AN: This week was one of my bad weeks. I worked so much and had so many appointments it was ridiculous. Monday, I had to go to my follow up appointment for my infection (which went away, thankfully), then I told my doctor about something else that is wrong with me (my boss had been telling me to see a doctor about this forever). He told me that I had to get blood work done and he also set up an appointment for an ultrasound to see if I had cysts. That's when he thinks is wrong with me. Cysts. Before the ultrasound, I broke out into a rash. It was fine at first but it spread throughout my entire body. I decided it was time to go to a clinic when it spread to the inside of my mouth. As it turns out, I'm allergic to the medicine they gave me to fight off the infection. Now I have to go see an allergist at some point. I have to go back to the doctor on the 21st to go over the tests to see if I do have cysts. This is a bad month for me and the worst way to start my summer.
Starting Monday, I will be working 12 hours a day. Hopefully, I will have time to write for you guys.
Sorry about the long wait and that I didn't get the two chapters up for you in time. These appointments have been sucking the energy and inspiration out of me.
This chapter like the rest, isn't edited but will be edited once I finish the fanfic. Thank you.
(Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, the major plot and some of the dialogue but most of the subplots belong to me.)
Saturday April 4, 246
Morning felt like it snuck up on me. I was tired but then I perked up when I remembered what day it was. It was move in day. Me and my mots were finally having a real place to stay in rather than living from inn to inn. And apparently I wasn't the only one excited. Aniki and Kora barreled through my door before I could get dressed. They had seen my naked on several occasions so I didn't really mind dressing myself before them.
"When?" Aniki asked immediately. She stood there, fully dress with her sword hanging from her side. Her hands were planted firmly on her hips and she glared at me when she realized I was still in bed. "Get up Rosto," she demanded about the throw my covers off.
"I would if you fine mots would shut the door," I said, putting emphasis on my words. "I don't mind you two sneaking peeks but I don't think the innkeeper would like to hear his wife talk about me naked."
Kora rolled her eyes and shut the door so I could dress myself. I didn't take long. It was obvious the mots weren't looking for a show. I threw my items in my packs and made sure everything was out of the room. "Ready," I said. "You ready?" I asked them with a nod.
I received a snort from both mots. "We've been ready since last night," they said. Of course they wanted to pack immediately. Aniki and Kora hated moving from place to place. And staying in an inn wasn't much better. Kora wanted to decorate her room with her herbs and charms, and place magical traps around her room. Innkeepers usually didn't approve of such things because it meant trouble.
Aniki shifted her sword on her belt a little. "Come on Rosto," she said to me, slapping my back. "I need you assistance with something. While Kora distracts the innkeeper and his wife." I gave her a wary gaze. My blond friend was up to something. She dragged me into her room and pointed to the table that was loaded with her bags. "We're taking this."
"You're stealing a table from an inn?" I asked. "You do know how far we have to carry this right?"It was too early in the morning to be lifting heavy objects such as this sturdy wooden table.
Aniki didn't answer. She just raised an eyebrow at me and fingered her sword. I rolled my eyes. "You owe me," I told her. "And we are going to have to take this through the kitchens to a back alley before they come up to check on the room. They won't see us go through there."
"Agreed," Aniki said with a short nod. Me and her each grabbed part of the table and lifted. It wasn't too heavy but I knew that it would start to the longer we held it. I went backwards out the door and into the hall. No one was there. My mots woke up at dawn just to get me out of bed. We went down the stairs and into the hall where I knew the kitchen was at the very end. I thanked Mithros that the door was open. We walked as quietly as we could through the kitchen and out the door. The alley was empty save for the garbage and stray animals that scavenged.
I set the table down, so did Aniki. "We'll just have to wait for Kora," I said. "Hopefully, she grabs my things."
Kora appeared next to me a few ticks later carry her bags and mine. She threw her bags on the table and opted to carry mine. "They're lighter in weight," she claimed. I wouldn't doubt it. The mots didn't know how to pack lightly. I directed them through town backwards, trying not to hit anyone. Thankfully, they moved when they saw us coming. Of course the stupid pigs and stray dogs didn't move and I almost tripped over them. I am glad my reflexes are sharp.
We got to Nipcopper Close and showed them the house we were renting with Beka. They didn't know we were renting with Beka yet. They were going to find out sooner rather than later. Mistress Trout had opened the door for us once she saw us passing her window. I thanked her kindly. She ran up the stairs and opened one door up there and two more below.
As Aniki and I were making our way up the stair, a box fell and narrowly missed Kora. She shrieked in surprise causing me to cringe a little. A door opened up stairs, I heard it. Aniki looked over when she was on the landing and grinned at the person. I guessed it was Beka. Who else would it be?
Her head snapped back to me. I was trying to grab the box that had fallen. "Rosto, leave that box! Kora can get the curst thing. If you try to grab it, you'll dump everything else down the stairs." She continued backing up. She turned her head to Beka. "I think we overloaded it." We finally managed to shifted up further up the stairs when I came in view of Beka.
I nearly dropped the table at the sight of her in nothing but breeches and a breast band. I held back a grin and said, "Told you I liked the look of the street. And here's this place, with three sets of rooms nice and empty, for cheap. I rented 'em last night – me and Kora have the two just downstairs, and you've got Aniki for a neighbor." I could have been her neighbor but I opted for the room below hers. She probably thought little of me as it was.
Beka stood for a moment before her eyes widened and looked at her attire. She shrieked a little and slammed her door. I let out a little smile and shook my head. "I see why you enjoyed the view here," Aniki teased. "She looks rather nice without clothes on, doesn't she?" I rolled my eyes at her. "Fit for a mot too."
"She's a puppy," I said, "She has to be fit to take on the Lower City. We've seen plenty of the crooks in the last three nights. We know how large they come and how strong they are." She was right though, our Puppy was fit. I could see the lines of her muscles on both her stomach and her arms. She was fairly defined and solid looking. It's hard to find a body like that on a pretty gixie. "Now lets get this thing in your room."
We finally got the table in her room. I grabbed my things from Kora while she grabbed a few of her boxes and bags and went do put them in her room. It didn't take long for me to arrange all of my items. To be honest, it was the first time I unpacked fully since we left Scanra. Corus felt like a permanent place of living for me.
Kora entered my room, as I had left the door open. She smiled when she saw that I had unpacked everything. "Aniki and I are going to rush to the day market to grab something to share with our housemate. We figured we should be neighborly with her as we are going to live with her. Come up soon," she said. The mots left, leaving me to my own business. My own business consisted of laying in my newly made bed, staring at the ceiling. I could faintly hear Beka walking around above me.
Kora and Aniki returned then went straight up to Beka's room. I could hear muffled mumbling of the three mots. They muffled talk continued before a shout rang clear throughout the lodging house. "Beka," it was a cove, a young one by the sound of his voice. I wondered if Beka had a lover. The thought caused a pang of envy. There was more than one set of footsteps thundering up the stairs while they yelled for Beka, telling her that she needed to spend time with friends. The yelling and the thundering stopped short. They must have reached Beka's rooms where Aniki and Kora were talking. I got up and went out quickly to get sommat to bring for breakfast. I quickly bought some soft cheese and ran back to the house.
I made my way quietly up the stairs. I heard Aniki's voice ring through the landing. "We're moving in, so we invited Beka to breakfast," Aniki said. "That's my friend Kora on the floor. She's living downstairs now. I'm Aniki. We met Beka at the Rogue's Court."
"You were there when Crookshank pitched his fit?" asked a cove, sound older than the cove shouting for Beka. "The word is he tried to kill the Rogue. Some Scanran pretty boy saved ol' Kayfer's life."
A pretty boy? Is that what they call me? "That 'pretty boy' would be me," I announced in a slow voice from the doorway. No one had seen me walked up to the door. Everyone turned to me and stared. I heard a few mrts from Beka's odd cat. "I brought fresh food," I told them. I found a place for myself on the floor. After we all sat down, we started eating on the floor of Beka's room. We had introduced ourselves to one another and started making small talk.
"So why do they call you the Piper?" the gixie named Verene asked after I had been introduced. She sat right next to me. By her body language, she seemed to have her eye on me.
"I play well enough, don't I, girls?" I asked while Aniki and Kora nodded. I smiled tightly. To be honest, I hadn't played in a while. It brought back memories of Scanra but I would play for them this time. I pulled a flute from my tunic. I carried it with me in case I felt the urge to play it. I played while Verene sang and Kora danced, her eyes focused on Ersken. Beka seemed impressed with my playing. I felt cocky when I saw. The morning was filled with chatter. I was surprised that we fit well with the other side of the law. In fact, I felt a strange friendship start.
Phelan and I discovered that we met the same wandering mage in different towns. Kora and Beka talked more about herbs while Ersken sat with them and listened to their conversation, throwing in his two coppers here and there. Kora kept glancing at him from the corner of her eye, obviously interested in the young cove. Lucky cove, he didn't know what kind of woman Kora was. She would break him from his shyness. Verene and Aniki talked about weapons, mostly Aniki did the talking while Verene listened and asked questions. These Puppies, and Dog, didn't seem to mind that they were speaking with rushers. They were relaxed while most Dogs would have been alert.
We had talked the morning away and decided to get some lunch. Beka and Ersken were making the rounds to the market which seemed to make Kora pout a little. I was feeling a bit jealous myself. They returned with sausages, cheese and spinach tarts and they were smiling. This didn't help that feeling. The only thing keeping me from scowling at Ersken was their friendly distance that they had.
Lunch ended up much like breakfast, talking, eating, laughing but then the Puppies had to get ready for baton practice and Aniki and I had to go to our rightful districts. Kora stayed behind and said she needed to start unpacking.
"Nice choice of living," Aniki said. "Did a pretty Puppy happen to lure you there? She doesn't seem very interested in you, you know?" I pursed my lips but didn't answer. That was probably why I wanted to be around her so much but I didn't say that aloud. Aniki would have told Kora and it would end up with me getting teased endlessly. "Be careful with Beka, Rosto. I've heard things. She will amount to sommat soon. I've no doubt she'd hobble you if she had to."
"I know that," I said. "And she's just someone who seems like a good person to have as a friend." Aniki held her tongue. She waved goodbye to me when I crossed Market Bridge and found Ulsa's favorite tavern, where all of her rushers were. She greeted me with a nodded of her head. I replied with much of the same and went to find a place to sit.
I decided on table with two other men sitting. "Hello," I greeted gruffly as I sat down. My eyes scanned the tavern. "Any interesting news reach your ears? I'm ready for sommat to lighten my day." Of course this was an act.
The two men looked at me surprised and shook their heads. "It's getting rather dry with gossip lately," one of the men said. "My wife calls it a drought, if you will. I usually get my whispers from her. I'm Paul," said the man holding out his hand for me to shake.
I grasped it. "Rosto the Piper," I told him. "New to this city as of four days ago."
"And you already made it into Ulsa's hands," the other man said. "Impressive. I'm James," said the other man. The two men I was sitting with looked a lot alike. They both had the same colored floppy brown hair with matching eyes. For having lack of another color on them, they seemed to do well with the ladies, from what I could tell. The bar wenches were eyeing them like a piece of meat. "I'm his older brother," James clarified.
I nodded in understanding. "How'd the two of you get looped into Ulsa's rope?"
"Well," Paul said, rubbing the back of his neck. I needed money so I started stealing. Ulsa then asked me to work with her. She said I had potential. Of course, James was already in this way before I was. Mayhap she knew that we were related." They looked awfully alike, it was hard to miss the similarities. Even their faces structures were the same. James and Paul told me a lot about themselves. To me they seemed rather close. We then decided that we would make a quick round through Prettybone, to steal sommat. We robbed three people, quick and easy. The brothers had fairly deft hands and practically blended in with the shadows while I glowed under the street lanterns and the moon.
We went back and gave Ulsa our work for the day. She gave us our rightful amount for the job and sent one of her rushers back to store away the rest of the coin. We decided to spend the rest of the night inside when we heard someone barrel through the tavern doors.
"There's a brawl," the cove said. "Rovers Street, as usual. I hear Mattes Tunstall and Clara Goodwin are the only Dogs caught up in the brawl along with their Puppy." There was a sinister laugh that echoed around the rushers. "My bet's the Puppy don't live to see tomorrow." There was a round of agreement.
"I bet she will," I said. Beka was a determined gixie. She wouldn't get killed in a brawl so quickly into her career. "I bet two silver nobles on her." I held up the nobles. The announcer threw in his nobles too while someone recorded the bets. Two men went out to hear updates on the brawl. It seems in the end, I won. Beka was injured but she was alive. I collected my winnings. The brothers found my confidence in Beka amusing but they didn't question me. That was the thing with these two rushers, they never asked many questions. They just nodded and sat quietly. I could get along with these two.
I went home, pleased with my winnings. We had made several bets tonight and I had won a fair bit of them. When I made it to the lodging house, I slipped in through the back and to my room. I went through the usual procedure of checking for intruders but my room was empty. Kora came out to say hello. She gave me a smile before she wiggled her fingers at me and said goodnight. She made no intention of showing that she was going to crawl into my bed. I knew I lost Kora as a bed friend the minute Ersken walked into her view.
At least I have Aniki.