"My hair? I've seen people with all sorts of hair colors what makes mine any different? If anything, white hair should be more common than the blue hair of the girl who..." Arya's thoughts were derailed as the memory of the night he lost his family resurfaced, giving him a somber expression.
"It's okay if you would rather not talk about it. I wouldn't have asked if not for an old man's curiosity. You see there's not much I haven't seen around here, and seeing you're hair piqued my interest. Though enough of that, let's move on to more serious matters. You see we are in need of your services, sure we've been able to elude the city guards in the past but I fear that this time we won't be so lucky." said Raghnall putting on a more serious tone.
"You see usually the auction house would only notice that their captives were freed the night before the auction, when they would do an asset count. But this time the city guards were alerted a few hours after we liberated the captives, my guess is that there is a spy among us. I trust Silver-fox enough to know it wasn't one of them, but the same can't be said for the mercenaries they hired." continued Raghnall this time bringing his voice down to a whisper.
Arya noticed the way Raghnall never once called the people he had rescued slaves. It said a lot about the type of man he was, however Arya didn't care one bit. Whether Raghnall was an genuinely righteous man or not didn't affect Arya in the slightest. What he wanted to know was why he had to help them and what he could gain out of it.
"I still don't follow, where do I come in?" asked Arya instead. "Might as well see what I can get out of this. After all, even if I leave here right now I would still be hard pressed to survive without money or food." thought Arya as he asked his question.
"With your ice magic supporting Silver-fox I'm sure we will be able to make it out of the forest alive." said the old man, putting the mug he was drinking from over his mouth to hide his facial expression.
"This old man." thought Arya musingly. "Maybe I didn't word my question properly. I meant why should I." said Arya cutting to the point. Even in his old life he didn't have much experience when it came to a battle of wits, and he wasn't about to start against a man old enough to be his grandfather.
"Well out of the kindness of your heart. I suppose you must feel some sort of sympathy towards our fellow brothers and sisters who were captured and treated like less than human scum." said the old man, putting a hint of pity into his voice to emphasize that Arya should feel sympathy towards them.
"I wonder what I would've done had I just arrived in Merrum yesterday. I've lost too much already, I'm not ready to lose more just to sleep with a lighter conscious." thought Arya as he thought of a reply.
"Look, I get that you and your group are trying to be righteous and all but that's not me. You can't expect me to risk my life for people I barely know, people who would probably throw me in the fire to save their asses if the need arose." said Arya bluntly recalling how they had poisoned him and planned to use Teressa as a hostage.
"You can't blame me for trying now can you?" laughed the old man while looking at Arya's serious expression. "I know that a mage's services are quite expensive but could you lower the price a bit for me. After all it's not like this deal will be completely one sided. We will give you a hot meal and shelter every day, in addition to your pay of course." said the old man more seriously this time.
"And what exactly is the pay?" asked Arya. The prospect of free meals and shelter everyday was already enticing on its own, and with the addition of money Arya's greed got the best of him.
"Well we can discuss that right now if it's fine by you. What amount do you have in mind?" asked the old man putting on an expressionless face as if he were about to play a game of poker.
"2000 US-" Arya stopped before he finished his sentence. "Wait I have no idea how the currency system here works. I suppose they work with gold, silver or bronze but even with that knowledge I have no idea what their worth is." thought Arya as he decided to take a different approach.
"You know what. Since you're the one who knows the danger that the job will entail, I would like to hear your opinion on the matter first. I will compare your price with that of my previous jobs and decide whether it will be worth while or not." said Arya trying to put up the best poker face he could manage, but with the body of a four year old all he managed to do was look like a disgruntled kid.
"800 silver coins." said the old man flatly keeping a straight face. "800! I see that you aren't taking this seriously. Well I thank you in advance for the lunch, though it seems we will be parting ways after." bluffed Arya as he stood up from his stool, hoping that the old man had tried to swindle him like any normal human would.
"Okay, okay. 1 gold coin and 200 silver, though I can't go any higher than this. I still have to pay Silver-fox for their services as well." said the old man as his poker face began falling apart. "He seems to be genuinely desperate. I shouldn't test my luck any further, this might be his breaking point." thought Arya as he sat down again.
"That's still rather low, though I suppose if you increase Teressa and I's food ration I could accept your offer." replied Arya keeping his poker face on.
"Thank you so much, I knew you were a kind soul." said Raghnall as he shook Arya's hand in gratitude. "Shall we write out our deal out on paper?" asked the Raghnall as he removed two parchments from his green tunic. "Sure." replied Arya making sure that Raghnall wrote down exactly what they had agreed on.
Once they had signed both papers Raghnall took one and gave the other to Arya. "Thank you very much. We will prepare a tent especially for you and Teressa, it should be ready once lunch is served." said Raghnall as he escorted Arya out of his tent.
Once Arya left Raghnall let out a slight smirk, "Well a penny saved is a penny earned. Either he is a very good person or the mages where he comes from must be underpaid. Who ever heard of hiring an ice mage for a single gold coin." said Raghnall as he put the parchment into his tunic.