-Dance’s Odds and Ends-

[A nomadic antique shop that changes location at least once a year. There is a main branch in Market City, but it is only open the first week of each month when Dance, the owner, returns home. While most locations Dance chooses are in the Human Realm, rumors report she’s opened locations in the Demon Realm before.]

It had been a few days, and neither Ari nor Xeron had heard from Ensaru again. Ari, for one, was beginning to get impatient. The fact their investigations into the Mienr and the New Spire Empire were going so poorly was not helping her mood.

She'd also been trying to do some aetherology research - which was not her strong suit, it's probably the thing she struggled with the most. The books involved were just so boring, and she felt she learned best by actually doing things herself, rather than simply reading about it. Xeron had brought up the day after something she thought was strange, and perhaps even suspicious: That golden aether that Ensaru had channeled. Alas, in the four tomes she'd read, she hadn't found anything about it. Perhaps there were records of golden aether in other places, such as the illustrious School of Towers, but the books she read were devoid of it. She had found some interesting accounts of oddly colored aether, but they were all darker, seemingly corrupted shades of regular aether colors. She desperately wanted to ask Orun about it, he was much more knowledgeable about these things than anyone else she was close to.

And so, Recen approaching the Hunter pair with a side job was a welcome distraction. She paid them fairly generously for a job that would take them only a few hours. It was a simple task, there was a store on the surface near the edge of city limits, that had something she needed them to pick up for her.

Of course, things were never as simple as they sounded. They’d encountered a few different snaps on their way up to the surface.

Recen had recommended they take the Western lift to the surface, but they were only able to make it to the third layer before it stopped, and some mechanical issues prevented it from moving again. It remained out of service for nearly the entire day. They decided to gamble and take the Northern lift. On the way there, however, they were stopped by two young kids, a brother and sister, who asked for their help finding their parents. It didn’t take long to find them, as Ari recognized the name of the store the kids said their parents were at. However, the parents were quite talkative, much to Ari’s dismay. They thanked them with a small tip, a handful of Venn each, and explained how they always told their kids to look for people in coats with their emblem on it if they were in trouble. Apparently some Hunters had escorted the father to Ish’din a few years back, and were impressed at how kind and charitable said Hunters were during the trip.

Well, Ari thought to herself, Some Hunters are like that. Most are just in it for the money. She understood those types well, she felt. After all, the generous pay Yenva was offering was a large part of why she suggested she and Xeron take on her Hunt. The other part was that she was curious what an assassination mission would actually entail. She hadn’t expected to be roped into all of these extra-curricular tasks. It was clear Yenva was getting impatient, and she’d likely push them to act sooner, rather than later. Xeron assured her most assassination missions are quick, usually one or two nights of working before the job is completed, and payment is delivered.

Then there were the special missions the Red Cloaks went on, especially folks like Rel and Kared. Those two were gone for several months at a time working on a single job. Ari had no real idea what went on during those missions to make them take so long, but she had heard rumors that many of them involved either killing or getting their targets arrested for very serious crimes. She’d love to go on one, someday, and see for herself what it was like. First, however, she’d need to become a Black Cloak, and more likely than not, a White Cloak. Then she’d have to work hard to gain Danfis’s trust and be given a Red Cloak. She fantasized about the idea a lot.

After finally making it to the surface, Ari and her brother needed to locate the shop in question. They began by heading over to where the Western lift would have taken them, then from there the continued straight West until the buildings began to thin out. Ari didn’t mind being underground, but she couldn’t deny that the fresh, cool Tsu’ra air felt incredibly refreshing.

All they had to go off of to find the building was a rough description of where it was, and the name of the shop. Recen told them there was a sign on the front door with the name on it, and that it “shouldn’t be hard to find.” They’d only spent thirty minutes searching before Ari began to doubt that statement.

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They did find it eventually, a small shop by the name of “Dance’s Odds and Ends.” Dance, they found out shortly after entering, was a human girl, who looked to be a teenager, no older than Ari was. She was dressed in a dusty brown apron over a gray blouse and black utility pants, her black hair tied in a tight bun. She fit in nicely with the dusty wooden furniture, and the various antiques that covered the countertops and shelves. “Ah, the Hunters. You must be here in Recen’s place, correct?” The shopkeeper asked. Her general tone of voice suggested she was far older than Ari had guessed, and contrasted starkly with her youthful appearance.

Ari stepped forward and confirmed, before Dance led them into a room at the back. The room was lined with shelves along the walls, and several in the central space as well, all of which were filled with strange artifacts. Ari stopped by an ancient looking tome, and inspected the plaque describing the spell inside. The spell supposedly used a small amount of your own blood as an additional fuel, and required a foluk-aspected crystal, and a sentem-aspected crystal. In result, you got a very powerful spell that sucked everything and everone nearby to a single point, and set them ablaze. A warning was inscribed at the bottom of the plaque: “Warning: This spell affects the user as well, and has a rather painful additional material cost.” Why on Spire would someone use a spell like that? Ari asked herself, moving onto another plaque nearby.

She read several plaques, for various spell tomes, scrolls, and even enchanted artifacts with interesting effects. They ranged anywhere from highly beneficial to the user, to highly detrimental to the target, and like that first spell, highly detrimental to both, as well as their surroundings. One of the bracelets caught her eye, as it supposedly enhanced all spells with an “ari” command. She briefly considered buying it before seeing the exorbitant price tag of over three hundred thousand Venn.

Dance disappeared behind a counter, and reappeared a few moments later, a black suitcase in hand. It seemed heavy by the way she practically dragged it on the floor. She eventually heaved it onto the counter. “Here it is, this is what she asked for,” Dance said, sitting on a stool that was high enough to put her at eye level with Xeron. She had to jump a bit to get onto the seat.

“Recen didn’t send us with any payment,” Xeron began explaining.

“Oh don’t worry about that, the money part is already taken care of.” Dance waved a hand in dismissal. “Ol’ Muwal will be able to open it, she should be familiar with the lock on top already.”

Ari stepped up and looked at the top of the box, which had a white, arcane-looking symbol embossed on top. It featured several geometric shapes intermingling with one another, as well as writing in Alten cut into the white leather. Ari had no knowledge of how to actually read Alten, but she recognized the shape of some characters from when Orun gave her a lengthy lecture on the language and its importance for magic.

“What exactly is this place?” Ari asked, as Xeron dragged the case off of the counter, stumbling slightly before rebalancing himself.

“Recen really told you nothing about where she was sending you?” Dance asked, an almost mocking tone to her voice, “You Hunters really will do just about anything for the right price, huh? Anyway, ‘Dance’s Odds and Ends’ is my antique store, and while it’s just a front for my real business back here, I do have a lot of passion for collecting, selling, and trading antiques. But my real money maker is the selling and trading of various artifacts. Spells that probably shouldn’t be used, rings and necklaces that will grant you boons, in exchange for a small curse. Stuff like that.”

“Interesting,” Xeron commented, “You say it’s where you earn most of your money? What kind of customers do you usually get?”

“All sorts, really. I have a very strict ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy. I respect my customers’ privacy, and as such don’t ask what they’re going to use the item for, and don’t give out any of their names.”

“I see, that’s respectable, I suppose. Do you provide any other services? Such as, say, information brokering?” Xeron asked further.

“Depends who's askin’.” Dance gave a wry smile.

Xeron simply nodded politely, and Ari copied the gesture, before following her brother out of the store.

“What a strange store,” Ari mumbled once they’d made some distance from the store.

“I agree,” Xeron said with a nod, switching the box from one hand to the other, “I’ve heard rumors of such places, I never expected I’d actually go inside one. There were some interesting sounding things in there, though.”

“True. If they weren’t so expensive, I would have considered buying something.” They walked in silence for a bit, before Ari changed the subject. “Any idea what’s in the box? Is it very heavy?”

“It’s a little heavy, but the real issue is that it’s so unbalanced. As for what’s inside, I have no idea. It must be packed pretty tightly, it doesn’t jostle around at all while walking. Not to mention the store we just picked it up from. It could be almost anything.” Xeron had a ponderous expression when he finished, a rare sight on someone like him.