George had pulled her into another room while Nelly attempted to get her son to wake up, practically dragging her by the elbow. He plonked himself down onto a chair, before taking a long, hard look at her.
"So," he began after a while, realizing that she wouldn't begin the conversation. "Why, exactly, 'ave you come to Corus, Alanna o' Shang?"
She blinked, she hadn't expected him to be so blunt. "Well, uhh, Mr. Cooper-"
"George."
"George. It's quite simple really." She licked her lips, "When someone I knew-" Alanna expected George already knew who she was talking about, but she still disliked people consider her as a noble. She'd decided to place a bit of distance between herself and Thom. "-passed away a few months ago, Liam received word from you about the…circumstances of it." He nodded, "Well, I've come to get a better understanding of what actually happened."
"Why?" George asked her, simply. "Lord Thom died more'n two months ago, now."
"That's beside the point."
George snorted.
"George, please." She softly pleaded, "I just want to find out what happened to him. The note Liam received held mention of things that I didn't understand, and I hoped that at least you could help me with those."
"Aye." He looked at her levelly, "And then what? When you fin' out what happened, if you do. What then?"
"It depends," she replied, "If I can find out a name behind his death, then I'll deal with them." Sighing, she added, "If I find out nothing, then I find out nothing. At least I would have tried." George nodded, "Look, I'm going to be looking around for information anyway, I'd appreciate your help."
George gave her a smile, "Aye lass, I'll 'elp you."
Alanna's smile reached from ear to ear. Perhaps now she'd get some answers.
***
Or, she thought snidely, perhaps there would be a lot of sitting around doing nothing. She leaned back on the chair she was sitting on, covering a yawn with her hand. She hadn't been sleeping very well recently, since most of George's 'sources' seemed to meet with him at night. She wasn't dumb, she'd worked out what George was fairly soon after the first meeting he took her to.
"So you're a thief." She said to him.
He looked at her for a moment, before smiling "Not exactly, lass."
"Then what?"
"I like to think of my job as bein', you could say, more involved in t'administrative side of thieving."
"So you're a thief with delusions of grandeur?"
George had roared with laughter, clapping her on the back. She had found herself smiling too, which was odd. George was the kind of man that aggravated her, normally. Too cocky and confident in himself, although he balanced this off with a scathing sense of humour. She enjoyed spending time with him, though a lot of this time was just sitting around.
The first morning after he had agreed to help her, she had made her way out the back of the inn, finding a clear space to train on. There wasn't a training ring here, and she wasn't expecting to have to exert herself too much while she was here, but she still had to keep in good fitness. So she had begun her exercises, going through the forms as she had done so many times previously. As she finished, the last kata with the sword completed, she noticed a small child darting away from the area. She hadn't given it a second thought at that time, but the next morning there were three children standing about. The next, ten. And it continued to grow; by the end of her first week in Corus, there were even a few adults peering out of window's to watch her.
George had approached her after that session, giving her a soft smile. "You're pretty good, lass. As good as I remember Liam being, even." She returned the smile, thanking him for the compliment.
"Although I'm not as good as Liam. He's pegged as the next Dragon, when the current one falls." George raised a questioning brow. "There can only ever be one Dragon at a time, one of any of the True Shang Masters at one time, even. The current Dragon is something like 55 years old, though, and while he can still fight, he only performs in rituals and the like now." She put a finger to her lips, "Though as I was leaving I remember whispers that he'd be heading off to Scrana for a while. To fight, I mean. I remember some of the other Shang wondering whether he was slightly touched in the head." She added with a grin.
"So Liam has to wait till this old Dragon dies before 'e can be granted the title?"
"Well, yes. Technically the Dragon, or any of the Masters, can relinquish their rank and no-longer be considered Shang-" she let that sink in, for a Shang Master, there was little worse "-but that is rarely done. Liam's just got to be patient."
"Aye, lass." George said, eye's twinkling, "And 'e must have been that, to put up with you for seven years."
She affected a look of outrage, hands on her hips. "Mr. Cooper! You take that back!"
"Or what, lass?" he was taunting her, hands crossed over his chest like that, she knew it. But she knew just the thing to take him down a peg. He always claimed to be quick with his hands, but she had watched him wield his knives. She knew she was quicker.
"Or else…this!" her hands flashed like lightning, reaching out for the two sheaths he wore on his belt. He dropped his hands to fend her off, but he was too slow. She'd already unsheathed the daggers, and made two slicing cuts with them. With a giggle, she realised she'd done her work to perfection.
George Cooper, the Rogue, King of Thieves, blushed like the sun as his breeches fell about his ankles.
Alanna stood there laughing her head off as George waddled back inside the Dancing Dove, trying in vain to salvage some shred of his dignity.
***
It had been two weeks, now, since Alanna had arrived in Corus. Unfortunately for her, George's contacts had turned up little information on Thom's death. She knew that he wanted to ask her just what the boy meant to her, but he thankfully restrained himself. She had cornered him a few days ago, to ask what the writer of the message to Liam – which she discovered had been George himself; meant when they wrote 'No suspicion of foul play, despite previous rumours'.
George had warily revealed to her that Thom had been fairly well known by the various nobles in Corus soon after he had arrived. Alanna asked him about that; she still didn't quite understand why he had come to Corus in the first place, but George admitted that he didn't know.
"All I know," he had told her, "Is that when Young Thom-" she had noticed the change from 'Lord Thom' to 'Young Thom'. Did George know Thom? She would have to find out "-arrived, there was much talk in t'noble circles about his prowess at sorcery. All t'Ladies wanted their futures told, and all t'men wanted their swords enchanted, or other such nonsense. But there was also talk about his 'talents' in other areas. I dun know what they meant by that, not really, but I'd wager two coppers that it had to do with what led to 'is death."
"Why do you say that?" she had asked.
He sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "Call it intuition, lass. Call it luck. I dun'no, but it's served me well over the years, and I trust it. You should too, Alanna. Find what Thom's 'talents' were supposed to be, and you'll find out why 'e died, that's my guess."
She nodded to herself slowly. Whatever else George may have been, she'd found him to always tell her the truth, and she trusted him in this. But what could Thom have been up to? What could have possibly led him to Corus? To his death?
She asked George, who again shrugged. "Damned if I know, lass." He scrunched his nose up, "I'd guess some o' them nobles do, though."
"Do you know any? Any that might know about him?
"Aye," he said slowly. "I may just do at that."
***
"I'm bored." Riven said. His mother hit him on the back of the head as she went past, telling him to mind his manners. Alanna grinned at the boy – despite attempting to rob her on her first night here, the two had managed to grow somewhat close, as his mother had forbid him to leave the inn for two weeks and she was often confined to the inn awaiting news from George. "Can't you teach me some Shang, Alanna?"
She snorted. "We've had this conversation a hundred times, Riven. I'm not going to teach you something that will lad to you ending up in a situation you can't control." He glared at her, as he always did. "Honestly, you tried to rob me, Riven. That's pretty cocky in itself. Imagine what you'd be like with more even more confidence than wits?"
"Hey!" he pouted, "In my defence, you're very small." She rolled her eyes at him, "Well you are!"
"She's not small!" Olly shouted from his seat, "She's a perfect size!" Alanna blushed. Olly's infatuation was getting embarrassing.
"Thank you Olly." She said, "Perhaps Swift would like another apple?" Olly seemed to like her horse even more than he did her, which she found both insulting and useful at the same time. The boy bounced off the chair, heading into the stables.
Riven watched Olly go, "Please?" he asked her again, "Just some hand to hand stuff. So I can twist people's wrists like you did mine. Or their necks! Yeah!"
Alanna paled. She remembered that man's face, the one she had killed with her own two hands. Not even a sword in the way, just her own muscles whisking the man's life away. She looked away from Riven, looking out the window. She still saw his face a lot, though it was getting better. The disbelief on his face, the red blood on her hands. The sense of power she had gotten from the kill.
"Alanna?" Riven's voice broke through her thoughts, and she dragged her eyes back to him. "Are you alright?"
She nodded. "Oh, yeah." She tried to smile at him, but failed. "Just, excuse me, please." She rose from the table, picking her way back to the stairs and her room. She needed to think for a moment, alone.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Olly opening the door to the stable. She noticed a large black horse that looked vaguely familiar stabled next to Swift, but dismissed it out of hand. Climbing the stairs to her room, she missed George walking in; his friend 'Johnny' in tow.
***
She lay on the bed, Thom's pendant in her fingers. She twisted the chain over and over again, as she had done so often in the past, staring at the three silver claws and the amethyst they held. It helped her to concentrate, holding this. Which, she thought to herself, was probably appropriate, knowing Thom.
Though she wished she knew Thom now. It was bad enough having her brother, one of the few shining lights in her life, dying so young. But to have no idea of why, or even how he died just made it so much worse. If only George could help her find out what he had been 'talented' in before he had come to Corus. She'd considered heading to the City of the Gods to find some information about that, but was a bit worried that she'd be drawn into visiting Trebond on the way back.
Trebond. She wanted to know what was happening there, now more than ever. But it was a difficult situation; if she asked George to get some information on it, she would betray her noble birth, which she did not wish to do. She didn't know why she should care so much, but it seemed to her that George would think less of her if she was a noble. Liam hadn't, she reminded herself, but she had known Liam for seven years. She'd known George a little over fourteen days.
Why should she care what he thinks, though? She liked George, certainly. But she didn't have any feelings for him, did she? He flirted with her shamelessly, and it was nice to have the attention, but did she feel anything for him?
She wasn't really sure. Not that love is ever easy, she told herself. Despite her lack of experience, she had certainly learnt that. She knew one thing for certain, and it was that George's presence hadn't stopped those dreams. She blushed, they'd certainly been getting a lot racier as of late. From the moment Riven woke her from her sleep two weeks ago, the dreams seemed to replay similar scenes over and over again. The Fantasy man and her naked in bed, declaring their love for one another, and then consummating this love. She was confused by them, as she had always been, but she'd begun to enjoy lying down at night. She always woke up with a smile on her face the morning after.
If only the man was real, she told herself. Dreams are all well and good, but what about the real thing?
"Alanna?" George's muffled voice sounded from the other side of her door. "Can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure." He cracked open the door, peered about instinctively, then strolled into the room. He gave her a smile, which she returned. Could she feel something for George?
"I missed you downstairs, lass." He began, "I brought one o' me, as you call 'em, 'noble friends' to see you."
Her smile dropped, "Oh no! I'm sorry, George, I didn't know! Is he still here?" she pulled herself up on the bed, but he shook his head.
"Never mind, lass. 'E's gone, now. Anyway, Riven told me that y'looked pale." He frowned at her, "You're not comin' down wit' anything, are you?"
"Why George, I didn't know you cared."
He blushed slightly, but merely said "Oh, no. I just want to see if I'd now have a reason to stay away from you." He chuckled softly, at least until she punched him in the gut. "'Ey!"
"That wasn't very nice, George."
"Nay, I s'pose it wasn't." He sighed, "Do you want to know what Johnny said or not?"
"Johnny's your noble friend?"
"Aye," he nodded, "He knew Thom when 'e first arrived 'ere. Said that the two of them talked a fair bit." He paused.
"About?" Alanna noted, impatiently.
George sighed, "About ways to cure illness. Seem's Johnny was a bit o' a sorcerer 'imself, and 'ad a sick family member, who 'e wanted to cure. Johnny said Thom gave 'im some good advice, which seemed to do the trick. Cured 'is loved one so they were as good as they was beforehand."
Alanna frowned. So Thom was helping cure people from sickness? What did this have to do with his death? "Anything else?"
"Not really. Johnny said that Thom was a bit," he paused, "Strange. Always worried about what 'e said, like 'e was always afraid, or something. Might be important."
She nodded slowly, mulling over things in her mind already. "Thanks, George. I owe you so much already." She trailed off, waiting to see if he got the hint.
"And now you want me t'do something else, aye?" she nodded. "Come on, spit it out."
Alanna chewed her lip. She knew that this would be hard for her to say, but she needed to tell George. She wanted to get some information on Trebond, and there was no way she could tell to do so without revealing her heritage.
"I haven't been entirely…straight with you, George Cooper…"
