Chapter 27 Cat Burglary part 3
We blew in with the wind and the snow, Bartel back in normal clothing, gone was the ghost in grey, in his place was a small man who would not catch anyone's attention. As I walked towards the bar I tried to reconcile the man who had scaled a wall and slit a throat with the man who was smiling now, in fact, it was enough to make me wonder if he didn't have a different personality, it wasn't the most pressing thing for me to be thinking about but it was by far the least depressing thing for me to be thinking about. I sighed and padded over to the booth we had apparently commandeered only to find the seat I normally had occupied by someone else.
Aldria sat there next to Sarena and sipping a drink of some unknown alcoholic origins if the smell as anything to go off of, they both glanced up and Sarena practically pushed her out of the way as she got in front of me and started a rather thorough inspection, running her eyes over almost every part of me and even turning me around to make sure I hadn't taken any sort of injury, when she had found nothing obvious she let out a sigh of relief and rested her forehead against my own, eyes closed and her hands resting on my shoulders.
“I really really don't like waiting behind and not knowing the outcome,” she whispered her breath coming out in short ragged movements as she slowly calmed herself down. Her cheeks were slightly flushed and it was obvious from the smell that she had been drinking, though I didn't think she had over-imbibed. I reached a paw out and grabbed the goblet she had placed on the table and winced slightly as my paw pad slid across the smooth surface. Her eyes snapped open and she stared at me before turning to look at the paw, the cup held halfway up to my mouth, Sarena’s dark hand contrasting with my own fur as she held the arm down at my wrist. “I don’t want you to drink, not until you tell me what has happened...”
“Let her take a drink Seri,” Bartel said sliding into the booth and summoning a smiling server girl over with a flick of his wrist, “Goddess knows we both need one.” My eyes flared wide with anger and I turned and looked at him, teeth bared in a silent snarl.
“The Goddess has nothing to do with it!” the words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, and everyone stared at me as I had just grown a second head. Closing my eyes I mewled to myself and raised my unrestrained paw and rubbed the bridge of my snout between my eyes for a second before I spoke again. “Rinmua apologizes,” I manage to get out, though it is hard, very very hard to keep that anger down now. “She has had a long and rather stressful night, and she would like a drink of her Seri’s drink and a large glass of milk to calm her nerves.” I open my eyes and look at Sarena who stared into my eyes and then nodded, before removing the hand holding the alcohol away from my mouth. I lifted the mug up to my lips and took a long draft of the stuff, filling it burn as it slid down my throat and into my belly, lighting a small fire within.
“It looks as though I will need to be taking a loan,” Sarena said looking back at Alria. I sighed as the liquid fire hit me and I wiped the foam off of my face with the back of a forepaw.
“Right, I have all the paperwork right here,” Aldria said, reaching into a bag and fishing out a contract that she carefully laid on the stained wooden boards that made up the table of our booth, she then fetched a quill and ink bottle out of the same case and turned to look at Sari. “Ready when you are.”
“Rin wonders what you are doing Seri?” I ask my free hand snatching at her arm, preventing her from fully turning to face Aldria. I placed the mug down and reached up with the hand, turning her face back towards me.
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“We need the money, kitten, and I would rather we owe a reputable bank than that Goddess abandoned whore,” she froze as she realized the words she had used but I only betrayed my displeasure of the use of her title even in an insult like that with the smallest of ticks.
It was rather touching that my lover cared enough about me that she was willing to contact a bank and go into debt to make sure I didn't get into trouble. Most people avoided the bank’s loans with a passion, seeing as they were likely to drown you in interest rates and the likes that compounded so quickly that even a small debt would return to them a hundredfold. In fact, it was so common for the debt to become uncontrollably large and cause the debt owner to flee that almost all banks had their own squads of bounty hunters and enforcers...
“No,” I say and reach down to my waist, pulling the pouch and depositing it into her hands. She reached down and opened the bag, her eyes widening to see the amount of silver in there. I had only taken a pawful, but it had been a rather large awful. There had to be at least twenty or more silver there in that bag, gleaming coldly up at her.
“I see,” she whispered. Before handing the entire bag over to Aldria, who took it and opened it with wide eyes.
“Is this stollen?” she asked in a hushed tone, making sure to hide the bag’s contents by retying the top when the server girl came back, with two tankers of ale and one of milk. “You do realize that there are serial numbers on these coins and each coin is from a group if you have stolen it and the person it was taken from had a proper ledger they can accuse you of theft?”
“Don't worry, it won't come up as stolen if anyone runs a check on it,” Batel said, his head leaning back against the booth wall, a small amount of foam dripping from the corner of his mouth.
“Rin should hope not...” I muttered, after all, we had swapped the coin for supposedly clean money at a fence, albeit at a completely unfair exchange rate…
“Good,” Aldria sighed and returned the contract and pen to her bag and smiled at the two of us. “In that case I will take this and lodge it in the vault tonight, when you need it in the morning come and see me.” she looked at Sarena and smiled, “I am glad it worked out, whatever this lucrative quest you two just underwent, though I hope you can find more,” she paused and smiled knowingly, “Shall we say reputable jobs in the future?” picking her case up she moved to leave but I stopped her from exiting the booth by standing in her way. “Yes?” she asked one eyebrow cocked.
“Rin wants to know why,” I say, ”She appreciates the help, she really does, but she can't help but wonder what your stakes are in all of this?” her smile died a little and an anger I hadn't seen before flared to life in her eyes but it was apparent at a glance that it wasn't directed at me.
“You are not the first adventurer to come to the bank needing a loan,” she glanced at me, “though, I am hoping you will be one of the last,” she smiled, “in fact, I am betting on it.” her smile turned dark. “And I am not normally the gambling type.” nodding at that I stepped out of the way and let her out of the booth. She didn't say another word, just bowed to us and left out the pub’s door and into the brisk winter chill.
“Now then,” Sari sighed her face turning hard as she looked at me, “show me that injured paw of yours.” it was not a request, it was a demand…
***
Dearest sister,
Much has happened since you left the tribe, and at the same time nothing has changed, I feel as though I am running atop the ice, my paws churning though I stay in the same place. Father has taken to staying in the Cham with mother for longer and longer, if they get any louder I swear I will tie them both to poles and make sure they can't get close enough to even touch tells let alone…
Well you know.
Kulan has just delivered her fourth litter of kits, it was the first time I have aided in such a process, and it has made me wonder what it would be like to carry my own kits. Though for that I would need a willing mate, and I do not have the allure of a tail such as yours, which honestly was wasted on you seeing as you don't even care for men…
I hope this letter finds you well, always your loving sister,
Turu.
P.S. we have swindled milk from trader Alten, he is giving us a better price, just shy of a silver now per pelt and he is giving us a small supply of milk, in fact it is almost gone as soon as he brings it, I do hope it does not have any side effects as I have ingested rather large amounts of it rather quickly a time or two...