The Baker's girl - A tale of Gradzlata

[siobhancan99]

The woman's eyes snapped to and her hand whipped a wicked looking curved dagger out from under the pillow in a flash, before the woman was even focused. She rolled up swiftly, crouching on the mattress, backing away from ziva. She was at least decent, clad in a nightshirt against the autumn chill. "who are you and what are you doing in my house" She had a posh accent, but one that seemed like a veneer. Like she'd been a servant in a wealthy house more than born to it. Faking it till she made it. She held the knife out in a reasonable approximation of a knife fighter's crouch, suggesting some time spent on the street more than some perfumed bower. "Answer me quickly girl or I'll scream rape and the neighbors will summon the guard. They've been paid to be light sleepers."

Her voice had the ring of truth to it, but also the statement was absurd. People can't control how heavily they sleep. Also she seemed to be still in talking mode, despite pointing the blade in Ziva's face. "and who sent you anyway?" adding to the list of questions, as if that wouldn't delay the swift answer she was demanding.

 

[DramaNerdette]

Ziva remained stone still, ready to dive back towards the window if this went south. "I find lost things. Someone hired me to find a box under your bed. Someone with enough money and power that they can hire people like me without having to tell people like me who they are. What I'm not here to do is get anyone hurt. I just want to solve a problem without it getting worse for everyone. May I?" Ziva didn't wait for an answer, moving to one of the chairs, and holding up the one box she plucked from under the bed. Her voice is smooth ad calm, like a woman trying to talk an angry stray cat into her arms so she can feed him.

"So... I know a thing about a thing. These boxes? They all have letters? Notes? Locks of hair? Identifiable keepsakes? Either you are the biggest romantic in the city, or this is a treasure trove of blackmail. And I get it. Sometimes we do things like that...and like this... to stay ahead of the world. But someone really profoundly dangerous doesn't wanna be blackmailed. I'd like to make sure I'm the last person he sends in the middle of the night. But to do that? For that to happen? We need to figure out which box he wants back, and give it to him. Or... you can yell for the guards, I'll run away, and things get worse for both of us. Maybe they catch me and that would certainly suck. Even if they don't, the person who had me hired probably has me killed eventually. You'd arguably have it worse. Everyone who's anyone with a name in one of these boxes will be racing to get to them first." Ziva shakes her head. "I'm just a poor kid from the rise. I don't get paid to kill people, and I wouldn't take the money if someone offered. That's why I woke you up instead of just leaving. I think you might be in trouble here, and I'd feel like a shit if I didn't offer to help you back out of it." She stands, and walks over to the window. "Ok, that's my piece. Just... let me know if you want me to leave, or if you want me to stay and help. Either way, I'll do my best, ok?"

 

[siobhancan99]

The woman calculates for a moment, looking Ziva over and noting the rapier. She moves down off the bed, still keeping the dagger between her and the girl. "Alright. I'll play along. What box are you looking for?" She shifts forward, weight moving to the ball of the foot, ready to strike if need be. "why don't you describe it to me? Maybe I can help you find the one you're looking for."She grins "are you so sure it's a he?" She leans in a little, looking the girl over with a leer "very pedestrian in your thinking, little one." She shfits her weight back, resting more comfortably and letting the threat bleed out of her stance "tell me what you know, about what you're looking for"

 

[DramaNerdette]

Ziva closes her eyes, and thinks back to the conversation with Jens-Dieter, heedless of the woman's knife. Sure, she MIGHT try to stab the girl in her room, but Ziva was confident she'd hear it coming a mile a way. She took a small breath, and repeated the words back in a little singsong voice, the same she used in her head years ago to memorize her father's recipes, and uses on nights like tonight to memorize instructions. "A small lacquered black box, about so big" she makes a shape with her hands "it has a simple lock on it. pop it open, there should be some letters and a lock of hair in it." Ziva opens her eyes again, and smiles, a little embarassed. "And... you know, I think you're right. I don't think my contact said he or she, just... the client wants this, the client wants that. But it's supposed to be someone rich, with honest to gods fuedal political power to back the money up. I'm supposed to take the box, and it's contents, and nothing else. And I'm not supposed to hurt anyone. I was KINDA hoping this was just someone feeling embarassed and it could be cleared up with a careful conversation, but that's... not why I'm being paid."

 

[siobhancan99]

The woman nodded. "It's not why anyone in this world gets paid." She shoos Ziva away from the bed and then digs out two boxes, both fairly similar in appearance to each other "Now, you mentioned Feudal power, and I know which of these boxes is likely the one you want" the woman grinned "So I guess we find ourselves in a bit of an odd situation here." She sits on the bed, weighing the two boxes in her hand "Option one is you can trust me to tell you which one of these is which. I of course have no incentive other than I don't want you to stab me. I could send you on your way with the wrong one and let you suffer. Option two is you could take both, which would make one man very happy and another search the countryside for you." She pulled the boxes back "option three is you just tell your contact that when you got here, there were no boxes. That you couldn't complete the job because it was impossible." she moves the boxes from hand to hand and smirks "which means that while your man doesn't get what he wants, you don't have anything on you that someone else might want. So, little thief, what's it to be?"

 

[DramaNerdette]

Ziva sits there for a moment, tapping her chin over-dramatically, and trying not to smile. "A game of wits!" She says, pointing a finger in the air, before slumping back into the chair. "I think I'll trust you to give me the right box for two reasons. The first reason is that maybe you'll need someone you can trust to find something YOU lose someday. It's a service I've been known to provide from time to time, and I like to think I can provide it without things getting all... bloodbathy. The second, more important reason is that if the handoff goes well, and I get paid, I'll come back here with a thank you basket containing the absolute best selection of pastries in the city. A girl lives or dies by her reputation, and I think a gift basket is an appropriate way to say thank you for helping me protect mine, just a little bit." Ziva takes a careful step forward, just barely into the woman's personal space, and holds out an empty hand for whatever box is to be delivered. "Believe me, I know this place can be a hard town, but I'd kinda like to hope it doesn't always have to be a mean one. Thank you for not screaming."

 

[siobhancan99]

The woman hands the box over "you won't find me here again. I relied on secrecy, a warded downstairs and a wall that wouldn't take the weight of a man... clearly I hadn't anticipated a slip of a young woman like you coming in the window. Still, a woman in my business can't be found and that they knew where to find me ... means I need to move again. Best of luck to you. People who send people like you to find things often wrap up loose ends." She shoos Ziva with a hand "if you don't mind I need to pack up my things." She looks over at Ziva again as she packs "Honestly, girl. You've made a mistake. A secret shared is a secret no more. The safest thing for you to do is toss that box in the harbor and claim you couldn't get it. You don't know who your employer is now and that makes you safe."

 

[DramaNerdette]

Ziva tries to smile away the dismissal, but there's old pain behind her eyes, and the smile fades. "The safest thing for me to do is stop walking out into the night doing dangerous things for dangerous people and hoping I don't end up on the end of someone's knife." She shrugs, a helpless little gesture. "But sometimes when you're from my end of town, choices are slim on the table, so you play the best hand you can with the cards you are dealt. I think you might know a thing or two about that. Good luck with your move. At most you'll have till tomorrow afternoon. At minimum? Two hours." Then she turned, glanced out the window to make sure the coast was clear, and slipped away.

She could have made her way across the city faster, but she was dithering. Her father would have boxed her years for the pace she set, had he been in charge of her night work instead of her time in the bakery. Was that woman what she'd become if she kept in this life? Suspicious, living not in a home, but in a prison, shackled by her own paranoia? Or was she destined to find her way to the gutter with a knife between her ribs? She was squatting in an alley, across the street from the meeting place, when she realized that how she ended didn't matter so much to her. What mattered was that she was trying to help. Help her father, help the other businesses in her neighborhood. She thought about fifty gold, and how it'd buy new roofing to fix that leak in Delzin's Tavern. How the butchers shop would suddenly be able to get a pig to carve up and sell away, keeping them running through the lean winter. She couldn't quit. She could delay, and had done so as much as she was willing. But she promised a few hours, and she kept her promises. She crossed the street, and knocked.

 

[siobhancan99]

When Ziva knocked there was a long pause and then some shuffling. A word was spoken and the soft glow of magical light filtered under the door. A very ried look Jens-Dieter was at the door with a sword in hand. He blinked a few times and gestured her in. "Who is that" came a tired voice from upstairs. Likely the wife "Just the girl I sent out earlier" He called up. He turned to her and sat at the table, his bulk making the chair groan as he settled into it. He gestured at the bundle of pastries still largely uneaten "help yourself. My wife thinks I eat too many sweets." He leaned back, tilting the chair a bit and resting against the wall. He covered his chest with crossed arms and yawned. "So did you get it?"

He looked her over. His brown eyes searching her face "no big deal if not. I let them know the timeline might not be workable. Didn't want to tell you that though and have you fuck it off." He leaned forward slowly, letting the chair descend to sit all four legs on the floor again. His crossed arms supported his frame against the table instead "Of course, doing it is better than not doing it. So lets see what you brought us, eh?"

 

[DramaNerdette]

"Did I get it? That's a good question. A really really solid question. So, my marching orders were..." Ziva begins ticking off on her fingers, "Find the correct box. Take the correct box. Take none of the other dozens of absolutely identical boxes. Don't kill anyone inside." she stares at Jens-Dieter for a long moment. "It was impossible to steal it. Couldn't be done. Maybe if I'd had the name and she didn't literally SLEEP on the boxes... but yeah, wasn't happening." She handed over the package, and sank into a chair with an exhausted sigh, more born from emotional stress than physical. "What you're holding there may or may not be the right box. I unlocked it for you. If you could check the contents and verify that the contents are what we're looking for, it'll make me a lot more comfortable. Or terrified. I'm really not sure."

She then unwrapped her shawl, and started using it to wipe her facepaint off, a small flagon of potent vodka on her hip providing a little solvent to make it work. "The treats were for the girls and your wife, by the way, you greedy man. But for real, next time I'll just send a loaf of flatbread. Everyone can use some flatbread."

 

[siobhancan99]

Jens-Dieter frowns "I don't know. Box, letters, hair. if there's letters and hair in here your guess is as good as mine" he flicks it open "there's letters and hair in there" he closes the box and shoves it aside "So...what happened?" He got up and spoke a word, lighting the fire with an abuse of his clerical magic. He tossed another log on, then put the tin coffee pot in the fire to reheat what was in it. He got a plate out and put some cold meat on it and some cheese, setting it in front of the girl "The way you're talking you make it sound like you had to kill someone." he keeps his tone pretty neutral, though the concern is written large across his features. His impression of her is that she's not a killer, and so this would be .. he assumes... a big step. He pours himself a beer from a small barrel and then sits again, draining about half of the beer in a few gulps. He leans his bulk forward, resting on his elbows on the table.

He shifts, snagging one of the pastries and eats it "what? pastries are for earners." He looks upstairs "I'm the earner, I get the pastries. that's how the world works Ziva. There's no such thing as a free pastry. That's a maxim that's equally applicable to food in this house as it is to the kind of work that you and I get up to. So anyway, what exactly happened in there? you seem spooked and stressed, and I'm worried that things went spectacularly south with the way you're talking. So maybe you should just begin at the beginning and give me the whole tale so I can either put you at ease or we can figure out next steps."

 

[DramaNerdette]

Ziva blows out a long slow breath. "I said it was impossible to steal. Not that it was impossible to acquire. And what you said didn't exactly specify that I had to steal it. So I didn't. I asked. Nicely." She pulled her feet up into the chair and hugged her knees to her chest. "There were dozens of boxes, just like that, under the bed. Box, letters, hair. The woman sleeping on the bed was, I dunno, a blackmail collector I think. Very... cynical about the whole thing. There was a time crunch, and... and I'm pretty sure even if there wasn't then without knowing a name to look for on the letters, or a handwriting sample, or some tracking woodgiewoodgie..." she wiggles her fingers in Jens-Dieter's direction, "... to track the owner of the hair, I was never finding the right box without alerting the guards, and then someone would have died. And no one was supposed to die. So I woke up the lady and asked her to give me the box. Told her which one I was looking for, and laid out a case that if the person in question was willing to pay someone like me, and I wasn't successful, they also might be willing to pay someone with less... tact."

Ziva looked away from the flames of the fireplace, and caught Jens-Dieter's eyes. "I kill if I have to. I've had to... before. But I won't do it just for the coin, or unless there was a good reason. So I said if she didn't want to give me the box, I'd just walk away. In return, she asked if I'd trust her not to give me the wrong box that would probably get me in a lot of trouble. I said I would. She handed me the box and immediately started packing up to move out. That was..." She thought for a minute, with her tongue between her teeth, "... about an hour and a half ago. So yeah. I didn't steal anything tonight."

 

[siobhancan99]

Jens-Dieter twisted his mouth a bit in thought "gold is gold and however we get it it all spends the same way." he shrugged and took the box, putting it in his pack "I'll come by tomorrow with your money." the tired Volk stood and shoved some food in his face, then looked down at the diminutive Ziva "take a few days off. Bake bread. Drink beer, go dancing. Lie low. Probably best, really, if I avoid you for a few days too. Make sure in case I'm being watched that nobody can connect you to this." He strokes his chin "if you need me, don't come to the house. Go to Yvginy and have him send the raven. That way... Look I might just be being paranoid here but... Something about this job makes me want to be cautious. Look if we're overly cautious maybe we lose a job here and there, but if we're not cautious enough well... we lose all the jobs. So yeah. Find a nice boy to shack up with. Or just work on your baking. Whatever."

He moves towards the door, opening it and ushering her out into the night. He closes and bars it behind her and the glow of the magical light turns off.

The walk home is smoky and cold. Despite being still autumn, the bite in the air is almost wintery. Ziva has to keep moving to keep comfortable. Despite the chill, quite a few drunken bravos and prostitutes litter the streets, each catcalling her in some fashion. The little fencer makes it home, stowing her weapons and swords for now, looking up at the sliver of moon before bed.

 

[DramaNerdette]

The next day, she's even rougher than she had been the one before. Short sleep two nights in a row was tough, and she even caught her father sneaking worried glances here and there. It was a blessing that he never brought up their discussion about hiring help, or complained when she sunk right back into bed just as soon as the after work cleaning was complete downstairs. When she woke, even her father hadn't risen yet. So she climbed out of bed, and headed for the roof, laying there. Watching the stars glide through the black. When she went back down, she was chilled to her bones, but Ziva actually enjoyed starting her days like that. There would be no warm, easy, lulling heat from the ovens to tempt her back to slumber. The fires did warm through the chill soon enough though. She and her father spent the day working orders for a few restaurants that still used their services, while Ziva kept a hawk's eye on the door, waiting for Jens-Dieter to show up with the money. She knew he didn't think of her as a killer, just as she knew the assessment was accurate. But that didn't mean she wouldn't make a viscous exception if someone tried to make the big man disappear.

 

[siobhancan99]

After a few days, not Jens-Dieter but Yvginy appeared in the shop. He had a taut look about him and he put a platinum on the counter in front of her father. "Hire an assistant. Your daughter needs to come with me. It is important. You can do without her for a week." Her father protested, and the man put another platinum on the bar. It was practically a month's profit these days "I said hire a helper." His tone and his worried look seemed to brook no argument. Milan nodded and slipped the coins away, looking over to his daughter, concerned. "what have you gotten into Ziva, love?" he shook his head, hugging her, then gently pulled back "Be safe. Whatever it is be safe."

The tall eastern mage looked her over "Meet me by the Eastern Gate in the Northwall. Bring all you have, Clothes for an extended period of time. Food for the trail. Food that will keep. Jerkey, hard cheese, granola. That sort of thing." He moved briskly to the door "tell no one where you are going and keep an eye to make sure you are not tailed. We will be meeting Ulricha out in the countryside. I have a few things to take care of to secure the tower. You have a few hours to get everything together. Your life, and Jens-Dieter's may depend on it.' The tall brooding mage had a tendency to make things over dramatic, but usually when he was feeling secure. He looked anything but at the moment. Instead, he stormed out of the bakery as if he were being chased by devils.

Milan sighed "you have too much of your uncle in you" Which was a first for the girl, as she had always thought her father was an only child. "He died on an expedition to unearth a Homines temple in Sewochan. Eaten by Gnolls. He never could stay home. The bakery wasn't for him either." Milan went into the back and came out with a pack "This was his. It isn't magical or anything but... it's a good pack and it will serve you in the wild. Now go. Do ...whatever it is you get up to in the middle of the night when you leave and stay out till dawn. I'll be here and" he looks over his shoulder at the coins "So will the bakery."

 

[DramaNerdette]

Ziva mouth goes dry at Yvigny's warning, and runs to get one of the larger delivery baskets, tossing the pack into it. "Dad, I love you, I'll be safe, and I will come back. He's right though, you need to hire help. I wanted to talk you into it, but.... but I guess now it's necessary." She gives her father a short, fierce hug, not even daring to breath, before backing off and heading up to the roof for the rest of her things. Instead of getting changed though, she brings it all down and starts filling the pack. The only thing that won't fit is the rapier, which she slides under her apron, pointed straight down. She turns back and forth, not entirely satisfied. The sword isn't really visible, but it'll also be a hassle to draw if she needs to. Oh well, nothing she can do about that now, better to remain an anonymous bread girl for a little while longer. She takes a pan of rolls from the day before and dumps them on top of the pack, burying it. She hikes it up onto her shoulders, and gives her father one last look, which she hopes is reassuring. "Love you, Tata." And walks out the door.

Leaving her neighborhood takes a few more minutes, as she stops a few places on her way out. The butcher, for salted beef, the cheese monger for some old dried cheddar, a spice merchant so everything wouldn't taste horrid. The leatherworker for some water flasks. The fountain to fill them. All buried under the rolls. She left the places by the back doors. Asked the merchants, old family friends each of them, not to tell people she had come through. They would have questions for her father later, but embarrassment she could survive. By the time she left the neighborhood, the basket was creaking. Fortunate that it was well made and well maintained. She made her way to the Eastern Gate, circling back a few times, and once climbing over a house and spending ten nervous minutes on the roof, rapier in hand, waiting for some assassins to crawl up after her. None came. Yet. When she got to the gate, she found a shadowed alley to wait in, which she did, her mind swirling on her mistakes. The blackmail woman, or the client. One or the other was hunting them. Yvigny said she and the priest were at risk. He didn't mention her or Ulricha. Her hand tightened around the grip of a small knife she wore on her hip, the only weapon a young girl could really wear around the city without arousing attention. Anger flared as she awaited her mage and she wondered who it was that deserved her anger.

 

[siobhancan99]

Yvginy's raven circled her in the alley before descending. His dry, perpetually sarcastic tone slipped from the raven's mouth "Nobody will grab you at Gate silly girl. Move your ass to the gate and we get out of town. I have a horse for you. I hope you can ride. If not, it can carry your things." She could see the tall mage with a pair of horses approaching the gate. Leaving was never a problem and the gates were really only closed in time of overland invasion, which hadn't happened in probably fifty years. They were largely for show and there was a gate toll for people from the valleys of the duchy coming in to buy things or sell their produce. Leaving, nobody even paid attention to you, at least not officially. Best not to trust that though. Ziva made her way through the crowd to Yvginy's side and they made their way out of the gate.

"We go to meet Jens-Dieter's wife, Astrid. Ulricha will take us there." His own horse was fairly laden with things, a tent, bedrolls, a sack of books. He looked back at the city, then forward, and seemed more nervous about being outside the city walls than in them. Still, he steeled himself and led her along the river. They made their way through a few small towns dotting the river as they disappeared into the county immediately north of the Demonska Planina "Will be a few days." Yvginy didn't talk much, and when she asked he put a finger to his lips "Is best not to talk about it yet."

As night fell, he insisted on breaking into a barn rather than stay at a crossroads inn. he warded the doors, and fortunately with all the animals it was fragrant, but warm inside. He refused to allow any light, but as they sank to the ground, exhausted, he was finally in the mood to talk. "your employer, he grabbed Jens-Dieter and told him that they had his wife, which they thought they did. They not know that she was a soldier. They made a mistake coming at her and the children. She killed two of them and drove the others into a band of Volkish bravos. She told them that they were Ludowy and they just hacked them to pieces. She came and got me but by the time I scried out her husband he was bound and on the road north."

 

[DramaNerdette]

Ziva sighed heavily, and her head sank into her hands. "Damnit. He never should have taken that job. It put us both into an impossible position, and I... I think the client wanted the blackmailer killed or something, but didn't expect me to just ask for the letters politely." She looked up at Yvginy, her eyes cold and angry in the darkness of the barn, all but invisible but for a gleam of moonlight reflecting in them. "Do you know the name of the client? And where are they taking Jens-Dieter? His family is still safe? ... no, I'm sorry." She took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "First, foremost, thank you. I'm not sure how you or Ulricha got involved in this, but thank you." She leaned into the wizard and hugged him tightly, for a moment before releasing him. "We will find him and get him back. Then I'm going to poke a lot of small holes in this client of his."

She leaned back, still sore from their flight out of the city. She'd ridden cart mules from time to time on deliveries around town, but this was her first time she'd have the distinct displeasure of trying to desperately sit atop a cantering horse. She grabbed two dry rolls and an apple from the pack. The roll she passed wordlessly to Yvginy. The apple she fed to the draft horse whose barn they were invading, to help calm him down. No sense in risking letting it cause a ruckus in the dark and summoning the farmer out here. She sat on the straw and nibbled on her own roll, mostly eating it by force of will, her worries for the priest turning it to ashes in her gut. Once she'd had enough, she pulled her cloak around her and curled up on the straw. "Wake me for my watch, ok?" She asked the dark, before closing her eyes.

Sleep was a long time coming.

 

[siobhancan99]

Yvginy pulls out the hairs in response to her questions "Jens-Dieter is no idiot. He left half of these with me. I know who has him, and where and can find the owner of these hairs anywhere in the world." He carefully tucked them away, and immediately fell asleep while she struggled.

The next morning, well before dawn he roused her "Quick. The farmer is waking." They made it out of the barn and down the road, moving through the dark slowly as they couldn't light a lantern. As dawn broke, they made a crossroads and found the familiar valkyrie curled up under a tree. A large, dark skinned Sewochi man in mail with a shield and a kopesh kicked her awake. Around his neck was a chain with the sword of the war god, and the symbol was painted on his shield as well. He was older, his braids shot through with gray and his beard streaked with it as well.

His voice rumbled a low bass "Your friends."

Ulricha unfolded and nodded to Yvginy, then looked Ziva over. She stretched "we have long day" then made her horse ready.

The day was long, and cold, and they wound their way up into a pass heading towards Volk territory. The hinterlands were a series of valleys nestled into the Stulkin vid, filled with farms that kept the duchy fed. In the heights were a few heavily defended fortresses that kept the mighty armies of the Volk and Ludowy at bay. They headed to such a pass now. When they got there, Ziva could see a series of small structures on a switchback leading to where there might once have been a fortress. instead, it looked as if the mountainside itself had been sheared away, blocking the pass below.

As the group approached the switchbacks, Ziva saw what seemed to be a rock unfold and Jens-Dieter's heavily armed wife, Astrid emerged from under a gray cloak. "The others are in one of the gatehouses. They're fortunately largely intact even though the pass is abandoned."

 

[DramaNerdette]

Ziva clenched her jaw, and walked directly up to Astrid. She'd seen the woman once or twice, but hadn't spoken with her. This was not an ideal way to introduce yourself, but she had to say it. "I'm sorry they took him. I... I don't know if it's my fault, but I'll make it right, or I'll die trying." She wrung her hands together, looking up into the soldiers face for a hint of anger, or condemnation, or forgiveness. She looked past her, and up the towering switchbacks, watching for motions on the trail, or in the heights. She'd give this evenings apple to her own horse, after making it travel this brutal path. Her thighs ached, but perhaps a little less than yesterday. Perhaps I'm getting used to this kind of riding, she thought, idly touching each of her weapons, making sure they were in their proper places. She'd even loaded shot back into the pistols. She hated that. She hated the idea of killing people, even people that needed it. But she OWED Jens-Dieter. She owed Astrid. She owed them her very best, and not an ounce of mercy could be spared for the poor bastards who tried to stop her.

 

[siobhancan99]

Nobody seemed to feel that this was on Ziva, or if they did they didn't show it. Astrid merely nodded to her "We will" then led the group up to one of the gatehouses, repurposed. The boys were ensconced in the upper floor, with crossbows pre-loaded. They weren't old enough or strong enough to load them, but they could fire them. The mountains were COLD and it wasn't that much better inside, though with the small group packed into the space it did warm a bit. Yvginy lit a fire and Astrid had shot a goat earlier. They dressed it and were cooking it over the fire and it seemed almost livable in the former gatehouse.

The first night was tense, with all involved taking a watch and not much conversation. The next morning, however, two more men came out of the woods and Astrid seemed to have anticipated their arrival. Two Volks who seemed to speak not a word of Gradzlatan or Homines. The four Volks chattered amongst themselves, leaving the tall mage and the southern cleric out of the loop with Ziva.

The thickly built southerner tried a conversation with Yvginy who shrugged him off with his normal gloominess, and so he turned to the little baker "So, why is a tiny thing like you involved in something like this" He spoke Homines, with a rich almost musical accent.

 

[DramaNerdette]

Ziva smiled, happy someone else was willing to break the tension. "Well, Jens-Dieter and I work together. We met when I first started, um, reallocating wealth from certain wealthy merchants with more ready cash than morals or sense. A couple of mercenaries had caught me, and I poked them full of holes, but one of them had gotten me in the shoulder pretty badly. I was worried the town guard would hear all the racket, but Jens-Dieter showed up first, on his way home from an alehouse in the early hours. He patched me up, and saw the guys on the other side of the fracas, and offered me a job right then and there. We've been doing gigs together off and on ever since. It's been about, oh, six months? Mostly small stuff, but he needed help with a second story job earlier this week, and I think the client worried him. Rightfully so, it turns out." She sat down crosslegged in front of the fireplace, close enough that the heat was nearly uncomfortable on her back. It was the only real way to hold off the chill in the gatehouse. She was dreading trying to sleep tonight, wrapped in little more than her cloak. "How about you?" She asked, fighting off a shiver. She pointed at his holy symbol. "I'm guessing you know him from worship? Oh! I'm... I'm sorry, I don't think I've actually said. I'm Ziva. I'm a ... I guess you could say I'm a scout."

 

[siobhancan99]

"Ibrahim." he nodded and sat closer, still tending to his weapons "And no, I've never had the pleasure of meeting the man. The Volk and Ludowy clerics have to be careful, here, of offending the locals. While either of them could crush this Duchy like a grape, they need it. it's a buffer between them and an important place for merchants to conduct trade when for political reasons their own ports are closed to each other. Few locals worship the war god. You tend towards commerce and the lawgiver here. So when Ulricha came looking for allies at the temple, I was the only one suited to the task. The temple itself could not exert any political pressure, as we are... not well connected here given your preferences for worship. So I came because Jens-Dieter is my brother, though I do not know him" he paused and looked her over "you don't look like a scout. You look like a thief" He laughed though, the sound of it filling the small room and making everyone's head turn. "You don't look like you could find your way back to the city, but I bet you know fifty ways to get from one of it to the other without being seen am I correct?" He grinned, showing a mouthful of even white teeth. "and I bet you were silent enough growing up to slip out of your parent's house without being caught."

He put his weapons away. "I think, and I could be wrong, but I think it is the danger that motivates you. More than the stealing. If I had to guess, I'd say you never feel as alive as when you're taking a bad risk. My mother said, may she rest with the twins, that I am overly assumptive."

 

[DramaNerdette]

Ziva bristled, for just a moment. Then a sigh and a smirk, "Ok, granted, you may not be entirely wrong about my motivations. I like the risk. But I also NEED the money. Or at least, there's enough people I care for who need it so it amounts to the same thing. Doing something I'm good at to help people who need helping."

She glanced at the door, as if staring out into the black beyond, across the many miles travelled from the city. "There's different kinds of scouts anyway, Ibrahim. There are the ones who travel trackless wilderness. I'm... Still trying to learn the trick of that. And there are the ones who can get into places made to be hard to get into. That's me. It doesn't mean I always steal stuff. Heck, this whole job that went sour? I didn't steal a thing on it." And look where my hesitation got me, came the inevitable criticism in the silence of her mind. She shook her head, "Sorry, sorry, I just... I'm worried. That's all. I'm gonna go out and look around." Without waiting for a response, she stood up and pulled her cloak around tight, before pushing through the door into the cold winds outside. She took maybe a dozen steps before she sunk down against a low rock, and sighed. Others might not blame her, but she realized if Jens-Dieter wasn't safe, she'd be blaming herself for the rest of her life.

 

[siobhancan99]

Yvginy joined her outside, not nearly as bundled up as the rest of them. "At home we have real winter. This is like spring. At home flowers would be out and people would be planting crops. you have no real winter" He passed her a flask and what was inside tasted like burning water. "Will warm you up a bit. So. Why are you sitting outside little kitten hmmm? you think that because you take job that everyone blame you. Well. You not take job. Jens-Dieter take the job nyet?"

He stood over her, looking down into the ruined valley. "you know this valley? Last time the Volks came to invade, your people... they hold this pass till the Volks fight their way through these gates to fortress. There" He points at the sheered off face of the mountain. "For months you punish them with cannon fire and spellfire. Kill many thousands of Volks. Defenders they know they are doomed. They take rest of cannon powder and blow fortress up and bring mountain down. Twenty-Thousand Volk buried in that rubble. Knights, Dukes. Priests and wizards. All buried. you know who not buried there? Astrid and Jens-Dieter."

He looked down "Jens-Dieter know how to survive mountain. He can survive this. As long as they don't know who you are, they won't kill him. By the time they decide he will not tell, we will rescue. But remember this, always. He brings you into this. You do not bring him into it. You think they were ever going to let you go kitten? Whether or not you did stellar job a secret shared is no secret."