The auction house was an enormous monstrosity of greed and stone. At least that was Cora's first impression.
For one, it was easily four times the size of the biggest family complex she'd seen in Cochran so far, and that included the Horald's who were one of the richest. It towered upwards by five stories and reminded her faintly of the Roman Coliseum with the many windows with light shining out of them.
People were pouring towards the building, funneled into neat little streams by competent security.
Cora glanced down at the extravagant gown Heidi had shoehorned her into. It was laced down the sides and demure in the front but the back was a network of strings Cora didn't think she had the patience to unravel to get back out.
"Are you sure we're not overdressed?" Cora asked uneasily, noting the miners passing by nearby.
"We're not," Heidi assured her, fishing out a piece of fabric from her inventory and plopping it on Cora's head.
Cora jerked, resisting the urge to yank the fabric off. It crawled down her face, dividing to give her an opening for her eyes, mouth and nose. Cora looked at Heidi, her jaw working.
"Why do we need masks?" She demanded.
"Because we're not overdressed, and I have to buy something from here for a quest," Heidi explained, adjusting her own mask. "It looks pretty good," she assured Cora, snaking her arm around her friend's.
"I'm going to regret this, aren't I?" Cora asked the air as Heidi led her towards one of the shorter lines.
*****
The interior of the little room they'd been shown to was nearly as intricate as the hotel room. The whole thing made Cora uneasy.
Her great aunts had never liked flaunting their wealth, and that attitude had infused into Cora's bones. She was more likely to wander around in jeans she'd found in a bargain bin than the latest fashion from Paris.
The only exception to that was her apartment. It was only that she hadn't had the time to replace most of what her mother had pillaged that it was so bare. Plus, her current apartment was bigger than her last place.
She'd learned her lesson well that time. Now, her building had hefty security and discreet surveillance, all paid for by the retail tenants on the first couple of floors of the building next door. Cora didn't care that most people thought that the rest of that building was office space. The retail stores were more than happy with the top-notch security to fuss about the rents.
Still, Cora found it amusing that her building manager would complain about the inquiries she kept getting from companies searching for office space. Cora hadn't thought about just what to do with the rest of the space.
She'd once thought about building a mini-mall space within the first three or four floors with some sort of art installation in the middle but had scrapped that idea when those terrorists had bombed one of the space elevators. One of the victims had been the daughter of the artist she'd had in mind.
Cora just couldn't envision any other artist's work there. She'd even had the piece in her mind's eye.
Unfortunately, the artist had gone a bit insane at her daughter's death and had burned her warehouse where she'd been keeping her unsold works. She'd been lucky that she hadn't been charged with arson.
The auction house room was roughly the same size as one of her spare bedrooms, a rather roomy twenty by ten. A large window faced the auction space, currently curtained by a heavy velvet drape embroidered with the auction house's logo.
The floor was covered in a plush carpet that their sandal clad feet sank into. Cora couldn't help but eye it with some disfavor. She wasn't fond of carpets, preferring hardwood floors instead. Cora had bad memories of rug burn from her childhood.
There were chairs arrayed in front of the curtained window, themselves plush and overstuffed. Their arms were of a heavy black wood and the cushions a honey-colored velvet that nearly glowed in the discreet lighting.
"When the auction starts, the curtain will open," Heidi explained, examining the refreshment table. "The lights dim down in here, and there's some trick of the glass that makes us invisible to the people outside."
Cora turned to see her friend popping a grape into her mouth and washing it down with a crystal glass of what she hoped was water.
"Heidi!" She hissed, resisting the urge to rub her arms. The sight of Heidi eating was raising goosebumps.
"It's safe," Heidi assured her. She reached into the tiny bag dangling from her arm and pulled out a tiny circular crystal. She waved it over the table, and the crystal shone blue for a brief instance. "See? It's safe. Cryssy says so!"
"You named a crystal?" Cora asked, shaking her head as she rolled her eyes.
"Someone told me that if I keep giving her things to do, she'll awaken and I'll have my very own Heart," Heidi said defensively. She dropped the crystal back into her little purse. "Now, get some rest. We're going to be so busy in just a little while!"
"We are?" Cora asked, watching as Heidi piled more tidbits onto a tiny plate and wove her way to one of the chairs.
"Yup," Heidi agreed, setting her treats on the tiny table set between two chairs. "We're going to be so busy."
"I thought the point of coming here was to relax?"
"Oh, that?" Heidi hummed as she pulled apart a tiny pastry adorned with candied violets.
Cora felt a faint foreboding as Heidi nibbled on the bits of pastry while avoiding her eyes.
"Well, maybe you'll find something to buy?" Heidi suggested after she swallowed.
"And before that? Or after?" Cora pressed.
"Well, it depends on whether or not what I have to buy comes up at that point in time," Heidi picked up her glass and took a swig.
"Heidi," Cora snapped.
"Oh, come on, Cora. Didn't you tell me once that taking part in a heist would be so exciting?"
"I was ten! Ten! A stupid ten!" Cora protested.
"But you did say it," Heidi replied as the lights in the room started to dim and the drapes slowly opened.