The Tales Of Esmeralda

Chapter 3: Yolanda, Queen Of Thieves

Yolanda stared at Esmeralda. "Come...come with me? Look, um..."

"Esmeralda."

"Mm hm. Well, I don't...why would you...why would you want to adventure around with the thief that just tried to steal your sword?"

"Because she didn't steal my sword. She gave it back the moment I asked."

Yolanda stared at Esmeralda again. "Bitch, you crazy!"

"Hey, look, it's not as crazy as what my big ass plan is."

Yolanda stared again. "Which would be...? What?"

"Hm. Not tellin'. Unless you agree to take me."

"Uh, w-w-w," Yolanda stuttered. "Grrr! Are you planning to kill the king? Steal something very valuable? Torture a god? Ooh, that would be interesting. Um, uh, marry the king? I think he's single. He might be. What?! WHAT IS YOUR PLAN?!"

"Agree to take me with you and I'll tell you." Esmeralda crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Oh, a-and my cat. Triana."

Yolanda sighed. "Okay. Fine. I'll take you and your cat with me."

"YES!"

"Now tell!"

Esmeralda stared at Yolanda, then she raised an eyebrow.

"If I don't know, Essy, I'll die! I just-I need to know! Curiosity will kill me!"

Esmeralda giggled slightly. "Alright. I'll tell you." Esmeralda took a deep breath. "I'm planning on trying to save Greeks from, like...warlords, evil kings, evil gods, titans, stuff like that. I want to be a hero. Kinda like Heracles. [NOTE: HERACLES IS THE GREEK COUNTERPART OF HERCULES.] I-I wanna...I wanna help people. Not...not steal from them like you do. But don't get me wrong. You are a fabulous thief! I just...that's just not me."

Yolanda smirked. "Come on. This is a one-way trip. You wanna go, we're gonna have to leave soon."

~~~~

"So," Yolanda said to Esmeralda after she filled up the cart, "why in Zeus's name did you decide you wanna help people? What, do you want to be like Orpheus and meet Hades himself? Be Heracles and do twelve tasks, like holding up the sky? Like what is it you wanna do?"

"Help people. And, um, I...like helping people. I like fighting. So somebody suggested that I do that."

Yolanda did a 'tsk, tsk' noise. "Y'know, the world is a great big place. You can't save everyone in it."

"I know. But I can try."

Yolanda smiled. "I like you, Esmeralda. You're pretty cool. I won't ever steal from you, no matter how rich you get. That I promise."

"How do you know I'll end up being rich?"

"A big hero? That isn't rich? Come on, Es. I thought you were smarter than that! People would pay heroes for helping them whether the heroes want the money or not. Most heroes become rich. Most heroes are born rich! A lot of heroes are royalty, for some reason."

"Because Zeus likes sleeping with queens."

Yolanda snorted. "Well, yeah. I guess being a king you'd wanna keep the bloodline going. Even if you are cheating on your wife."

"Oh. Yeah. Okay."

"Whaat? What were you thinking?"

Esmeralda hesitated. "Uhh...I'd tell you, but Zeus would probably come down from Mount Olympus himself to kill me."