"The mountains? So far north! I have never even been to Kakariko Village in the foothills. What's it like?" Green eyes sparkled with wonder and watched Cast's lips like every word there would take her away from a dull life. Lady Soehla was the younger sister of her house's head Sayisa, lost in the shadow of a fierce sister who fought like a demon and clawed her way up the social ladder, so the stories told. And that's what made her such easy prey. This time he'd stylized himself as a minor son of House Tisus, Morghan Tisus, free to roam the country as he saw fit. Everything Soehla herself wanted to be.
"Well they say it's hot, the volcano and the Fire Sanctuary up there, but that's all in the summer. In the winter, the more you climb, the more the snows set in. Chills that bit through the thickest clothes. You need furs in your clothes to get very far, but it's the most beautiful sight I've ever beheld." He let a bashful smile send a blush through her cheeks. "Until you."
"I want to come with you! Will you have me?" Soehla asked.
"I'm afraid as a minor son, I don't get much of the Tisus money. They need it for their armaments, their knights that have to stave off the Wolfos plaguing the farms. I don't know when another trip will be in order, I'm sorry," he apologized.
"We can use my money! Sayisa must be able to allow it! I... am... I am a terrible warrior, not worthy of our house's name, but it is my name as much as hers. I will persuade her!" A fire of life warmed her cheeks. "And we'll be able to see the mountains in the winter. I'll pay for everything!"
And there it was. "Really...? You would do that?" he asked, putting an incredulous tone in his voice that crescendoed into excuberance. "You are wonderful, Soehla! Of course I'll take you with me. This is more than I could have ever asked for."
Soehla gushed about her fantasies, her plans for their trip and he listened and nodded along with excitement, a performance she drank like water after days without. When it came time for her departure, back to her family's small manor near Golden Crossing, he promised to think of her and of their adventure.
That's when Morghan Tisus vanished, his clothes packed away, his face--accented in just the right places with a little bit of makeup--wiped off, and his brown hair washed out. The handsome young noble who had swept Soehla Sorbel into a fairytale was replaced by an ordinary looking man with ash blond hair and brown eye, a man no one even looked twice at.
He drew twenty rupees out, part of the advance Soehla had given him to secure a guide for their journey up the mountain, and purchased a small bag of steamed buns from a vendor in the lower ring of Golden Crossing. The city was a trader's haven, but that didn't stop the "high class" merchants from making sure their clientele wouldn't have to share the same air as a street rat.
He continued down from the Diner's Alley to the Artisan's District, munching on a meat bun as he headed straight for a small dye and cloth shop off the square.
"Mornin'." He plopped the bag of meat buns down on the counter and leaned against it. It was hard maintaining a dozen different lives without some props for the act. The whores his mother counted as friends had taught him to sew, make some basic clothing. Some years of practice and he'd refined the craft into something passable, but the cloth itself needed to come from somewhere.
"Garden, I have a bag of meat buns to split if you can tell me you have something wool in blue," he said, pulling out a meat bun with an enticing smile. "They're still warm."
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Sweat trickled down the back of Cresta's neck and she wiped it away with a rag as she left the forge for the front counter. They only had one commission for the day. For the week for that matter. A full suit of armor, embellished, for some young knight who fancied himself a hero, at least there was that. However, the trickle of orders still pricked at her nerves.
She pulled her long braid out of its hair pin and tugged it over her shoulder as she stepped into the morning air. Just roll with the punches. She took in a deep breath and with it came the scent of meat buns. Fresh ones.
Cresta crept further out of her shop and glanced around. She frowned at the familiar face leaning one Garden's stall.
Cast gave many of the artisans honest business, but the man was mum on exactly what he needed any of this for. Cloths, silver ware, a necklace. None of it made any sense and it stunk to the high heavens as far as she was concerned.
But she wasn't above letting it slide for today if she could have a chance at one of those meat buns.
"Morning Garden! I just came to see ho-- oh! Sorry, Cast didn't see you there, I was just--"
"Following your nose," he said with a small smirk.
"Maybe...."
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