OOC note: This is part of a series of vignettes that are player inspired, and not directly related to the official storyline.
Special thanks to GM Quillic, and to the players of Yardie, Jaysehn, Alosaka, Yukito and Kalyrra for the use of the children they developed for sideplots.
The quiet squish of footsteps followed in the wet puddles of the road, careful in their own way of keeping distant. The girl called Spinnerette ducked and weaved through the streets, and watched behind her - but keeping sight of the papers was more important. The figure followed again, only moving when she began chasing once more. He applied his own lessons of patience, following the girl he had grown to despise as his own personal challenge. Even so, he could barely keep up with her and certainly not close enough to catch.
The road split off to the northwest, and the girl paused before the ominous dark scar in the ground where once the Iyo attempted to defend the Harbor. She shut her eyes at the nightmarish memories of it all, taking in another breath to calm her nerves. She watched as the papers spiraled upward toward the lighthouse, and squinted her eyes as the beacon spun to shine across the island.
“Interesting,” the bard considered to himself as he watched the small figure appear from the edge of town toward his roost. Lifting his gaze, he had the advantage of height and noticed another figure lurking not far behind, crouched near a bit of shrubbery. Moving back away from the rail, he leaned casually against the bricks of the lighthouse, the beacon swirling above him. He was hard to see this way and as the girl approached, she would drop her gaze with a hand up to shield her eyes as the bright light swept overhead. Closer she crept and then quietly up the ladder and he could not help but grin. She was decent enough, but she was still a child in her skill.
Fishing out a coin when she had reached his perch, he flipped it upwards to catch the light and in so doing, caught young Spinnerette’s attention just as she peered over the top of the rail. Then as he hummed, the coin danced across his knuckles, first the right and then the left. He flipped it again catching the light and made it disappear and reappear. All the while Spinnerette’s eyes grew wide, easily caught in the melodic trance of the bard.
“Hello, little spider,” he crooned as he watched her eyes follow his coin. His own gaze lingered a moment over her head to see if the figure was still lingering. Then, satisfied that he was, his gray eyes turned back to the girl. “I see you’ve picked up a few things, but even your shadow knows you are here.”
“Tell me girl, what have you seen?” he asks, the suggestion timed between soft humming and the flash of his coin. “It was you,” she answers in a voice small, timid and as if she were in a dream. “Go on,” he urges. “Some of the orphans were writing,” she begins and Talinvor nods his head as she names them and where they were as he rifles through the papers he unfolded. Pictures and writing about things about town, training, new foster homes were glanced over and then put back into the pile.
“Then Zofiya…” she murmurs, her voice cracking as she holds back tears. “She wrote too,” she adds, holding up an ink stained paper kite clenched in her fist. Easily he plucks it from her grip and tucks this one in his belt. He grinned crookedly, his teeth a bright contrast to his dark lips. “This one, hm?” he mused to himself. This one he hoped would tell him what the butcher Socius might be up to or about the missing dagger.
“Excellent work,” he purrs next to the girl’s ear. “But I can’t have you telling everyone, or putting my little birds at risk can I? No, little spider - I want you to forget, go home and be happy. This never happened. Time for bed.” Tucking his coin away and gathering his papers, he guides her down the ladder and directs her back to town where she wanders along and to her bed where she should have been in the first place.
---
(part 3, conclusion will be posted in the morning)
player of Talinvor
