Seventeen Roofs

by Maelie Arsenault

The Blade sits at her table in the Fox & Feather, listening to the thin peace between the two gang leaders start to fracture. She’d come here after the guild debate wanting to be as far from the guild’s politics and opinions as she could get only to be met by this insignificant crisis. She rolls her eyes and has a sip of her wine before interrupting the two.

“The Splinters will stop their activities at Wald St, the Copper Knives won’t pass Adelbert.” She says simply as the two turn to look at her.
“But there’s still…”
“Lina St, yes, neither of you will go there.” She interrupts again.
“But who…”

“Fucking nobody, that’s who!” She raises her voice. “Nobody until I fucking say so! I asked that you two sort this out, that I didn’t want to hear about more of your gangs staggering into the clinics with knife wounds. But instead, you brought this to my table to blame each other like children. I am not your bloody mother! I have better things to do! So, if you can’t sort it out, I will. This is what you fucking get. Now, you can also get-out.” She points down the stairs to the tavern door. “Unless you want to visit a clinic yourselves…” She adds when they don’t move, Marci and Ghurak crack their knuckles as she gestures to them next.

The two leave in a mixture of stompy-feet and fearful-haste with the two bouncers following them down to the main level. Once the Blade’s appointment was gone, the orc takes his intimidating position by the door while Marci reclaims her table by the stairs. Fox sighs and drains her wine glass as Annix comes up the stairs to bring her a new bottle.

If only you
You could see
The darkest place that you could be
Oh maybe then you'd understand
From desert heat to cobbled streets
From broken home to the city beat
There's so much more than you could know

“You’re in a mood,” they say as they pour their boss another glass.
She squints at the bartender, “don’t you start on me too…”
“Trouble up North?”
“Maudit…” She mutters.
“I’m a bartender, you ain’t gonna hide that shit from me.”
“Just… differences of opinions.” She shakes her head. “It’s not even that I disagree or… I just…”
“Get yourself home before she comes in here to drag you back. For your own dignity. None of us are going to stop her if she does.”
She narrows her eyes, “right.”
“Your three o’clock is here.” She quips heading down the stairs.
“It’s half passed midnight!” She calls after her, startling the small goblin that approaches her table.

So take me back
When I believed
Back when I was unafraid
Just like a thief
And all the heights
That I could reach
Back when I was unafraid
Just like a thief

The short green figure pulls off his hat and wrings it in his hands nervously. “Ah, greetings bladses ma’am. I am Kooks.”

She gestures to the chair. As he sits, she takes her time to pull out a wooden pipe and a tin of tobacco, her newly acquired habit for late nights. “So, Kooks, what brings you to my table?”

“Oh well, I was hoping you might have works for me to do. I need works. I works with shinies. Then I gets the shinies. Then I can pay for roofs” He rambles.
Fox follows the ramble as she lights her pipe. “Roofs. One, two?”
“Seventeen.”
She blinks her green eyes and almost forgets to exhale. “Seven…teen? You need to pay for seventeen houses?”
“Seventeen under the roofs.” He corrects nervously.
She pales for a moment. “You have seventeen children? Fodla bless your spouse…”
“Well, yes and no, many are sister’s. She sent from Kemberg.”

“Ah. Kemberg.” She mutters and distracts herself with another puff of smoke, focusing on the feeling of the tobacco as she pushes memories of the dragon attack out of her mind. She opens her eyes, not realizing she’d closed them, to look him over and spots a jeweler’s guild apprentice pin. She gestures with her pipe, “it looks like you already have work.”

The goblin looks down and shakes his head. “Not anymore. Not enough work, Master said can’t pay anymore. Said come back next year. Now I not enough shinies to pay for roofs. Lord Carlson says if I have seventeen people I need to pay for seventeen roofs.”
Fox exhales slowly, her voice a dark whisper. “How many roofs do you actually have Kooks?”
“One roofs.” Kooks looks up at her. “But seventeen people need shinies for seventeen roofs.”
She realizes he is probably stating it as matter-of-factly as his landlord said it to him. “That’s a lot of shinies.”

He nods, hands wringing his hat back into the threads it was made from. “I… I am good worker. I work with shinies all the time.”
“You realize… this kind of work with shinies. Your guild would be quite upset with you if they found out.”
“Family…more important than Guild.”
The Blade grins at him. “I’m glad to hear that. Come back in two days.”

If I could live a thousand times
If I could make a thousand tries
Maybe then I'd get it right
The more I see, the more I know
That everyone just wants a show
No we don't want to see the truth

Carlson’s name had come up several times in the last few weeks since the dragon attacks. More people had moved to the cheaper apartments of the South Ward after being evicted from further north. To make matters worse, Carlson had bought up a number of the new developments in the former-Warrens and predictably hiked the rent. But, while Kooks’ wasn’t the first family that had had their rent increased due to the number of people living in the house or apartment, it was the first Fox had heard of such ridiculous metrics.

“Seventeen.” She mutters to herself as she glances at the Carlson estate. “Carlson looks like he has room for seventeen. Time I collect his rent.”

She glides over the fence and towards the North Ward manor like a shadow. A flick of her wand lets her see which windows and doors have magical alarms and their boundaries. After picking a window she teleports into the darkened hallway beyond. A step to the side, a moment to register the sounds of the sleeping residents, and then her silent steps move her towards the dining room.

Carlson was typical of Eisen’s minor nobility. Knights, Lords, and Ladies more concerned with their futile attempts to aggrandize themselves than with actually making themselves useful to society. The only point of interest she’d heard about this particular waste of noble blood was that his dining set was extravagant.

So take me back
When I believed
Back when I was unafraid
Just like a thief
And all the heights
That I could reach
Back when I was unafraid
Just like a thief

Reaching the display cases on the far side of the dining room she sees the etched crystal set of glasses, gem studded bowls, and silver-lined plates. ‘Gaudy,’ the thief thinks as she looks the set over, before turning her attention back to the case. An alarm spell, a bell, and a lock that compromises security for appearance. The metal of the pins was too soft and probably needs to be replaced regularly as even using a key would ruin it over time. Fox doesn’t waste her own time and after scrubbing the alarm sigils, she unceremoniously rakes the lock open.

Setting her bag on the nearby table and taking out a stack of small cotton squares her hands set about relieving the lord of his insufferably expensive conversation piece. ‘The crystal is nice,’ she notes and considers keeping a couple for her study at home as she wraps and tucks them away. Her deft hands pick through the shelves in efficient and smooth motions relocating their contents to her bag of holding.

She considers relocking the display case but decides leaving it wide open would give Carlson a clear view of the empty oak shelves in the morning. With a silent casting of an invisibility spell, she was gone.

When the stars look down on me
What do they see
When the stars look down on me
What do they see

The goblin jeweler returns to the Fox & Feather two days later, again being directed up the stairs to the Blade’s table, her face hidden behind the evening Aurora.

“Good day ma’am bladses.” He says with the same nerves as before.
“I have work for you. A dinner set, gems pulled out, metals melted down, and refashioned into something else. You can do that?” She asks without looking up from her paper.
“Oh yeses! I can do all the works on these shinies for you.” He says with a grin, a sliver of relief passing through him.
She slides a piece of paper to him, still not looking up. “You’ll work out of this address.”
He takes the paper. “Thankses ma’ams bladses.”
“The house has space for a workshop in the back. It’s an old boarding house.” she says flatly.
“I gotsit ma’amses, I will work every night.” He stammers.
“There are seventeen beds.”
“Huh?” the goblin says, caught off guard.
“There are seventeen beds. The landlord only expects payment for one roof.” Her voice repeats before she glances from the paper to him. “You should get started.”
“Yes ma’am!”

Fox rolls her eyes hard as the goblin backs away bowing over and over before practically running out the door. She raises the paper up to her face to hide her smile.

So take me back
When I believed
Back when I was unafraid
Just like a thief
And all the heights
That I could reach
Back when I was unafraid
Just like a thief

“Mood’s improved?” Annix asks Fox as she’s closing the bar.
“Just needed to get back to what I’m good at.”
“Nothing to do with helping the downtrodden and forgotten?”
“Annix.” She says in mock chastisement. “Everyone knows the South Ward’s Blade is a selfish, greedy, reckless thief who you need to be careful around cause she’ll turn your misfortunes into her own profit. Don’t go ruining my reputation.”

The bartender shakes her head at the Blade as she leaves the Fox & Feather for home.

Continue reading...

The Last Rule
November 27th, 1882, - Novandria

The Den

Am I losing?

A Close Call

Plans

New Toys

Mistakes were made

Too close to home

Not like you.

This City is Mine.
February 6th, 1883

Aimless?
March 5, 1883 - Novandria

The Game Begins
February 13th, 1883

Too much like You
March 13, 1883

Safer in Shadows
April 3, 1883

New Beginnings
April 7th, 1883

Ready to Run
April 17th, 1883

Home
April 25, 1883

Can you steal a heart?
May 8th, 1883

Trouble
11th of May, 1883

Heartbreak
14th of May, 1883

Hunter or Prey?
16th of May, 1883

Guilt
19th of May, 1883

Untrustworthy
21st of May, 1883

Why am I like this?
25th of May, 1883

Worthy
8th of June, 1883

The One She Left Behind
13th June, 1883

Annnd it's back...
July 1st, 1883

Learning to Fly
July 4th, 1883

Thrill of the Hunt
July 29th, 1883

From the Embers
21st of August, 1883 // 1867

Mother Knows Best
16th of September, 1883

A Snake, a Star, and a Fox
25th of September, 1883, Novandria

It wasn't him.
28th of September, 1883, Novandria

The New Blade
13th of September, 1883

Something Good
October 31, 1883 - Novandria

The wound that won't close
18th of December, 1883 - Novandria

Promise
25th of December, 1883 - Novandria

Fallen through the cracks
6th of January, 1884 - Novandria

Day to Night
7th of January, 1884

What's Left to the Shadows
22nd of January, 1884, Novandria

The World without Colour
18th of February, 1884, Bellancourt, Montaigne,

Seventeen Roofs
26th of February, Novandria, Eisen

Crossing the Board
4th of March, 1884, Novandria, Eisen

New Freedom
May 4th, 1884

Saved
5th of May, 1884/16th of July, 1858

Seventeen Roofs

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