Library of Rain

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Two days after she met with Lon, Rain returned to the cobbler to pick up her new shoes. The silver-haired cobbler smiled as Rain stepped into the store. 

“Welcome back, young miss. Your shoes are ready as promised. Give me a moment.” With that, the shopkeeper walked into a back room. A moment later, he returned carrying a pair of soft-looking gray shoes. 

“Here we are, a pair of ashmin leather boots dyed gray so that ash and snow won't stain them. The soles are made of thicker seator hide for extra durability.”

The shoes were well-made and looked comfortable. It was a simple but pretty design that would go up just past her ankle. Rain did wish she could have them be more colorful, maybe a bright red, but she understood that the ash would ruin any bright-colored shoes. 

When she tried to take the shoes, the cobbler shook his head and motioned for her to sit. Complying with the request, Rain sat.

The cobbler grabbed his rag and cleaned her feet, explaining how to care for the shoes properly. He explained socks and how they were easier to clean than shoes, hence why she should wear them. 

Most of this was stuff Rain knew from her “terms skill,” but the man's voice was soothing, and Rain wasn’t in any hurry to be somewhere. 

After cleaning Rain's feet, the shopkeeper put two gray socks on her feet. The socks were oddly comfortable. Rain almost put them on her favorites list but decided she needed to start being more picky.

After the socks were the shoes, they were also comfortable, though the added weight on her feet felt odd. She wondered if she would get tired faster because of these. 

After being asked to try them out, Rain stood up and walked around. Everything felt great. Her right shoe had a slight pricking feeling, but she ignored it. 

“They're perfect! Thank you.” Rain said to the old man.

The shopkeeper smiled in satisfaction. “Thank you, young miss. You’ve already paid in full, so please come to me again when you require your next pair of shoes.”

Rain promised to do so and left the shop. She casually glanced around the street to see if there were any suspicious people this time. Not seeing anyone, Rain began to wander around. She didn’t really have a place to go right now. She wanted to visit Lon, but after how much trouble she caused him, she felt guilty bothering him again. 

She could pick a book out of the library and use it as an excuse to visit him, but once she did that and he got his class, she would have to avoid him as she had promised herself. That would make the loss of a friend final. She wasn’t ready to face that, not yet.

Deciding to wander around and get a better idea of the city layout, Rain picked a direction she hadn’t been before and started walking. She passed streets and squares of all different shapes and sizes.  This city didn’t like to use even numbers for intersections; whether it was three, five, or seven, almost all were odd. That made for a lot of sharp-cornered buildings.

As she walked, the poking sensation in her right shoe got more and more aggravating. Finally fed up, Rain sat down and took it off, trying to look inside for what was stabbing her. Unable to see all the way inside, she reached in. The inside of the shoe's leather was rougher than the outside. She felt something odd as her hand brushed the tip's inside. When she tried to grab it, it came out easily.

In Rain's hand was a small piece of gray paper. Unfolding it, Rain found a message. 

Good job losing the boy we had following you, Thirty-six. The Rothford Auction House hired us to find you. However, after hearing about some of your possible deeds since escaping, and given your ability to lose a tail, we would like you to do a job for us instead. If you are interested, come to the Fiddler’s Retreat in the Middle Ring and ask for honeyed milk. We can return to our original plan with Rothford if you're not interested.

Rain read the message one more time before putting her shoe back on. Sure enough, the annoying pricking sensation was gone. 

Whoever had written that message knew about Rain. They knew her name used to be Thirty-six and hinted that they knew what she had done since she escaped. She didn’t think they would add that part if they didn’t consider it important. The only things she had done that could be interesting to them were robbing Agro and her friendship with Lon. 

She didn’t think it was her friendship with Lon. The only reason they might bring that up is if they planned to use him to threaten her, but given the not-too-subtle threat at the end of the letter, that didn’t seem likely.

That meant they at least suspected her of robbing the temple. The thought scared her more than them knowing she was an escaped slave. 

Was it worth the risk of seeing this person to avoid having a target painted on her back for the Rothford Auction House and the Temple of Agro? Probably. Also, Rain didn’t like the idea of running from a meeting with someone when she might be able to get something out of it. 

Decision made: Rain changed into Middle Ring appropriate clothes, hid a coin, and set off to the Mid Ring to confront whoever thought threatening her was a good idea.

As always, finding the place she was looking for took a long time. Tineak was a large city, and having most people unwilling to give her directions made things difficult. Ultimately, she found that waving some vers around for anyone willing to give her directions worked wonders. Apparently, greed beat the fear of her unnatural aura.

The Fiddler’s Retreat was a stone building with cheery blue lines painted on the front. A sign overhead had a man with a fiddle running from a mob of angry people. Rain laughed. Not what she expected when she got the note.

Entering, she found a warm atmosphere with tables spaced randomly around the room. A pretty older woman and a girl who must have been her daughter were weaving between tables, serving food, and filling drinks. In a corner, a man misrepresented the establishment by playing a flute. There was a bar with an older man behind it. He was talking with one of the customers. 

Rain decided the bar would be the coolest place to give the contact line. So she went over and climbed onto one of the massive stools. The stool was so tall that her feet couldn’t find anything to rest on as she sat. But the real killer of the cool act she had been going for was that her head was barely above the level of the counter. 

When the man behind the counter finished talking, he looked over and asked with a smile, “What can I get for you, young miss?”

“I’d like a honeyed milk, please.” 

Yeah, she shouldn’t have tried to look cool; this whole act was doomed from the start. 

“Ah yes,” the man said, “that will be two opps.”

Rain paid, and the man went out back to get her order. When he returned, he held a small cup of milk and sat it down in front of her.

“Here you are. Take your time and enjoy.”

Unsure what she was supposed to do now, Rain sat back and took a drink. The milk was really sweet and cool. It was definitely up there in the list of her favorite foods.

A familiar boy approached her before she finished her drink and asked if she could come with him. The boy was the same one who had been following her the other day, and Rain really wanted to tease him about losing her. Resisting her urges, Rain drained her cup and hopped off the stool. Now that she was close to the boy, she saw he was a foot taller than her. It was good that she hadn’t tried to capture him back then. 

The boy led her around to an inn room. The number on the door marked it as room two. The boy knocked. When an older man asked who it was, the boy answered ‘Arlos’, and they were invited to come in.