Shai looked at the boy apologetically. "I'm so sorry." She sounded like she meant it, too.
She was suddenly hyperaware of her newly acquired money from the recent job. Ha! As if she was going to give her blood, sweat and tears to some stranger on the street. Still, that boy looked like he really needed help. Maybe she could spare enough for a little food and water...
Even though she was still wavering, Shai sheathed her kodaichi and spread her hands before her helplessly. "You know how long this drought has gone on. It's too difficult to afford water. I, friend, am also out of money and water."
She thought she was off the hook when he released her. However, then the boy snorted in disbelief and sat up with surprising nimbleness. He didn't look like he was dying at all.
Shai could practically feel a vein throbbing in her forehead. This guy! Was he just pretending? She was half considering helping him before, but now, any such thoughts evaporated immediately.
"Tsk, tsk. You're not willing to help a neighbour in need?" He waggled his finger in an admonishing manner. "I can tell you're lying to my face," he continued. "Don't you have a sense of shame?"
Shai was incensed. "A sense of shame?" she spluttered in disbelief. "I'm not the one pretending to be dying of thirst! And since when have we been neighbours? I just got to this city. If anyone here deserves to be called shameless, it would be you!" Really, that guy!
"Pretending?" the boy asked incredulously. "Who's pretending?" Immediately, he flopped back down on his side, his arm pillowing his head. After shifting back and forth for a bit to find a comfortable position, he ones again struck a pitiful pose on the ground. The future of a bright, young man, cut short by the cruelty of the world. Tragedy! Oh, sorrow and tragedy! Or so his pose seemed to say. Shai couldn't believe her eyes. The nerve of some people! It was one thing to beg for food and water once you were at the end of your rope, but it was entirely another to do so when you had plenty of energy to look for work. Someone like that might as well join the king's armies and become a human meat shield for a few pennies.
She forgot about her previous sombre mood right away, and was determined not to help the guy. As she turned away, he raised his head to stare at her with tears glistening in his eyes. Shai ground her teeth together and stomped away faster. What a faker. If he had the water to spare for making tears, what was he doing lying on the ground in the market for? Was his goal to leech off the rest of society?
She fumed all the way back to the other side of the market. Seeing her expression, the other market goers got out of her way in a hurry. By the time she got to the burlap sacks that marked the beginning of her caravan's business place, she was covered in the reddish-brown dust that flew everywhere these days, and had picked up a sharp pebble in her sandal.
She took a seat on the smooth top of a freshly made barrel to fish the stone out.
Alvar, the caravan leader and master cooper, stared at her in shock. "Thea Shai, did something happen?"
She wrestled the stone out of the worked leather and finally shook her head ruefully. She couldn't be rude to Alvar. He'd given her a job when few would. Not only that, he even paid her a fair wage, treating her the same as all the boys.
She replied honestly, "You know how you say there are people who are the quality of gold, and others who are the quality of horse shit? I met a horse shit person just now." Thinking again of the recruiter, she added sourly, "Maybe two."
Alvar laughed heartily, shaking the kinks out of his broad shoulders. "You shouldn't let them bother you," he advised her. "Keep your temper and your words to yourself. You will make more friends that way."
But friends don't equal bread and water, Shai thought quietly to herself.
Alvar crouched back down, carefully bending the next band of wood to make his barrel. Shai stopped huffing in anger and turned to watch him work. He was a master of his craft, and was often commissioned to make the fine barrels used to hold precious water and wines. He often boasted that his products would not crack nor splinter, so not a single drop was lost. Despite his lack of humility, his business did well. The quality of his work was true to his word.
He finished attaching that band of wood and straightened again. He looked at her with pride, and a gentle smile. "Those horse shit people may come and go, but let them wash over you like water over stone, and you will be the last one standing."
Shai wrinkled her nose automatically in disgust. It wasn't a very appealing visual.
The big man flushed red, noticeable even under his tan. "Figuratively, I mean," he hastily amended.
She laughed a bit and patted his shoulder reassuringly. "Thank you, Alvar. It is the thought that counts."
"Well, just in case that didn't cheer you up, this might." He reached into the pocket of his thick apron. With a flick of his wrist, Alvar tossed her a small brass button.
Shai snatched the piece of metal from the air and looked at it in interest. The brass had the image of a moore flower pressed into it. She looked back up at Alvar questioningly.
"The Marshwaters are water merchants," he explained. He tapped the newly wrought barrels with a heavy finger. "These are their orders. They're taking a trip down to Esta Am'jimarr, toward the fronts to supply the soldiers, and they need to be sure they won't be attacked and plundered along the way. I recommended you to them."
"What about you?" Shai asked, waving her hand to indicate the rest of the jacks in their caravan.
Alvar shook his head. "We're bedding down for the worst of summer. We need to resupply our materials anyhow, and the trade isn't so good that we'll risk heatstroke and bandits in this weather." He smiled apologetically and stuck out his hand for her to shake. "Thank you for being part of the team that kept us safe on the road."
She smiled cheekily and grasped his hand. "Thank you for the recommendation. And the—wise words. Tiny gods watch over you."
With that, Shai left the small family she had joined for the past few weeks. Instead, she went to search for her next money tree—ahem—her next employer.