The harbor was loud, and crowded, and smelled of sweat and meat, and sewage, and of course: fish.
The priest had quite completely forgot how insanely crowded the seaside town was, and found himself in complete despair over how to find one unnamed fisherman in such a mess. He wandered down the market streets, feeling meek and foolish, occasionally checking to see if his coin purse was still there. He had already spent a couple silver coins on the cart ride here, and would hardly like to find himself unable to pay the fair back to his little village.
Several street urchins came barreling down the way, and he barely dodged them, almost running to a street vendor, who gave him a very sour look. Father Orrin apologized profusely, and took refuge against a wall, feeling less like a priest and more like a mouse with every passing second.
"You filthy cheat" A voice shouted from the crowd "These birds are worth twice that and you know it!"
The priest felt a very sudden jolting recognition, and whirled around towards the young lady, who was currently shouting at a very sour-faced vender. She was holding several partridges, gesturing widely and angrily. He had no idea what she was saying, but it didn't take much to guess that it was a matter of price.
Without thinking, the priest shoved through the crowds to get there, shouting out "Excuse me!" the whole time. He nearly barreled over the woman when he reached her, and she turned to give him a furious glare.
He choked, and spluttered for a moment, and then blurted out: "I'd actually like to buy some partridges. Would you be willing to sell them to me?"
The woman looked taken aback, and then grinned widely. The merchant looked extremely upset, while she puffed up with pride.
"Partridges aren't cheap you know." She said "These are fresh too, and fat."
"How much would you like for them?" he asked, readily.
"Three gold, for the whole lot."
The priest paled very suddenly.
"I- don't have nearly that much, I'm afraid. Perhaps I could just buy one or two?"
The woman sighed, as if being put upon.
"Well I'll tell you what. The merchants around here are all scumbags, and won't buy my birds proper. And I may want one of these birds myself. So I'll give you three of them for two gold. You won't get a better deal than that."
The priest shook his head meekly "I only have one and a few silver."
Even that was a great deal more than he usually spend in a week.
"How many silver."
"Six. And I need two to take a cart back home."
The woman looked him up and down, making a great show of pursing her lips. Then she nodded curtly.
"Seeing as you're a man of god and all, I suppose I can go as low as one and four." She paused, and then shook her head, scowling at herself. "One and two. I'm not going to leave a holy man penniless."
He smiled in abject relief, and they shook on it. The birds and coin changed hands, and the priest was left wondering what in the world he would do with three fat partridges. As the girl started to walk away, the priest stopped her.
"I- don't suppose you would share one with me?"
The woman looked incredulous, and she gave a burst of laughter "Well, if you want to squander away your purchase, who am I to say no?"
There were plenty of chefs who would cook a bird for a few copper, and once they had one roasted, they sat on a wall bordering the docks, chewing pleasantly on their meat.
"So what's this about, holy man? Are you going to tell me the error of my ways or some such?"
"So you are a poacher then."
"I never admitted to such. Just because a lady has a few partridges in her possession doesn't make her a poacher. Even if you usually only find them on king's ground, there are exceptions."
"I didn't mean-" he paused and decided to re-evaluate his strategy.
"Have you ever met a girl named Catrina?"
"Once or twice." She said "Scraggly little thing."
The woman then paused, and gave him a long hard look.
"I'll be. You're that priest of her's, aren't you?"
He was taken aback "Her priest?"
The woman gestured at him with a drumstick "She never shuts up about you. You're the best thing under the heavens and above the earth, as far as she's concerned. But this wasn't anything about partridges, was it? You saw me and got that tingling feeling, didn't you? You knew that you'd seen me in a different life."
"Well I- different lives are a completely heathen-"
She rounded on him, triumphant. "You did, I knew it! You're trying to find the rest of us, aren't you!"
The priest spluttered "Now see here!" and then immediately lost his train of thought. "The- rest of who?"
The woman shrugged "Heck if I know. But I know where you can find the 'fisherman'. I wander these docks enough that I found him a while back. After what little Catrina said, I figured it would be good to keep tabs on him, just in case there was something to all of this."
She tore the few scraps of meat of her share with quick efficiency, and wiped her hands on her pants to get the grease off.
"Come on." She said "I'll introduce you."
The priest tried to protest, but found himself dragged along anyway. They dumped the bones in the harbor, and the remaining dead partridges thumped around the priest's neck as the strange woman nearly shoved him through the crowds.