Elemental Witch: Child of the Earth (Part I)

Strange Creatures

"First of all, you need shoes..." Miss Greylin met her at the shop door, standing in her way and holding out a pair of well worn but complete boots, "I don't care if you don't like covering your feet for whatever reason, but in the shop you're going to hurt yourself if you don't have them."

Verana paused to consider them before nodding and taking the boots. She leaned against the wall of the small shop to pull them on her feet, shuddering and shifting uncomfortably as she straightened, "my presence in town preceded me?"

Greylin paused, raising a curious brow, "Oh... yeah, the moment you turned into this quarter, we had gossips running around, trying to figure it out. I didn't figure you'd show up without an escort though."

"I didn't stop at the Keep." Verana shrugged and walked as gingerly as she could, flexing her feet in the soft leather, the foot wear was already feeling far too warm as they walked into the shop that sweltered. The smell of metal and fire overwhelmed her sense, as did the ringing of metal on metal from shops throughout the street, "I understand why we don't do this ourselves. The noise, the smells... its a lot to take in."

Greylin watched her for a long moment, as if weighing the words for an insult but smiled finally and nodded, "You have better senses than we do, don't you?"

Verana nodded at that, moving around the shop and curiously studying the various tools and scraps of metal as she answered, "I believe so. Its my theory that we can. Most of the Feysha have better senses than me."

"Why?"

"I'm different." It was the best answer she could give this other woman, this Human, who was nearly a stranger, "I brought you examples to keep. In case you needed them."

"Ah, that explains why you have four swords strapped to you. We feared you were here to start a war..." Greylin chuckled and held out her hand, taking the offered sword belt from Verana, frowning as she unsheathed the first sword. "These are ancient... you still fight with them?"

Verana nodded, watching the woman inspect the blades with a thoughtful expression.  "All of our weapons were made for us when we maintained our ties with the Humans. The newest blades we have are over five hundred years old. Its why I asked if you could replace them. Humans just don't use these style of weapons and we don't fight with those large swords they do use."

"Not even the men?" Greylin looked up to her, surprise in her expression. 

"Male and Female Feysha are pretty equal in size and strength." Verana shrugged, watching the other woman, "the first order would be for twenty five pairs of each of those."

Greylin let out a soft whistle, nodding slowly, "that's a lot of swords."

"I can pay you ahead of time." Verana said softly, watching her, "I know it will require supplies and possibly to employ other people to help you."

"How about half up front, that could get me started.." Greylin offered cautiously, frowning as Verana merely nodded and produced a coin purse. Without any haggling or hesitation, she placed it on a table beside where Greylin had laid the sword belt down.

"This displeases you?" Verana frowned, smelling the woman's uncertainty, guilt and displeasure, even as the woman tried to school her features.

Greylin shook her head, letting out a breath, "I have to be honest with you, if... if whatever you're trying to organize with the King, with Lord Shelby, if it goes south..."

Verana was silent, merely watching her for a long moment, then nodding in understanding. "These weapons will never be used against your people. If things do not turn out as hoped, we will use them to defend the island and then we will give them back to you, Greylin. What comes after will not be up to me but we will not use the weapons you made, to hurt any of your people. That is not who the Feysha are."

"I can't smell you like you can obviously smell me to read my mind but I believe you, Verana. I don't know why. But I do. That would put your people at a disadvantage, with these decrepit weapons, if it came to us against you." Greylin watched her, met her eyes, smelling of hope and companionship now, as the doubt began to fade from the air.

"There is more to life than winning wars. If you can't do it properly, then you lose sight of why you were fighting in the first place." Verana shrugged, letting out a breath, frowning and turning to look at the door, tensing moments before Sir Benchan rounded the corner and paused, watching the two of them curiously.

"Verana, Miss Greylin." He offered a curt bow to them, raising a brow, "Verana, I've been sent to ask.... If you intend to..." He looked suddenly completely unaware of what he should be saying, or perhaps how to approach the subject.

Verana frowned softly, "I know they have guests. I figured that I might not be welcome, if the guests were important enough. I was going to pay Ms. Mirabel a visit, as I promised her."

"Oh, you're welcome, Verana. They sent me to find you." Benchan shrugged helplessly, though his expression was conflicted. "It is your choice, but the invitation is there."

"Who are the guests?" Greylin stepped in suddenly, appearing as disconcerted at the tone of his voice as Verana was.

"Lady Amiya and Lady Reyani. Lady Amiya is betrothed to the King." Benchan let out a slow breath, offering a shrug once more. Nothing about his stature or scent when saying those names did anything to reassure her. 

But Verana had to deal with the humans at some point. Whatever these Ladies were, they were in her way. She was about to nod when Greylin spoke up once more. 

"Ah. Look, Verana, Ladies... Court Ladies, they're not like us. They're not practical. They're usually brainless, obsessed with pretty things and experts at being helpless but they can sometimes have vicious tongues." Greylin said bluntly, her expression daring Benchan to contradict her. "I'm not saying that's who these women are, but be prepared."

"I saw them on the road... they were wearing pants, riding horses... carrying weapons." Verana said thoughtfully, wrinkling her nose at the shocked expressions she saw on the faces of the other two. "They got into their rolling box before they were in sight of the Keep, but they were."

"Rolling...Carriage. They call those things carriages." Benchan shook his head, raising a brow, "You honestly saw them in pants?"

Verana shrugged at that, as if the detail was unimportant. "What about my promise to Mirabel? She is expecting me today."

Benchan blinked at her, trying to catch up to her line of thought, "We'll go after. Ms. Mirabel is probably too busy right now anyways. Later on in the day will be better, after the rush of customers."

Greylin grinned slowly, looking clearly amused at the prospect of whatever was going to happen in the meeting, placing her palms together and bowing her head over her fingers, mimicking Verana's own gesture. "Earth's blessing, Verana."

Verana froze for a moment, watching the other woman in surprise, before breaking into a wide grin, bowing over her own hands. "And friendly skies to you, Miss Greylin."