Alex O’Rose was having a bad day. Her attempt to liberate lunch ended with her having to wash dishes for over two hours. The cook kept Alex trapped in the back room with the simple method of standing in the doorway. At least the woman handed Alex a little leftover meat and vegetables rolled in a flat bread after the lunch rush was over.
She was still eating this when a voice from her nightmares commented, “That smells quite appetizing, little finder.” Alex jumped to her feet, dropping the rest of her lunch in the process and prepared to bolt down the hall. The flatbread roll never hit the ground. Instead a large masculine hand caught it in midair while another hand caught her shoulder in an iron grip.
“Where are you off to in such a rush?” Todd asked her. “Grandmother’s been looking for you. She is very annoyed you kept her waiting. She sent me over to hurry you up.” Alex gulped and watched as a large portion of her hard won lunch dance dangerously close to the warrior’s mouth.
“The cook is still serving,” Alex said frantically. “You have no need for my tiny morsel.”
“I saw you drop it,” Todd observed. “That is a sure sign you didn’t want it anymore.”
“I was just testing your reflexes,” Alex declared. Todd laughed. It was a truly frightening development.
“My reflexes are just fine, little finder. How are yours?” he asked, tossing the food back to her. She caught it roughly and began gulping the rest of it down before it disappeared on her again.
“Come along,” Todd said, “Grandmother is waiting.” He said it like she had a choice. Instead she was pushed forward without any effort on her part by the hand on her shoulder. They arrived quickly at the unguarded open door to a suite. With some unease, Alex realized it was the same suite Grandmother occupied on the last trip.
The room was too clean for a room in Chicago. The settlement was located in wildspace, which meant there was no protection crystal. Wild animals would colonize any room that wasn’t carefully secured. They gained access through the vents. Wall vents could be pinned shut to keep the vermin out. The pins failed and eventually needed to be replaced periodically. Any room that was left empty became cluttered with debris. Alex was born in the structure and didn’t question where the debris or animals came from. It was just a fact of life to her.
In the center of the main room, sitting on a strange chair made out of leather and wooden poles, was Grandmother. A long black staff was leaning against the old woman’s leg. She was using a large steel knife to clean her fingernails. The room was bare. There wasn’t even a touch of dust on the floor. The beast man from last time was standing against the back wall, beside one of the doors that led deeper into the suite. Next to the other door stood a different beast man. This one was slimmer, with large black eyes and sparkling white skin.
“Here he is,” Todd said. “I found him having a late lunch.”
“Oh?” Grandmother asked. “At least you look a little more substantial. I expected you hours ago, Alex O’Rose. I need something found.”
“Of course, of course,” Alex responded, she straightened herself up. “I can find anything,” she stated with pride.
“I am looking for a crafter,” the old woman declared. “Someone I knew in my youth. I need them for a little project of mine. They’ll be past their prime now. I can’t remember if they lost their hand or their foot. Or was that their brother? Anyway, they’ll be a little hard pressed now, without much family. Go and fetch them for me. I don’t want to waste another hour.”
The heavy hand lifted from her shoulder. Alex wanted to run, but she forced herself to nod at the old woman to display her professionalism as a finder. In a fit of boldness she asked, “Which craft do they practice?”
“I’m sure that doesn’t matter,” Grandmother replied.
“I’ll just go get them,” Alex replied as her boldness ran out. She rushed out the door. She kept going until she was out of sight of the door to the suite. From her earlier experience she knew that the unguarded door was nothing but a trap.
She racked her brain. Did she know an old crafter that was missing a hand or a foot? The old beggar that lived on blacksmith hall walked with a limp and he was missing an ear. Maybe he limped because he was missing a foot. Alex wasn’t certain he was a crafter of any kind. Now old Elizabeth, she was a leatherworker once, before age crippled her hands. She lived with a granddaughter, but Alex was pretty certain the granddaughter wouldn’t mind if the old woman went missing. She should have asked if the crafter was a man or a woman.
She’d try the beggar first. He may limp, but he got around fairly well. She was pretty certain she could get him over to Grandmother’s suite within the hour.
“It’s right here,” Alex told the old man. She bribed him with an iron coin to get him this far. She half dragged, half pushed the old man all the way here. She continued this effort until she got the old man into the door.
“Hmm…” Grandmother said with a frown. “Are you sure this is the right one?”
“It has to be him,” Alex defended. “You said a man right, the leatherworker is a woman. She is much more feeble, I don’t think she’d be much use to you.”
“Oh, no,” Grandmother said. “I didn’t say a man.”
“I already paid him an iron, surely he will do it.”
“Here,” Grandmother said, pulling a coin from her pocket. “Take your iron and go find me the other one.” She flicked the coin across the room to Alex. Alex caught the coin out of the air and stashed it into her pocket. She saw quite clearly as it flicked through the air that it wasn’t an iron, but a silver.
“She’s a little slow, with her joints,” Alex warned Grandmother. “I’ll bring her back as fast as I can.”
Alex rushed back out of the suite.
The old woman wouldn’t go.
“She just wants to talk to you,” Alex begged. “There could be coins in it for you. Look." Alex very carefully looked around, to ensure no one could see them before she pulled the silver coin from her pocket and showed it to the old woman. “She gave me this, for the old man. She’ll give you something. She’s a mean one, but she’s fair.”
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“Over by the west door is too far for me girl. I don’t care what you’ve been promised. It just isn’t happening,” Elizabeth countered.
“I’ll help you,” Alex promised. “Think of how happy your granddaughter will be if you bring home some value. Look this is the boss that brought in all the high tier crafting gear. Don’t you remember how well everyone did for a while after that? You just can’t say no to Grandmother.”
“I can say no to anyone, girl,” the old woman countered.
“She says she knew you in her youth,” Alex cried. “How can you say no to an old friend?”
“Everyone I knew in my youth is dead,” Elizabeth said flatly. “Describe this boss woman to me.”
“She is old like you, only more spry. She wears leather armor and carries a big steel knife. She moves like a skilled fighter, but mostly she sits on her stool and lets her underlings do all the work,” Alex described.
“That’s not much of a description," the old woman complained. “That could be anyone. What color is her eyes, her hair, her skin?”
“Her hair is silver,” Alex responded. “Her skin tone is a bit darker than usual, Todd’s is too. I don’t know what color her eyes are.” Alex admitted. They felt like dark pools of night when Grandmother looked at Alex. Her smile was the grin of a hunting animal right before the kill. Alex shook herself, realizing she was letting her fear color her descriptions. That wouldn’t get the old leatherworker to go.
“Who’s Todd?”
“One of her men. I think he is her right hand man. She has others too,” Alex said.
“Why do you say ‘others’ that way?” Elizabeth queried. Alex cursed herself again, the old woman picked up every one of her slips.
“They aren’t all men,” Alex said. Trying hard to mask her desire to say they aren’t all human.
“You’re not telling me anything to change my mind. I think you're fabricating that she knows me,” Elizabeth said, “cause you know the weakness of an old woman.” Alex racked her brain. She couldn’t go back without the old crafter. If Alex didn’t return, Todd would come find her. Her eyes studied the tiny back room where the old woman spent most of her time. Trying to come up with an idea. There was very little in the room. A spear lay on the floor close to where the old woman sat. She used it to rise and sit and hobble along.
“She carries a staff,” Alex said in desperation. She remembered the item leaning against the boss woman’s leg. It was the only new detail she could come up with. “A tall black staff. It isn’t a spear, it has no point.”
“A staff huh?” Elizabeth said. She turned her face to look at the young girl, pretending to be a boy. “You’re sure?”
“Yes,” Alex said triumphantly, she could sense victory. “She keeps it near at hand.” Alex didn’t mention Grandmother didn’t have it on the last visit. If Elizabeth knew someone in her youth that carried a staff, Alex would leverage that to get her moving.
“Help me up,” the old crafter said. “Let’s go see your Grandmother.”
Alex did her best to help the crafter, but she was just painfully slow. Alex could feel everyone staring at them as they hobbled down the hall.
“There it is just a few steps more,” Alex called as they rounded the last turn. The open, unguarded door was just ahead. There was no sign that anyone was in the room and Alex worried that they were too late. The old woman took a break only feet from the entrance. Alex shifted around anxiously as she waited for Elizabeth to recover. Alex peeked around the doorway first to see Grandmother still sitting on her stool.
“I’ve been waiting a long time,” Grandmother said, impatiently. “I almost sent Todd to find you.”
“Here she is,” Alex announced, leading Elizabeth through the doorway. “I found her, I can find anyone.” The old woman’s slow progress forward faded. She narrowed her whitish eyes and peered at the figure in the center of the room. She was leaning heavily on the spear in her hand.
“Irene?” the half blind crafter asked. Grandmother stood, her smooth flawless movement in sharp contrast to the crafter. The naked blade she held in her hand moments ago was gone. The staff was grasped in one hand but was somehow just an extension to it. Its long length was maneuvered with such skill that it came nowhere near any of them and was no barrier to the genuine hug Grandmother gifted the old crafter with.
“Lizzy!” Grandmother exclaimed. Yep, Alex thought as some of the tension drained from her, this was the right one. “I didn’t know you were still in Chicago.” Oh crap, Alex thought, if Grandmother didn’t know this woman was in town she couldn’t be the right crafter. A large hand came down from totally empty space and held her shoulder.
“It has been a long time,” Lizzy commented.
“Ellen,” Grandmother said, turning to a blank space along the wall. “Can you get Lizzy a chair and some refreshments while I finish with Alex O’Rose?” The wall shimmered and a woman in green stepped out to do Grandmother’s bidding. Alex knew it was a cloaking spell of some kind, but it worked so much better than the ones Alex knew that it frightened her. The fact that all of Grandmother’s people could see right through her spells didn’t help.
Old Elizabeth was led away, into one of the back rooms of the suite. The small talk Ellen was sharing with the old woman cut off suddenly, as a muffle spell was cast.
Alex tried to fidget under Todd’s hand, but she found it almost impossible to move at all. To her horror, Grandmother did not sit back down on her stool. Instead she circled around Alex, studying her.
“Well,” Grandmother said finally, “you actually finding someone I knew in my youth is a bit unexpected. Valin, is there a finder perk?”
“Yes, my lady,” the white beast man responded. The movements of his lips didn’t match the words. He revealed a frightening amount of very sharp teeth as he spoke. “But it doesn’t work on people.”
“Are you sure?” Grandmother asked. “I’d prefer a perk versus Narrative.”
“Very sure,” Valin responded. “Perhaps it is just a result of chance. You were here in your youth.”
“What do you think of our young finder? Would he work for you?” Grandmother asked.
“She is too old,” Valin answered. Alex cringed as the beast man so casually gave away her true gender.
“You think all the orphans are too young,” Grandmother countered. “How old are you, boy?”
“Fifteen,” Alex replied. Her relief at Grandmother still calling her a boy let what she thought was the true number slip from her. She wasn’t actually certain how old she was. Time passed mostly unmarked in Chicago and her mother was long dead. Grandmother frowned. With one last glance up and down Alex’s form she returned to her stool. She settled down, passing the staff from one hand to the other.
“Fifteen is old,” Grandmother conceded. “Still a few too young and one too old may balance out. Companion, go over to the orphanage and buy me the three oldest.”
“I have to go now,” Alex said suddenly, as she realized she’d fallen into some kind of trap similar to the cook’s. “I have people who depend on me.”
“Do you?” Grandmother asked. “Younger siblings perhaps? How old are they?”
“No, no siblings,” Alex said desperately, thankful that was true. “I care for my elderly mother,” Alex declared, as inspiration drove her. “I am all she has.”
“I knew a Rose once,” Grandmother said suddenly. “The last time I saw her was in Ellensburg. She was no crafter, but I feel I should have an introduction to your mother just incase she is the same Rose. Todd, journey with young Alex to retrieve his mother. Valin, go with them just to make sure Alex doesn’t get lost along the way.”
The large hand on her shoulder began to turn her around. Alex didn’t resist. Her best chances of escape started with getting out of this room.
“Which way?” Todd asked her at the door. He lifted his hand from her, allowing her to pick the direction. Alex saw that as progress, but did not for a moment think she could get away that easy. She took off in the direction of the shopping district as she decided who she could present as her mother. The only person she could come up with was the cook. She thought the cook was old enough to be her mother, maybe. Todd followed along behind her in the open. There was no sign of the beast man Valin, but Alex could feel him at her back.