Tansy of the Wilds

Chapter Two

Tansy Wilde was not used to that, at all. She knew she looked out of place. She had never left her family's lumberyard but now she was in Yarkin, three days from her home, in a tavern with patrons that looked at her much like that bandit had. She didn't fit in, she knew that, but she also needed help. She gave the orc another small smile. She knew she was acting a little skittish, the tavern was rather loud and there was a rough sort of crowd in it but she needed to hire someone to help her.

"I had a run in with a bandit outside of Yarkin." She swallowed hard as she said it. It had been too close of a call. "I only got away because I used my dagger on-on-on his..." She could feel her cheeks heat up. "Umm I used my dagger on his... unmentionables." She had stabbed him, not hard, in his dick. She felt dreadfully embarrassed about it but it had been instinctive when he pulled it out as he straddled her body. The orc snorted in amusement, his lips pulling into a rather crudely amused smile, showing off his tusks.

"So I fled to Yarkin, I left all of my things at my camp because I just needed to get away from him. He had me on the ground and I just reacted but I wasn't about to stay there and let him hurt me more than he was trying to in the first place." Tansy took a breath as she ran out of air. "So I came into town because it was much safer but then I asked someone if they knew of anyone who I could hire as protection on my trip and I was told to come in here and look for an orc and you are the only orc I can see, so are you the one I can hire for protection?" She said it in one long drawn out sentence as she moved closer to his large form, casting wary glances to the other tavern goers who started to shove each other around.

Tansy hated it, she hated that she felt like that but her belly was still churning from her run in from the bandit and she just needed someone to help her out and she had the means to purchase protection.

"And you decided what? To come gawk at the orc?" The orc cocked an eyebrow at her, his thick scars on his face stretching slightly. He had a very striking visage, very fearsome, bery battle worn.

Tansy quickly shook her head. "No, I really do need protection." She really did and she had wanted the toughest personal guard there was and he was the only one who had been mentioned.

"So, you knifed a bandit in the stones and now you need an orc to protect you on some grand adventure?" His tone was mockingly casual, bordering on sarcastic. "Let me just grab my golden chariot and I can whisk you off." That stung a bit and Tansy pinched her lips together.

She shuffled even closer as a rather large man nearly crashed into after he was shoved by someone else. "Not such a grand adventure to be honest. I was sent out by my family, we run a lumber yard you see, but we ran into some kobolds, well I ran into some kobolds, and we got to talking and the Kelpfar kobolds have an iron mine and my family sent me out to negotiate with them because the kobolds prefer me to anyone else in the family and my family didn't want to send anyone else." She explained it as quickly as she could. "My sister Rose is too young. My sister Daffodil is married and pregnant, my three brothers are busy at the lumberyard and my papa and mama couldn't go but it's not exactly safe for women out on the roads, hence me slicing a bandit's bits as he tried to push up my skirts." She rambled as she dug into her pockets, she had the bag of coin her papa had given her that she was going to use to pay for his services.

"I need protection. The bandit snuck into my camp and clearly I don't know what I'm doing and I haven't been this far from home but I was the only one who could go. I can pay you." She watched him as she said it, her voice soft as she tried her other pocket, hoping she wasn't so absent minded she left the coin in her pack back at camp.

"Sounds like an interestin' tale, but let me make one thing damn clear from the onset. I'm here for the coin. Yer not my friend, and I'm not yer hero." He grunted the words and sneered. Tansy watched as it made his already intimidating face appear even more foreboding, cheekbones cast in eerie shadow from the flickering tavern's lamp hanging overhead. Something in her stomach flipped in a rather usual way at the look he gave her. It definitely wasn't fear though. "If you can accept those terms, then maybe we can do business. If not, find some dewy-eyed squire to chase after yer skirts." He asked, his deep voice hinting at a threat, his red toned eyes keen, observing Tansy with skepticism.

"I know we won't be friends but I'm hoping we can perhaps be friendly. It would be a shame to have to be at odds the entire trip." Tansy finally found the bag of coins with a heavy sigh of relief. "So because of the bandit run in I decided that the coin my parents gave me for the trade negotiations with the Kelpfar kobolds could be repurposed. I don't really need it because the kobolds don't have a concept of money really, so I figured it was probably a good investment to get some protection to take me to the Kelpfar kobolds and then back home!" She finished the proposal by setting the bag in front of him with slightly shaky fingers. "There is both gold and silver coins in there." She looked at him, hopeful he wouldn't mind helping her out.

She needed help and she wasn't too stubborn to ask for it.