No Rest For The Wicked [Treyjen/Vah/D'nel?]

[Zen]

10th Pass, 5th Turn, 11th Month
About a week after Fish Out Of Water

Treyjen

After a decent sevenday of self indulgence, Treyjen supposed he ought to actually do some work while he was ashore. He'd already met with the important people of Mavros, made his dealings there, but there was plenty more where that came from. After all, there were plenty of traders that refused to travel to Mavros, afraid of displeasing the other Weyrs if word of their visit somehow got out. It was a bit ridiculous really. The Weyrs had cut off their assistance to Mavros, but had certainly never issued any Pernwide embargo to the Weyrhold. And Mavros was a desperate place; they may not have much, but they tented to be willing to pay more for things they desired because they were so much harder to come across. Though... he supposed the fact that many Mavros fishers had turned pirate didn't help either. Ships that weren't immediately recognized were just as likely to be pillaged as allowed to dock.

He left Karosh to set up in the fisher caves, making the longer trek to the Weyr's lower caverns with two younger members of the crew in tow, carrying some of the crates of wares he planned to try to sell. He was carrying a couple himself, as well. He'd made sure to nab Kallon for assistance. He was still irked at the lad for trying to stand in his way and planned to make him his errand boy today. After all, Nalyra had no use for the lad when she was ashore, so it wasn't like she would mind if he borrowed him. He glanced behind him to Kallon, “Pay attention today, boy, and you might learn something.”

“Yes, Captain,” the boy responded in a hurry. Treyjen smirked. He'd absolutely terrified the lad. He preferred to earn respect from his crew, but a little healthy fear had its uses as well. Especially since the boy was bedding his sister. Best any lad that could claim that had a decent dose of fear of him.

As he normally was when he came ashore, Treyjen was dressed up in his finer clothes, sporting a number of rings on his fingers, both to show off and to tempt any brat stupid enough to try to steal from him. No one could blame him for violence if he was defending himself from a thief, after all. And the rings made for a far more painful punch, too. On top of that, the wealthy trader look tended to draw a larger crowd, for if he could afford such extravagance, then surely his wares were worthwhile as well. It wasn't like they needed to know he had stolen all but one of his rings himself.

Arriving in the Weyr Commons, he set the crates he was carrying down on a table and gestured for the other two men to do the same, “You two go back for the others I've set out while I get things set up here. And be quick about it.” His gaze settled on Kallon in particular and the boy nodded emphatically before turning and hurrying back toward the harbor caves. He laughed as he turned back to the crates, opening one at a time to start arranging things in way that would draw the eye, neat and orderly, easy for potential buyers to view and easy for him to keep track of.

Shinies were mostly arranged at the back of the table, closest to him, and smack in the middle. A number of rings, a few bracelets and necklaces, a few raw gemstones. He didn't put out a lot of jewelry at a time, few could afford them, after all, so he didn't need a vast selection to draw people in. Along with those luxuries were more practical items, utensils, plates, bowls, cups, hunting knives, bolts of fabric and hide, and other such things. He placed a some bottles of wine with varying origins (including a few Bendens) and below the tables a few crates of foodstuffs, fruits and vegetables and grains and the like, because he was well aware that Mavros had a very steady diet of fish, and any chance to eat something else was always welcome.

He took one his smaller knives from inside his coat, grabbing a redfruit for himself and carving bites from it, not exactly wanting a face full of redfruit should a prospective customer require his assistance. He'd caught a number of interested looks from across cavern as he set up, and now that he'd finished a few people wandered over to have a closer look. He put on his friendliest mask, greeting anyone that approached, making sure they knew he was happy to answer any questions about his wares and he was sure they could come to a reasonable price, inviting a few ladies to try on some of the jewelry because it would be a shame not to at least see how fabulous it looked on them.

He gave the impression of giving over his attention completely to whoever he happened to be engaging with, but he was very aware of what was going on around him. His peripheral vision was excellent, and his memory for where he had put each and every item exact enough that simply shifting something one way or the other wouldn't go unnoticed. He had worked rather hard to train his skills of observation, and it had come in handy plenty of times in his life; a skill worth learning. He made sure Kallon stood behind the table, keeping an eye on things as well, and keeping his mouth shut. The boy was mostly there in case the table started to empty, so he could send him back to the ship to fetch more wares to fill in the empty spaces with. It was largely going to be a very boring day for the lad.

madb
avon (thought you might want to throw D'nel in as well, but its cool if you're too busy! <3)

[madb]

V'guel found that in the time following his impression to Nath, the most important thing he had learned was the ability to block her out.

Nath skittered angrily against his mental shields at the back of his mind, seething out a promise of retribution for the slight, even as she reluctantly drew back. When Nath had first hatched, when she had first touched V'guel's mind, he had been... overwhelmed. He could admit as much now. The dark green dragon had a natural advantage on Vah at first, it was true. But for all the things else that could be leveled at him, he was not one to give in.

So V'guel had been sharpened, been kept constantly on his toes by a challenging little weyrling that was surely to present more difficulties as they both aged. V'guel could admit there was a certain gift in that, even if the rank she granted him was piddling and a smear against the work he had put into making a new life for himself. But that didn't mean he always wanted to hear her slithering around his head - his private thoughts.

At least Nath understood that. She viewed it as competition as much as he did, a show of dominance. They were partners, they were similar enough to work well together in the air, but they would never have the easy friendship most weyrling pairs found so naturally.

So Vah would take advantage of the time he'd fought back for himself while she licked her mental wounds. A round two would surely occur, wherein she would likely flip the tale on him. It always seemed to be an even back and forth between the two of them. Until then, he would carve himself out some time that would have nothing to do with either riders or dragons.

And that was how he found himself walking around the commons when a flash of something shiny caught his eye. Interested, he slowed his walk and paused just a little out of view and to the side.

The first thing he picked up was the knife. V’guel watched the man cut up his fruit, noting the movement was fluid meaning the blade was kept sharpened. Not a blade intended for fruits alone. Vah tilted his head, filed that away as a danger, and walked forward into the growing crowd.

The trader was friendly enough though Vah noticed he was paying attention to more to the wares around him then the people he interacted with. Sadly, this was not a mark he could slip by in a crowd and nab something small not to be immediately missed. Rare enough for most traders to let their guard down, although, being closer to the selection it seemed readily apparent this was not what he had first thought.

The mark of a thief was always in the disparate quality of the wares offered. V’guel noted that some of the items - in particular, a goblet that seemed almost glimmering with absurdly placed gems - would only have been found on the hands of a smither directly. Meanwhile, the bowl next to it was a mastercraft level of glass work, delicate and pretty, but worn with scratches from use. Not a new object, then, but something resold. And a swath of fabric, rich velvety red and so irresistible that V’guel gave in to run his fingers across it - sold outside its full bolt and strangely out of place amongst the rest. While traders resold, or sold parts and pieces, to have such stand out pieces amongst, frankly, junk - that was telling in and of itself.

It was the ring in the corner, however, that truly caught his eye. Vah ducked through the still growing mass of people to make his way to the other side of the offerings. He was sure he was being watched, at least by the man with the knife, and was utterly paranoid enough to wonder if there were cronies around. But for all the sense of danger, he almost couldn’t help himself.

His father’s ring. Or a good enough resemblance, either way. A deep blue gem cruely carved and set against a masculine iron band, in the middle of a set of pretty, but stylistically mismatched jewelry.

V’guel tilted his head as he stared down at it, feeling the faint impression of the jewel set deeply sting against his cheek in memory. Well, well. For what else had he become what he had, but be in such a position to buy back, steal back, everything that should have rightly been his.

“How much for the ring, trader,” he breathed, fingers twitching by his side as he fought to keep the need from his face. Never start off a bargaining by letting the opponent know they had the advantage.