Year 1, Month 2, Week 1, Day 9

Eden

The wagon pulled to a stop beside the road that led to the Valekenport gate. The air there was so humid that Eden suspected she was breathing in a lot of water alongside the air. The illusion woven around the skeleton horses held up, and people walked around it without so much as a second glance. The intersection that led to the gate was a busy one, it seemed. Humans, elves, dwarves, and various other species traveled the road, most going in and out of the gate, and some people were doing business at the various stalls set up outside the gate, stalls that, Eden suspected, were there for traders to unload their merchandise without having to go through customs. She asked Ichabod about that and he confirmed, these stalls were the property of the local thieves’ guild, and they had ways in and out of the city that the city government weren’t aware of. The guards here, Ichabod elaborated, left the stalls alone because they never saw any merchandise actually enter the city, and the stalls all paid the business tax dutifully. On one hand, it was, well, underhanded, but on the other hand, if you wanted something smuggled into the city and returned to you, the thieves’ guild were known to be people of their word, and never double-crossed those that gave them business.

“They have that much of a presence here?” Eden asked, almost mortified.

“Of course. You have to remember, Eden, this isn’t Almaz; the people here, as a whole aren’t as pious as what you’re used to, nor is, even, the government the same. You had a monarchy that was hell-bent on righteousness. Here, it’s a senate, a pool of petty tyrants that are each beholden to no one, save the Great Houses of the City-State of Valekenport, and so chaos ensues–and the thieves’ guild thrives in the presence of chaos and overreaching governments, as people need something to turn to in the presence of such a government, and so the thieves’ guild is well-protected, and makes money hand over fist. There’s a song in there, somewhere, I’m sure.”

“How do you know so much about this?”

“Oh, I moonlighted as a guildmember for a while. I don’t think Eliyr, the Guildmaster, has ever forgiven me for that. So, come to think of it, it might be best to not mention me while you are here.”

Eden recoiled and turned from autumn to winter. “While I’m here? I thought I agreed to your terms. I stay your student and you teach me your craft, and I don’t give you crap about your morals or methods.”

“And that stands. But, as your teacher, I reserve the right to teach you lessons in whatever method I feel is appropriate. In this case, I am teaching you the lesson of self-sufficiency.”

“You’re punishing me for giving you a hard time–”

“I’m punishing you for giving me a hard time about the bandits, yes.” Ichabod confirmed. “But also, because I want you to stand on your own two legs as a bard before I teach you my particular variations. A good chunk of the self-sufficiency is establishing contacts and allies for yourself, and this rough-and-tumble city is exactly the place to do it.”

Eden looked down at her feet. “I see.”

“Seriously, I’m going to leave you here for a hot minute, and I want you to establish yourself here, one way or another, and when you have done so, I’ll pick you back up, we’ll go to my mountain, and I’ll teach you what I know and how to properly employ my art. From there, you’ll be able to teach yourself and establish yourself even further, as you have done here.”

“Isn’t that a little convoluted?” Eden asked, slowly shifting back to autumn.

“Not as much as you might think. Care for a story?”

“I love stories!”

The old man leaned back in the seat. “Long ago, there was a famous dark knight by the name of Galeed. He took on a squire named Furtex and taught him how to fight, as dark knights do. The dark knight taught his squire the art of war, of swordplay, archery, tactics, and even the fell craft that is the dark knight blood arts. When he was done teaching his squire, he hauled his squire before the king and the king knighted Furtex, and Furtex was sent out with his armor, his weaponry, and his wits. Furtex conquered new lands and made a lot of money doing so. No one in the new lands could stand up to him. But after a few years of hearing of Furtex’s conquests, the king who knighted Furtex sent more dark knights after him, subdued him, and incarcerated poor Furtex.”

“What was Furtex thrown into prison for?”

“Tax evasion. You see, Furtex could fight, but there are always armies that can take you down, and without a functional knowledge of how the world works, you will ultimately be a failure. Furtex knew nothing of taxes, nor of raising up armies to protect him, as a warlord might, and it was his downfall. So, suffice it to say, I want you to be able to have your independence, but more importantly, I want you to be able to thrive when I actually send you off on your own.”

“And you want me to pay my taxes?”

“Oh, I don’t care anything about that. If you decide not to pay taxes here, you might learn from the Great Houses how to do so with ease. But, it is important that you learn how to survive in a city setting, and, however you do so will shape how you survive in the future.”

“So allies and contacts.”

“A good start, to be sure. How much money do you have on you?”

“Seventy-five gold.” Eden replied after digging out her bag that Tefnum, the disappearing man, had given her and counting for a minute.

“Don’t go waving it around. Remember, it’s not–”

“It’s not Almaz, I know.” She cut him off, still feeling a little bit betrayed.

“Don’t pay more than two copper farthings for a cup of tea, nor a silver for a shot of whiskey, no matter how bad of a day you’ve had. Also, when you’re in this city, act as if someone’s watching you.”

“Aww, Ichabod, you do care–”

“Not me. Act as if someone unfriendly is watching you, probing you for weaknesses. Also, if someone bumps into you, for heavens’ sake grab them by the arm and say with as grouchy of an expression as you can muster, ‘return it or lose the arm’.”

“Pickpockets?” Eden asked. Ichabod nodded, gravely.

“Pickpockets are notorious gossips, so if you let one slip away, you get marked as an easy target and they’ll swarm you like piranhas. Catch the first one, however, and they’re likely to leave you alone after that. Almost to a one, they are part of the thieves' guild.”

“That’s good to know. Anything else before you abandon me?”

“I’m not abandoning you.”

“Just leaving me alone for an undisclosed amount of time, wherein I hope that you return for me.”

“I will return. In fact, here, since you’re so afraid of being a defenseless little girl in a big city–”

“I didn’t say that!”

“–I’ll give you this.” He took Eden’s lute from her, stowed it in the back and pulled from his cloak a lute that looked like something taken from a haunted house. The wood looked a bit like driftwood and whenever Eden looked at it, she felt a couple degrees cooler. She looked at it a little bit closer, and she thought she saw cobwebs in the holes of the rose, which was in the form of a skull. “Weapons aren’t allowed in Valekenport, except with special permits, so this should provide you with some measure of protection, not just as the tool to express your magic, but also, a little inherent magic will allow you to frighten your enemies with your music.”

“...frighten my enemies…?”

“Yes. It’s quite useful if you’re being attacked to suddenly remind your opponents of their mortality. They get a scare and you get away.”

“I can see how that would come in handy. No weapons?”

“Sadly, no. You could always have one smuggled in, though.”

“That’d probably cost me.”

“That would cost you more than a few farthings, yes. Oh, a request, before you go.”

“Hm?”

I want you to find the most powerful magical musical instrument you can, and obtain it for me. Give it to me upon my return, as a token of your determination to learn my craft.”

“A powerful musical instrument.” She said flatly. “I will do my best.”

“Also, a piece of advice: don’t do business with, or otherwise engage with the thieves guild unless you have to. They are keepers of their word, but that also extends to declaring enmity.”

“I will… keep that in mind. Any other ominous pieces of advice?”

“Yeah, get out of the cart before I kick you out.” The old man said with a smile. Eden scrunched up her face.

“Fine, fine.” She swung her legs over and dropped from the wagon.

“Goodbye, good luck, and don’t let people take advantage of you!” Ichabod said with humor coloring his voice. Eden waved sheepishly as she watched him pull off in his skeleton-drawn cart.

She turned and walked to the gate with her new lute slung across her shoulder, holding the strap. One of the guards, a surly-looking man with stubble, positioned at a table by the gate, intercepted her.

“Empty your pockets, present any bags, submit your instrument for inspection, and forfeit any weapons.” Eden took her lute off her shoulder and passed it to him, took out her sack of money, set it on the table, and rifled through her pockets to make sure she didn’t have anything else. When her hand went to her left pocket, her fingers curled around a handle. She changed to winter, causing the guard some small alarm.

“I’ve got a weapon to forfeit.” She told the guard, who simply held his hand out. She passed the dagger to him, handle first. “Say, if I leave the city, would there be any way to get this dagger back?”

“Sure. It’s one ounce for sixty days of storage.” She dug a gold coin out of the bag and passed it to the guard, who procured a blank tag–little more than paper and string–and looped it around the pommel of the dagger. He then reached into his pocket and procured a stick of charcoal.

“Here, make your mark on this tag; something that you’ll recognize. When you’re ready to leave the city, come back here with a matching symbol. Make sure no one knows what that symbol is, or they could come and claim your weapon. Bear in mind, we only hold onto weapons for sixty days, at the end of which ownership of the weapon transfers to the city and the transfer cannot be revoked or reversed. Also, you can come back, present the symbol and renew the stay for another sixty days–for another gold ounce or coin-equivalent, of course.”

“I’ll bear that in mind.” Eden said. Despite her mixed feelings regarding the blade, she put it out of her mind; it wouldn’t do her any good to dwell on it. The guard returned her belongings to her, minus the dagger, and waved her through.

***

Once inside the walls, Eden decided to explore a bit before trying to secure lodging for herself. Where to, first? She had entered by the east gate, so the docks were directly across the city from her. Heading to the docks would give her the opportunity to take in the city a bit.

Eden found the city to be vibrant and full of life, despite the grey stone it all seemed to be made of. The more she thought about it, the more she was sure that the city used to be made from black stone and that wear, tear, and age had caused it to appear grey. That, and the light fog that was rife throughout the city, caused everything to appear more grey than it would be. Contrasting that, the attire of the general citizenry was bright and colorful, and as she strolled through the city, she found that this was a matter of practicality: the streets had a complex traffic system for horse-drawn carriages of various styles, but with absolutely no denoted crossing sections for pedestrians; it seemed to Eden that responsibility was placed entirely on the pedestrian to be out of the way of the traffic. That was strange to Eden; in Almaz, there were hardly any animals and people walked wherever they went. Unlike Almaz, the buildings weren’t all uniform in their building materials–there were plenty of buildings made of grey stone, sure, but many were also made of refined wood or brick. So far, Eden found Valekenport to be fascinating. As she flushed a mossy shade of green, she decided she was going to like it here.

Her first experience with a pickpocket came in the form of a small human boy wearing a shabby, grey cloak that, no doubt, was to help him disappear into the fog. Since Ichabod had warned her this would occur, she was ready for the pickpocket. She, being prepared for an adult, just wasn’t ready for how small he was. As soon as he bumped into her, her hand shot out to grab his arm, like she had envisioned doing, but instead of grabbing the thief by the arm, she, instead, grabbed him by the throat. Inwardly she cringed, but she kept a stone face, despite changing to her winter colors. The child choked and his eyes bulged.

“Drop what’s mine or face my elf magic.” Eden said sternly, yet emphasizing ‘elf magic’ with a spooky voice; she loosened her grip up so the tiny miscreant could breathe. He turned his eyes to her and stared in abject terror. She heard the muffled clink of her bag hit the ground, along with a few louder clinks. She looked down and saw her gold bag on the ground, along with some copper farthings. She reached down and picked up her bag and pocketed it.

“You can have all of it, miss!” the boy squeaked.

“I don’t want it all, I just want mine.” She retorted, letting go of his neck completely. She stood up straight and came face to face with a very surly-looking hobgoblin that was rife with warts. He stared at her, his face not six inches from her.

“Is there a problemmm?” He asked obviously trying to look imposing. He was quite a bit taller than Eden, so it likely wasn’t difficult to do, but Eden wasn’t fazed in the slightest. The child scurried behind the hobgoblin and Eden asked,

“Is that your child?”

“He is in mmmy care, yes.” Eden went from winter to summer in a heartbeat, her eyes flickering with red flame. It had hit her: the thieves’ guild used children to do their work. Children. The nerve! The absolute audacity!

“Keep his hands out of my pockets and there won’t be a problem.” She spat. The hobgoblin’s eyes widened, suspecting that she was some sort of powerful magic user.

“Of course, of course, I will ensure it doesn’t happen again!” He inclined his head a couple times, grabbed the child, and walked quickly off, disappearing into the crowd.

***

She reached the docks a good while later, and, just like Ichabod had said, no one bumped into her on the way over; she had to dodge five or six carriages that were traveling at breakneck speeds, but no pickpockets.

Eden poked around the docks, discerning what was public and what was private property, and when she was sure she had the general layout, she found a private dock that was surrounded by large luxury boats that no one was actively watching. She walked to the edge of the dock, taking a few turns, and when she was sure that she was obscured on all sides but the open water, she took her boots off and set them down on the dock, she sat down on the edge, and she let her feet soak in the water. The sun was directly in her face, but she knew the water would look absolutely gorgeous when it started to properly set. She laid back on the wooden walkway and kicked her legs back and forth a bit, enjoying the splashing. She was spring, through and through, right now, with green, chlorophyllic skin and hair that was sprouting flowers. This was the most relaxed she’d been in much too long. Traveling with Ichabod was fun and informative, but he could be intense. She didn’t feel like he was a bad person, but there was a certain tension in the air around him, like a storm when lightning is about to strike. Here, now, there was no pressure, no expectations, just her, the dock, and the water. This was nice.

This line of thought continued until her foot hit something. She stopped kicking. Was it a fish? She craned her head up as a much larger head, a snake head with emerald-green scales, shot out of the water and looked at her. The head was easily three times the size of her body.

She froze. There was no way she could run without getting snapped up, so sitting there, still as a statue was her plan for the moment. Its red eyes glittered like rubies; it opened its mouth, revealing rows of teeth, but, surprisingly, no proper snake fangs, like she expected, and it spoke.

“Please don’t panic; I only wish to converse.” it said in a low rumble. Eden’s mouth gaped like a fish’s. She looked around to see if anyone could see this, but realized that due to the sheer size of the boats around her, the snake head was completely obscured as well. She made a few small squeaking sounds in the back of her throat, but it was all she could manage.

“No, seriously, I’m not going to eat you. It’s just been so long since I’ve spoken to someone without it escalating into a conflict, that I couldn’t resist the opportunity.”

“You’re–you’re–not going to eat me…?” She spluttered. It shook its head, slightly and replied,

“No, I promise. But, ah, I must ask, weren’t you green, just a few moments ago?”

“Uh–umm–” she looked down at her arms, which were an icy blue. “Yeah, my color changes with my mood. Right now, I’m not feeling my bravest.” It chuckled and said,

“You have my apologies. That’s the static dragon-fear that manifests itself in my presence. The longer it goes on, the less it will affect you.” Eden swallowed and tried to reign in her emotions.

“You’re a dragon? Not–not a snake?”

“I assure you, I’m a dragon. I even have wings, though that’s not indicative of much, as some dragons don’t and still can fly. I can breathe fire, not that I’m going to do that right now.”

“May I have your name, honored dragon?” She asked, tentatively. His red eyes twinkled with humor.

“No you may not have it.” He chuckled. Crap. “You may call me Riverreign.”

“So, out of all the people in this city, why did you choose me to speak to?”

“A few reasons. If I just lift myself out of the water, climb onto land, and otherwise reveal myself to the general populace, they’ll gather their weapons and magics and try to slay me, at which point I’ll either have to leave, which is not an option for me at the moment, or be forced to kill large numbers of people in order to protect myself, which will make me look like the conqueror they’ll assume me to be. It’s not really a situation in which anyone wins, as I don’t wish to assume control of a city this large. You came down here where no one can see you–or me for that matter–and,” he slid a forked tongue out of his mouth twice, “yeah, just as I thought, you’re new to the city, so no one would believe you if you told them. You’d be just a crazy, color-changing elf, to them. Also, by the time you are able to curry enough favor with the local authorities, I’d likely be hidden well enough that they wouldn’t find me with the most powerful magics they could summon.”

“So, Riverreign–”

“Honored Riverreign, if you would. I so enjoyed that title you gave me.”

“Honored Riverreign, what brings you to the city to begin with? Or have you always lived here?”

“No, I arrived a couple months ago. I first swam into the bay because there are some isolated caves deep in the water below the city that might hold secrets. Maybe magical items, maybe gold, maybe other valuables that can help make a hoard for me. It’s quite vast down there. Why, if I didn’t know better, I’d say the city was built on top of another structure. It might be that it was built on the ruins of another city, and ruins almost always mean forgotten valuables. In the meantime, the caves themselves serve as my lair. It hasn’t been a bad time, though. You wouldn’t believe the strange and powerful things that swim in from the sea, leagues below. So I get food and the city inadvertently gets protection.”

“So you like it, here?”

“‘Like’ is a strong word. I think if I end up finding the treasure, I’ll gather it, scout out another lair out at sea, and move on to fighting krakens for shipwrecks that have treasure in them, but if I don’t find the treasure before long, I might have to just call this a loss and leave anyway. In the meantime, I’m keeping the port’s water free from dangers.”

“So, just to be clear, when we’re done talking, you’re going to let me go?” Eden asked, still not quite believing it.

The dragon nodded. “Yeah. Like I said, who’s going to believe you? And by the time you do curry enough favor with the authorities here, I’ll likely be long gone. Letting you go doesn’t pose any risk to me. But since you asked, let’s continue our conversation until the sun sets. Would you do that?” He asked, sounding hopeful. Eden smiled and changed back to green.

“Of course. I’m sure you have a story or two you’d like to tell, don’t you?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.”