Scouring for Magpies

[Dianelopa]

"Alright," said Dianelopa. "I'll be here tomorrow at this time with the birds..bird. But I need a cage for..it. I can make one but I can't finish it so fast. Perhaps you have one?" She had already decided that she had to bring two birds even though he only wanted one. The risks of dealing with a single bird were too great. But she decided she wouldn't discuss that any more. He seemed quite unmoved by the danger he was asking her, himself and his master to face. Dianelopa knew this because her mother had told her already as a little child to avoid even seeing just a single magpie if possible and if she did see one she knew what to say to it to avert danger. But that wouldn't work if she had to put it in a cage and carry it through the city to Benjamin. That she was sure of.

[Anja]

Hmmmmm. A cage. Benjamin mulled over this for a brief moment. "Yes, I'm sure that can be arranged. I will have to fetch it."

The problem with this was, of course, that he would end up telling Anja, rather sooner than planned, of his executive decision to hire the girl. An executive decision that went rather beyond the call of duty, something that Anja would probably prefer Benjamin leaving to her. She would not simply loan away a cage without knowing absolutely everything that Benjamin had done that day, with whom he had spoken, precisely why he needed the cage, and when it would be returned. And the old hag can spot a lie even if it's in your shoe...

"...and I'm afraid I will have to bring you along in order to do so. My master, bless her heart, is immaculate when it comes to the state of her inventory, and she will wish to meet the loaner. She will also wish to ask you some questions, if you are to be hired, and I'm certain that, having answered those questions satisfactorily, everything will be much more open and comfortable between all of us. Perhaps when you are finished at work, you can meet me by the east bridge out of town? We have an atelier by the water there, usually reserved for the comfort of clients, in which said interview can take place. It is even on your way out of town!"

As Benjamin spoke, he tucked in his coinpurse, returning it to his breast pocket along with his tobacco pouch, rolling papers, and pipe. He made sure that the ashtray lid was on properly, and that his place was clean, before standing up and adjusting the lapels on his coat. He plucked up a sturdy, tasteful, and finely carved oaken cane with a smooth, spherical ebony crown, and smiled at Dianelopa. "I am afraid I must take my leave for now. What do you say?"

[Dianelopa]

"Well," said Dianelopa, "maybe someone here in the city would lend us a cage." She frowned. The way the elf was talking his master sounded difficult at best and going there for a cage seemed like an unnecessary waste of time, although she was sure it wouldn't take long to catch the birds once she was a bit out of the city.

[Anja]

Hmmm. The girl's suggestion was indeed tempting. This way, he could put off telling Anja about his offer until he had actually returned bearing the fruits of the offer. Nonono, the risk is too great. But perhaps... Yes, this will do...

The idea struck Benjamin quickly, and with a delightful warmth in his neurons. Or maybe that was the ale...

"In that case, I will trust you to obtain a cage by your own wits. And of course, with a bit of money, if necessary."

Benjamin reached into his coinpurse and offered her two bishani, which should have been enough for a multitude of cages. It never hurts to look like a big spender on the first meeting. A show of benevolent power is the best way to inspire confidence, sometimes. Besides, this is a good test. If she returns the change, she is trustworthy. I will inform Anja of the exchange, and have the old sorceress keep track of this girl's movements. Soon, we shall see if she can be trusted.

None of these thoughts were apparent on Benjamin's smiling, guileless face. It was a small subterfuge, after all. One that might occur to a housewife, a shopkeeper, or an artisan of any trade, and, were it to float to the surface, the effects would hardly be catastrophic. One expects such things of businessmen.

[Dianelopa]

Dianelopa was surprised that he offered bishani to get a cage since in the country a neighbor would lend one for free, but she decided that things were done differently in the city, so she took the money. "Maybe they'll let me go now," she said. "If I wait til we close it will be past everyone's bedtime." With that she left the elf and went to the bartender.
"I need to leave now," she told him. "It's important business. I'll come back when I'm done."
The bartender looked at her in surprise, and then his glance wandered over to where Dianelopa had been serving. He saw the old elf. "His business?" he asked.
"No," said Dianelopa. "Someone elses."
"Who then?"
Dianelopa didn't know exactly why she thought she ought to say nothing about this. It was just a feeling. "I'll be back soon," she said. "Can I go now?"
"He gave you a tip, didn't he, the old elf."
Dianelopa nodded. That seemed the best explanation for the coins he'd given her.
"We split it," said the bartender, "and you can go."
Dianelopa wasn't happy about giving away the coins that were supposed to be for the birdcage, but she figured she had no choice.
Once outside, she took a deep breathe of the outdoor air, not the pure air of the countryside, but nicer than in the pub. It was still daylight, the streets were busy, and she had a puzzle to solve; how to get a birdcage. She wasn't sure how to begin, but was hoping she'd get some clues. Getting the birds would be easy in comparison.
After walking down the main street for a while and seeing nothing but one shop after the other, none of them with either birds or cages, she decided it might be better to try one of the many narrow allies leading off of the main street. The first one she went down was indeed narrow and crooked. A carriage wouldn't even fit there. The houses leaned against each other, many had their windows open and she could see people inside, matrons preparing a meal, children pulling each other's hair, a husband screaming at his wife. None of them had a birdcage hanging in the front hall, something people in Shin sometimes had.
She tried an alley on the other side of Main Street, but she hadn't gone far when she sensed someone pattering along behind her near enough that she could feel his breathe on her back. She stopped suddenly and turned. The man was so close he bumped into her and Dianelopa felt his hand sliding into her pocket where she had the coins. She grabbed the hand lightning fast and held with an iron grip. The thief was so surprised that he simply gawked, the contents of her pocket still in his hand.
"Give it to me," Dianelopa commanded holding onto him with one hand and ready to take the coins with the other.
The thief dropped the coins into her hand. But Dianelopa didn't let go. "Now, tell me," she said. "You know this city, you do. Where can I find a birdcage?"
"You want to steal a birdcage?" he said now more surprised than ever.
"No," said Dianelopa. "I want to borrow one."
The thief laughed a funny crooked kind of laugh. "I'll show you," he said. "If you let me go."
"If you try to run away, I'll catch you," said Dianelopa with such an air of certainty that the thief who knew well how to hide in crowds almost believed her.
"I won't run," he said. Perhaps he had ulterior motives, who knows, but he did in fact stay beside Dianelopa as they scuttled through the alleyways. Finally he pointed to a house that had a cage hanging over the entry way. There was a bird in it. As Dianelopa gazed at it, wondering how to solve the problem of the cage already being inhabited, the thief disappeared.
She peered into the house and saw several men in the first room drinking tea and playing some game. "Hey," she called.
The men turned to stare at her, but said nothing.
"I wonder..." said Dianelopa.
"Seems so," one of the men grunted. "What do you want?"
Dianelopa suddenly felt her courage slipping away and the awful shyness coming back. All she could do was to point to the birdcage. Her voice had for the moment disappeared.
"You want the bird?" The man laughed. "She wants the bird," he told the other men. They all started to laugh in a lewd way that made shivers go down her back.
"The cage," Dianelopa finally got out, but she was ready to run.
There was more lewd laughter. But none of the men moved to get up, so she calmed herself down a bit.
"I will give you a bishani for it," she said. "And bring it back tomorrow as well."
"Let me see the money," said the man.
Dianelopa took the coin from her pocket and held it up.
"What do I care. A coin in the hand is better than a bird in a cage, isn't it?" he said to his friends who all apparently thought this was terribly funny. He got up then and came to the hallway where Dianelopa and the birdcage were. He took the birdcage with bird down. "The money." he said.
When Dianelopa gave him the coin, he thrust the cage in her hand. "Bring it back tomorrow," he growled in his lewd way.
"Yes, yes," said Dianelopa and scurried off as fast as she could. This city was seeming more and more disturbing to her the more she saw of it. The thought of getting out of the city into the forest beyond the bridge was both comforting and pleasurable.
By now it was getting dark. The magpies would be sleeping by the time she reached the forest and that would make it difficult to find them. During the day their chatter would give them away. Sure, she could see them in the dark, if she knew where they were. But she didn't. It would be easier in the daylight. So Dianelopa went home to the pile of straw in a cubby hole beside a stall where she slept. She put the birdcage there and covered it with straw, hoping the bird would be quiet. Then she went back to the tavern to work.

In the morning Dianelopa was awoken by the bird that seemed to be annoyed. "Ah , its just as well you woke me," she told it. "We have to take a little walk."
"Kwauk," said the bird.
"I wish I could leave you here, but you'd just fly away and I promised to bring you back. But you will make it harder for me to catch the magpies." Dianelopa eyed the bird for a while, she was tempted to let it go. "Maybe those men don't want you anyway." But in the end she decided she had to take the bird in the cage while she searched for magpies.
The sun was shining, the breeze gentle and beginning to warm up as Dianelopa left the city, crossed the bridge and entered the forest that stretched along the river. It was a new place for her. She didn't know its peculiarities and that made her a little uneasy. But it smelled good and fresh, of trees, earth, dried pine needles, flowers here and there, decaying wood, and small creatures. Dianelopa was overcome with a great desire to run and dance. It was like sudden freedom. She put the birdcage down on the ground because it banged against her legs. Ah why did I ever leave the country she thought. And she forgot about the magpies, the bird and cage she'd left behind and why she was there in the first place. It was only when she bounded out into a clearing and saw how high the sun was in the sky that she noticed first, that she was hungry and then that she had a task to accomplish. Eeeh she said outloud where did I leave the birdcage?
At that moment she heard the chatter she' should have been listening for. She spotted them quickly, a flock of magpies up in a tree at the edge of the clearing. There were so many she couldn't count them. Her hunter instinct took over and she withdrew quietly to a place where she could watch and easily pounce when a bird came near enough.
It didn't take long. She had grasped the two magpies she was convinced she had to present to the elf. They, of course, did not like it and struggled in her hands, screaching, pecking and trying to escape. Normally if she were going to bring birds home for food, she would put an end to their struggles if she were so far from home, but she had to bring these back alive. Now I need the cage she thought. Whatever did I do with it? With that thought she suddenly felt disoriented. She hadn't paid attention where she'd gone.
I should be able to follow my trail back she thought. But with the two magpies screeching and pecking at her hands she was having a hard time concentrating. The sun was moving on toward the west.

When Dianelop finally reached the pub with the birdcage and the three birds in it, she was sure she was late and she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. I failed she was thinking. He's going to be so angry. She was afraid to open the door and go in. Either he'd be there and be shouting at her or he'd already be gone.

[Anja]

Benjamin smiled to himself as the girl hurried out the door. Willing to up and leave her job on the overtures of a stranger. Definitely not a city girl. He strolled out into the street, swinging his cane idly back and forth as he swaggered off to the industrial district. He pushed aside the aching premonitions that tickled the back of his mind, telling him that Anja would be pissed. Of course, he would have to tell her. His idle presence in the sewers couldn't be explained any other way, and Anja would know it if he were to simply sit at home and later act like he had been out all day and night hunting magpies.

...that fact alone is a bit eerie. How the hell does she do it? His carefree gait betrayed none of these ruminations, aside from a slight slowing of pace as he neared a forgotten grate with missing bars, nestled into a depression in the ground bordering a tired old scrap yard. He slipped through the entrance, letting himself gently down the three feet of darkened space between his foot and the cold, wet cobblestone. As his toe touched ground, he let go of the grate and began pacing through the well-known pitch.

Rounding a corner, he gave a startled jump. There was Anja, right in front of him. Puck was behind her, and translated as she gurgled mirthlessly at the venerable old elf.

"She- she wonders how you expect to find a magpie without leaving town, and who it was you were talking to at the cafe."

Benjamin shook his head in disbelief. How the hell does she do that? "Well, I've enlisted the aid of a young lady, a farm girl, who seems to know a thing or two about birds. I'm meeting her this time tomorrow. Be assured, she will have the birds in tow!"

Anja eyed Benjamin for a long second before nodding slowly. She gurgled a simple affirmative, which Benjamin had long since learned to recognize as a wary "alright, then". There was a moment of awkward silence, in which Anja stared dominantly at her employee for a full thirty seconds before turning about and clattering slowly off down the hallway. Puck followed her, smiling ruefully over his shoulder to his friend. Benjamin smiled back and watched them walk off, sighing before performing an about-face and returning to the grate.

Grey light slipped through the bars, folded over by his shadow as he hauled himself up and out into the daylight. Time to head home...

************************************************

The day came back quickly, almost vengefully, if you were to ask the gentle old elf. It struck his eyes with merciless exactitude precisely three hours after he had closed them. Damn book kept me up all night, he grumbled to himself as he hauled up his tired body and eased into his trousers. His tastefully decorated, well-furnished room looked at him with expectancy from all sides. As if to appease it, he got up from a sitting position and drew a bath.

Two hours later, his leisurely morning ablutions complete, and little else on his schedule, he found himself at the same little streetside cafe, even the same table, enjoying the same ale, but reading a rather different edition of the Town Crier. Big wall surrounding the city, eh? That might mean an infringement on the sewers during construction. Best let Anja know about that...

Time passed, slowly and comfortably, as he ordered ale after ale. He didn't look at his pocketwatch, and wasn't even the least bit concerned by the passage of the sun. It sat unnoticed, in the west, nestled over the rooftops behind his newspaper, as Dianelopa neared the doors leading to the enclosed patio cafe.

[Dianelopa]

But it wasn't the elf who confronted Dianelopa when she finally pushed the door open and tried inconspicuously to creep in holding a rather large birdcage with three screeching birds in it, and being not the least bit unnoticed as everyone gradually turned to stare, and as the heads swiveled like a tsunami rolling toward her Dianelopa felt like fleeing. But she knew she couldn't. She closed her eyes a couple moments to try to regain composure and then opened them hoping to see the elf. But before she could find him, the bartender loomed in front of her. "Where were you?" he growled. "And what in the world is this?" He jabbed his thumb at the bird cage.
"It's, it's... for...." At that moment Dianelopa saw the elf and he looked, Lopa couldn't be sure, but she thought he looked drunk.
"Ah," said the bartender, "it's for me. Yes, we can hang it here over the bar. Don't you think the customers would like that?"
He grabbed the cage out of Dianelopa's hand.
"No," she howled. "They would not like it. And it's not yours."
"Ha," he said and walked back to the bar with the cage.
She followed him, scratching at his shirt from the back. "Give it to me."
But he just shook her off. "Go home," he said, not bothering to even look at her. "You're fired," he added, now giving her a leering glance.

[Anja]

Indeed, Benjamin was listing steadily into the unsteady arms of Sobriety's swaying cousin, and this was no surprise, given the amount of sleep he had managed to catch the night before, and the continuous disappearance and reappearance of ale glasses on the table behind his newspaper. But a Benjamin blessed with Bacchus' fruits was not a Benjamin baffled. No! he told himself, that I am not!

And as he watched the exchange between his new friend and the abrasive once-employer of his new friend, he could not help but wonder at the bartender's misplaced malice. If the man is willing to go so far as to hang a bloody pair of magpies up over his bar, shit, screeching, and all, scaring and pissing off customers, just to take something away from a little girl and make her unhappy, then he must really be bitter about something...

He calmly folded his newspaper in front of him, winked conspiratorially at Dianelopa, jerked his head in the direction of the door to indicate that she should leave, and whistled the bartender over. Benjamin had sunk a lot of ale money into this place over the past two suns, and his summons did not go unheeded long.

When the burly ignoramus stood before him, the old elf looked him in the eye, and, without a trace of taunting, said "I suppose that little performance means you'll be fetching me my drinks from here on in, then?"

The bartender had obviously not thought this far ahead, but nodded with as much cordiality as one of his lilliputian bearing could muster without first undergoing a series of painful bone transplants. "Yes, sir, it seems that way."

"Good, good," said Benjamin. "I wonder, have you got any brown liquors about? A cognac, for example. The imminent sunset beckons a warmer bloodstream and a softer eye for colours."

Benjamin had ascertained that, if they did have what he was looking for, it would be somewhere at the back. There were no oaken casks that he could see behind the bar. As luck would have it, he guessed correctly.

"Ah, yes, we've just received some casks, I believe they're somewhere in the back. I'm not at all sure whether or not they will be up to your standards..."

Benjamin waved the man away idly and returned to his newspaper. "It will do, I'm sure."

You can get away with most any kind of behaviour if you look rich enough... As the bartender walked into the dimly lit innards of the bar room, Benjamin pulled his paper down enough to eye the fellow's retreat through a swinging door. Sometimes the simplest plans are the best...

With surprising quickness for one his age, the elf discarded his paper, leaped from his chair, ran to the bar, grabbed the birdcage, and made a quick dash for the exit. He did not, of course, bother paying for the day's ale consumption. Thick as thieves, we are... Once outside the confines of the patio, he slipped into the mid-evening work crowd and began looking about for Dianelopa.

[Dianelopa]

Dianelopa had not gone far. When the old elf indicated she leave, she'd obediently gone out the door, but she stood near-by in the shadows where she could see the elf through the window. Thus she saw him run to the bar, grab the cage, make a dash for the door and appear a few yards away from her with the birds screeching even more than before, annoyed at being jerked around that way. It was all so artful that she couldn't help bursting into triumphant laughter.

[Anja]

A successful grab and dash, and under the influence, to boot! And here I was thinking I was too old for this sort of thing...

Benjamin mentally patted himself on the back as he turned and walked in the direction of the laughter. Coming up to Dianelopa, he fell in step with her at the far side of the road, motioning for her to follow, and spoke briefly and firmly. "The fact that you fetched two- no, wait... three birds instead of one makes up for the fact that you almost cocked it up right at the end there. But in the future, you need to be a little more capable of standing up for yourself. I need to know that I can depend on you."

He then eyed for for a second, looking for concealed weaponry. "What do you keep for protection? A girl like you shouldn't be running about unarmed. In this town, it's pretty easy to get into trouble. One must carry the tools of extrication."

As he spoke, he lit a pipe. His pouch of shag was halfway conquered. Looking at it forlornly, he thought: Looks like I'll have to have a chat with Sandwheel soon. Can't do that until Anja cooks up these magpies for his gauntlets.

[Dianelopa]

"I could have bit him," Dianelopa said. "But I don't think people usually do that. I wanted to..well, I might have if you hadn't told me to go." She paused a moment wondering if it was OK to mention that she had such urges. But then she continued, "there have been times when I protected myself from wild animals that way." She looked at him to see how he was reacting to that revelation. "But, you know there are two magpies there and the third bird, that's not a magpie. It's all black. It's a blackbird and I have to give it back, that one. I just borrowed it."

[Anja]

If Benjamin's roster held three ales and one escape less, it might have had room to document the remark about biting with a bit more scrutiny. As it was, he found it a rather taxing duty simply focusing on walking in a straight line, and having to do it rather quickly, at that. So rather than considering her urge to bite things under any sort of revealing analytical light, he simply laughed. "Yes, I dare say he would have deserved it too."

But then, when she said she protected herself from wild animals by biting them, the heretofore ignored challenge of putting two and two together was suddenly done for him. He stopped in his tracks and leaned in close to her, the muddy ale shine gone from his eyes. They stood profiled against an uneven, masonry rock wall, still beside the evening crowd that continued its downriver flow, ignoring the flotsam and jetsam that had drifted to the side. "I wouldn't go saying things like that in a crowd if I were you. People in this town don't take kindly to shifters. ...If that is what you are."

He looked her up and down properly this time. Indeed, she carried about her a certain animal air, one that was perhaps muted previously by her waitress' ensemble. Some things weren't quite right. Especially the eyes. This could be bad for business...

"Look, some things will have to be made clear. I suggest we meet my employer for a formal introduction and interview. Then, I might have another job for you. What say you?"

[Dianelopa]

"I'm not a shifter," said Dianelopa. "I don't even know what a shifter is. But, OK, I won't talk about that any more." To his statement about his employer she didn't know what to say. What he'd intimated before was that something was weird about that employer and that he'd himself been a bit nervous about visiting her. So she walked along silently beside him for a while, not knowing where they were going and not having any other idea of where else to go. The birds had mercifully decided to go to sleep as it was dark by then, and even the bouncing of the cage didn't seem to bother them. The thoughts in her mind were spinning a bit from all the commotion and from what he'd said. Even the alcohol on his breathe that wafted toward her nose was making her feel squeamish. But the more or less rhythmic walking began to put her thoughts in some order and clarity started to emerge. First, that she was jobless and second that he was offering the prospect of a new job. However, this seemed to be conditional on meeting that strange employer. "Alright," she said finally, "I guess I better meet your employer. But.." she hesitated. "Can't you tell me something about your employer? Is this going to work out OK?"

[Anja]

They had been walking in the direction of the water tower, and were now nearing the bridge spanning the Ofriyu Mar, when Dianelopa posed her question. Benjamin smiled in a benign sort of way.

"Dianelopa, you haven't the slightest cause for worry. I give you my word as an elf of honour, and an upstanding gentleman of this city, that you will be absolutely safe. My employers are quite secretive, but the one that you are going to meet now is a perfectly friendly old elf, rather like myself. He might seem a little odd, but there is nothing whatsoever to fear from him."

As the elf and the girl passed an inconspicuous metal plate embedded into the roadside, he tramped on it in a distinctive, arhythmic pattern. Down below, Anja's webs shivered in a most peculiar way, alerting her to the fact that the Parlor room was about to be in use, and for an unknown, yet benign guest.

She gurgled to herself. The farmgirl... Scuttling around corners and plodding through crevices, she came to the barren concrete room where Puck was already busy cleaning himself. The old elf looked down at Anja as she entered, and smiled. "I thought we might be entertaining guests about now, so I took the liberty of washing up. What do you think, middle class gentleman, or royal court snob?" He asked this while holding up two fine-looking suits, one silken brown, with a wide, open collar, and golden cufflinks, and one very fine tuxedo, with sterling silver clasps at the wrists and neck, and a soft rose waistband.

Anja shrugged, looking surly, and stalked out of the room. She made her way to a room to the east, near the river runoff sluices, that sat directly behind the Parlor room, and sat down in a chair specifically designed for her awkward bulk. She took a moment to rub out the aches and pains of aging from her bones, and then drew towards herself a copper horn whose piping led into the Parlor room, and ended in a little earbud beside a plush-looking armchair. It was only a matter of waiting now.

[Dianelopa]

Dianelopa, who had been walking along with her somewhat confused thoughts engaging her attention, kept going when Benjamin stopped. It was the sound of his footsteps banging on the metal that roused her and she halted abruptly. At the same time that she saw Benjamin standing on a metal plate in the street looking expectantly at it, she also saw a familiar figure slinking along in the dark shadows toward Benjamin.
"Hey," she called realizing at once that it was her thief and he was aiming to try to rob Benjamin.
The thief realizing he was discovered was about to slip into some dark crevice, but Dianelopa said, "perhaps you don't recognize me. I know what you're up to and you better know you can't get away from me."
Whatever it was that made the thief stop, who knows. But he did. "Ah ha," he said. "The bird girl. And your friend has the infamous cage? Well, well. Perhaps you are looking for more?"
"No," said Dianelopa, "I'm not looking for more. But well, you helped me, last time, you did. So maybe you're not all bad. Are you?"
"Me bad?" the thief burst into laughter. "Your fine friend there, he looked like he might have offered a bit a booty, huh? But then, he's your friend. So as far as I'm concerned, he's safe. Right?"
"Right," said Dianelopa.
"If you need me again," said the thief smiling, "I'm at your service."
Dianelopa could see his face clearly even though it was quite dark and she thought his smile was friendly and that he meant what he said. "I'll remember that."