The Whisper of the Nightingale

Chapter 19: Finding "Cover"

The main market place of Black Talon Gate was bustling with activity; men and women alike were shouting out various bargains to the passing buyers, some of whom would stop and try to haggle the prices further. The aromas of spices and cooked meats filled the air, and children were running back en forth between the numerous stalls - some were playing, others were carrying large parcels on their backs as they ran deliveries for various merchants.

Most buyers present at the market had a fairly rowdy disposition and sometimes arguments would brake out over the items for sale. The fights were usually resolved fairly quickly, either by the fighters themselves or by the patrolling guards the town provided to help safeguard the merchants wares.

Despite the town's remote location, the merchandise for sale was of fairly high quality and a lot of money changed hands every day here. Of course, the merchants wouldn't be allowed to keep all of it - a tenth of their profits had to be paid as taxes to the town Lords in order for them to be allowed to set up their stalls within the town walls and enjoy the protection of the guards.

Then again, not everyone in the market had any money to trade with or any services they could offer. Revealing the dirtier side of the market, several beggars were loitering around asking for scraps to survive another day. Most ignored them, but once the food stalls closed for the day, the beggars had a chance to get lucky and receive whatever left-overs that wouldn't stay fresh till the next market day.

Adapting the role of "street urchin" perfectly, Raven sat nibbling on a stale piece of breed, not far from the baker that had tossed said piece of bread on the ground moments earlier. Raven looked like all the other broken little boys roaming around as she ate her bread with apathy, but in reality her eyes were pushed to their limits in order to hear everything that was said around her.

"One silver for a Frost Berry Pie!" The baker shouted.

"Hey, don't touch it if you're not gonna buy it!" Reprimanded another salesman.

Moments like these she really missed her spirit connections. Before, she would have been able to easily hear almost every voice within the vast market, but now she was limited to a couple of hundred meters. She had regained almost 150 of her connections but they were still far from returned to their former glory. Even worse, the recovery rate had started to slow down a bit, as every connection needed to come in contact with more spirit essence to be reformed.

"Tui, go get more herbs from the carriage!" A young woman in her twenties ordered her daughter.

"Buy a lovely hairpin for a lovely lady - who knows? It might seal the deal!" Hollered a fat man selling jewelry.

Despite the lessen range, a multitude of voices still drilled into Raven's ears, and she calmly sifted through what they were saying; taking note of any interesting information she came across. She had already learnt a great deal.

It would seem like, at the moment, two large and four smaller caravans of merchants were present in Black Talon Gate. Among these, only three of the smaller ones were headed towards Rock Wren Prefecture, whereas the rest had, the now renamed, Black Talon City as their destination. The fat accessories salesman, located across from the baker, was the head of one of the smaller caravans and would, according to rumor, head out tomorrow.

His name was Heron and he had the unusual reputation of being very considerate, from what Raven could tell, the reputation seemed warranted; he had on several occasions during the day given a copper or two to the beggars that passed his stall. Of course, coppers wouldn't get you very far - the one silver Frost Berry pie the baker sold, would require a hundred coppers to buy - but it was better than nothing.