THE FORTUNIST

6. Leurayssa

"A person's connection to a cryfix is limited to at most two. The Fortunist can however, wield them all."

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It is night and the restaurant is empty, the workday being done. Leurayssa and Meda, Leurayssa's top employee are left to do the finishing touches.

Leurayssa is deep in thoughts, worrying about the whereabouts of her sister Anarella. Surely, that paper drawing could not have lasted another two days. How had it been two weeks already?

"Leu," Meda calls, "I'd best be on my way now."

"Don't let me keep you."

Earlier, Leurayssa had expressed her desire to look for her sister. She'd leave the restaurant in Meda's capable hands. Anarella wouldn't want that, but it'd be nice to actually do something she wouldn't want for a change so she (Anarella) would know how it feels like.

"Be at ease, I'm sure Rel's just skydiving somewhere, frolicking with a man. I must say, she never liked that boy Thornton," are Meda's last words as she shoots out the door. She does not stay long enough to hear Leurayssa's skeptic snort. Leurayssa puts the last of the fresh table napkins away and proceeds to turn off the lights. She sees a shocking silhouette by the door that sends her heart flying. She lets out a small yelp.

Just like Anarella had taught her and perhaps, with the magnificent hope that it might be Anarella herself, she leaps for the lights switch to clearly see what she is dealing with before she gets too scared.

It is not Anarella.

"Ciara, right?"

The teenage girl at the door nods. Leurayssa is briefly disappointed. She knows little about the girl but from that little, she already disapproves. The girl always entered other restaurants but never hers.

"We are closed."

"Please," the girl named Ciara simpers, looking bored. Leurayssa bites back a bitter scoff. For the jumpscare Ciara caused moments ago, she did not even deserve to be let near a dump. Begrudgingly, Leurayssa lets her in.

"Stay far away from the windows. So others won't start getting funny ideas."

"I know. Your lights aren't on past ten at night."

"Funny that someone like you knows that."

"Someone like me?"

Leurayssa beckons Ciara to follow her into the kitchen. "Yes, someone like you. You frequent the other restaurants but never come to mine."

"I'm a part timer. I hunt for jobs by the hour. I never come here because I don't presume you would hire me."

"You are right, I won't," Leurayssa says a bit too cruelly. Part timers are to be trusted little in the province. For the right price, they can illegally sell business secrets. Petitions have been endlessly made to the Crown to put penalties on the sly act but nothing so far has been done.

"I'm not that kind of person you have in mind. I'm trustworthy," Ciara insists, "that's why the restaurants don't mind hiring me."

"They'll dump you when the time is right. The moment they realise that you will never define your loyalty. If you know what's good for you, choose who you want to permanently work with."

"If I do that, I'd have no time for my art."

Leurayssa had forgotten about that. "As far as I've heard, no one's ever seen your alleged arts."

"I'll show to who I want. And that's not the reason I'm here, your sister stole something from me."

"Excuse me? My sister has been gone for quite a while."

"Two weeks."

"Is keeping tabs art as well?"

"You know what I'm talking about. I know she showed it to you before she left. I drew that ring. I'm supposed to be getting paid for it and it's not something one can draw from memory. I want my drawing back."

"Why would Anarella steal a drawing? A mere drawing."

"Don't play coy with me. We are not kids. We may be far away from political action but I think we both know what that ring is."

"It's one thing to see a cryfix. It's quite another to see the one belonging to Alban House, the royal family. Who the fuck would come all the way here to give a cryfix to a random girl who thinks on the solo that she is talented enough to draw."

"That is for me to know," Ciara says stiffly.

"Ciara I wish I could help you, I really do— but I don't know where my sister is, tada. She's a bounty hunter. She could be anywhere. Hell, she could be in the palace as we speak."

"You can help me."

Leurayssa chuckles. "You want me to pay for the drawing. Alright, how much?"

"Five hundred thousand Albs."

Leurayssa is stumped. "Silver?" she asks hopefully. A question to which Ciara shakes her head. "Okay, that's not an option. I don't have that kind of money, I'm just a small business owner."

"Oh I'm not asking you to pay the money. I already know you couldn't. I just want you to find your sister and make her give me back my drawing."

Leurayssa gulps. Could she tell Ciara that the drawing would be totally gone by now considering the precious state it was in when she last saw it? No.

Ciara is digging into her robes, searching for something. She finds what she is looking for. It is a golden ball. Leurayssa eyes widen as she wonders why a random commoner would have something of pure solid gold.

"Take it," Ciara tosses it for Leurayssa to catch. The ball is weighty, Leurayssa examines it. There is an inscription in Albenian. The inscription remotely translates to CIARA MULDEN, ALBENARUM: 22306.

Leurayssa gasps as she realises she is holding an admission token to the most prestigious school in the whole of Albeny.