(Authors Note: Light spoiler about where Balthier is from. Nothing you can't reasonably assume from what you learn at the Phon Coast.)
Her fingers twitched at the sight of the gleaming metal in the pouch of a traveler as he sat. He was distracted talking to another rough looking man at one of the only tables in the pub. She wiped the dirt off her face as best she could and tried to straighten her homely, ragged clothes. He looked thoroughly occupied with his company, engaged but at ease, leaning back casually. She attached herself to a passing older man, not so close as to be noticed but close enough to appear in his company.
Hitching up her bag in case she needed to run, she let her hand hang loosely by her side as she brushed past the man's pouch. She didn't dare look down but felt the cold, smooth chain slip over her fingers and prayed to the Sky it would come easily. She focused all her energy in not letting the quick beat of her heart make her drop it. She felt it sliding slowly, slowly, until the pendant fell free of the pouch with a (mercifully) quiet clank.
She slipped it into her own bag, trying not to walk away too briskly. She hadn't noticed her makeshift escort had stopped moving until she ran into him. He barked as he swung around drunkenly.
"Watch where you're going you damned brat!" His loudness made several nearby heads swivel and it panicked her. As she turned towards the door muttering curses under her breath, she heard the voice of her victim behind her let out an expletive of his own and booked it out the door.
Outside, she wound her way through the crowded plaza, dashing up the steps and following a waterway off the main street. She fumbled with her bag, trying to get it as closed as she could without a latch, then felt her foot catch and toppled over with a nudge from a passing civilian. She landed hard, her bag skidding a couple feet away. She heard the scraping of metal on concrete and looked up just in time to see the stolen item slip effortlessly through a sewer grate. She deflated, sitting up to stare hopelessly at the place where it had been. She sighed and brushed herself off, grabbing her bag. That was a good lot of effort wasted; she'd have to find another sucker.
She turned back to the shops, freezing when a familiar outfit and the man in it appeared in the crowd up ahead. All hope that he might not have seen her dissipated when their eyes locked briefly before she turned on her heel and dashed down the waterway. Perhaps if she could reach the next busy intersection she could lose him. Except she didn't hear any pursuing footsteps. No shouting (not above the normal din anyways) or curses or projectiles flying past her. She slowed and risked a glance behind her; it was more terrifying to discover not only wasn't he following her, but also she could no longer pick out his face in the crowd. She wanted to believe he'd given up, thought it wasn't worth going after. It still nagged at her down the majority of the cobblestone walkway.
It was almost a relief that her suspicions weren't for naught when an arm reached out from a passing alleyway and wrapped around her middle, tugging her strongly into its shadows. The relief was not strong enough to overpower her sense of panic, or keep her from kicking and struggling (for all the good it did when her feet didn't quite touch the ground). She couldn't spot the one holding her, only an overshadowing viera woman (she'd only seen one once in her life, as they usually didn't come this far east) she hadn't noticed before trying to wrest her bag off her shoulder. Adrenalin kicked in and freed her from the man's grasp long enough to reach into her bag and pull out a dulled iron dagger, mostly useless except for threats. She learned quickly that life on the streets required something of this standard. She waved it toward the woman fiercely.
"Keep your hands off me or I'll—" her threat didn't get much further than that before the feeling of cold metal against her scalp and the click of a gun hammer interrupted her.
"Careful. That's my first mate you're threatening." The voice was sharp and warm all at once, in a too well known accent that made her stomach tighten. Of course the person she'd choose to steal from would be Archadian, and not a lower class by the sound of it.
Her arm lowered by itself as the bag was relinquished from her and rifled through. A ringed hand clasped around her wrist and gave a crushing twist that made her cry out and loosen her grip on the dagger, which slipped into his hand.
At least now she was permitted to move freely, or at least spin herself around. She noticed two things immediately: that he didn't look like an Imperial soldier (or sailor as the case may be), and that he did look unusually familiar. She hadn't noticed herself looking for any prolonged amount of time, but he evidently had, and glanced down to meet her stare. She wouldn't be dissuaded, and felt at least a little more confident that she wasn't going to be killed.
"Have… I seen you somewhere?" she couldn't stop herself from inquiring. For the most part, he seemed unperturbed. In fact, he all but waved it away, shaking his head.
"On a Wanted poster, like as not."
"The necklace is not here," the woman spoke for the first time, slow and soft, easy to get lost in. Four eyes burned into her.
"Sold already? Who bought it?" the man's voice betrayed his impatience and the fact that she was going to have to fess up made her uncomfortable. She averted his gaze, trying to look casual but feeling a distinct flush creeping up her neck.
"I didn't. It's…. Lost." He waited for her to continue, there was nothing for it.
"I… Tripped. Lost it into the sewer."
"Naturally," his voice and his face bore a mixture of amusement and frustration, "That WAS going to pay for some important ship alterations."
Annoyance boiled up inside her, making her straighten up and look much bolder than she felt. She shouldn't feel so intimidated; he didn't look like he could be that much older than herself.
"It WOULD have paid for my first hot meal in ages."
"No jobs on the market for young ladies with questionable morals?"
"Says the man on the wanted poster. There's no work for anyone here who isn't a fisherman or a merchant."
"And now we're unprepared, foodless, and you have a rather hefty debt on your shoulders."
She wanted to swing a fist at him, but settled for sighing. It's not like he was wrong. This wasn't her first or only debt, just the first she'd been forced to repay. She could run, but they clearly knew how to trap street rats. She had nowhere to hide anyways.
"Okay, what do I do then?" she asked. She might as well get it over with.
"You can start by giving us something of value to trade. That for instance," he responded, eyes narrowing to a string around her neck and holding out his hand. The girl tried to back away and only succeeded in bumping into the viera behind her. She placed her hand over her chest to guard it.
"Its just an old feather necklace, its not worth anything! Please there has to be something else," she begged.
"Doesn't look like you've got much else of value on you," he pointed out.
"Maybe not material then. I'll… I'll do anything you want," she emphasized nervously, looking up at him. The implication made the corner of his mouth quirk but he crossed his arms and kept it to himself.
"I'm surprised you managed to pickpocket me, you're not new to it. If you can't give us anything to sell you'll find something else for us," he was final in his decision. All in all it seemed far less of a problem then she expected.
"Alright… If you come back in, say, three days I'm sure—" she tried to reason, but he shook his head.
"And if we never see you again we lose everything at no cost to you, I don't think so. Besides that we don't have three days to spend waiting for an artifact to walk right on the docks," he responded.
"So I'm being abducted?" she threw out ruefully as he nudged her to make her walk down the alley, staying close at hand.
"You're doing some labor to work it off while you find us enough to trade; "anything we want", remember?" he said as he handed back her bag, "let's hope you work better than you fight."