Ikiiri

Ikiiri Chapter 3

"Seeds, spices...humm...what else?" He muses. Then he remembers what it is and snaps his fingers. "Ah! That's right!"

The grass beneath his feet changes from that to stone as he enters the southern plaza area of Jidoor, passing by stores, houses...pedestrians. He glances around himself, taking in the view while still moving towards his first stop: the flower nursery. On his way to this tucked-in shop on the lower level, he passes by a large, burly man with multiple scars and tattoos running over his arms, body, and face. They barely acknowledge each other as they pass, Jinari going on towards the shop and Manny marching steadily towards Owzer's mansion.

He tosses a small bag of money up and down in his hands, walking up the steps to his mansion's level stiffly, with much purpose in his gait and lots on his mind. He crests the last step and marches forward, walking into a crowd of three men waiting out front.

"Well, what'd you get for 'em?" One asks.

Another adds, "Lots, I hope."

He holds up the pouch of gold and shakes it, making the coins inside jingle. "Two hundred GP."

The three men whoop and cheer, reaching for the gold that he quickly pockets. "Come on, ya putzes."

They gripe and moan, following him into the mansion. He looks around himself, glancing over the artworks casually and then looking up to his right and left, to the upper levels where Owzer usually mills about. A voice calls down, "About time you showed up."

He looks over and composes himself while Owzer walks down a flight of stairs. "I got held up when I sold our other furs."

"You always get 'held up', don't you? Always late, never on time, keeping people like me that pay your bills waiting," Owzer says, then holds up a hand and shakes his head, closing his eyes. "Never mind that, just...what've you got for me today?"

Manny grits his jaw, holding his tongue, and looks over to one of his men and nods. He nods back and swings a large bag from off his shoulders onto a table nearby; then unties the end and opens it up, uncovering several large sections of tail fur and a small bag filled with ivory spheres. He steps back and gives Owzer room to look at them, which he does by taking them into his hands and turning them over, inspecting each side and stripe. Finally he tosses them down softly and faces Manny. "Pretty standard fare...I'll say, uhh...one hundred GP apiece."

"One hundred? Are you kiddin' me? For the work we put in, these should be one-fifty," He protests.

"For all the work you put in, you should've gotten something better than these!" Owzer replies, gesturing to the furs.

"We could have, actually," One of his men starts.

Manny cuts him off, facing him and pulling his finger across his throat. "Shh!"

"What's that?" Owzer asks.

Manny looks between him and the man, then sighs and answers, "We were after a really good one a couple weeks ago...could've gotten more than five of these together, in fact, but she got away from us."

Owzer asks, chuckling on each word, "You? Lose a prey? Why...that's extraordinary!"

Manny sighs and rubs his forehead between two fingers, his other arm on his hip, while his men snicker at him. "Look, it's never happened before and it'll never happen again. Now, about the ivory?"

"Ah, yes," Owzer says, reaching into the sack and taking out one sphere, tossing it up and down and looking it over in his palm. "I'll give...fifty GP for each."

He drops it back into the sack and looks down at the furs, running a hand across the soft tail section hairs. "And I'll give you one-seventy-five for these," He says, then walks past Manny, patting him on the shoulder and half-whispering in his ear. "I think you'll need the cash."