Apricot turned around letting the warm stale wind do absolutely nothing about her high body heat. On the wide streets of Itar the short walls acted as nothing else but a glorified frying pan.

The metal city grew only more twisted and harsher over time. The ancient glistening capital turned into a rusted cesspit for the greedy and the poor. Here near the coast, it always rained, but before it did it was either freezing cold or scolding hot. With short quick steps, the many Talls who lived here, glided along the rusted metal flooring, in such a way as to get to and from their destinations as fast as possible. Swallowing her envy at the moving passer-by Apricot skipped from one leg to the other waiting for her friend to show up. It was early morning and the time when everyone who could hide inside their home, did exactly that. Fishermen already took to their ships, melders vented their orgone curves, which left mothers who needed to do their tasks before the rain really took.

Her efforts to spot her friend soon turned into a mix of squinting her eyes and twisting her head around. Avoiding the sunlight was always the part of waiting that felt almost pointless to her. On one hand it was an impossible task, the only way to win was to find some shade, a tall task, in a place that was designed to provide as little of it as possible. On the other hand, what else was she meant to do, just let the little sneaky bastard torment her eyes into blindness?

Despite her efforts she couldn't quite get rid of the worrisome thoughts in her head. Methodically and with nearly inexhaustible patience she grabbed the slivers of fear that tried to overwhelm her unfinished orgone curve network. Three days. The merchants were three days late. Only yesterday did the spotters at the tower sea anything. It was a bad omen, or rather a terrible one.

Late ships were never a good sign, especially so soon after winter, when Itar most relied on supplies from the mainland. Here on the island the soil was not fertile, if not strait up poisonous. And since the blood red sea was mostly barren the people needed regular deliveries of food, beer and wood.

her friend Tiamat was the spotter, she ran the length of the harbour and collected all relevant information about the ships and their crews. What they brought, how much, where is the crew staying at, are the ships damaged or short on people? everything that could be learned in a relatively short amount of time was collected and brought to speakers like her.

This should not be taking so long. her spotter Tiamat still being absent despite the time was worrying to say the least. It was moments like these that made her regret learning the miri language from the old speaker Taya. Granted being a speaker came with privileges, no stabbing the speaker, no stealing from the speaker and no screwing over the speaker, however in moments like these it felt like more a death sentence than anything else.

What happens if she fails to negotiate enough? with a tremble she remembered the time when the kind people of Itar, were generous enough to demonstrate what happens on the last speaker who failed to negotiate a deal. This was something that just happened once in a while. Merchants that sold them goods were almost exclusively bitter young people from the capital. Eager enough for some quick cash, selling cheap goods on highly inflated prices, however still proud enough to make it hard on their Tall clientele. Once a couple of years the speaker failed. perhaps there simply was not enough or the merchant was grumpy. One time, and a new speaker got a chance at offering his or her services.

The fear that one day the ships wont sell them their goods and the people of Itar will tear her to shreds in misguided rage made her regret her past choices. With renewed vigilance she quickly extinguished the few slivers of fear that with the speed of lightning slipped into her centre when she was in fought. now more than anything she needed to be happy, and calm. While forcing calmness was beyond her, maintaining joy was all to easy. Perhaps it was not the smartest of ideas to force emotions now, but she need this. Tia i swear if you just stopped to smell some weird flower that managed to grow in the harbour i will personally rip your head of.

Her anxiety turned out to be unfounded, within the next few skips and twists of her nek she finally saw her friend. As Tia rushed near her with a huge grin on her lip and a small wave of her hand, she called out “Hey Api! did i keep you waiting long?” Tiamat voice was filled with cheer. Her friend presented herself in a sheen of sweat with her long black sticking to her face and masking her rather short strait black horns.

she and the short girl were like sisters. They grew up in the same part of the city, and had their fair share of joint adventures when they were younger. Though really Tia had her adventures and decided to take her along. It was a relief to sea her happy with an ear splitting grin on her face.

Seeing her friend gently and rhythmically swaying her tail made relief flood her. It would seem that her execution was postponed by another month. Excited to hear the good news she quickly asked "yes i am fine, but how is everything, the ships, how many did arrive?”

all her relief nearly left her as she saw her friend hesitate "yes the ships are fine, there are only three but two of them are bigger than i ever saw, had more cargo to, i had to ask around about them and stuff."

Guided by anxiety, yet trusting in her friends words she started walking "if everything is fine then tell me on the way to the harbour. I am already late". walking, yes walking, it always calmed her down, took her mind of of what was before her.

With a vice grip on the bits of joy that she had left and the same practiced step as the passer-by, they started fast walking in the direction of the ships. soon their conversation picked up as Tia was eager to share all she found out about the new arrivals. "First are the two big ones, and when i say big i mean big, bigger then i ever saw"

with a small tilt of her head, and worry in her voice she questioned " big how?" "is it not a cargo ship?"

"it is a cargo ship, as i said they have more cargo than usual, their just different. Each one carried came in with a couple dozen barrels and boxes. I'd say about twice as much food as a normal ship. No wood though"

Food is good, If each one has twice as much as a regular ship, than with the third and supposedly regular one, that makes for a bit more than half as much as they need. That was good enough, far from ideal, it was likely that some less than happy citizens will find her at night to rough her up, but still better than the alternative. That was, of course given she manages to negotiate a good enough deal. She tightened her fist "are their any other ships coming"

Tia looked at her from the side " their might be, the third one is the small Farrell from Doriel's merchant company's fleet"

she swallowed but nodded her head for Tia to continue.

"coming back to those big ones, their are both captained by someone named Tew Vurn"

she knitted her brows at the new name, it tickled strangely at her memories. "which company does he work for?"

momentarily a grin planted itself on her friends face. "That's the thing he doesn't. His ship is painted with the crest of a noble. "

vita left out a soft chuckle, now her friends excitement made sense. Tia continued” I know i screwed up the last couple of times, but please this is our chance, this time he is perfect"

quite frankly she herself wanted to get out of Itar as fast as possible, but the people Tiamat chose to help them leave were becoming more and more of a problem. when they were younger they managed to sneak on a merchant ship and reached the mainland as helping hands. But they barely saw anything of the kingdom itself, the low rank merchants could not invite them on land. Only those ships that were sponsored by nobles held the right to invite non certifed sailors . At the time she and Tia were forced to sleep out on the cold and empty ship for a full month before sailing back to Itar.

The experience was educational. With what they learned they got more of a framework for the next time. And there were many next times. As it turned out, those who did have the rights of invitation as if in collusion would never share them with any Talls that hitched a ride. because they have failed so often in the past her friend was starting to turn to less reputable sort who promised to smuggle her in, at a price. At those times she always had to figure out ways to keep her friend out of trouble.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

she was relieved that Tia was once again interested in entering the mainland lawfully, in fact the news excited her greatly. Ever since she became the speaker four years ago she became more willing to go along with Tia, if she ever found anything reliable enough. Entering the mainland unlawfully presented problems, hiding their Tall ancestry seemed a bit to likely to fail.

These were big ships she said, an extra person or two cannot possibly make to much of a difference right? and as the speaker she was bound to be one of the few that would talk with the captain. There still existed the problem, that in her experience, people with crested ships were not necessarily all to eager to invite Talls on land. But Tia was not stupid, there had to be something that made her believe that this captain Tew would in fact allow them to step of the ship. The more she thought about it, the more sense it made. Even if it doesn't work out and the captain won't allow them to step of his boat they will have still left the island for a while, cannot be killed, if i am not here right.

“Captain Tew you say, i am all ears"

They had other things to talk about, and with each steel block they passed they were loosing time, however she needed the distraction. Besides quite possibly this journey could save her life.

With her question something shifty stepped into her friends eyes. "He is experienced and sailed the seas under the kingdoms flag for at least five years"

Not quite understanding what her friend tried to lead into she tilted her head.

"his ship the precious, carried him across the black sea for nine". "He came hear not just to sell, but buy all the fools iron we can offer"

"Stop" with a raise of her hand she interrupted

then with a sharp look questioned her friend "what did he do for the odd four years before he started sailing under the kingdoms flag". wanting to buy fools iron was strange but not unprecedented. besides it was not what Tia was trying to hide.

Tiamat visibly swallowed her grief with Apricot's attitude and with resignation explained. "he is a privateer. Besides the kingdoms flag there was another." "the other flag was a white hourglass with open jaws of a monster painted on black” Apricot stilled that was a pirate flag. Privateer was just a nice way of saying that someone in the kingdom paid him to work for them temporarily.

“Are you crazy! you stay away from him. Just because the kingdom funds his travels does not make him any less of a criminal,” Apricot spoke sharply. Captain Tew may have brought food, and they will buy all that they can, but involving themselves any further was a recipe for disaster. "we will not involve ourselves any further than we need to, end of discussion"

Perhaps holding on to her joy made her irrational in some way. Perhaps, it made her incapable of properly appreciating the danger of her position. Perhaps sailing away on his ship, was the solution to her problems. But here and now, she wouldn't trust this man to be some, quick fix, get it for cheap, solves all your problems mix. All people form Itar knew, or at least should know, not to trust pirates. As the least protected island of Marveria, they knew better than to trust in the words or promises of some fancy raiders.

“But he needs a few extra hands to set sail, he has already gathered the few Rialti who can speak miri in the tavern, if you can just talk to him, you could get us on his ship" Tia countered with passion in her eyes, however for Apricot nothing but problems entered her network.

People didn’t travel to Itar, only from. Whatever reason Tiamat’s deer captain Tew lacked a couple of men was a sign to stay away. For all she knew he either killed them, or purposefully took to the deep sea, were true monsters lurked. Any decision to go there always costed a few lives. This perfectly reasonable argument would not faze her friend, she was eager to the point of desperation. Each winter she worried that her friend would just stop waiting and searching for a way out and try and walk the ice, only to fall under and drown like all those who tried to do so before. Thankfully she didn't need to convince her friend to stay away from the pirate, her friend could not speak miri, so without her help she will not be getting on that ship.

"End of discussion. we buy what we need, and don't involve ourselves further."

"they will kill you if we don't leave!"

"end of discussion"

"Api Please"

"END OF DISCUSSION!"

"..." there was hurt in her friends eyes. After a moment of silence, she wanted to at least attempt to explain. “Tia just because he is a privateer, does not make him any less of a pirate. chances are he probably cannot even invite anyone on land. Nobles would not trust any of his ilk with the rights of invitation. Even if by some miracle you will make it in one piece, you won’t get to see more of Marveri than its harbour, if not less”.

"no, you were right, end of discussion". Her hope of convincing Tia to drop this, were dashed, she knew what that look meant. Their was no doubt in her mind that they will be speaking about this again. And rather soon at that she imagined, no ship stayed for long in Itar, her friend will have to hurry.

they walked a while in uncomfortable silence, she didn't quite know how to get back to what they were talking about. Before long they stepped into the harbour. the much cooler wooden flooring allowed them to slow down. For but a moment she let her mind drift into her surroundings. Listening in on the waves as their calm and cruel face swayed the boats in a steady rhythm. Their wooden sides bouncing on the worn rotten pier of Itar. It made her forget for a bit about her troubles, yes she liked that, forgetting that is. Unfortunately life is for those who remember the past so that they seek a better future, with that thought in mind she shook her head and looked at the water. The many metals that were plentiful on the island made the water as red and thick as blood.

The harbour was the rich part of the city, made out of wonderful wood, cool enough in the heat and warm enough during winter. That being said the constant rain made the wood rot, combined with the smell of fish, and the red metallic sea it made for a nasty scent that she never could get used to, or get out of her hair or clothes. But despite that it still made for better housing than the metal city. There the once gleaming walls rusted into a disgusting brown. It cut at exposed skin whenever it could, and made both the heat and cold insufferable. Before her thoughts could really escape her in any way Tia started the conversation again.

“Fine, fine I will find another more trusted ship, happy”. Letting out a sigh of relief she answered her friend “Tia I am not happy. I will speak with him, and if i think, there is a chance he won't skin us, for parts i will revisit the idea of leaving with him. trust me I want to leave too, but not if it means a brutal death”. “Yeah whatever, there are three ships this time and their all loaded with food and clothing, go to Modest first, i still need to find out where Tews crew is sleeping and when their planning to leave”

she knew her friend did not mean what she said but appreciated the change in topic nonetheless. They continued on with their discussion, Tia informing her about everything she saw that could be relayed. Slipping into a routine forged by years of experience.

“Alright and you are Shure that they brought twenty crates.” “yes I am Shure”. Arriving at the end of the harbour they once again entered the metal part of the city and headed towards the huts owned by the company. As a part of their business the merchant company rented out a bunch of buildings for their men, to stay in, when they arrived at Itar. “alright Tia you go find out where the crested ships crews are resting while I get to it with Modest, we will reconvene in two hours." Tia quickly nodded her head, and ran of.

As soon as Tiamat left Vita’s line of sight she started opening and closing her mouth as a form of practice. The Rialti language miri was unreasonable complicated in her eyes. For one it used sound not orgone, which to her Tall reasonability’s was just an exercise at torturing her tongue. Because of this it was rare for anyone here in Itar to speak it. Talls didn’t use it and the criminals from other islands addapted to Tall dialects out of necessity. After a few generations only a small number of people could speak any sound languages.

She softly sounded out the various letters used in miri “ o, ffffe, kii, a, aaa”. It was honestly quite funny in her opinion, miri had thousands of words many of which described the same thing but in a slightly different way. The people from the mainland argued with passion about the superiority of their treasury of words. In her opinion both languages had their uses, and were created out of necessity in qual measure. That being said, a sound language, like miri, or revulian somehow still managed to be many times more confusing than needed to be. It felt like, the people who made it, added bits, just to confuse the future generations. Ever so slowly it was starting to rain and ever so promptly she was getting closer to her destination.

Apricot liked walking in silence. In general, walking helped her think and made concentrating a lot easier. Just as the rain took and wetted her hair, she arrived at the heavy metal door. She could hear the ruckus inside, the cheer and joy. A sign of a successful journey, Information, which did not fit the small number of arrivals. With two loud knocks and a moment of wait the doors opened and a muscular man with tanned skin, and a head full of short, curly, brown, hair invited her in.

The inside of the small house was just as hot as the outside but with comfortable wooden floors and bright jars of liurim, which made the inside cosy enough. The house was nothing but a small square with a long table and a second room for beds. The small Farrell was headed by captain Modest, a junior merchant from Doriels merchant fleet of eight ships. the captain was seated at the very end surrounded by his merry men.

She would freely admit that negotiations were not her strong suit. Rather speaking in general was the issue. She knew, how to talk, given time she could compose and shout a speech for all the world to hear, however conversing demanded two participants. It just so happened, that she preferred to not be either one of them.

This was especially, when it cam to Negotiating with miri. Using the language made her feel like a cripple, especially when compered to her negotiation partners. In her experience, sailing merchants were always trouble to deal with. Though small blessing that it was Modest was perhaps the most willing to compromise, mostly because he did not mind dealing with Tall’s, as the other merchants did.

“miss Apricot, so nice of you to come, please take a seat"