Rendezvous

[Morwen]

Estel checked that her hood was shading her face before sneaking out of the back door and into the light mist that was drizzling from the night sky. Her hooded lantern gave off light in a beam just wide enough to eliminate the side street she was in, without giving a shining beacon to any who might be nearby, though anyone in the shadows off this one would be invisible to her.

She stroked her knife in its sheath with the forefinger of her left hand, and tested it to make sure that she could pull it out of its leg sheath and through her un-bottomed poket quickly, then checked that the money she had in her real pocket was safe from the hazard of falling out.

Walking briskly, she quickly made her way out of the nicer sections of town and down to a tavern popularly known as the Falcon\'s Mask Inn. She needed a favour, and a thieve\'s honour was often better than a noble\'s, and was always kept in higher confidence.

Arriving at her destination, Estel snuffed out her lantern, straightened her shirt, and primped for a second before opening the door.

[MissusHow]

Ara had gone to the tavern soon after Teresa had gotten settled, with word to her thieves to alert her if anything important happened anywhere. Currently she was on the edge of what appeared to be a fistfight and watching with interest, "Allright boys," she called loudly to the bar, "I\'ll take bets! Four to One odds!" she said, knowing most would squander their money on this and she\'d manage to keep most of what they put in because they\'d be too drunk to remember.

Her table instantly buzzed with attention and ten people called out insults into the fight, cheering their favorite on. The fight was soon over and one of her thieves who happened to be near the bar called out \'Free Drinks\'! The attention soon turned towards the bar rather than the makeshift betting tablea nd Ara put most of the coins in her purse, and tossing it to the man who had called out free drinks. The man soon left and the bartender was left protesting that he hadn\'t called that.

The man leaving opened the door and nearly crashed into a girl. "Scuze me miss!" he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her and making a quick escape. The hubbub inside was slowly dying down and most of the betters (those who eremembered, anyway) went towards teh table, and found an \'unconcious\' Ara, with the betting contents scattered over the table.

There was an enraged shout and a few of them suggested going out, most did and Ara was left in a mildly quiet spot, grinning to herself as she took out a dagger and absently began to scrape the table.

[Morwen]

Estel ducked to the side as a mob of thieves streamed out of the tavern. So this was the rigth place after all, no doubt about that now. Walking in, she surveyed the room for a man who looked like he could be the self-crowned Thief Lord. Not seeing anyone, she ordered two mugs of ale and brought them to a table where a cocky looking girl of roughly the same age was sitting.

\'Mind if I join you?\' asked, and then sat before waiting to hear the answer. Pushing the mug forward, she enquired, \'Do you know when the Lord of Thieves is to be here? I need to speak with him. My name is Estel Daina, by the way.\'

The fake last name was out of pure habit. She rarely used her last name unless she had a good reason to, which was rare. Among the nobles, being a Donovan was one step away from being a merchant. They had the money but not the blood, the Donovans had the blood, but not the money. Among the commoners, no one knew who she was anyway.

[MissusHow]

Ara grinned, "Aye," she said, taking the mug of ale and taking a slug. She grinned a little wider, almost like a wolf, "I know where the thief lord is...Don\'t suppose you got anything on ya mmm?" she asked, eyeing the purse like one of her thieves would. Inside she was cackling and jumping about like the pixie she was acting like right now. And why not...she needed it. After Teresas drama she was entitled to have some fun!

"All I\'m sayin\'..All I\'m sayin\' is my memory as to where the thief lord might be is a little hazy." she suggested lewdly, to all appearances looking like a bit of a drunk thief. She slid the mug of ale on the table, discretely removing her dagger from sight and swallowing another mouthful. Ara looked across the room where Ozwald was flirting with one of the maids as if his life depended on it. She grinned secretly. The fool...everybody knew he swung the other way.

Everybody but the maid, apparently.

[Morwen]

Estel smiled, and watched the girl drink. When the girl looked to the side, Estel followed her line of sight to make sure that nothing unpleasant would be waiting there. Seeing that it was just some male thief trying to show off what he obviously didn\'t have, she looked back on the thief girl.

\'Let us see if that ale doesn\'t refresh your memory, mate? If not, I am sure that there are others here with better memory.\'

Or at least ones who she could convince would be more benefited by a quick one in the alley than her silver. She had no money to spare, and what she did have she would need to trade for what she came for. She needed information, and it wasn\'t of the kind you could get from the servants.

[MissusHow]

Ara grinned at the girl, "Aye but they wouldn\'t do it like I would." she said, her eyes gleaming mischeviously. She giggled a little, and decided to stop tormenting the girl. "Allright Estel. What do you need?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows. "I imagine you need something done, or you wouldn\'t be here in the epitomy of..." Ara waved her hand nonchallantly, "Gross." she finally ended, in a rather uncreative manner.

"And you\'ve got coin on you, if I\'m not mistaken. If the favour is not too big, I\'ll do it. If not, I\'ll get one of my thieves to do it." she didnt\' say straight out that she was the thief lord, the residue of mischief was still wide awake, but she dropped a hint in her last sentence. If the girl was clever enough she\'d catch it. Nobody said \'my thieves\'. Unless it was a time of war, in which case the thieves were separated into pleasant little groups to scavenge on the battlefield, each with a general.

"Not to say they\'re more competent than I am..." she added with a sheepish grin, realizing she sounded as if she were afraid of work.

[Morwen]

Estel narrowed her eyes slightly in a suspicious manner. This girl talked as if she were the Thief Lord. But, a girl? It was possible, of course, it just seemed so unlikely. Then again, if Estel dealt her cards correctly, as long as the girl got her the information she needed, did it really matter what the thief\'s status was?

Estel took a few copper coins from her small hoard, in order to insure her audience would pay attention. She slid them across the table, and said, \'\'All right, so this is my situation. I made certain... purchases through a somewhat unreliable source. Unfortunately, it seems that my contact has decided to renege on our deal, and that the... items... that he has are somewhat incriminating, if found in the wrong circumstances.\'

\'What I mean to say is, I need to find the location of a certain thief, and from there I need to know what I can do to insure his silence. Have you any suggestions?\' Estel finished her somewhat abridged story, and took another few coins into her hand, while keeping it under the table.

[MissusHow]

Ara poked the coppers suspiciously, refusing to bite them to check if they were real and instead taking one up and rapping it hard on the table. The sound satisfied her and she listened to the girl with half of an ear, the other half paying attention to what was going on in Ozwalds table. When she finished her careful little speech Ara turned her full attention to the girl. "Allright. Well not all thieves are my thieves, so I can\'t promise I\'ll find him right off...especially not if he\'s a smuggler. They move around too much and I can\'t keep tabs on those types." she said, taking a sip of her drink.

"Mind you we\'ll find him if he\'s anywhere in the city...it\'ll take time, depending on the price you\'re willing to pay...As for silencing him...Well I\'ll give him an earfull, don\'t you mind." Ara grinned to herself, pleased by the clever little pun she had devised. "But before I go dealing with you, I gotta know what he was smuggling. For...monetary purposes." she said, glancing at Ozwalds table and grinning when she saw that a new man had entered the conversation and was arguing with him. The maid was screeching angrily and Ozz was denying everything.

"Times are getting a bit slim. Got to know what\'s out there, if you get my meaning." she said winking at Estel in an almost predatory manner. The girl was green, in her opinion...green and cocky. If she thought she\'d answer to her just for coin she was in over her head.

[Morwen]

Either the girl really was the commander of the thieves, or she wasn\'t going to admit to it being otherwise. Estel wished that she could go back to her last job. flirting with smithies was far more fun than trying to deal with the subtle world of smuggling. Subtlety had never been one of her strong points in any case.

\'Fortunately, what he has are simply spices from the Indies you see, and will be perfectly legal once I have put them into boxes such as would appear to have been bought through regular means. Unfortunately, I got them at something of a discount by not going through the proper authorites, and therefore, while he has them, I am at something of a disadvantage.\'

Estel took a single silver piece, and held it under a slip of paper with some writing on it as she passed the two to her drinking companion. \'This is the name my contact gave me, and the list of what was ordered. I do not suppose that it is his real name (after all, I did not give him mine) but he may have used it elsewhere. I also put a brief description of what he looked like on that page.\'

\'That,\' she continued, indicating the silver piece, \'is what I can give you now, and once the spices are found, you can buy up to half of them at the price I paid to the smuggler. It is substantially less than the market price, and should be profitable. Once the spices have been removed from the smuggler, he will no longer have any proof against me, and what happens to him after is not my concern.

[MissusHow]

A silver piece? That was all? Ara glanced in the envelope, feeling a little disheartened, "Well it\'ll take at least a week, then." she said, taking the silver out of the envelope and rapping it on the table. "I\'ll do it myself...it aught to be easy enough to find a spice trader." she said, dumping the rest of the contents of the envelope onto the table. And looking over them with some difficulty. Reading. Ugh. She pushed the papers aside for now and grinned at the girl.

"I don\'t want to mess with selling spices in the marke...instead I imagine you\'d be making a profit off of the spices and I\'ll want some of that. At least two thirds." she made the official barganing price high so that the girl could barter her down...and if she didn\'t, it was all the better for Ara. "Selling just isn\'t my type of deal. I get people to sell for me, I don\'t sell directly." she said, twirling the silver in her fingers so it caught the light pleseantly.

"Besides, one silver for this job is selling myself short, Estel my dear." she said quietly, "I recommend the next time you try and start a business in the smuggling industry you make sure you have coin and backup coin to begin with." Ozwald was shouting something now and a man left angrily, the woman screaming at Ozwald too. He finally pushed her away and went after the man, shouting insults at both of them the whole way and glaring at Ara\'s mischevious smile. Her thieves couldn\'t hide from her...especially not /here/.

[Morwen]

\'Oh yes... planning ahead never was my strong point.\' Estel offered, as way of apology. It was as much of one as anyone was likely to get from her, at least sincerely. \'I tend to rush into new things rather impulsively. Makes things more, interesting, you see. I hate being bored.\'

She turned her attention to the process of bargaining. It wasn\'t something she was exceptionally good at, but then she wasn\'t good at any one thing, was she? Diversity was much more important, kept things moving. \'I\'m afraid that two-thirds of the profit is rather cutting, and I don\'t think it is a particularly accurate relation to the services rendered. But before I can barter with you, my dear, would you mind giving me a name to call you by?\'

In the background, the continuous shouting of that one thief was getting on Estel\'s neves, and she was reminded just why she hated people so much... She wished the maid her man-friend good fortune-- insofar as it would hurt him, at least. Estel smiled at a pleasant thought of several painful ways to kill people.

[MissusHow]

"Aww...dear is such a /nice/ nickname though..." Ara muttered, fluttering her eyelashes and beginning to lose patience with Ozwalds swearing as well. "And if you\'ll excuse me for a moment." she added, getting up and tapping Ozwald on the shoulder. He turned and immediately backed away. "Ozwald dear, there are people in this tavern who would like to drink without your beautiful voice weaving itself through the room. What say you go outside with your boyfriend and patch things up. I\'m in the middle of something." she said sweetly.

Ozwald bristled, but seeing her reach for her dagger he shuffled to the door with a few last insults. The bar was quieter, excluding the wails of the serving girl. The bartender was quick to shut her up, slamming a few drinks down as she fled towards the back of the room. The usual murmur of people took place and Ara was back at the table. "Sorry, Estel. " she said with a smile. "Sometimes my thieves forget their place."

"You were saying something very technical that boiled down to \'that\'s too much\', so tell me...what /is/ the right ammount?" she asked, taking her favorite dagger out and toying with it. If she wasn\'t a thief, she\'d probably make a good living through street preforming.

[Morwen]

Estel rolled her eyes mentally at the thief\'s flirty response to the simple question. Not that Estel would mind sleeping with a girl, but this one really wasn\'t her type.

So the thief girl still wasn\'t going to give a name, even a fake one? Ah well, Estel would just have to put up with it. At least the bastard having the row (did the thief call him Ozwald? Funny name that...) was gone, and she could hear something besides his swearing.

\'You didn\'t miss much. I was just musing that two-thirds the profit seems a bit steep. Let\'s try for you getting one tenth? Considerring all you need do is find a certain smuggler, and you did say that finding a spice trader would be "easy enough". What do you think?\'

One tenth was way too little, Estel knew, but that was what haggling was for, right?

[MissusHow]

"A tenth?" Ara simpered, spreading her arms innocently, "Estel, surely you wouldn\'t want to cheat me out of a good weeks worth of pay. A silver, my dear, is way too little for this thief." she said, lifting the silver up and tapping it against her dagger, "Or for any thief. Oberon is quite large, and to find anybody in any amount of time would be worht more. Surely, surely you can think of a better price for me." she simpered, fluttering her lashes.

"What if I lowered my end of the profit to half of what you get. It\'s fair. Half and half." she said in a weedling voice. It was stil too much, if the girl wanted to get any profit out of htis, but who was to say she was a good business woman?

[Morwen]

Estel smiled prettily, and without blinking. \'Half of the profits, for a week\'s easy work? No, I think not... maybe a fifth then? With your connections, this should be all but free money, however much it is.\'

The thief\'s easy manners and off-hand references of \'her thieves\' had all but convinced Estel that she was in fact speaking to one who was high in the ranks, if not their Lord.

[MissusHow]

Ara grinned, "Easy? If it were easy, you\'d be doing it yourself..." she paused, and then eyed the offer (with a metaphoric eye), "Allright. A fifth it is. I\'ll take you to your word, or you\'ll find yourself without ears one morning." Ara warned casually and then grinned about the part about her connections. If anything, everybody was connected to her...though she did have /some/, so to speak. She sent most of the things she got to Harold, to be sold for a large profit...and then gave most ofi tb ack to her thieves, albeit indirectly. Most did not thank her, and she did not ask for htier thanks.

"So what do you do? Now that we\'re done with business, we can chat a little." Ara said, her shoulders relaxing to the trained eye. "I\'ve got nowhere to go for the next...hour." she said, glancing outside.

[Morwen]

In vain, Estel tried to brush her fringe out of her eyes and behind her ears. \'You may have no fear of our bargain. I trust your word and I am quite attatched to my ears, thank you. As for what I do? Well, at the moment I am a quite mediocre smuggler, though I am searching for a new job opportunity. I have found that smuggling is really not my line, as you may have noticed.\'

She ordered another round of drinks, and continued, \'I have nowhere to go but home, and as they do not know that I am gone, they are not expecting my return at any given time. However, if we are to chat, I must insist on having a name to call you, even if it isn\'t your name. Fair?\'

The atmosphere had lightened up since the bargaining had concluded, and the thief seemed an amiacable type, when she wasn\'t after Estel\'s money. The bar had quieted down now, and even the siffling of the maid from earlier seemed to have subsided.

[MissusHow]

The thief lord grinned, "The name\'s Ara. It\'s my real name...I doubt you\'ll be running off to the authorities since I\'ve got some dirt on you too, Estel." she said, lifting a hand to inspect her nails. They had dirt underneath them. Ara picked up the dagger and began to clean them out. "You know, just recently I had a maid from the infamous Lady Rosalines service come running to me. I\'m hoping she\'ll make a living as a thief...she\'s got the smarts for it, though not the body. Too skinny." Ara made a face. She hated that fashion. Skinny was just...not good for you.

[Morwen]

Estel raised an eyebrow at Ara\'s honesty. While it was true she was in no position (nor had she the inclination, truth be told) to betray her new friend, she was still surprised that someone like the Thief Lord would reveal such information so freely. Reaching across the table, she offered her hand in friendship. It isn\'t every day that one makes such interesting new aquaintances.

Hearing the gossip on Lady Rosaline, Estel perked up. This was her expertise, now... \'Infamous indeed. Apparently she has been seen moping around this evening. I had assumed someone had scorned her or bested her in one of her \'games,\' but I wonder if the Lady\'s moods and her servant\'s arrival here have something to do with on another...?\'

As for the skinnyness, Estel heartily agreed. The tight corsets of today\'s fashion simply made people look weak and silly, while being painful and dehibillitating. When the girls starved themselves in order to fit into ever tighter bodices, it made them flat and bony, not to her taste at all. Malnourishment is for those too poor to eat, not those too fashionable.

[MissusHow]

Ara took it gladly, squeezing it and then withdrawing to finish off her mug of ale. That would be all she would be having tonight. "Really now? That /is/ interesting...Maybe Teresa wasn\'t lying when she said that the Lady had confessed her love. I thought she had been giving herself airs." Ara said, sounding quite amused, and rather surprised.

Lady Rosaline in love with a servant...who would have thought. "Well I imagine there\'s been a drastic change to her character. She\'s really a smart lady. Or so I\'ve heard..." Ara shrugged, relying on information she\'d gotten from Teresa and other palance servants. "I\'m sure she\'ll rebound and recollect herself in full force soon enough. Her type never stay down too long..."

Ara shrugged, "None of the nobles do, really. There are too many scandles going on at once to concentrate on a single one."

[Morwen]

\'Teresa, that was the name of the servant? Teresa... oh! I think I met her once, at a dance? Or saw her at least, Rosaline seemed pretty harsh to the poor thing. Is she deadly skinny, with those large eyes and black hair? Looks like she\'ll fall down dead any minute? If she is, and she is staying with you, for Talon\'s sake feed the thing. She looked like she hadn\'t eaten in a month!\'

Estel remembered seeing a small girl with Lady Rosaline at the last ball she had been too. Not a terribly pretty girl, and her mistress seemed so against her talking to anyone, that was what had stuck in Estel\'s mind. Poor thing was probably better off with Ara.

\'As for Rosaline, she probably just felt neglected or ignored, and decided to stir up some scandal around herself. I could definately see her doing that. Makes more sense than her falling in love with anyone, much less her own servant.\'

[MissusHow]

Ara grinned, "Aye, that\'s the one." she said, wincing as she dug her dagger too deep into her nail. "I was going to go after her about that in a week. First she\'s got to feel comfortable with us. She could still chose to run away." She didn\'t add that the girl had pledged herself to Ara...that was gossip looking for trouble. Ara nodded conversationally to the comment about Lady Rosaline, "Mmm. Well we never know the minds of women, but you say you\'ve been to court? Have you met a character called mmm Lord Dagger? He\'s offed a few of my thieves."

She didn\'t say that she\'d met him in person, because quite frankly that gave away too much about herself. Even if she was friends with this woman, seh had just met her...and really she could never be too careful...especially at these heights.

[Morwen]

Estel searched her memory for everything she knew about Dagger, which wasn\'t much, just second-hand servant\'s gossip. \'I have been to court on occasion, though I do not get there often. And while I have never met Lord Dagger, I know a few bits about him. Mostly just rumours and gossip, and nothing you have not heard, I am sure.\'

\'For instance, I was not aware previously that he contributed so... avidly to the law enforement in Oberon. What had your thieves done, to deserve such select punishment?\'

Idle gossip was a fun sport, especially when one could just talk about anything, without worrying whether a slipped name would become next week\'s news. Estel was sure that Ara would not hesitate to tell people anything that she heard from Estel, but at least the thief might sell the gossip instead of giving it away freely.

[MissusHow]

Ara grinned rougishly, "Well they tried to steal from him, didn\'t they?" Oh yes. Dagger was a dangerous character, to say the least. She hadn\'t met him personally until a little while ago, and he reminded her a little of herself. He had the same awareness of the room, and somehow in battle she felt she could best him-- but only because she had more tricks up her sleeve than did he. "Well they went into his room to do it...it was rather foolish in the first place, and he cuaght them running out, and he knifed \'em. Twas before I was up in my place, though. My thieves don\'t steal from Dagger. I know better than to ask for less people."

"And the las pickpocket\'s hand got clobbered. Better than anything /I/ could have done to him...Or about the same. He was being foolish." Ara shrugged, putting the dagger back into its sheath and folding her fingers. "And he\'s involved with the captain...which I just recently found out about...never good to try and steal from a man who\'s involved with the captain of the guard."

[Morwen]

\'No, I dare say it wouldn\'t be...\' Estel mused, trying to imagine the stately Lord Dagger \'knife-ing\' someone. She failed, and tuned in again to Ara\'s graphic representation of the thieves\'s fates. Ara certainly knew so many interesting things...

\'Excuse me miss, Lord, but the bar is closing now,\' a barmaid came up and interupted, \'Unlessn\' of course you want us to keep it open longer, Ejipcia... we could do that of course.\'

Estel shook her head and stood up. \'No need, I should be getting gone, for my part. It was nice meeting you, and doing business with you, Ara. I\'ll stop by in two days, to see how things are going, sound good?\'

[MissusHow]

"They\'ll be going wonderfully, I\'m sure." Ara said, getting up and giving the maid a copper, knowing better that to give her more was asking for trouble from the bartender, who would end up taking the money if it was more than petty cash. "I\'ll see you, Miss Estel." she called after the woman and left herself, traveling in the opposite direction like a cat in the dark.