Quote Originally Posted by Cordelia's Hook


The Opening

"...and so everybody knows Jamis was caught sneaking out of the servants quarters in his underwear! He's barely shown his face for a week!" Kayla laughs, picking a blouse out of the market stall and posing with it as the merchant hovers hopefully. "How about this one?"

"Oh no!" Cordelia laughs, stroking Kitten's head as she sits patiently waiting for her people to move on. "And the week before there was the incident with the octopus... If I were him I think I'd give up and just hide forever! Yes, I think that suits you much better. I like the sleeves, and the the way the stitching is done round the neck."

"Ah! Well I think I'll buy it then. Here, two gold crowns?" Kayla places the coins on the stall, much to the merchant's obsequious thanking. "That just leaves a hat for this afternoon," she comments as the two resume strolling through the market, Kitten weaving delicately around their legs as they make their way through the Freeday crowds. "You should count yourself lucky Henry doesn't make you go to all of these things, Dee," Kayla laments.

"Haha, well he would if he could!" Cordelia laughs. "And I wouldn't mind being invited a bit more often, you know? I quite enjoy an afternoon tea occasionally. Oh! I think I see a hat stall over there!"

"Oh yes! Good spot. We should be done soon then, and we can meet Lorna at Best Bait for lunch." The two start to make their way in the direction of the stall, their progress slow through the heavy crowds. As they go Kayla picks up on Cordelia's compliant. "It's not fair though, Dee. I wish the others made more effort to include you. We were all so close at the academy. You'd think Ailuin at least-"

"Look, forget I said anything," Cordelia interrupts, hugging her stomach defensively. Kitten looks up, sensing the change in atmosphere. "I know it's difficult to be seen to fraternise with the help. Just ask Jamis," she finishes bitterly as Kayla puts an arm around her shoulders for a sympathetic hug. Suddenly out of the corner of her eye she gets the sense of something watching her. Behind a nearby animal-hide stall a tiny dog in the smallest cage imaginable and miserable conditions looks up at Cordelia with pleading eyes. Quickly glancing at the stallkeeper she confirms he's distracted with a customer.

"Hey. Kayla." Cordelia says, alerting her friend to the tiny watcher with a nod. "I'll catch up with you in a moment. I need to get this."

Kayla catches Cordelia's line of sight and squeezes her arm when she notices where she's looking. "Go for it Dee! Just be careful, it's busy. I'll see you at the hats."

As Kayla continues on with a nervous backwards glance, Cordelia waits for a break in the crowd before ducking into the gap between stalls, crouching in beside the tiny cage, Kitten slinking stealthily behind her.

"Hey... hey... look at you! Aren't you adorable!" she whispers quietly as the dog jumps up excitedly, and she fumbles with the cage's catch. "Shh! Shh! You'll get us both caught! Ok... there!"

The cage door releases and Cordelia opens it slowly, checking that the stall owner is occupied, but the dog is immediately out and jumping and licking her in the face! Kitten swishes her tail amusedly. "Haha! There you go! Come on, let's get you... oh! You're still tied! Let me just get tha-"

Shhhnk!

As Cordelia reaches in to the back of the cage to unhook the dog a previously unnoticed trap mechanism springs shut, trapping her hand. "OW!" She gives it an experimental tug, but her hand and the cage are stuck fast even as the grateful dog still jumps and licks her face. Looking up, she sees the stallholder is finishing with his customer and her blood runs cold. Discovery is just seconds away!


Development: Good Intentions, Esoteric Methods

Ah, the market. Nothing quite like the manic scrambling for more money and power, Firi'sar wonders to himself as he presses through the throngs. One hand on his pursestrings (burn me twice and all that!) he wanders mostly aimlessly. He's already made his sale, and isn't in the market for any substantial purchases at the moment. Still, frowning at the smell of a nearby fish stall, he can't help but feel oddly at ease in a place like this. As unsavory as it might be, it's honest. And people aren't genuinely honest very often.

Almost as if on queue, the lithe Elf's eyes are drawn to a young lady, clearly up to no good- or at least not wanting to draw attention. When you know what to look for, it's almost like they just tell you they're misbehaving! Well, if she wants to avoid attention, I should probably pay her some. Say, that's the girl from the other night? He frowns thoughtfully. Casually strolling through a handful of stalls such to keep himself behind her left ear and her in his line of vision, the Elf watches her surreptitiously as she prowls ever towards her quarry. He moves a shirt "to see it in better light," and finally lays eyes on her prize. Ah, that makes sense. She did seem like quite the bleeding heart. He smirks, perfectly content to let her do what she will- almost certainly here to free the puppy, unless I've woefully lost my touch....

She starts suddenly, and Firi'sar frowns. He wastes no time, and crosses the narrow street in maybe 4 strides, tucking one hand into his shirt coat as he goes. "There you are, Stanley. A distraction, if you please?" he whispers, as he bends down to lower the rat he just retrieved to his own boot. With a deft flick, the rat sails a few feet, landing gracelessly on the ground just behind the shopowner. You simply must learn to stick the landing, groans the Elf, inwardly. Still, Stanley the Rat rises to his full height of maybe 6 inches, and with an expression that says he understands more than he should, turns away from his master, and scampers up the shopkeeper's leg.

Predictably, the man flips his metaphorical table. Firi'sar, meanwhile, ducks behind the next. "Wonderful afternoon for a little freedom fighting, wouldn't you say?" he whispers to the trapped girl as he all-but materializes from the crowd beside her. "Cordelia, isn't it?" he purrs with a smirk, as his hands once more disappear into his coat. This time, they return with a pair of simple picks, and for the first time his thoughts take a break to focus on the task at hand. "Don't move if you want to keep the hand," he mutters, tinkering with a mechanism cleverly hidden in the back of the cage. He glances at Cordelia for just a moment, eyes twinkling with amusement. "How'd he even make room for that in this tiny cage?" the Elf gripes. With a quiet click, the mechanism opens, and Cordelia's hand is released.

Firi'sar looks up with a smile, that melts into dismay almost immediately. "Oh dear, that's a problem." The overpowering odor of scented smoke assaults the pair's nostril, and a quick glance confirms that an entire table of sweet incenses is going up in flames where the shopowner knocked one over amidst the hubbub. With a twang, strings supporting the broad canvas canopies snap, weakened by the flames. A grand thud drowns out the rest of the noise as the canopies fall, smothering the flames and threatening to do likewise to the shoppers and storeowners within a dozen paces in either direction.

Struggling to keep his breath under the heavy, confining fabric, Firi'sar grunts with exertion. "That was a joke about the hand."
Akula paused on the docks. He turned, pushing a couple of grizzled looking fishermen out of the way as he caught a glimpse of red hair and a patch of white fur by her side. "there she is, the girl from the beast cages!" he thought. Turning abruptly he hurried after her, trying to manage the task of looking subtle in the crowd (hard for a towering man with skin like that of a killer whale) and keeping her in view.

Despite only having seen her once he still remembered the vivid life in her eyes that had distracted him that night many weeks ago. He caught sight of her again as she vanished into a clothiers stall. Salt's tears he curses to himself, dismayed by the bad luck of losing her in the press of freeday crowds and turns to leave. Then as he starts to head back towards the grim and filhy slums of Shadowshore there is shouts and a commotion behind him

Turning he looks just in time to catch sight of the young lady, and with no other than the odd elf who had taken the orphans off him many moons ago. The tent caught fire and fell, covering them both. With a a shout he ran towards them, a focus on the power of Procan as he summoned the blessings of the god, water spraying from oustretched hands over the burning tent nearest to where she had been.

Dragging out his serrated diving knife he hacked at the now soaking fabric peeling it back to reveal the elf, Firi'Sar, and the girl. Offering her a still dripping hand he grins wide, sharp fangs exposed. "Greetings mysterious girl. We meet again in strange circumstances, some out from the tent there, bring your pets as well." he suggests, lifting her with a hand offering to take her strange pet dog. To the elf he nods, "We meet in an usual way again, how are the children?"