Eden

Year 1, Month 2, Week 2, Day 5

It had been a nice relaxing time at the Joyautombe mansion for the past however-many days Eden had been there. She lost count after day two. "Nice" might be accurate, but the more Eden considered it, the more she thought that "relaxing" might not be the word for it. She had woken up every night from nightmares of Azrael falling into a black pit, of Sael walking away from her with her bodyguards, becoming obscured by shadows, and of Ichabod looking at Eden, holding a bloody dagger, and saying, "I don't want this future for you, but it's necessary to keep death far from you and your friends". There was a couple of times that the butler had woken Eden up because she was screaming in her sleep. To top all of that off, the whole group was going stir-crazy.

Sariel's room was covered with scorch marks from him practicing his fire magic, if that was any indication; his naturally calm disposition didn't betray his restlessness, but at any given moment, there were flames dancing across his fingers as his form of fidgeting.

Bran had found no less than twelve secret rooms in the mansion, three of which he still hadn't managed to unlock or open, and Eden was pretty sure she had seen Bran crawling upside-down on the ceiling of the attic when she had gone exploring, but when she looked again, he wasn't there.

Vorol and Raenaugh seemed to have an easier time with it to begin with, as they had taken to the spacious cellar to spar; as it turns out, Raenaugh was really quite good with thin, one-handed swords. He had three that he used: a proper rapier that to Eden seemed to simply be an oversized needle, a backsword, and what appeared to be a really thin jian he refered to as "Grounder". After Vorol inadvertently shattered Raenaugh's rapier, Raenaugh switched to Grounder, mentioning that it was magical, and therefore likely wouldn't break. After a couple days of sparring, though, Raenaugh retreated to brush up with his spellbook, and Vorol was left to train on his own for the remainder of his stay.

At long last, though, Bran announced that it was likely safe enough to venture out, at least for a day, before coming back to make plans for the thieves' guild vault. Raenaugh was given strict instructions to stay in his mansion, which he vehemently protested, but after multiple promises from Bran that the sequestered lord would indeed be a part of the planning process and the heist itself, he finally agreed to stay put while the rest of the group was out taking care of their personal business. Fergus, Raenaugh's orc friend, communicated on no uncertain terms that not only did he not want to cross the guild, but that he wanted only to empty the Joyautombe liquor cabinet. Sariel departed for his temple to check in with the priest; Vorol left to go to the colosseum; Bran, however instructed Eden to accompany him to the bank. He was somewhat mute on what he would be doing afterwards, but he stated that he was going to withdraw enough funds to pay for the weapons they borrowed from Tekek.

The two set off for the bank. As per usual, the day was muggy, and though the sun shone brightly in the sky above, a lingering mist pervaded the alleyways and the shadows cast by buildings. Eden was nearly struck by a careening carriage twice and she was almost sure it was the same carriage. That caused her to think, however.

"Bran, do you really think it's safe for us to be showing our faces in public? The guild has seen us and has probably spread the word."

He shrugged and replied, "It's a gamble, for sure. I take those, from time to time. The question here is this: how likely is the thieves' guild going to get pissy about us rescuing Raenaugh?" He paused long enough to cross the street. "The answer: there's a small chance they will, as they do have some sort of alliance with the Headsman's Joy. However, it's not likely. These are thieves we're talking about. Their presence at the VPGA was alarming and definitely a point of worry, yes, but since they didn't shift to their ordinary forms, I can insinuate that they were only there as a token--perhaps only there to provide information to the crew after the fact. The more I think about it, the more my opinion solidifies--the guild is historically a noncombative entity. Most of the time. On the other hand, the crew of the Headsman's Joy will be another thing; they may attack you on sight or try to force you down an alleyway. Don't let them. Cry out for help, alert the people around you. You'll succeed in stalling for enough time for a guard to appear and then you can accuse the pirates of drawing weapons on you. Nine to ten odds they have permitless weapons on them, and they will surrender to the guard rather than cause an incident."

"And if they aren't carrying any weapons?" They turned a corner.

"Then I'll bail you out myself. Money is nothing to me. At least not at that level."

"You sure you don't want to give me that jacket back?" Eden joked, gesturing to the jacket with the panic button on it that Bran was wearing.

"Definitely not. You know how to take care of yourself, and I think street encounters aren't worth using this on. We only get one bail-out and I want to make it count. If this gets big, for example, if the guild is actually keeping all of their wealth in a lord's basement or something--"

"Like the lord is working with them?"

"Exactly--and accessing the basement through the sewers, it may be that we have to break into another lord's manor and end up getting caught over it. Our benefactor said that the panic button would be good for one emergency in which our benefactor would take care of things for that instance; I plan to milk that for everything its worth. Getting out of the shit with an angry noble of my family's caliber would be worth it."

Eden nodded. "That sounds like a good plan."

They arrived at the bank, which was a bit of an odd building as it was completely wooden, but the sheer amount of magic interwoven with that building caused an involuntary shudder through Eden's body that caused her to rethink the building's oddity; she was now convinced that the bank could hold up against any assault. Absentmindedly, she wondered how much money it took to fortify the building in that manner. Bran spoke to the concierge at the bank, a short, stout human girl with a nametag that read Lindsey. He presented his crest and she set him up with a proper banker who verified Bran's identity with several key phrases and listed contacts before disappearing into a room behind the counter. While the banker was gone, Eden asked Bran,

"So, the place that we're looking to acquire..." Bran raised an eyebrow. "The one that we haven't really started the plans for." He nodded. "How does that compare to a place like this?"

"Ah. It likely doesn't. Our, uh, clientele don't specialize in brute force, but instead mobility and trickery."

"Oh. Good." Eden felt a little better about the whole thing. The banker came back with a discrete pouch that he handed delicately to Bran, who then tossed it to Eden. The two walked out the door. Bran instructed Eden to pay Tekek and passed the gold off to her.

"Give my apologies to Tekek. We are very late in returning for our weapons; the money you have should more than cover the cost of the weapons we kept, plus any other complaint she might have--not that she would complain."

"I'll head straight there and straight back. Actually, hold on, I need to stop by the room I had at the inn by the Meadium. Hopefully the nice clothes you got me haven't been thrown away; I haven't been back in days and the innkeeper probably thinks I'm not coming back."

"That's probably not the case, Eden. I rented the room out for the month." Eden froze for a moment and looked at Bran with shock.

"Money really isn't anything to you, is it?"

"Not money in that sort of quantity, anyway." He replied nonchalantly. Eden turned to spring and beamed at him.

"You're too nice to me, Brandy!"

"Bran."

"Nope, it's Brandy. There's no changing it." She said, crossing her arms. Bran rolled his eyes at her.

"After you get through with Tekek and checking up on your room, you should stop by the Meadium. I'm sure Megan is dying to try you out on the stage."

"Yeah, you're right, I haven't really had the opportunity to take her up on her offer. Are you going to be there?"

"Eventually. I've got some things to take care of. I need to update our benefactor, who is probably going to be a bit irritable."

"Speaking if which..."

"Hm?"

"I've been thinking about the children problem."

"This again? You really want to take on the whole world by yourself, don't you?"

"Nothing quite like that. It just bugs me."

"I can't say I blame you. I would advise you to leave that to--"

"To who? The senators who are in the back pocket of the guild? Government workers who are bought?" She turned to autumn.

"--to people like our benefactor, who do care enough to take action. Eden, there are good people in this city. People like yourself." She started to argue and he held his hand up. "I'm just saying that your concerns have been noted, and they will be addressed, I promise. You don't have to win me over. Show some trust."

"Can I say my suggestion, now?"

"Yes." He sighed. "Just understand that this isn't all on you."

"'Kay. So I was thinking that since the kids who help the guild don't like being stuck in school or whatnot--"

"I'm sure it's a little more complicated than that. Most of them are orphans."

"Exactly. So, take them in. But specific people. Knights. Paladins. Wizards. People that will keep them active, stimulate their minds, and make them into something useful."

"That's... not a bad idea."

"See! and you were all like 'hurr durr leave that to other people'."

"That's not what I was saying. I was just saying that you don't have to try so hard all at once; there are other people who can pitch in and help; you're not alone." Bran replied, reassuringly, setting his hand on her shoulder. Eden paused and plunged into winter. Not alone. Every night she saw Azrael fall into a black chasm, Sael fade into obscurity, and sometimes the crying faces of her parents as she was whisked away by Titania.

"Hey, hey, hey, are you alright, Eden?" Bran's eyes had widened when her mood had taken a turn for the worst. She stared back up at him for a second. She wasn't alone anymore, was she? She had... well, allies, at the least. She nodded at Bran and wrestled herself back to autumn.

"Yeah, I'm okay. It'll do me some good to get out and about, so I'm off to see our Sanpinsani friend." Bran frowned for a moment, asked a couple more times if she was sure before letting her go.

***

"Tekek!" Eden greeted the sanpinsani as soon as she got within eyeshot. The sanpinsani turned to see who was calling her from across the Golden Corner and practically lit up (as much as a green-scaled, fanged creature could without looking terrifying).

"My friend, Eden! I was afraid you weren't coming back!" Eden jogged up to the weapon stand and replied,

"It sure did take me a bit! I'm sorry!"

"It is no problem!" Tekek assured her. "I see no weapons with you, so, did you come to shop or simply to socialize with me?" Then she added, "Either is most welcome!"

"Actually, as Brandy and the boys are a bit on a bit of a time crunch, I've come to settle up, so we'll be purchasing outright the weapons you lent us as well as taking back the weapons we left with you. This should cover it." Eden said, setting down the pouch of coins on the counter. The Sanpinsani looked down curiously at the bag, reached down, and lifted up the flap with one claw. She barely opened it when she dropped the flap back in place, gave Eden a hard stare and said flatly,

"No." Eden shifted to winter and uncomfortably mumbled,

"If it's not enough, I'm sure Bran could come to some arrangem--" Tekek cut her off, curtly shaking her head.

"It's too much. You could buy most of my inventory with that. The diamond in there alone is worth a custom weapon." Eden reeled. A diamond? Bran withdrew a diamond? She stood her ground, though.

"I insist. I was given explicit instructions to give this to you. I can't go against my employer. This is what your services were worth to us." Tekek's right eye twitched.

"I... must get permission to accept such an egregious sum."

"Permission?"

"Yes. Please wait here." And with that, Tekek swapped her business sign to "closed" and left.

Eden was now by herself. She gazed around restlessly, taking in her surroundings. It was fairly crowded, this morning. Several anakim were crowded around the armor stand across the corner where Tekek's sister worked, all bidding on a daily piece of mastercraft armor--a breastplate, specifically--designed to fit such large frames as the anakim sported. At a jewelry stand, a blue sanpinsani dutifully carved runes into an amulet being made for a waiting elf. An alcohol stand boasted more kegs of varying spirits than Eden had seen in her life. Beautiful canvases, painted of varying sunsets, storms, and starry skies hung from a rolling cart parked in a corner, drawing many potential buyers. The Golden Corner was a work of art in itself, as everything made was well done.

Eden, after looking about for a few minutes had just made the decision to go look at the art on display when a green claw tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to see Tekek smiling sheepishly at Eden, but accompanied by, quite possibly the most shocking sanpinsani Eden had ever seen. This sanpinsani's scales were onyx in color with a polished sheen; the new sanpinsani was quite obviously well-muscled and Eden would have thought she was a head taller than Tekek if she didn't have three heads on long necks, two of them looking about while one being intently focused on Eden. Less shocking than the heads was the fact that this sanpinsani, clad in a green robe with a matching green pearl hanging around her neck seemed to have breasts. Eden had never known one of the serpentfolk to have mammary glands, as they weren't mammals, but obviously this one was quite different. It's bright green eyes sparkled with a keen intelligence that Eden felt she could only begin to appreciate. Three forked tongues flitted in and out of their respective mouths silently.

"Eden, this is Leamas, matron of our Way. Leamas, this is my friend, Eden." Leamas glanced at Tekek with two of her heads, not taking the middle's gaze of Eden and a silky-smooth voice flowed from one of the heads.

"Friend? My, my, Tekek, you have attained a treasure for yourself! Friends are more valuable than gold!" One head resumed looking around while the other head joined the middle head in looking at Eden. "But gold is why we are here, it seems. Eden, beautiful elf, friend to Bran Leland and Tekek, I am Leamas, the authority and establisher of the Way of the Caterpillar. It is not lightly I am summoned, but my acolyte here tells me that you are intent on... overpaying... for merchandise?" Eden gulped and nodded. Leamas, if not intimidating (which she was) was quite unnerving. Briefly she wondered if a sanpinsani with three heads was as strange to other serpentfolk as an elf with three heads might be to her. She shook the thought off and replied,

"Yes. I'm under instruction from my employer to pay no less than this whole bag, the bag itself included."

"Why?" The question was simple and succinct, but was vocally emphasized by all three heads focusing on Eden. The skin on the back of Eden's neck erupted into goosebumps.

"I can't speak for Bran. I can only guess that he hopes to foster goodwill with the Way of the Caterpillar." Leamas smiled, revealing not only fangs, but dozens of sharp teeth and replied,

"We of the Way, on principle, do not take advantage of our customers and build our reputation on exacting fair prices. For me to allow this would allow an unfair transaction to occur and might hurt our reputation. So, no, I apologize, but only a fair price can be accepted."

"So," Eden replied, testing the waters, "I can't use all this to purchase the weapons, but if it mysteriously winds up underneath Tekek's counter while her back is turned, well, it can't really be traced to any transaction..." All six of Leamas' eyebrows furrowed and Tekek laced her fingers, nervously.

"In which case," Leamas replied cooly, "You will find it mysteriously returned when you least expect it."

"But if it comes to that, even more will be given as a gift, and it would be rude to refuse a gift, wouldn't it?" Eden pressed impishly.

"You intend to be aggressively generous no matter our wishes?"

"That's what friends do, Leamas!" Eden replied with a bright grin. Leamas snaked all three of her heads forward and down, until all three heads were level with Eden's; the sanpinsani squinted for a moment and pulled her heads back to their normal position, saying at last,

"Very well, we'll accept Bran and his associates' token of goodwill." Eden pulled her arm in a fist in triumph. "However, don't be surprised if you receive small tokens of our goodwill every now and then."

"You get it!" Eden cried in a celebratory tone. Leamas ignored that, turned to Tekek and instructed her,

"Accept the money and let the others know that Bran Leland's current company are friends to us." She then turned all three heads back to Eden and said before striding away into the crowd, "I must say, it is quite refreshing to see someone actively seek to do good to us. Most people tolerate us only for our merchandise and abuse us in every other occasion. My people suffer much, but you have given us a little peace amongst all that." Tekek watched Leamas retreat, slackjawed, before turning back to Eden and saying,

"She's usually intense like that, but I've never seen her that enthusiastic in a conversation. You are a strange one, my elven friend. A good one, to be sure, but very strange. Would you like your weapons perhaps delivered to a certain address, as opposed to carrying them to where you need to go?" Eden thought about it and opened her mouth to speak.

***

After about twenty minutes of trying to describe to Tekek where the Joyautombe mansion was, Tekek summoned another sanpinsani with a map and Eden was able to trace her path back to the mansion for Tekek and her courier. Now, she was well on her way to her room at the inn. Bobbing in and out of traffic was still tough, but she felt like she was getting the hang of it, finally. Seriously, though, didn't this city have any carriage accountability laws? But, finally, she was feeling pretty comfortable with the city. There didn't seem to be any pickpockets (or at least children ones) on the streets, and checking every now and then, she didn't see any pirates following her.

Eventually, she found her way back to the inn to check in with the inkeeper, and when she arrived, she saw him standing attentively at the counter sporting a swolen-shut black eye, among other bruises and scrapes on his face.

"Goodness!" Eden exclaimed before she could stop herself. "What happened?" He opened his mouth, paused for a moment, and simply replied,

"Sometimes this city is rough, and sometimes people aren't always nice." Before she could press the issue, he said, "Really, though, I'm fine. Here's your key to get into your room." She took the key from him. He looked positively miserable.

"I could round up the rest of the group and kick someone's ass if you need me to." Eden assured him.

"I--no, don't worry about me. Please." It took two more tries on Eden's part before the inkeeper insisted she let him be. Shrugging, she moved on and walked up the stairs. The elf found her room, unlocked it, and walked in, setting her jacket down on a chair.

Everything was just like she left it. each set of clothes folded just the way she left them, the bed messy and smelling a bit like vodka. Perhaps Bran instructed the inkeeper not to proved turn-down service. She shut the door behind her, locked it, and walked over to the nightstand where her clothes were.

"You sure took a long time to show up." came a rough male voice from behind her. Eden whirled around to find a thin, bearded human man standing in front of the shut door. Her eyes grew big and round. How--? His eyes flickered behind her and she glanced to where he was looking to find a rat walk out from behind the bed and almost instantaneously become a full-grown dwarf. Five more rats scurried out from different hiding spots and shifted forms into people.