PM to join Street Sifting [S'Essy]

[Zandelia]

“A fair response, yet that makes you a commodity. Someone who could heal, let us say, the wounds sustained by a fighting groups thugs so that they could wade back into battle immediately,” she sipped from her wine sparingly, savouring the tang upon her tongue, “which means that you need security. A building to practise from at least, guards too most probably. Or people willing to watch over you, run interference” she listed the requirements as they shifted into her mind, free hand counting out digits.

“Still, a decent goal. Better than most in these parts I have to say. Do you get worn out? I’d imagine half the city would come to you if they knew, hopefully not all at once no?” she mused thoughtfully, it was a strange consideration to make, one she had not expected to hold really.

A Sunberth without disease, illness and even minor injuries – within reason of course. She didn’t know the morals of the other woman butt she had tried to save even the thugs who had been about to have their ay with her. It seemed a poor waste of resources to tire herself so – if it did indeed exact a drain upon her – when she would probably find herself needing it for orphans and decent citizens more often. She swirled the cup, watching the dark red liquid shift and circle, considering whether removing illness from Sunberth would actually make it a better place to exist within. It as a difficult question truly.

Illness comes for us all, the good and the bad. Sometimes an epidemic of the chest heavers is all that stops this city from imploding into violence. Remove those natural, if luckily timed, events and would we just murder each other faster than before? Or would we settle more, knowing we were to experience a longer and less sickened life? she asked herself silently, considering it from as many angles as she could find.

“Do you treat everyone? I saw you try to tend to those thugs back there, why would you treat everyone? Surely it’s better to treat those as deserve it and leave those as don’t? Or is that not the way it works for healers?” she asked, the question a simple one but possessed o a greater eight than it suggested, it would give her a frame of reference within which to entertain the idea further, with more data at her disposal – it was all a puzzle, life was.

She fell silent for a while then, simply enjoying the wine and her gaze shifting between the classically beautiful Konti and the rougher around the edges patrons that were sailors, smuggler and all other manner of maritime men and women. It was a strangely conflicting sight, she had to admit that there was an ethereal attractiveness to this new species she had found, all women too if she understood correctly. She had to stop herself from laughing at the observation that it sounded like her kind of society indeed. She entertained herself by draining the rest of her cup and placing it down until it could be re-filled. She kept her eye upon S’Essy as thought upon the rest that had been said.

“Yes, no doubt a lass as possessed of…features…as yourself has grown used to such things, but I’d counsel against ignoring,” she tilted her head, “being alert will save you much pain in this city. And as for a surprise, the biggest one I could tell you is that I love this city…despite its flaws, many flaws indeed” she sighed as she pursed her lips in thought, wondering how to go about expressing such a thing to a foreigner not given the best of introductions.

“Take Kvist’s predicament, he has lost something because this city is free – truly free, There are no rules here, you can do what you please. This means great evil rises up, slavers and so on. Yet also it means that the other side grows too. People who have had enough, have lost too much to ignore the darkness anymore. The two meet and the fate of the city is decided – in small ways, here and there,” she pondered aloud, fingers tapping the table in a steady rhythm as she talked, pulling out her pipe with one hand after a time, “and the good side has no rules either. It doesn’t care about justice, or law. It decides what needs to be done and does it – no quarter” she continued as she thumbed some tobacco into the bowl and turned it over a candle upon the table. She inhaled deeply, taking care to exhale away from the other woman, it was not always appreciated.

“If they did not then Kvist would not get what he wanted, his family would be lost. I know he is a man of honour, you can practically feel it radiating from him. But honour doesn’t work here. We are too free, too wild. Thus I will do his work for him, in ways he cannot do himself. Yet he will likely leave this place thinking it a terrible cess pit, most visitors do” she chuckled at that, she would not blame him, “but I think that is unfair. They look at the surface and see only squalor, they see nothing of the deep spirit of liberty we possess here. The drive to never be under the yoke, the belief that all are born free and to endanger that freedom is tantamount to treason against humanity”

“People are bad here because there is no other way to be. You are a healer, treat the symptoms of something and what happens?” she posed the question, gesturing the tip of the pipe at the woman gently.

“Perhaps having a call is not just of the Konti, I have my own. I wonder if you can guess it?” she smiled around the mouthpiece as smoke curled around her cheeks, coiling into intricate serpents before dissipating.

[S'Essy]

She raised one of her eyebrows. "Commodity? What's that? Sorry my Common is not that great." She just chuckled after what Web said. No doubt she needed security but... "Wade back into battle immediately. That's not how it goes. I can't heal everything. And if there's battle I'm not on the spot. If they make me there'll be a problem. I'll heal the enemy." She answered and was wondering. Guards for her. How could she even afford them?

Worn out? She was already worn out. It was a bad idea to take walks in the city. "I do. If I'm not careful, I will get sick myself. I don't have time for that. But I'll do get tired after a time." She didn't even want to imagine if whole Sunberth would come after her just to heal. She was even happy that her kidnappers were dead. She couldn't believe she felt relief after that. But she was tired. She couldn't help it.

S'Essy chuckled again at her question. It was a bit amusing when that one question came up to her. Healing everyone. She was always curious how they take it or how surprised they are about it. "Didn't you wonder why fighters aren't marked? Some have the will and would know how to heal. But why not? Easy. Healing is not about who I like or who I don't. If we could choose, I'm pretty sure we would make poor slaves. I heal because I made an Oath to Rak'keli. " She looked around and carefully pointed and a funny looking man. "See him? Can you tell who is? Can you tell what is his job? Can you judge him? I doubt, and I can't either."

The Konti leaned back to her chair and took a drink from her wine. It was refreshing and the taste was not bad either. "I can attack back, but I must heal after that too if I can. No expectation, only if Death claims them." she continued coldly. "You know that's hard about healing. You have to keep your thoughts to yourself, you can't refuse anyone. You need the WILL, you need to KNOW that you can heal. And you have to love Life. Enjoy it. You have to know the wonders of Life so you know that it is indeed worth to fight for other's lives. So they can see it too."

She took a deep breath after her speech and was enjoying her wine again. There was a long silence. Only looked around when Web suggested against ignoring these people. She shrugged, she didn't worry about drunk people. And her savior truly surprised her. "I guess you know that I don't share your feelings." She was slightly smiling. She couldn't see the beauty in this city.

She was listening eagerly the woman about the city and how things worked here. It was different, much different. They tried freedom... absolute freedom. But it darkness came. The Konti got distracted when the woman pulled out the pipe and started to smoke. She didn't see such behavior before from a woman. But she didn't mind as much. It was interesting points she brought up, she waited however for her to finish before she reacted. She wasn't sure how the healer would leave the city, but maybe the same way Markus. "If they did not, Kvist wouldn't have to be here in the first place, because most probably they wouldn't have brought his family here as slaves. But I might be wrong. I don't know, these people... they can't even get out from this. "

"There is not other way to be?" She repeated her. "I'm naive, I know. But you seriously think that? There is other way to be. The problem is that how did they grow up? What example did they see? They think they can only survive this way because everyone does this. But they're just surviving, they don't live their lives. I don't know, is this really a life?" She posed the question back. "I grew up in a different society. It is strange to see something... like this. And I think they would be too." Her face expressions were serious. She found Mura boring, but even there she didn't think about hurting somebody. The thought of causing pain for somebody never came to her mind ever.

The other woman's statement made her wondering though. Do other races have Call? She was only aware of her people. Her smile came back to her face. "You do maybe. We just named it. I don't know, but I'm sure you have your purpose in this life but I can't guess what. I don't know you well enough."

OOCSorry for the delay and whew... if it's confusing please PM me, there is a lot of rambling I know.

[Zandelia]

“Commodity?” she responded, not used to speaking in simpler terms and tilting her head as her mind supplied the required description, “it means item of value. Basically your ability to heal makes you worth something precious” she stated in response. It was a simple equation to her, as well as a true one.

For her part she listened intently, not interrupting for fear of causing an ending to the various explanations that were coming out, imagining what she would feel in S'Essy's position. She had to admit that it made little sense to her, to heal the enemy, but then if she were compelled to do so or incur the wrath of a deity perhaps it was the wisest course. Still she couldn't help feeling the notion that despite the creed the Konti followed there were some people in the lands that were truly not worth the effort expended upon healing them. What was the point in healing a slaver who would inevitably go on to cause much pain and suffering? Would it not be kinder to let them die so that many others could live an untroubled life free of the pain that could potentially be inflicted upon them? Such considerations rippled through her mind but she remained courteous enough not to voice them at that time – some things were clearly required of at least friendship in the fullest sense before debating.

So she found herself simply nodding in consideration, sipping her beverage every so often as the words continued to fall. That was until she pointed out the rather scrawny character sitting away by himself, she knew there was no challenge in the question but the other woman had managed to hit upon her talents without actually being told of them and the temptation to show them – albeit in a minor way – was too great. She did like to test herself at times, it kept her skills sharp enough for when they were truly needed. She gazed upon him, searched through his clothing and the way he was sitting, the loneliness and the almost battered expression as if he were the most downtrodden person in the world in his own view. She took her gaze away and looked at S'Essy directly, only a few moments would have passed and she didn't look back, choosing to voice the assessment from memory.

“Scrawny and short so likely a local who didn't get much food as a child, orphan possibly or just unlucky in their parent's trades,” she began as if it were simple and normal, “clothing is decent but ragged and faded, so he had a time of success and given the way he is cradling that drink like it's the only one he'll have is probably suffering of late. Not a mercenary, too small, but a thief perhaps. Or a merchant. Not foreign but he looks at them warily so suspicious in nature. I think he is waiting for someone too, keeps looking at the door...ah...there we go” she finished with a small smile as a woman slipped through the door with much finer clothing and sat opposite him at his table.

“Probably wearing his best clothing to impress her, poor man” she shrugged as she drained most of the rest of her drink and looked upon the Konti warmly, “ and that...is my talent. My calling. I can read people, things and information. For a while I sued it selfishly, now I use it for betterment. It's why you're still here after all. Can't get much better than that” she stated as she felt the warm buzz of the alcohol slipping through her veins.

“As to the other ways to be,” she stated seriously now, “I have been to many places in my years. There is less squalor perhaps but also less freedom. Syliras has its stifling laws and rules, Nyka has its hatred of anyone from outside its walls and it's fist happy monks, Lhavit is beautiful but I couldn't see it as a place of freedom with their military. Sunberth is cold and brutal..but free. You can do anything here so lnog as you have the ability. True enough many use it for wrong deeds but it only takes people to overturn that and we'd be truly free and truly happy. We have one of two...perhaps one day there will be the second” she shrugged, there would be no agreement between them but that was refreshing, she liked being argued with on some things.

“Tell me then healer, and remind me to thank you for risking your health for me by the way, how would you do things here? How did you grow up and what values were prized?” she asked, curious of the origins of the first Konti she had met – not physically so much as morally and philosophically.

“And as for Kvist, he will get what he wants. We will find them. Whether they will be the same...I can;t promise that. But he will leave here with them should he ever decide to leave. As it is I'd wager the pair of you could do much good here should you choose to. But then, as you said, we all follow our callings”

[S'Essy]

Commodity means item of value. She tried to memorize it. So because of her healing abilities she would be good slave. She thought it otherwise. She would be terrible, terrible slave. But who cared ? They just thought about themselves usually.

As she was explaining her role, her purpose as a healer, it seemed Web was examining the man she pointed at. As soon as she finished, S'Essy also turned around and was listening to her as she explained. Scrawny and short, likely a local. Yeah even the Konti could tell this. Same fate as any Sunberthian for sure. But she could tell others. Guessing his job, his origins and what he might be waiting for. Looking at the door, so someone was ought to come. And she was right. A nice dressed lady came in.

She felt sorry for the man. If Web was true and it was really his best clothing then, that date was already lost. The Healer was impressed by her savior. She had quite the talent for this. "Not bad. In fact, it was perfect. So that's your Call I see. I wish I would have such a power. But I'm too naive sometime, and I really don't have time to think who is where from and what is he doing. Waste of time if I'm going to heal him. " She took another sip.

Her face was still serious and even the woman's voice turned that way. She was telling her thoughts about other cities, Nyka, Lhavit and even Syliras. She couldn't disagree more. Sunberth has freedom? What freedom? "I ... I think you are totally wrong." She started. "Freedom? Yes you can do whatever you want but how about those who are enslaved? And how about those who get killed or robbed? Is that really freedom? To some people yes. And yes, maybe Syliras, Riverfall has rules, even Mura but they are not so hard to keep!"

She was asking how did she grow up. Even though she didn't like to stay in Mura, she had to admit, it was better than this place. "We never ever hurt each other in Mura. Imagine, you see a person and you can feel her pain. We don't even think about stealing, murder each other, that would be foolish. We are peaceful and FREE! Because that's possible! " She stated, she believed in it. And she was sure, so was Kvist. "Look, as I said I'm a Healer, I can't and I wouldn't judge anyone. But this is still wrong. "

[Zandelia]

And there was the truth at the core of the Konti, that strength of self-possessed belief in something beyond herself that shone like a beacon for the time she was talking about her thoughts on the matter. She nodded thoughtfully as they tumbled out of the woman, coursing and crashing in their diatribe, and resisting the smile that was scrabbling to stretch across her lips. Thus it was proven yet again to her that it was not just the right observations that brought about knowledge and revelation, it was the right question posed in the right way and at the right time. Everyone was a lock box, everyone had a key and for S'Essy she was beginning to see that passion was hers.

Her idealism is touching though, reminds me of me a little. When I was younger and life had not cut me so deeply and so often. Even after enslavement it had been a companion to me, that idea that there could be a better world. Then the fall...now it shines a possibility once more. And we meet. Strange coincidences indeed she considered internally, silent in her self-reflection.

“For a non-judge you hold a judgement very well indeed,” she responded smoothly, “though as it happens I agree with you in principle. There are many wrongs at work in Sunberth and it seems at times as if all living here are complicit. That they do not care. Nothing could be further from the truth” she continued thoughtfully.

“Yet what can the people do? They have no armour like the Knights. No martial training like the Monks. No peaceful place like your Mura where they call walk without fear, with due consideration for the lives of others. Instead they have mere survival. If I could do away with all the evils in the city I would...but sadly I cannot” she sighed, there was an exasperated sadness to those words.

“Instead I can do what I can for others and take advantage and enjoy the fullest of freedoms to do unto the awful enough of their own works to make them think twice about doing evil once more. It's not a perfect system, no system is, but it works. After a fashion. Perhaps one day I will do enough, with the help of others who feel the same, to eradicate slavers – for example” she sighed deeply once more as she look away and into the middle-distance of vain imagination for a few moments.

“It is a strange thing to admit but really I suppose I do a little free evil to work towards a higher good. Only to those as deserve it of course. But then that's the trouble isn't it? In this city how do you draw the line?” she leant back and pursed her lips as she looked at S'Essy anew.

“I admire the strength of your beliefs. I wish I could share them, instead I will make sure that you have the safety and thus luxury to believe them on my behalf, no?” she did smile then, a small and sad one.

“It would be nice to get rewarded though one day, perhaps when I have earned it I shall travel to Mura and see if I deserve getting my eye back. But enough of philosophy. Tell me...what do you like? Hobbies, items of personal significance. Do you require cosmetics, or healing items, for example? Direction? Or rather is there anything that I might be able to source for you from an associate or moral means? I have decided to help so I may as well do so to the fullest” she asked tentatively.

She would get things for the woman if required, she doubted that it would be particularly trying to do so. It was not as if she would asked for a giant axe and set of plate armour after all and if it would be used to the positive then all the better.