The Merchant Who Would be King

Lady Lucia

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"Lady la Luna!" a prim and older feminine voice chided from behind as the pair made their way down Belleville's Market Street, browsing the stalls and enjoying the sunny summer's day.

The lady so addressed coyly did not look over her shoulder at the middle-aged woman following closely behind her. "Why, yes, dearest [Companion]?" she replied with faux distraction as she perused the wares on the table before her.

The older woman's arm possessively hooked Lucia's elbow and forcibly dragged her away from the table full of sharp, steel instruments of death. "These are generally not the type of things that would interest a proper young lady. A proper young lady should find more suitable interests," her voice lowered, "at least in public."

Lucia allowed herself to be carried along. She bore her companion, Mayjoria, no ill will at all. In fact, she internally sighed, the woman was right. Lucia really shouldn't be browsing such things in public. Were it not for the double life she led, it wouldn't be a problem. But neither of them wanted anyone accidentally associating the [Lady] with knives and other implements of her highly secret [Thief] class.

Actually, Lucia thought smugly, she was no longer either class separately. A few months ago, the two had combined into [Lady Thief], the female version of [Gentleman Thief]. She suspected this was because she routinely employed her lady Skills during her missions as a thief. And because she gave away most of what she stole to those in need. As the only child of a well-to-do noble family, she did not want for money herself. Being a thief was something that she did for the challenge and the thrill and to help others. It had been that way since she was a child. She loved to take but she also loved to give and make others happy. That might seem contradictory but Lucia la Luna was nothing if not full of contradictions.

For example, she had shiny, raven-black hair that hung loose to the middle of her back. This contrasted sharply with the habitually white clothing that she usually wore in the daytime, a play on her family name, which referenced the beautiful, white moon. Today, she wore a white, off-shoulder, bell-sleeve dress with white silk ribbons stitching up the front like a corset, the hem of the dress reaching just above the knee. The material was light and comfortable and the fabrics matched her wide-brimmed, white hat and the silk ribbons in her hair.

The hat wasn't just to keep off the sun, though she did have sensitive, very pale skin that burned easily. Mostly, the wide brim of the hat was easily lowered over her eyes to hide her highly unusual red irises. In a similar vein, she carried a red-and-white fan that she kept in front of her mouth while she spoke to Mayjoria because it helped to hide her very pointy incisors.

The red of the fan matched the candy-apple red of her lips and nails. The use of red in her fashion was by design. Should anyone catch a glimpse of her rare eye colour, she could pass it off as a magical cosmetic, part of her overall look. And most would think nothing more than that she was a stylish young woman.

Well, it was thanks to Mayjoria's efforts that Lucia was stylish. And thank goodness for that because Lucia's skills and Skills were generally tailored to other things.

Like [Pick Pocket]. The only way anyone would have caught sight of Lucia's hand dipping into that man's waistcoat to purloin his wallet was if they had had Skills of their own, ones dedicated to uncovering such nefarious activity.

Mayjoria, however, did not require such Skills. She'd only needed to see Lucia lightly bump the older man and then move off with a shallow curtsy to know what had happened. A long-suffering sigh escaped her lips. "Lucia..."