Stables Day II

[Kareesh Valendar]

Kareesh noted Zarkin looking out the window towards a horse which appeared to be tied up, but on what, she couldn't tell. From the look he gave it, she deduced that it was his horse which was stabled outside. Perhaps that was the best place to have this conversation; away from the hustle and bustle of the tavern.

She looked up and let go of his hand and gave a sigh as she slid off the bar seat.

"We'll be right back for those drinks, ma'am," Kareesh said with a nod towards the barmaid. With a nod of her head, she motioned to Zarkin the door of the tavern.

Guiding her way through the people, Kareesh's mind was once again racing, thinking of what she exactly was going to tell Zarkin about herself. Was she going to tell him everything about her? She knew that's what he asked for, but is that what she would really do? Could she bare her whole self to someone she had just met at most, an hour ago?

She blew a strand of hair out of her face as she walked out of the tavern's door. She noticed a smaller building with a large doorway. From the sounds which emitted from it, she assumed that was the Kann's stable.

Not too many people should be there.

Taking a glance behind her, she made sure Zarkin saw where she was going and headed into the stable, once there, she picked up a piece of straw and played with it a bit as she leaned up against one of the walls in the stable. She waited for Zarkin to get comfortable before she began.

"Zarkin, I'm not really sure how to tell you this but..." She looked up towards the ceiling. This was going to be harder than she thought. She gave a large sigh as she looked back down at the piece of straw she held in her hand, her oddly colored hair falling down about her face.

"First, I think you ought to know that, well, you've made me feel things I've never felt before. Real emotions. Not fake. As I told you back in the tavern, my parents died when I was fairly young. After that, I didn't have anyone to call my family. Honestly, I didn't even really want a family.

"I...I don't believe I've lied to you. That's....that's unusual for you. You see, I'm..." Her voice got caught in her throat. She crushed the innocent piece of straw in one of her hands as she fought to finish her sentence. Unwanted tears had started to form in her eyes, but she wasn't allowing them to fall; not yet.

"The reason I came here was for work. Zarkin, I'm an assassin and a thief. I steal and kill people for a living. That's who I truely am." With sognastheen eyes glistening with tears, she looked up at Zarkin.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you walked off right now." She gave a small smile. "I know I would if I were in your shoes."

[Mallayn Galnodren]

Mallayn was suspicious. That poor foolish fellow, Zarkin, was involving himself with yet another elf. When she began pulling him outside, Mallayn decided it was time to act. It wan't that she had definite ideas about what was going on; she was just concerned about Zarkin's welfare. At least, that was what she told herself. In reality, she just couldn't contain her curiousity.
"I will return in a moment, milady dwarf. I think it might be prudent to check on my horse."
Mallayn crept 'stealthily' after the pair. Upon reaching the stable, she posed herself as if she were about to enter and listened. Only snatches of conversation came out--
"I'm not really sure how..."
"...call my family."
"I don't believe I've lied to you."
And then, shockingly:
"I'm an assassin and a thief. I steal and kill people for a living."
Mallayn gasped loudly, then bit her lip. Had the assassin elf heard her?

[Zarkin Talker]

An assassin? I never would have thought of that! "I'm walking off cause your an assassin. What I don't want to do know is say something stupid that will get you to kill me.." Zarkin said hastly trying not to be stupid, "..But hearing you say that those emotions where rel actually means something to me Kareesh. An assassin and beautiful? Those things wouldn't really work for most people but you sure seem to have the style to be both" Zarkin said weakly smileing. Zarkin felt comfortable being able to know that Kareesh wasn't here to kill him but what worried him more was that he wanted to know who.

 "Listen Kareesh, If I may? But what or who are you going to kill that leads you to the tavern? I mean you don't have to tell me but I'm kinda involved now, you've told me everything and I swear to my life that I won't tell and if I did you can take my life. But who are you here to kill?" Zarkin said quietly to Kareesh.

[Kareesh Valendar]

After she had finished her speech, Kareesh thought she heard something, but nothing else happened, so she paid it no more attention. Instead, she focused on Zarkin's reaction. His first sentence seemed to indicate that he was going to leave her. Not that she viewed them as a couple. At this point, she didn't really know what to think.

It seemed that he was more interested in who she was sent to kill. A reasonable question, considering the circumstances. She shook her head as she slumped against the stable, her posture being that of one in defeat.

Staring back down at the ground she replied, "No one. I wasn't sent here by anyone. I came here looking for work. If I had been sent here on an assignment, I wouldn't have a near empty coin purse."

Damn that human... Kareesh thought as she wrapped her arms around herself. She was avoiding Zarkin's eyes. He's so confusing. First he says he's going to walk out on me, but then he's promising not to tell who I was sent to kill? Damn humans can't make up their minds.

A sense of loss came over her as she thought about the possibility of losing Zarkin. But why? Gods, she was starting to get attached. Was that such a bad thing.

Apparently if you're an assassin... she thought bitterly. At this rate, she didn't foresee love in her future.

[Thorgas Ironforge]

"Hello all, my name is Mallayn and I am a storyteller by trade. I can also read and write, and if there is any reasonable job that I can do for you, I am in need of funds and would be happy to assist you in whatsoever way I can."

 Thorgas drew his head out of an the cupboard long enough to hear a voice offering to work for a few coins. They never had a human worker in the tavern before and it never occurred to him that they needed one now, but a festival is coming and they needed all the help they can get, for surely the tavern will be full to bursting with patrons celebrating the holiday. He managed to get down from the stool he used to search for his favorite mug and went out to search for that potential worker.

But he had other things to think about than go around chasing people. There will soon be a lot of chores to do, and he instinctively remembered to go to the stables and give the stable boy his daily dose of threats. He can't afford to have Buri hungry, partly because he was like a son to him, and because the boar will surely wake up the patrons tonight with his anguished calls for food.

Sighing, Thorgas went out of the tavern and to thr stable. Just ahead he could see a tallfolk, a woman it seems, and she seemed to be peeking at something. "Hmm, that is somewhat disturbing. There's nothing to see there but hay and droppings." Thorgas said to himself. He waddled as quickly as he can to the woman and pulled her clothes slightly to get her attention. "Apologies fer the intrusion, lass. But are ye be lookin' for a mount o' yers? Ask the stable boy ta 'elp ye get it. He be the one carin fer them critturs." He made his voice sound polite. "Now please excuse me. Me pig's needin' ta be fed. Damn stable boy's too busy to feed every animal at once, methinks we be needin ta hire a few hands fer the day ta 'elp with the work here." The dwarf gave a small bow and walked towards the stable doors.

[Mallayn Galnodren]

Mallayn had been so wrapped up in considering the ramifications of the elf's revelation, and the feasibility of escaping notice, that she was completely unaware of the dwarf behind her. Until-- "Apologies fer the intrusion, lass."  Mallayn jumped. "But are ye be lookin' for a mount o' yers? Ask the stable boy ta 'elp ye get it. He be the one carin fer them critturs." He made his voice sound polite. "Now please excuse me. Me pig's needin' ta be fed. Damn stable boy's too busy to feed every animal at once, methinks we be needin ta hire a few hands fer the day ta 'elp with the work here." The dwarf gave a small bow and walked towards the stable doors.
After processing his words, Mallayn hurried after him. "Did you say you needed to hire some extra help?" It was only after she called after him that she remembered the elf in the stables. Well, too late now, she thought grimly, marching in towards the dwarf to meet her doom.

[Thorgas Ironforge]

Thorgas stopped before the stable doors. "Aye, methinks we'd be needin' more hands fer the stables or the kitchen. Lots a foolks comin' fer Brokden and we're a little short." He reached out for the wooden door knobs, but quickly added, "I uh mean we're short on workers -- Plenty o' people comin' and we'd be needin' help fer the night. So ye wants ta earn a bit o' coin fer the night?"

[Galein]

Zarkin

A flood of relief washed over Zarkin as Kareesh said she hadn't been sent to kill anyone. He wouldn't have to keep any secrets now. He may still be able to spend time getting to know Kareesh without the worry of safety.

As he thought quietly to himself, a sudden dizziness came upon him. The combination of drink and excitement seemed to be taking its toll on him. "So what are your..." Zarkin began to say before the dizziness intensified.

He heard voices outside the stables, but they seemed far away. "Oh..." was all he could say as he felt himself falling.

[Kareesh Valendar]

Kareesh moved quickly to catch Zarkin before he hit the floor. She ended up crouching upon the floor, Zarkin caught in her arms. Her ears perked as she heard voices right outside the stable door. The door seemed to shudder slightly, as if someone were about to come in. She cursed lightly under her breath as she looked down at the still form of the human in her arms.

Glancing around wildly, Kareesh debated what to do with him. If she tried to hide him, then they might assume that she did something to him. If she sat there and held onto him, then they would assume the same. She bit her bottom lip as she thought through everything she could possibly do. Nothing would end up well for her.

Grunting slightly, she gently moved Zarkin's body so that he was propped up against a beam. She adjusted his hood so that his face was mostly hidden. Her hand lingered for a moment close to his cheek. It shivered slightly as she fought with herself to not stroke it. Quickly she pulled her hand back and stood up. Her eyes glanced toward the door, wondering when she could expect visitors.....

[Thorgas Ironforge]

"Right then, miss,"Thorgas said. "I'll let ye think aboot it." The dwarf bowed again and entered the stables. Inside he noticed two rather suspicious people. One had his face covered with his hood and the other was a woman elf with a sinister aura about her. Now this would have been fine for the dwarf, but he and the other Thergerim are responsible for the beasts in their establishment and the fact that his own Buri is here made him vigilant.

"Pardon, friends, but are ye patrons of the kann? I would think this area not suitable for making conversations. A lot of them animals be needin' their rest and I would not want to see them strained for tomorrow." He then approached the hooded person, the one that was standing in an unnatural way. "Erm, sir? Is, uh, sumthin' wrong?" Turning to the woman, he asked,"Yer companion sick?" Thorgas might be willing to talk to these individuals, but he's not leaving anything to chance, he secretly took out his sulphur powder and readied himself to conjure fire should anything happen. Thieves are never welcome in this establishment, and he would defend Buri with his life should it come to that.

[Mallayn Galnodren]

As Mallayn took in the tableaux,  her mind could only come to one conclusion.
Heedless of the consequences, she began babbling. "She killed him--I heard her say she's an assassin--we're all going to die..." her shrieks trailed off into incoherent panic.

[Kareesh Valendar]

The door opened and in walked a Dwarf. Kareesh wasn't too surprised as she was in a Dwarven city, staying at a Dwarven tavern.

"Pardon, friends, but are ye patrons of the kann? I would think this area not suitable for making conversations. A lot of them animals be needin' their rest and I would not want to see them strained for tomorrow."

Before Kareesh had time to answer his question, the Dwarf turned his attention to the unconscious Zarkin. Questioning him if he was alright, Zarkin didn't answer, as Kareesh knew he wouldn't. The Dwarf turned and peered up at her with a look she couldn't quite decipher.

"Yer companion sick?"

Things would have been so much easier if Kareesh had been allowed to reply the way she wanted to. She really wanted to tell the Dwarf that Zarkin had had too much drink and merely passed out while they were talking in the quiet stables. It would have felt good to not lie about something for once. Maybe this whole truth thing wasn't so bad after all.

But, alas, Kareesh barely had time to open her mouth before a female's voice came into the stables. It was a loud voice, and barely coherent, but two things shook Kareesh to the core. The first was that she was able to catch a glimpse of the owner of the voice. It was, in fact, the human whom Kareesh had shared a drink with at the bar, Mallayn. The second item was what she was screaming.

"She killed him--I heard her say she's an assassin--we're all going to die..."

Kareesh's sognastheen eyes narrowed. So she hear that part. How much of it did she hear, I wonder...?

Several thoughts ran through her mind. Her first instinct was to run over and shut Mallayn up before the whole tavern could hear her. But then there was the Dwarf to think about. She turned her attention back to him. Upon his face was a look of determination. That was never good. She couldn't see one of his hands and that bothered her. A hidden blade, perhaps?

Quickly calculating the best course of action, Kareesh resigned herself to the fact that there was very little chance that she would be able to take both the Dwarf and Mallayn out without suffering significant damages herself, especially since she didn't know what tricks the Dwarf had up his sleeves.

With a resigned sigh, Kareesh's body slumped slightly, giving off the feeling of defeat.

"He's not dead," she said in a low voice. "He had too much to drink. If you look closely, you'll see that his chest still rises and falls. And to answer your earlier question, Master Dwarf, yes we were patrons of the Kann. We came out here to talk where there weren't so many people."

She kept her gaze steady upon him, trying to push Mallayn's screams out of her head. Keeping calm would save her right now. Anything rash could result in her spending time in jail, or worse, dead.

[Ridgen Sú'ufanán]

Ridgen's ears perked up at the sound of... something... that appears to be happening from the direction of the stables - a sound his rather sensitive ears could barely pick up from the noise in the bar. It sounded a lot like, "She killed him -- something something assassin -- we're all going to die!" and that usually means trouble. And where there's trouble, there's fun - most of the time, anyway. In any case, the elf just HAD to know what's happening. He turned to Leif, who looks as if he's daydreaming, gave him a peculiar-looking card and said, "I'll have to get going now. That card I gave you has the location of my uhm... shop. Drop by and visit sometime, okay? Right, goodbye," while taking a waterskin and an aquamarine stone out of his bag in case things went out of hand.

As soon as he was out of the Kann, Ridgen quickly made his way to the stables, where, sure enough, there was commotion. A great deal of it. The elf arrived just in time to hear another elf - the assassin who had shouted down that drunken dwarf, if he remembered correctly - say something along the lines of, "He's not dead. He's had too much to drink, and passed out, and yes, we were patrons of the Kann. We came out here to talk where there aren't so many people."

She appeared to be talking to a dwarf, who for some reason was holding something containing yellowish powder. The person she was referring to was propped up against a post, seemingly asleep, and of course, there was the loud, rambling girl who seemed to be working herself into a total panic.

Ridgen then decided to step into the scene and spoke up, further complicating things. "Excuse me if I'm interrupting something but... What in the world is happening in here?"

[Thorgas Ironforge]

"I see m'lady, that's well and all, but what is she blabbering aboot? Do ya know her?" He pointed to Mallayn, spouting what to him is some sort of gibberish. He couldn't quite understand what the woman is talking about, but she seemed hysterical about it. He tied the sulphur pouch to his belt and tapped Zarkin with the end of his staff. Pretty much looked alive to me, he thought. Then another person barged in the stables, scaring the animals in the process with additional noise. "And do ya know him as well?" Thorgas is slowly growing irritated. Where in the Stone Father's name is that blasted stable boy, and what is it with horse slop that these people like?

The dwarf decided to wait. If what the crazy woman's claims about Kareesh being an assassin is true, then he may need to save his pet and warn the others. The man Zarkin might even be poisoned by the lady, although as far as he is concerned, that is none of his business. But he needed to take care of him too; deaths in the tavern are bad for business.

[Kareesh Valendar]

Kareesh's eyes began to harden as she began to realize that there would be no easy way out of this mess. Her eyes only briefly flickered towards the new-comer. He was of little interest to her. He wasn't going to help the situation, only make it worse.

It occurred to her that this could have been caused by Zarkin. Did he lure her out here to get her caught. This sudden realization made her curse herself for her stupidity. Of course he didn't love her, how could he?

Her attention turned back towards the Dwarf who was motioning towards Mallayn. "I see m'lady, that's well and all, but what is she blabbering aboot? Do ya know her?"

He seemed to grow more aggravated as his attention was drawn toward the Elf who barged in. "And do ya know him as well?"

Kareesh knew that she had no control over the situation. She began to wonder if she ever had control of it in the first place. It appeared that Mallayn was the only one who had heard their conversation, yet she was screaming it out like a madwoman. If she had been thinking clearly, Kareesh could have used that to her advantage, but her thoughts weren't so clear as they should have been.

"That woman and I had drinks together earlier. Other than that, I know nothing about her," Kareesh responded in a low voice which held just a hint of an annoyed growl. "As for the male Elf, I believe I saw him earlier in the tavern, but again, I know nothing else about him."

As she spoke, Kareesh began to figure the odds of getting out of there alive. It appeared the Dwarf was already weary of her. She could try to talk her way out of it, but her anger was already rising. She would more than likely say something stupid that would put her further into trouble.

Honestly, at this point, she didn't care anymore. She was tired of all the running, tired of having to deal with ignorant people like Mallayn; people who thought that assassins just killed for the fun of it.

Sighing slightly, Kareesh decided to speed things up a little bit. She quickly took the dagger from her belt and slammed it into one of the wood pillars in the stable. Keeping her eyes focused on the Dwarf, she took a few steps back, well out of reach of the dagger. Even though she kept her arms out, palms face upward as she spoke, the anger radiating from her could almost be felt.

"Maybe what she says is true, maybe it isn't. But what does it matter? Zarkin isn't dead, any idiot can see that, but if you still don't believe me, then perhaps we can all stand around here gabbing until he wakes up. Lock me up until then, if you think it necessary. After all, according to her I'm here to kill everyone."

Kareesh gave a small smirk. Inwardly she dared the Dwarf to lock her up. At least that would guarantee her life. Or perhaps not. Frankly, she didn't give a damn anymore.

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