I nodded. "Not that it's my business, but if the nobles in the Realm are already biting the hand that feeds, then I'd recommend to the Sultan handing them useless land and making them make it useful. Make them in charge of the training and welfare of their citizens on that land, and taxing them once they are successful.. Though setting a time limit on how long they have and seizing the land back if they fail.. Making his nobles more submissive with the face of giving them what they'll whine for is a win win. You find whose resourceful that way."
"Well, I can certainly bring that up to the Sultan if anyone starts becoming uppity." Phintias replied.
I nodded. After a bit more conversation, mostly between the adults, Phintias excused himself and left. He had a lot to do now, and he was lazy, so wanting to get it over with as quickly as possible. Namely so that he could be left alone for a while as he got to know Lucretia, I suspected.
"He's an interesting person." Plight commented.
"He is. He is also the safest person for Lucretia to be around." I told him.
"Why is he the safest?" Plight asked.
"He can protect her and set her mind at ease. He won't judge her. You don't like vampires who consume people's blood." I said.
"So you are saying he doesn't?" Plight asked.
"They both consume people's blood. There are contracts involved, and they don't kill them." I said. "Though Phintias has no hang ups about killing people. Lucretia has never killed anything."
"Then she is truly lucky. At least in that regard." He said.
"I understand your guilt over that event. Personally, rather than a corrupt clergyman, I am glad you're alive." I told Plight. "I'm happy to have found you."
"I'm glad you found me as well. I'm just happy you aren't trying to put me in a box." Plight said.
"Once I'm grown up again, I'll kill anyone who makes such a foolish attempt." I replied.
He laughed a little. "I don't know. I don't think anyone would see a four year old with a knife coming."
I started laughing, "That reminds me of the first time I followed Uncle on a mission. He ripped some people's limbs off them and beat another to death with an arm, then he spotted me. I was around six at the time. He looked gutted for a moment, dropped the limb, cursed and approached me slowly, trying to make himself small. Can you imagine his shock when I pulled out a knife and told him I could help? He was horrified."
"I believe he would have been quite mortified, yes." James said. "I can only imagine what he said when he got back. Something like, 'we are not teaching this boy correctly.'"
"Hmm. Maybe. He carried me under his arm straight to your office and tossed me in that room I slept in when here. Shut me inside and I didn't hear anything." I told him.
"Something along the lines of, 'Put him in his room. Don't know what to do with him. Figure it out'." James said.
"It was not the last time I followed." I said. "But I guess I won't this time."
"Or you could. Keep him on his toes." James said.
"Do you really want to encourage me? There's hardly anything I can't accomplish if I want to." I said.
"That has been the theme of your apparent return." James said.
"Yep. My biggest goal just relies on you, really." I agreed with him.
"What is your greatest goal then? The one that stands above all else?" James asked.
"I aim to be a family with you and Uncle. My greatest goal is to have a happy family." I said.
"I can't say it will be an easy goal. Happiness is hard to achieve." James said.
I nodded. "Yep. But I think it's a little easier than you suspect."
"I believe I would be happy if you proved me wrong on that." James said. "That's known as a win win."
I smiled, "All in due time, Dad."
"All good things come with time, yes." James said.
I decided to go meet with Simon after a small lunch and nap. So Plight and I headed to the Guard barracks to see him. I explained I had gotten sick and couldn't visit. Simon was an understanding child. We played with each other for a few hours in his dad's office. Then Plight and I walked around the city. I spotted Dean walking around the square.
I decided to try to sneak up on him. I mentally told Plight my intention, and spotted who he had playing his spotter. They were pick pocketing people. The big problem was that Dean was always watchful. But I was only playing, so he wouldn't kill me. I snuck around until I was able to be right next to Dean. Knowing him as well as I did, I casually just reached up at the thing he was slipping from someone's pocket. He grabbed my hand at the same time preventing me from taking it, and half lifted me, taking me, and his pilfered goods to an alley.
Plight was quick to catch up. "Release him." Plight said.
"Only once he explains why he tried to take what's rightfully mine." Dean said.
"You took something, not me." I said, pretending to be oblivious to the situation. "I tried to scare you."
"And why would you try and scare someone? Hm? It's very rude." Dean chastised me.
"I'm scary. Grrr." I pretend growled.
He looked at me confused. "I need to go. He's all yours." He put me down and started walking away.
"Told you I was scary, Dean." I said, walking away from him and up to Plight, grinning.
Dean spun. "How do you know my name? Know what? No. I'm out."
I pulled on Plight's robe, "I scared that boy good, see?"
He leaned down and quietly said, "Isn't that the one whose supposed to be your friend?"
"Yes, 'Dean'. I'll behave better." I pretended to have been scolded to throw Dean off if he was still nearby. It was a fifty fifty by this point. Quietly I said, "We could go to his house."
"Pretty sure you terrified the boy. But if you want to scare him, sure. We can do that. I'm sure that's a brilliant way to make friends." Plight said.
"Hmm. I got an idea." I said.
"Oh, do tell. I'm sure it'll be just as swell as going to a small child's house." Plight said.
"We should make cookies and take them to the kids in the thieves guild." I said.
"We could do that." He agreed.
"Mm. You'd have to leave your robe and anything you value behind." I told him.
"Well, half of that's already done. Or need I remind you, I lived in a cave." He said.
"I didn't forget. But you have that religious symbol thing that you value." I pointed out. I then went back towards the square and went to Dean's spotter. I whispered to them about a back alley deal going down in a few days, in thieves cant, and that his blonde friend should handle it, since the 'Dean' and I scared him. Then I walked away, heading for the Silver Shilling.
Once Plight let me inside, I approached the counter with him. "Welcome to the Silver Shilling. What can I get ya?" The owner said.
"I want an odd job."I said, looking up at him.
"Ahm. Sorry, I don't employ kids?" He said.
"What type of information are you looking for?" I asked.
"Currently where your parents are." He said.
"That's hardly worth anything. Mother is sick and dying, being taken to Ymir's Town by her husband Mr. Cross, who sold me, er, traded me to James Hearthry to clear his debts with him." I said.
"Ah, so you're the Hearthry boy." He said.
"Yup. And I have some news that may interest you." I grinned. "It involves a certain other Shilling owner."
"Oh, does it? Now that is interesting." He said.
"I could be persuaded to see the goods to your hands." I replied.
"Well, I'm gonna need to hear a snippet to judge how profitable this will be." He said.
"A bug has been put into ears of a particular back alley dealing going on soon. Other Shillinger and a Fat Prig exchanging robust goods. Only Shillinger will be Wayland on the way back home, so a bird says. The loss would likely be fifteen k." I told him, using some thieves talk.
"Well, if this is solid information, then it's worth quite a bit." He replied.
"The Fat Prig is already body dealing, isn't it?" I asked him directly.
"I have heard rumors." He said, vaguely confirming.
"There will be an albino leonin bard around soon." I told him. "And there's people with access to the other coninent. Are you one?"
"The other continent? Who would have such a thing?" He asked.
"Me, for one." I said. "But a couple of nobles do, and a few merchants. And the pet shops 'exotic supplier'."
"A couple of those names I didn't know. It's a nice freebie." He said.
I smiled. "I know the glyph to the Elven Kingdom."
"What's a glyph?" He asked.
I gave him a bored expression. "It's used by non magic users to teleport."
"Well, that sounds handy. So, what? You can just teleport to the other continent, eh?" He asked.
"As well could your operatives." I replied.
"That could certainly cut down on shipping cost. Why offer this to me?" He asked.
"Because you're not an asshole like your brother." I said. "Additionally, as a strange child I have strange hobbies and I'm talented."
"I'm used to providing for strange hobbies. What might I procure for you?" He asked.
"I would like a long distance communication item. It should be able to reach other planes, like the fey." I said. "If you want a glyph to each kingdom and the easiest to reach port, then I would like a lute, as well."
"Alright. Are you staying at the Lucky Stone?" He asked.
"That is the easiest place to reach me through James." I replied.
"Alright. I will send a letter there as soon as I have the items." He said.
"If you supply paper and writing utensil, I will draw the glyph to the Elven Kingdom and you can test it at your convenience. I can give you the rest when the goods are provided." I told him. It was a reasonable offer. Probably generous on my part. "I look forward to more business in the future."
Once he provided the materials, I carefully and painstakingly drew the glyph for him. Once I was finally done, I handed it over to the store owner. Then I headed home with Plight. On the way, I noticed a mercenary watching us. They were attempting to be discreet. I pretended to be oblivious as we reached the Estate.
Once we went inside, I went to the kitchen, with Plight following. The cook asked, "Young Master, are you looking for a snack before dinner?"
"Can we make cookies with jam?" I asked. "I'd like to make some to share with Uncle and my many friends."
"Hm. What kind of jam?" The cook asked.
"What kind of jam is there?" I asked.
"Strawberry, blackberry, and raspberry jams." The chef said.
"Mm. Strawberry and blackberry." I said.
"Alright, you can help me make them, how's that?" He asked.
"I want to help Plight make them.." I protested.
He looked at Plight with some disdain. "Alright. He can help, but I'll do the main work of it."
"Hmm. Ok, but I want to make shortbread cookies." I said.
The chef began prepping the ingredients to comply with my demands, telling Plight what to do to help. I was pretty much put on a high chair and just given dry ingredients to play with, since the chef was treating me like the small child I appeared to be. So basically, I had some flour and a spoon. Meanwhile Plight and the cook were getting the dough ready pretty quickly.
I asked for peanut butter and eggs. A kitchen maid handed them over, since the chef was ignoring me. I also asked for a little bit of vanilla and butter. Which the maid measured out for me. Then I started trying to mix it. The maid ended up taking that over while the chef and Plight arranged the cookie shapes onto a pan. The chef started to put it in the oven.
"Wait!" I exclaimed. "You gotta put the jam on first!"
The chef, confused, put the raw cookies back on the counter. I used Plight's hand to use his thumb to make indents in the middle of the cookies, and we added jams to it. The maid had put the cookies she'd mixed together for me on a trey and showed them to me. On that we used a fork, I helped, to score the top like claw marks.
The two types of cookies were put into the oven to bake, then. For whatever reason, we ended up with two sheets of each cookie type. After waiting for the full time for the cookies to get done, I was ready to see the results. After the chef placed them on the cooling racks, he assigned someone to use magic to cool the cookies and got to work on dinner.
Once the cookies were cooled, the maid helped me to put three cookies per little baggie. They were all put into a larger bag for Plight to carry. The first place we went with the cookies was James' office. Where Uncle was reporting in on a mission. Seeing us enter, Uncle stopped talking.
"We made cookies." I said, as Plight let me retrieve a couple of cookie bags. I took them over to them, handing the jam cookie bag to Uncle and offering the peanut butter one to my Dad. "Will you try it? Except the mixing, I made these by myself."
"Well, since you know my preference of food, I'll give it a shot." Uncle said.
"I suppose I will also trust that you know what cookie I'd like." James said.
"Yours, Uncle, was my idea, but the chef wouldn't let me help, but he let Plight. " I said. "And Dads' I made with the stuff the chef let me play with, though the maid helped grab ingredients I wanted."
They tried the cookies, Uncle was delighted by the sweet warm jam in his cookie. And James seemed to like the savory nature of the peanut butter cookie. Which made Uncle curious, so they traded cookies. Uncle hated the peanut butter cookie. Entirely. James was less obvious with his general distaste of the jam cookie.
"I enjoy the one that you made for me." James said.
"I think you'd like the cookie without jam and with coffee." I said. "It's the type that goes good with other things, but not by itself. Hence the jam."
"Hm. The science of sweets." He commented.
"Yup. We're gonna give some cookies to Simon. We'll be back for dinner." I told him.
"Alright. Stay safe." He said.
I passed them both an extra bag, because I knew roughly how many we'd be able to hand out. Plight took off his robe and left everything but the bag and hammer in his room, he'd been assisting one, and we headed out. We actually managed to catch Haril on his way home for the day with Simon in tow. I gave Simon some jam cookies and Haril a peanut butter cookie, telling him Plight made the jam cookies with the cook, and I made the peanut butter one with the maid.
Haril and Simon both tried the cookies. Simon loved the sweet and buttery cookies and gobbled them up. Haril said, "I have to admit, I didn't think I'd enjoy this as much as I am. I have never been much of one for sweets."
"Dad is the same. I didn't add sugar." I grinned.
"Hm. What a well thought out bribe." He said. "I'll let you get away with exactly... nothing."
"Tch. Cheapskate." I pretended to pout.
"Ah, you'll need a far better bribe than this if you want to get away with anything." Haril joked.
"Some of the guards take bribes from a certain man, even if that man is trading people." I said.
"I'm sorry, what now?" He said.
"I seen a fat man give a guard money, and the guard walked away while scary men led a lady away." I said. "Teacher told me recently that's what a bribe is."
"...Would you be able to point out the guard that you saw? Any distinguishing features?" He asked.
"Hmm." I pretended to think. "I remember... they were over by the Unknown and he had a yellol thingy with a green cup." I patted the left of my chest. "Right here on the inside shirt."
"Hm. Well, that's very interesting. I'll have to ask around and see if anyone knows about that kind of shirt." Haril said.
Mentally, I told Plight, 'Recommend he perform an unscheduled inspection to catch them, in case there are more such guards.' Aloud, I said, "I don't really remember what his face looked like."
Plight cleared his throat, "Haril, might I suggest something?"
"Yes, Plight. What can I do for you?" Haril replied.
"What if you simply.. did a surprise inspection of the uniforms?" Plight suggested.
"I suppose I could do something like that." Haril said, thinking it over. "Would probably catch most of them off guard with it."
Plight excused us, and Haril went on with taking his kid to have some dinner. We headed towards the slums, though on the way I spotted Mills-er Nathan. He was accompanied by his Nanny and some of those ruffian guards his father employed. Quickly, I grabbed some cookies and went towards him.
"Hey, blonde kid!" I called.
Nathan turned to look, even as his guards went on high alert. I had the bag of cookies in my hands and paused, pretending to be intimidated by the guards.
Nathan looked at the guards. "He's a child. What are you going to do? Kill him?" They took the hint and stood down. He looked back at me, "What can I do for you?"
I approached him slowly, still pretending to be weary. "I maded some cookies with my teacher. I was gibing them to kids. Do you want some?"
"I would love some." Nathan replied, smiling.
I grinned big and offered him the bag. "Teacher, can we gibe some to the Miss, too?" I asked looking back at him. "Not the scary men, though.
"If she wants some, sure." Plight said.
She accepted a bag of cookies while Nathan tried one of the cookies. Being fond of sweets, I knew Nathan would enjoy the cookie. "Wow, that's really good." Nathan commented.
"I thought you would like sweet ober sabory." I grinned.
"Parently I agree with you." Nathan said.
"Let's play sometime. Teacher and I are gonna pass out cookies to more kids." I told him. "Oh, I'm Isarial."
"That sounds like it will be a fun time. My name is Nathan." He replied. "I should get going before my guards get antsier."
In Primordial, I said, "-I'll be your ally.-" I gave a polite bow while crossing mu hand over my chest, showing I knew he was a noble.
"-I appreciate the sentiment.-" Nathan said.
"-When people come for you, don't be scared. You won't be harmed, I promise. I don't look like much, but I'm still a Hearthry.-" I told him.
"-Well, that's concerning and reassuring at the same time.-" He said.
"Big bro Nafan is super smart." I complimented, grinning big and waving at him, "Bye-bye Nafan."
"Bye-bye. Hope to see you again soon." Nathan said.
A guard scoffed and said, "Unlikely."
"Oh no. Scary man dropped his purse." I gasped, making the man look. Plight and I were walking away by that point. I heard Nathan clear his throat to hide his amusement as he started the other way, to help me avoid consequence. We headed into the slums, me mentally explaining what had just happened since Plight asked.
Once in the slums,, I used a general symbol telling the eyes on us that we had nothing of value on us. I then called out to a thief and told them in thieves cant to send kids to us for cookies. It took a good few minutes before kids started coming around. I warned them against tricks of any sort, that extras will be passed out only once all the kids came and got some cookies, and I knew their numbers.
While word spread around kids came around, collecting their bags of cookies. Plight had them choose between sweet or not. Both were popular.
Dean eventually came by and collected his cookies.
"Why are you doing this? Why are you giving cookies to these kids?" Dean asked me.
"Hmm. I wanted to. It's not like it'll help any of you or earn me friends, or keep my pockets to not be picked. So, yeah. Just cause I wanted to." I said. I pointed to a house that was dilapidated. "I was born in that house."
"Oh, really? And you're just one of the lucky ones that made it out?" Dean sneered.
"If you call being sold lucky, then yes." I replied. "I suppose I am lucky to be sold. My father can't take my food or yell at me anymore because I'm a burden."
"Ah. So you're the Cross kid." He said.
"I am." I responded. "And I plan to be a problem for the Fat Prig and Clean High Rollers."
"Got out of the slums but now your back to get vengeance on the town that made ya. I can get behind that." Dean said.
"If they'd done their jobs and kept their hands washed my Mommy wouldn't have been too sick to do anything." I said. "She wouldn't have left me. They're supposed to give us ober here a loaf of bread a day. They don't. They feed money to the Fat Prig and sit on the rest."
"Yeah, they do. That's why we take it." Dean said.
"Did you hear bout what I chirped to the eyes?" I asked.
"Ah. It did. Making moves on it." Dean said.
"You'll have two minutes before the thing is started and one minute after it's done before some brutes appear." I warned him. "If you need help.. I can."
"If I needed a four year old help, then I couldn't do it. Thank you for the information, but I got it handled." Dean replied, offended.
"I have skills that none of the guild has. And I can tell you a real big secret." I said.
"A real big secret? What could you possibly know?" Dean asked.
"I know lots." I replied. I dropped my voice, "Like how the patriarch will die."
He laughed. "And how in the world is he gonna die?"
Still quiet, I said, "Two years. Poisons. Miran will take ober."
"And how am I supposed to believe that? He's an idiot. He couldn't even poison a rat with cheese." Dean said.
I smirked, place my hand on his arm and lied, "I miss my Father, Mr. Cross."
"What did you just do to your face?" He asked.
"I'm the best liar." I lied again. "No one can tell when I lie."
"Are you doing that on purpose? Cause it's really stupid looking." Dean said.
"No. I simply can't lie. Every time I do that happens. I was even taught to lie by the world's best liar and I still can't lie." I sighed. "It probably gets worse the longer I try to lie."
"Alright, fine. Let's say I believe you and you're not just being weird. It's no great loss of Miran disappears." Dean said.
"Lies are more believable than most of what I've said recently." I told him. "But I agree. I'd hush him myself, if I could. Aside from being a distraction, I'm too little to do much."
Plight was still passing out cookies, and keeping an eye on us. Truthfully, I was enjoying fucking with Dean, he was always a sharp kid. His ability to grasp information was unparalleled. I figured he probably didn't fully trust me, yet.
"How did you find out about his plan to poison?" Dean asked.
"He IS stupid." I replied. "And I know the future, until it's changed."
"See? Now the ridiculous part is I have to believe you." Dean said.
"I hope so. I can talk in minds, which makes me a lot stealthier than most kids." I whispered.
"You can talk inside somebody's mind?" He asked incredulously.
"Yup. I can." I told him. "But I can't read minds, so it's not that useful. But I can share memories."
"That still sounds pretty useful for casing a joint.. I mean looking around and telling people what you see." Dean said.
"Plus I'm little." I agreed. I whispered again, "And I know where Miran stashes his coins."
"Let me guess, under his mattress with his socks." Dean replied.
"Nope. Want to see?" I asked.
"Sure. Let's go take a look. This'll help prove a few things to myself anyways." Dean said.
"I'll be right back, 'Dean'," I said, looking at Plight. "Don't worry very much. I'll hide if someone scary comes round and I'll be close by."
"Do you have any idea how much trouble I'll be in if something happens to you and they ask what happened?" Plight asked.
"Not as much as they'd be in if they try to kill you. I know exactly the sort of people they are. Just trust me." I replied.
He sighed heavily. "Ok. I'll stay here."
"They've all been giben cookies now. That girl with the brown hair has two sick siblings, though. They can't come." I told him, knowing he'd help her, then I started walking towards the Unknown, with Dean following me.
He was hiding his nervousness as we approached the Unknown. Understandably. This zone was renowned for it's morphed and tumultuously shifting planes. It was a place to go to die, or disappear permanently. No one that entered left. Anyways, once we were close to it, I skirted it to the right. A bigger kid stepped out of a nearby building, a friend of Miran's.
"Hey, go play elsewhere you little babies." He warned.
"Touch me and a large silver Leonin will rip you apart." I retorted. "I'm his brother's property."
The big kid, nervous about the threat because EVERYONE knew of Dirthin, shifted his feet a little and said, "What are you looking for?"
I was on the spot. I couldn't lie, after all. "Wasn't there a family of cats over there?" I pointed at the wall, changing the subject.
"Is that what you're doing?" The big kid asked.
I looked at Dean. "Obviously we're here for the cats." Dean replied. "Why are you here? Standing around being useless?"
The big kid said, "Nonya, pipsqueak. Go play with your dumb cats." He scowled at us and went back towards the building.
I stuck my tongue out at the guy, before hurrying to a specific flagstone with a scratch at the upper right corner. Aside from that, it looked like the rest. I knew about this because Dean had discovered it in three years. I pulled up the flagstone, revealing several gold coins and a couple trinkets. "See?" I asked.
"Mm. This is a nice little haul." He said.
"He pinches from the littler kids using the big kids to bully them." I said. It was a common practice anyways, though Dean and I had never done so.
"Well, when you can't do your job you might as well steal from those who can." Dean said.
We took a few of the coins, and found a vial of poison beneath them. "If we take them all, he'll know he was robbed instead of betrayed."
"Better to rob him and he know he was robbed than anything else." Dean said. "Can hand a few of these out."
"You're such a nice guy." I said. "Alright. If you get caught, blame me. I have protection because of the Hearthry's. You don't."
"No idea what you're talking bout. I'm not nice, shut your mouth." Dean retorted.
I put away the stone once he had taken the coins and walked towards the house. I pulled out one of the boards showing a little stash of papers, which Dean took to look over later. He then accompanied me back to Plight, who was out of cookies. The papers would have leads, most likely.
"Sure you don't want my help?" I asked Dean.
"Positive." Dean said. "If I need your assistance for some reason. I know where you are."
"You do?" I asked.
"You just mentioned who owns.. I know where to find you." Dean said.
".. Alright. Yes. James Hearthry bought me. But I'm gonna make him be my dad." I replied.
"Good luck with that seriously." He waved the papers. "I have some stuff to get into. Good luck with your cookies."
I said, "OK. I'm gonna spike the next batch with medicine herbs to help the sick kids."
"I mean that's probably the best. I doubt they'd eat herbs someone handed them, even if it was someone they trusted." He said.
"Or should I make candy next?" I wondered. "See you later blonde kid."
"Quit calling me blonde kid. My name is Dean." Dean said.
"Oh. Like a teacher." I said.
"Yeah.. Like a teacher." He said.