Beyond the Void

Chapter 5, You can't make a living off good wishes

One year is divided up into nine moons, each lasting sixty days. One moon is divided into six ten-day periods called tens. The nine moons starting from the beginning of the year are of Gales, of Shrouded Life, of Fading Frost, of Blossoms, of Verdant Fields, of Brilliant Skies, of Waning Fire, of Harvest's End, of Barren Fields.

An excerpt from the diary of Pia...

VAERA

One ten since the Mark of the Other One blossomed.

"Hey, you. I am talking to you!" Mei, a barmaid of the Amber Falls, was snapping fingers in front of Vaera's eyes.

"Calm down girl or you'll poke someone's eye... OW!" She had sunk her nails into Vaera's forehead.

"It'll be the eye next time. And stop ogling Clarissa. She is out of your league, you granny." She was still snapping her fingers in front of Vaera. "Look here. Up here. Where my face is."

"Then stop it with the damned fingers. Calling me a granny." Vaera grumbled and rubbed her forehead.

"Well, you're not young, are you?"

"Thirty-something is not old either."

"You said you'd take care of Ramsey."

"I said I would think about it." Vaera turned her attention back to her drink.

"You're a regular here and despite you being you, trustworthy, to a certain point." Mei grumbled and crossed her arms. "You know his lot have been giving trouble for the girls. Why can't you help for once?"

"And why would I bother explaining the rules to him? Ramsey is new in Whitefall, but he has a lot of coin and the wits to stay from angering anyone important."

"So we're not important, are we?" Mei crossed her arms.

"You can't make a living off good wishes. It'll cost you like everyone else. Valuables or valuable rumours."

"Alright. Up in the Arcane Crux..."

Vaera cursed Mei in her head. Dreading what was coming, she interrupted Mei. "If one the following words will be voidstone, pureblood or Ebonveil, you can forget about it. I don't need petty gossip. I need something I can make coin off of."

"It's not petty gossip. I have a friend working there as a servant." Mei was upset.

"It's all over the city. Oh, the world is ending. Oh pureblood this and that." Vaera whined in a mocking voice.

"Fuck you! Why can't you help people out for once? We're running a bar. We're not in the flesh market. Ramsey's lot has been getting too persistent. They have followed us home." 

"Ramsey is..." Vaera hesitated for a moment. "He has good connections with the Pelesi. He is helping others make a lot of coin."

"He is from out of town and needs to know how things work. His success is making him too headstrong. I doubt anyone would miss him. They don't need him. They need his contacts. Don't they?" Mei would not back down.

"He is a middleman, his contacts only trust him. Not to mention, they are all Pelesian. They trust no-one from the continent. And we do not kill people. We're doing odd-jobs, not running an assassin's outfit. That's for posers."

"So we're stuck in this situation?"

"Look. Maybe if you'll tell me who the biggest troublemakers are? I might be able to talk to someone. But it's still a job, Mei."