she went to the gallery. She had thought she would have more time, but she had been working overtime in the Nitrozian-Moletta Sanitary Station, in short named NMSS by the research team. They were officially working with preemptive medical care for the best of Ravok, but behind the coulisses they had other, secret, research plans.

Luckily she had planned a bit and changed into her Azure blue silk dress in the guest room of the research location, so she had it on already. With the dark high quality cloak over the dress, she was ready for socializing with the rich and the powerful. Only one problem: She had been told to wear a mask, but hadn’t had time to buy a new matching mask and handbag.

Luckily she was already in the Noble District. She folded her white linen nurse dress and carried it with her, then took a ravonsala from the research location to Azure Reflections and Fine Tailoring where she bought what she needed. She chose an azure blue velvet mask with gold thread embroideries and studs of what looked like copper, and a handbag in the same style. She also took the opportunity to by a simple but stylish black cloth bag and put the nurse dress in it.

The price for these small things was shockingly high, 40 gold mizas and she didn’t understand how they could charge so much for such a small thing (the dress had cost her 20). But she paid without trying to haggle because she wouldn’t have time to find something else. She needed to jump into next ravonsala and head to Yae Varone’s as soon as possible. It wasn’t far, but the time was flying.

LedgerAzure Mask 9 gm, Luxurious Azure Handbag 40 gm, Black Cloth Bag 1 gm

[Amolina]

Timestamp : Day 41 at around 8 bells in the evening
Location : Yae Varone’s

It was nearly 8 bells when she arrived at Yae Varone’s. She had followed the instruction and wore her mask. The man in the crowd at the execution hadn’t been any more specific than this. It was annoying to not know why she was there or what was going to happen. But as an actress of some experience - expert even, if you asked Amolina - she acted confident when she walked to the entrance and hoped it looked like she knew exactly what she was doing.

It was still in the Noble District, but it was also near the main docks, when Yae Varone’s came into sight. Amolina watched the house. It was an old two story stone building from the early years of the city, with a patio out front that overlooks the lake. As the weather was pretty cold this day there were no guests in the outdoors patio that used to be full of rich people drinking coffee in the warmer seasons. A few ravonsalas were moored outside in a small private dock - private ravonsalas, looking expensive, not like her own simpler boat.

There, she thought to herself. It followed her like a curse, the memory of how she had gained that boat. Again the dying fake ravonsala driver seemed to grin and make his blurred, gurgling sounds of agony at her in her mind, again the pictures of his body floating in the water showed itself to her, again she remembered the desperation and the cold. The events came back to haunt her.

Everything comes back, she thought. The successful escape from the Ebonstryfe in fall had lead on to being…trapped and blackmailed. Perhaps by the same organization or a member of it. The difference was that if she had been seized in that plaza in fall she would have been interrogated like all other innocent bypasses they had rounded up as a spin off from the terrorist hunt. And now she wasn’t, because somebody had found her more useful as an informant than as an interrogation object.

She continued to think about this, trying take a philosophical view on life and all its odd troubles. Everything comes back. Luck goes up and down. What seems to be a successful escape one day can trap you next day. What seems to be a friend can betray you, what seems to be profitable one day can turn into noting bar risk next day. Nothing can be trusted, least of all luck.

[Amolina]

She could see other well dressed people walk in, after greeting the guard like they knew him and took it for granted that he would just let them enter. She watched the hairstyles of the women, and thought of her own hair. She hadn’t had time to fix it. It was utterly unnerving to know that her hair was looking like a bird-nest. She hated looking unkempt. But there was nothing she could do about it. Luckily she had the mask on, as she hadn’t had time to fix the make up. Petching overtime work!

She hoped the one she was going to meet in the gallery wouldn’t care. She suspected it would be the Ebonstryfer (if he was one) Xavier. She suspected it had been him there on the Nitrozian Plaza too, during the execution, behind her, keeping her safe in the crowd just because he wanted to protect a business interest. Not that she wanted to know if it had been him or who he was. The less she knew and the less she allowed herself to speculate, the better, was her opinion.

The ravonsala reached the stop right outside Yae Varone’s and Amolina jumped out and went to the main entrance. There was a guard that she felt sure was meant to be in disguise, but looked just like a typical tall muscular guard and didn’t do much to try to conceal it. To her surprise he let her pass without any questions, like she was just another prominent visitor in the crowd of well-dressed and masked people on their way in. Amolina followed the stream. Then she did like she had been told to do and stopped right inside the main entrance and waited to be contacted.

Waiting for somebody to contact you, when you don’t have the slightest idea who it will be and no information at all about how to contact that person in case she or he isn’t able to find you - this was unnerving and she felt worse and worse where she stood in the fashionable and pompous house and just waited blindly.

Nothing happened for what felt like a very long time. But perhaps it was just her, and it wasn’t really so long time. Or was it done deliberately, in order to make her worry ? Had she been sent here on a fools errand, just to scare her? What if nobody came to contact her? What would she do ? What if she left, what would happen ?

[Amolina]

Some people went to drink coffee, and others continued to the upper story. Amolina wasn’t rich so she had never been at Yae Varone’s for two reasons - first, she couldn’t afford it, and second, even if she had tried to go in she would likely not have been welcome there. It was well known in the city that it was a place for the rich and successful people. This was the first time she was there. She wasn’t familiar with the location at all, but like most people in Ravok she had heard that there was an impressive art collection on the upper floor. Normally she could have been interested in getting to see it, as she liked art. But this evening she just wished she had been far away from this house.

She was troubled to no end about the situation she was in, being a partner in the Nitrozian-Moletta project and at same time under pressure to betray it and give valuable information to an unknown party with unknown plans. And those “other missions” that had been mentioned didn’t seem to bode well, whatever it could be about. It went without saying that it must be something shady and devious, as somebody cared to secretly blackmail her into service.

Amolina tried to follow her own principles and not speculate too much but didn’t succeed too well. In fact, she speculated day and night, or so it felt.
As she knew she was in trouble, but day after day passed by and nothing happened, she was always a bit distracted and her thoughts had started to stray. It seemed inevitable.

Blindfolded, wasn’t she like blindfolded, just like that card the fortune teller had shown her in summer. She wasn’t bound and she wasn’t blind, but in practice this was how it was. In a symbolic way her arms were tied up just like on the person on the picture, and her insight and knowledge about what was going on was zero, so in that way she could be said to be blindfolded.

She had started to think of that fortune telling in summer. Perhaps it had spoken about totally other things than what had been on her mind at the time. She tried to recall it as well as she could, and wished that she had been wise enough to write it down.

A man with a sword, sitting on a throne, turned upside down, somebody that was dangerous for her and meant trouble. That had been one of the cards and the fortune teller’s interpretation. But did the card really mean this, literally? What was the important thing with it, she wondered. And then she thought that she was being silly, and giving that stupid fortune far too big importance.

[Amolina]

Her thoughts could go round and round this way, searching in vain for explanations, theories or at least meaningful questions. And as she didn’t find any of this, she ended up thinking of things like the mysterious fortune, the boatman’s death in the dark back routes, and even dreams she had by night.

No, no, no, no … she couldn’t just stand here and wait, not knowing if anybody would contact her at all. How long had she been standing still in the same spot? This was ridiculous. She hadn’t been told to wear a certain color, or some special sign, or a code word, or anything else that could be used to identify her. How was somebody meant to recognize her and contact her ?

She would leave in a chime, just wait. She wasn’t going to stand here all the evening. No way. Just wait a few chimes. She was going to walk out and leave. Just wait a few more chimes. Definitely, she was out and she didn’t care, she was going away right now. Just wait even more chimes. Just wait.

She knew she wasn’t going to leave. But she wanted to think she was capable of doing it. Though deep inside she knew that was a lie she didn’t want to admit. But she knew.

Just wait, she thought again. I will leave any chime. Just wait.

But she didn’t. She stood on the same spot and waited, just waited, helpless and utterly frustrated. Inside she was a turmoil of conflicted feelings and thoughts. On the surface she seemed calm, as she was putting in an effort to seem calm, using all her actress experience and expertise to achieve it.

[Amolina]

When her contact finally arrived, quite late to the meeting in her opinion, she recognized him at once. It was ridiculously simple. Xavier had a mask over the upper part of his face. That was all the disguise he had cared to put on. Amolina was relieved that he had turned up and that she could easily see that it was him, but annoyed that she was likely as easy to recognize. All this fuss for nothing. A secret meeting ought to be held in an isolated place, she thought angrily, and disguise ought to be something else than just a black suit and a mask, or a silk dress and a mask.

She was already irritated, because he had let her wait so long (in her opinion), because he had arranged the meeting in a public place where lots of people could see them together, because the supposed disguises were jokes. When Xavier greeted her like they were there for a party and not for business, then took her hand and put it on his arm like she had agreed to it, she felt her irritation turn to anger. But she didn’t say or show anything.

“Why have you asked me to come here this evening?” she asked instead.

“I need to put in an appearance at this event. It’s a question about being polite. And I was asked to bring with me a lady, a companion for the evening. It’s all very tiresome, but necessary. So I decided to do something useful of if by inviting you here so we can speak.”

He smiled. “You can see it as a quite hard and tricky actress job, an improvised playacting of a date. Do a good job of it and you’ll be better paid than you use to be for normal theater shows.”

A job? He had given her a role, in a kind of play she had never starred in before, as his escort at a high society event in Yae Varone’s ? “A play?” she asked. “What do you expect of me? What do you mean ?”

“We will convince people we are having a date at this boring party. That’s all you need to know. Act now, and do your job.”

[Amolina]

Amolina followed him when he walked her to a table and ordered coffee for himself, then asked her to tell him what she wanted from the menu. She stared at the prices on the menu. She could hardly believe her eyes. How could coffee and some small patisserie be this expensive? She felt stunned.

After several chimes of silence Xavier told her to order something, and this time he added that he was paying. Amolina was used to listen to how people said things and she felt sure she heard a tone of smug amusement in his voice. She felt sure he had fun now, when he had given her a surprise role, with this fashionable place as the stage for a play yet unknown to her.

Rage boiled inside her, and it was an extreme effort even for a skilled actress like her to act like she was calm and pleased, when she was in fact about to explode of the combination of fear and fury she felt. She wasn’t able to do anything to attack Xavier, and even if she had been able to do it she would likely not have dared. No doubt he was stronger than her and it would be futile to try to harm him. But she could attack his wallet and she was going to do it.

She ordered coffee just like he had done. Cinnamon flavoured coffee for three gold mizas ! It was robbery, no less, she thought. But it felt satisfying that Xavier would lose the money. She ordered a pastry too, just for the sake of it. The pastry had a long and complicated name and she didn’t know what it was, but she didn’t’ care as long as it was expensive. There, five more gold mizas. A pastry for five gold mizas ought to be extremely tasty, but she suspected it wouldn’t be much different than other pastries.

The waitress took the orders and returned with their coffee and the pastry. Amolina didn’t say anything while they waited for this. He was the one who had invited her here - no, ordered her here, that was the correct wording. And now he said it was a job and she was to act ! She couldn’t do anything about it, but she was going to wait for him to start speaking.

[Amolina]

Xavier paid the eleven gold mizas without comments and gave the waitress one silver extra for the good and quick service. Then he took the elegant mug of coffee in a cool way that unfortunately reminded her a bit about Valerius Nitrozian’s perfect manners. Upper class manners, a discrete things, nearly invisible, yet somehow very palpable. The small movements, so simple, yet so hard to copy for the ones that hadn’t been trained to do it the right way from child age on. For a few ticks she stared at the man, as it dawned on her that he could have other powerful connections beside the Ebonstryfe, if he even was in the Ebonstryfe.

She watched him. Blond hair, black suit, clear eyes looking back at her through his unadorned black mask. It was hard to say which color they were, those eyes, but they weren’t brown. Exactly what did people mean with “green eyes”? It wasn’t the first time she had been wondering. Just yellow with a green tinge? Greyish green? Blue eyes that maybe had a touch of green in them too? Because there were no truly green eyes, not if you meant green like grass. In Xavier’s case the eye color seemed to be greyish blue-green tinged or something. Despite how she tried to figure out the true color it seemed to elude her and leave her with an impression of mixed colors, simply.

“Aren’t you going to eat your pastry?” The sound of his voice tore her out of the useless speculations about colors and nuances. She realized she had been gazing into his eyes for a bit longer time than it was polite to do it, except if you were flirting in the Silver Sliver.

“Ah, yes, yes, the pastry” she murmured.

The pastry was a monster pastry…she had never seen such a huge pastry in her life. But she had ordered this monster and it would seem odd if she didn’t try to eat it. She took the small fork she was supposed to eat it with and tried to figure out where to start. There was some kind of fluffy looking cake in the bottom, and a similar looking top, covered with red berries in a glossy, perfect gel. In between was a high layer of something white and creamy.

[Amolina]

It occurred to her that this could be used for the improvised playacting job she had been tasked with. If Xavier wanted a show she would give him one! She studied the pastry and moved her hand hesitantly, making herself look intrigued and confused. She had decided to playact as morbidly set on investigating and dissecting the pastry before she dared to take a piece of it.

First, she was going to find out what the pale stuff in the middle was. She took the fork and nudged the with and creamy filling with it, picking up very little of it without destroying the pastry. She tasted it with more interest than she wanted to show. It melted on her tongue and the taste was a delicious mix of mild, sweet, sour and spicy. Exellent. Much better than she had imagined.

Now to the cake parts of the pastry. She was going to investigate the bottom first. Utterly carefully she managed to cut off a very small piece of it with the fork. The cake was very brittle in the consistence, she found out, and for a tick she feared she would ruin it and the whole pastry would come down in way that would show how inexpert she was at eating it. But it didn’t, so she tasted the very small piece of cake without any disasters happening on the plate. The cake hade a sweet but neutral taste that was clearly not meant to dominate.

“Come on”. Xavier was looking at her over his cup of coffee like he saw something truly fascinating. “What are you doing? Are you going to slowly dissect the poor pastry or are you going to eat it?”

Amolina looked up from the pastry. “I am doing improvised acting, as you have asked me to do. But if we are in a hurry I can wait with this. You can just tell me what’s on your mind.”

“What’s on my mind?” He laughed. “I don’t tell people what’s on my mind. Only sometimes. I’m not in a hurry. Take your time and act on, by all means. We’ll stay here until you are done eating all of it. Don’t worry.”

[Amolina]

Amolina glanced at him and wished that she hadn’t ordered the pastry at all. What had she been thinking ? He had paid five gold mizas for it and now he would expect her to eat all of it. Where had her brain been when she made her order…it would be rude to refuse to eat it, in particular now when he had commented on it.

Also, now she was stuck here, with the pastry, and wouldn’t get to know why she was here until the sweet was finished. It was her own fault, but she silently blamed her company for it of course. If he hadn’t been so late and if he hadn’t made her so angry she wouldn’t have ordered the expensive pastry, only the coffee.

“Are you going to pay for this performance job ?” she asked in order to try to interrupt the horror.

“I have the payment those dastard actors owe you for the show you did in The Spot.” He didn’t say how it came he had it…Amolina thought of Seymor Essing and Aydury Hines with a sinking feeling. She hadn’t seen them around any more after that evening and there hadn’t been any auditions for new plays. And now Xavier said he had the payment they owed her. She opened her mouth like to ask what had happened to her fellow performers, but shut it again, helplessly.

“I’ll give you the payment from the show in the spot, 6 gold. And I’ll pay you for this evenings acting job too, 12 gold as I have reason to… appreciate you. Alright?”

Amolina nodded. Not because she agreed, but because she didn’t seem to have any other options. The show must go on, though she was acting blindly in her role as Xavier’s interesting date and lady for the evening.

In order to make herself look eccentric and weird, she aimed the fork at the pastry. Somehow she was going to make this. If she only was able to cut pieces of it without making a complete mess of it, not to mention eat it in a neat and elegant way, despite how she had started to realize this would be hard... The pastry looked elegant where it sat on the plate. It would hardly look equally elegant to eat it.