Winter 25th, 514 AV - The Quay House
The fire was crackling as per usual, the inter chills were biting hard this season, harder than the previous few years that she could recall, and she was not one to suffer in discomfort if she could help it. The flames glowed, lighting the room with an orange hue against the starry evening that lay behind the shutters. She disliked company she did not know beyond doubt, especially in the twilight hours. So it was with a suspicious gaze that she took in the man sat across from her at the table. He had come knocking at her bidding yet still she left nothing to chance – her broadsword was in her grasp, scabbard tip digging into the floor as she toyed with the basket hilt handle idly.
“You’re sure that the information is correct?” he asked her, tone sharper than she liked but his concern was at least rational.
“If you like you may find another person with my particular talents to try again,” she smiled slightly at him, pulling the blade out slowly before letting it rasp back into the scabbard, “but then you’d still need to compensate me for my services”
“Like Hai I would!”
“Yes, you would,” she stared at him flatly, voice growing hard as iron, “as I performed my job. To the letter and more, for which I am not asking extra out of good faith. But you would leave here without the information as you deem it suspect. I will sell it to…someone else”
“Someone’s else? Are you threatening me Web? I Won’t toler-“
“I do not threaten, I promise. Now, you can take what I have garnered or you can leave your gold and go. Either way suits me. And to answer the unasked question, no…you wouldn’t make it to the door if you try to leave without paying”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Promises,” she told him sweetly, “I dare much. It’s why you came to me. Now you put me in a dangerous weave for a few days. I require adequate compensation”
“Fine! Hundred gold, as agreed” he threw the pouch upon the table with a growl and went to take the envelope that was upon the table underneath her fingers.
“My costs are now Hundred-Fifty” she told him calmly.
“Bugger them they are! You agreed a hundred!”
“Before you insulted me by doubting my ability and my word. Cost goes up when I have to put up with cheek” she stated to him calmly, her tone was clearly unsettling him and she found it amusing.
“Fine!” he threw a stream of other coins upon the table to meet the cost and she let him take the folded pile of parchments with a snort of disdain.
She refrained from laughing until she was sure that he had left the premises entirely, through the Gatehouse and likely down the street by now what with the anger he had stormed out with. She had thought about asking for more when he slammed the door, claim for potential damages, but the moment for her own teasing enjoyment passed quick enough and she kept her lips sealed. After all, it wouldn’t have done to ruin her reputation – it had surely increased in infamy with her neat little playing of the would-be merchant prince whom had just taken his leave. It paid to have a reputation for being hard but fair, skimming a bit extra just meant people would trust her more as it was clear she was out for herself. She pulled out the blade of the broadsword and turned it in the air, watching it light u with the hues of the flames behind her.
What a job, what fun indeed! Sometimes I wish there were more like them in this fetid wood pile…
The fire was crackling as per usual, the inter chills were biting hard this season, harder than the previous few years that she could recall, and she was not one to suffer in discomfort if she could help it. The flames glowed, lighting the room with an orange hue against the starry evening that lay behind the shutters. She disliked company she did not know beyond doubt, especially in the twilight hours. So it was with a suspicious gaze that she took in the man sat across from her at the table. He had come knocking at her bidding yet still she left nothing to chance – her broadsword was in her grasp, scabbard tip digging into the floor as she toyed with the basket hilt handle idly.
“You’re sure that the information is correct?” he asked her, tone sharper than she liked but his concern was at least rational.
“If you like you may find another person with my particular talents to try again,” she smiled slightly at him, pulling the blade out slowly before letting it rasp back into the scabbard, “but then you’d still need to compensate me for my services”
“Like Hai I would!”
“Yes, you would,” she stared at him flatly, voice growing hard as iron, “as I performed my job. To the letter and more, for which I am not asking extra out of good faith. But you would leave here without the information as you deem it suspect. I will sell it to…someone else”
“Someone’s else? Are you threatening me Web? I Won’t toler-“
“I do not threaten, I promise. Now, you can take what I have garnered or you can leave your gold and go. Either way suits me. And to answer the unasked question, no…you wouldn’t make it to the door if you try to leave without paying”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Promises,” she told him sweetly, “I dare much. It’s why you came to me. Now you put me in a dangerous weave for a few days. I require adequate compensation”
“Fine! Hundred gold, as agreed” he threw the pouch upon the table with a growl and went to take the envelope that was upon the table underneath her fingers.
“My costs are now Hundred-Fifty” she told him calmly.
“Bugger them they are! You agreed a hundred!”
“Before you insulted me by doubting my ability and my word. Cost goes up when I have to put up with cheek” she stated to him calmly, her tone was clearly unsettling him and she found it amusing.
“Fine!” he threw a stream of other coins upon the table to meet the cost and she let him take the folded pile of parchments with a snort of disdain.
She refrained from laughing until she was sure that he had left the premises entirely, through the Gatehouse and likely down the street by now what with the anger he had stormed out with. She had thought about asking for more when he slammed the door, claim for potential damages, but the moment for her own teasing enjoyment passed quick enough and she kept her lips sealed. After all, it wouldn’t have done to ruin her reputation – it had surely increased in infamy with her neat little playing of the would-be merchant prince whom had just taken his leave. It paid to have a reputation for being hard but fair, skimming a bit extra just meant people would trust her more as it was clear she was out for herself. She pulled out the blade of the broadsword and turned it in the air, watching it light u with the hues of the flames behind her.
What a job, what fun indeed! Sometimes I wish there were more like them in this fetid wood pile…