Sinbad was rather surprised that Ja'far had suggested a festival. He typically despised the very concept of them, far too loud and crowded for his introverted lifestyle. Ja'far simply stated that a festival would assist them economically, or something of the sort. Sinbad certainly wasn't going to argue, if he got to drink without his adviser nagging his ear off then it was fine by him.
Ja'far did, however, leave rather hastily after suggesting it. He 'needed to get the preparations underway' as he said. Although, the preparations Ja'far had in mind were drastically different from what Sinbad had assumed they would be. Those preparations were all in order, Ja'far had always been sure that his documents were in perfect condition. He rarely left anything out of place, unintentionally at least.
He approached the railings rather late that night, most of the shops had closed and guards stood lazily at their posts. Ja'far scoffed, he would have to remind himself to hire more attentive guards. His time as an assassin had taught him to take advantage to such negligence. Such as this case, when he crouched to the old fastenings of the wooden railings. He would have preferred something more sturdy initially, but this worked quite well for his intended purpose. Ja'far's Balalark Sei gouged into the wood under the nails, forcing them out of the wood. He had to make sure it was perfect, they needed to be sturdy enough to stand, but weak enough to collapse with added weight. He would've loved to kill in other more ensured methods of killing, this had too many variables and did not ensure the death of the target. But it would have to do, he could only do so much without being noticed.
With the last nail loosened this railing was fit to break, now he just had to wait for tomorrow night's festival to set in.
As per usual, he had not slept that night. Even after joining Sinbad, the ex-assassin had always thought of sleep as an inconvenience. Sleeping would make him defenseless for hours on end. His heightened senses did not exactly make relaxing as easy as Sinabd made it to be. Honestly that man could sleep through a war if given the opportunity. Then again, he could never stand people getting hurt or killed. Ja'far scoffed, that was the one blatant difference between them. A cold blooded killer who wouldn't bat an eye if someone was murdered nearby. Death was just a part of life for him, just a statistic, another job well done. He always was rather systematic when it came to his work, be it murder or financing.
Financing was a bore in comparison, but Sinbad needs him to do it. Sinbad wills it, and he complies. Nothing was more pleasing than Sinbad depending on him, look to him for help. It was trust. A trust he cherished with his very life.
The sun rise was his cue to get to work, despite not actually having any. He would make work for himself. First on the agenda? Wake the king.
His footsteps were silent, a trained technique he was forced to master. The door did not whine when opened as it would for a maid or other servant. There was the king, sprawled out on his bed. The sheets were tousled, exposing his bare chest. Why he felt the need to sleep in the nude was something Ja'far could never understand. Not that he was complaining about seeing it. Sinbad was, for the lack of any other term, the most attractive person he'd seen in his life. And he'd seen a lot, albeit most were dead.
That did not mean he particularly liked it either. On some occasions, Ja'far would be unable to wake the king, leaving it to maids. That meant that those maids got to see his Sinbad like this. They didn't deserve that kind of privilege, no, only him.
The bed gave in to his weight as he sat next to Sin's sleeping form. Grey eyes watched the slow breaths bring the toned chest out and in. It was a shame, Sin looked so peaceful now. But work was work.
"Sin," Ja'far's pale hand grasped a tanned shoulder, "wake up."
"mngh..huh?"
"Come on, get up. I won't let you sleep all day, you need to announce the festival."
"Festival?...Oh right!" Sinbad sat up with nearly startling speed. If only he woke up this quickly every morning.
Ja'far wasn't able to say anything before Sinbad started frantically getting dressed. The adviser sighed, the frantic man's hair was a total wreck. Why did he insist on having long hair?
"Sin, you need to brush your hair." Simple commands were best. Even if he sounded like a doting mother.
"Could you do that for me? I need to get this stuff on." He replied, referring to his vast amounts of jewelry.
The albino couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face, "Certainly" he stated. He ran a brush through the long strands, gently removing the various knots and tangles.
"You know, I hadn't expected you of all people to suggest a festival like this." Sinbad attempted to insight conversation
"It may do us some good, tourism has dropped noticeably since last month. I thought this may bring us back some of the benefits. There is also taxes to be collected here so we can focus on more public works. You had suggested for a more public school to be built."
"If this was all it took then I suppose I should ask for public works more often!" He laughed
"Don't push your luck, there's still plenty of work to do" Ja'far finished tying the long hair off.
"You're no fun."
"That's not my job, sir."
Sinbad only frowned a little, but went to his balcony to tell his speech anyway. The people of Sindria were just like their king: joyful, social, and enjoyed the relaxing in the sunlight. He was amazed that anything got done without him.
If it was anything that the people got excited for were the festivals. Nothing gave them an economic boost quite like a festival. And so the preparation and set up were done much earlier than anticipated. He was fairly certain that she would be there.
Quickly came night, the city was lit by the festival fires. The king was drinking like a madman on his perch, laughing with Sharrkan as they watched the dancers.
So nothing had changed.
There was his target. It was not her turn to dance, apparently she was on the next shift. How convenient.
He approached, tapping her shoulder. Adara moved her thick black hair to her other shoulder as she looked over to him.
"Adara Saam?"
"Yes?"
"I need to speak with you for a moment, it concerns your debt."
I was so amusing to see her face morph from playful to bridging on terror. She got up and walked with him without question. If only his previous targets had been this easy.
He led her to the fence, Adara was not suspicious. He leaned on a fence and she followed suit. The fence groaned quietly under the stress, he hid his smirk.
"What is the issue, sir?" Her voice was wary.
"It may or may not be on your part. I just haven't been receiving the documents of each of your payments. You've made all your payments these past months, yes?"
"I believe I have, the last bill was about a week ago if I'm not mistaken." The wood began to yield to her weight, just a little longer now.
"I see, perhaps I had not received the document of that payment. Are you certain that you sent it in?"
"I could have sworn I did. Maybe it hasn't reached you yet. Did you-"
Then it happened, the wood snapped under her. She squealed as she fell into the water.
Dammit, someone might come to help her!
Ja'far dove in after her, this probably looked as if he was helping her. Under the water he grabbed her arms, pulling her down deeper. Her eyes held such a wonderful look of horror.
Her hair swayed all around her in the water when she struggled in his tight grip. He wasn't letting go, of course, but this wasn't good if this lasted any longer. Ja'far would have to breathe eventually, even so he still had the upper hand. He had a full breath of air in his lungs, the young woman lost quite a lot while screaming.
He felt a little light headed when she finally went limp. Letting do, her body floated to the surface. The adviser frantically swam up, coughing just as he could breathe again. That wasn't pleasant, but it certainly wasn't for her either.
He still had the problem of her debt, she had no relatives to take on this debt. But it was worth it, another girl taken out. He saw a man running to him, a guard.
"Are you alright, sir?" He yelled.
"C-could you, get the...king for me." Ja'far gasped.
The guard nodded, running off again.
Ja'far let his head rest on the ground, not letting his eyes close, but at least attempting to catch his breath.
His white hair still stuck to him as he lifted his head to the sound of Sin's voice.
"Ja'far! What the hell happened here!"
"The fence, it...broke. She fell in and I tried to...help her. Dammit Sin, I'm sorry I-"
"It's fine Ja'far, gods you could've died! Here," He extended a hand.
"You have little faith in me. I can protect myself. It's other people I struggle with."
The king grabbed his pale arm and pulled it over his shoulder. Sinbad began walking him to his quarters.
"Nonsense, you tried did you not? You're too light, you need to take care of yourself more." Sin worried.
Ja'far could walk by himself, but Sin doting on him like this was not a bad thing. He could keep this act up a little longer.