Memoirs 171 - A bard's jaunt (Patreon)

“So, how are we doing this?” Allyssa asked Rosa as the girl leaned closer to her, eyeing the list Scarlett had given them. “I’ve never been here before, so I don’t know where you can get any of this stuff, but any apothecary or potion emporium should at least have most of the reagents listed here.”

“Hmm~” Rosa studied Allyssa for a moment. The girl had her blonde hair bundled up in a braid today, even as she still kept those amusing little goggles on top of her head, despite being in the middle of a crowded city. “How about we split up? You peachy young‘uns can handle all that dangerous-sounding stuff while auntie Rosa here deals with the rest of the tasks our dear aloof icicle of an employer handed us. I know these streets like I know the hymn to Ittar.”

Both Shin and Allyssa looked at her.

“Is this where you say you don’t know the lyrics to it?” Shin asked.

Rosa grinned broadly. They were catching on. “Not a word. But I have a great sense for these things.”

She turned away, pretending to scan the neighborhood, hiding the fakeness behind that grin. It was a bittersweet thought to realize that these kids had been hanging around her long enough to know her this well.

Especially Scarlett.

Pointing to a street on their right where a few wagons passed by, Rosa pulled their attention to a storefront with a sign indicating they dealt with books and similar articles. “See? I’ve already located a prospective first stop for the first item on the list. A map! The rest will be a pinch.”

“It’s not that I doubt you,” Shin said, “but splitting the list would mean you have to deal with half of it all by yourself.”

Rosa snorted as she waved her hand in the air dismissively. “Details, details. Who am I to get in the way of younglings’ bonding time? Now, shoo, shoo. Go and do whatever kids these days do.”

Both gave her long looks, and she couldn’t help chuckling a little at their reactions. “Okay, maybe not. But I think I’ll manage, really. Might even take this opportunity when our noble overlord isn’t looking to hit up some of the interesting locales and earn some extra coin. We weren’t given a time-limit, after all.”

Her smile disappeared when she touched both hands to her side and realized she didn’t have her klert with her. She had left it in the carriage.

Since when did she ever forget to bring her instrument?

Today wasn’t even a bad day. In fact, this whole past week had been better than most she’d had for a while now. The visions were at a minimum, and she felt more in control than usual. Yet somehow she still forgot the only thing that had stayed by her side these last few years.

Now that she was consciously thinking about it, it felt off not to have her klert in her hands or on her back. Like she was moving around with an arm too little.

Was this what her getting comfortable led to?

While she was lost in her thoughts, Allyssa grabbed the list out of Rosa’s hand, folded it, and then tore it in half. The girl kept the lower half for herself and handed the other back to Rosa.

“Should we maybe meet back up at that square later when we’re finished?” Allyssa asked, pointing down the street at a tiny square with some benches and stalls that attracted the people passing by.

Shin took the piece of paper from Allyssa in an adorably serious and natural manner, pocketing it before turning to Rosa. “If you need help, we can meet up earlier and check in with each other as well.”

“No, you two take your time.” She looked around the bustling street. She really wanted to take this chance when things were calm to enjoy being around people again, even if she couldn’t perform. “I’ll be more than alright.”

“If you say so.” Allyssa eyed their surroundings, the girl’s attention seeming to be drawn to a street further down the block. “I’d say that direction looks promising, so let’s start there, Shin.”

The young man gave her a short look. “And why do you think that?”

“Gut feeling,” Allyssa replied.

Rosa didn’t hide her amused smile as Shin rolled his eyes.

“I wish you all the luck, little ducklings!” she teased the two before promptly spinning around, maneuvering past an older couple and through the crowd towards the street. After slinking between a pair of wagons that crossed the lane, she reached the store she had spotted earlier and entered with a purposeful spring to her step.

Inside the store, Rosa spoke with the proprietor and purchased a couple of maps depicting the region and that fit Scarlett’s descriptions. As she stepped out of the store and looked at the list of tasks, she found herself a bit puzzled.

If she were to be honest, she didn’t really understand the purpose of the list. Some items on the list made sense, like the map and some books that Scarlett seemed to want. But why would the woman be asking for her to buy a quill? Or silver jewellery, for that matter. Scarlett probably had lots of both back in that humongous mansion of hers, and it wasn’t as if she needed Rosa to get them for her.

She couldn’t help but wonder if this was Scarlett’s way of playing a trick on her. One could never tell with that one. She was a sly one when she wanted to be. But that was one of the things that made her so fun to be around, even if you discounted all the other unique things about her.

It was enough to almost forget she was a baroness sometimes, even when basically everything about Scarlett screamed ‘noblewoman’.

Rosa laughed softly to herself as she turned around a corner, searching for a shop where she could find quills. A million times she’d told herself not to get pulled into this mire of what she had been certain was nothing but a fake reprieve. To not chase the false hope that had sprouted from her interactions with Scarlett. Yet somehow, she had done the exact opposite. She’d actually started believing. She couldn’t stop herself.

Scarlett knew about her. The woman knew. Somehow.

That both terrified and comforted Rosa. There were still so many unanswered questions, so many things she wanted to know, and so many things she didn’t understand. And now there was the very real possibility that Scarlett held the information she needed.

But there was a barrier between them. As much as she felt that Scarlett knew her better than almost anyone she’d ever met, their relationship felt even more like a facade than any else. They were playing a game that only the two of them were aware of.

Rosa loved it. She relished in it. Sometimes she genuinely had fun with it. But there were so many layers of separation between them, and she had no idea where the authenticity began and the acting ended most of the time.

Even with that, she didn’t want it to end. She was afraid she couldn’t bring herself to end it, even if she had to. Despite all the years that had passed, she still felt like nothing more than a child running from her problems. But this was never just about her. It never had been.

The hypocrisy of going around pretending to care about other people’s pain while doing nothing to stop the pain she herself could cause was almost laughable.

But Scarlett… Scarlett was different. Somehow. Everyone who met the woman could see that. And despite the image of a composed and all-knowing actor that the woman projected to others—an image that Rosa found herself continuously buying into—there was something beneath all that. Rosa had caught glimpses of it. Hints of vulnerability when even Scarlett couldn’t maintain her facade completely.

Rosa wanted to know what lay under it all, but she didn’t have the right to. She wasn’t sure she was qualified. Because in spite of all the praise she often received for her charms and supposed ingenuity, she had never felt strong. She had never felt reliable. And she had never felt trustworthy.

But for the first time in years, she had felt somewhat safe. And she wanted to repay that feeling, if she could.

She looked down at the list in her hand.

Well, she supposed this didn’t really count, but it was better than nothing. Plus, she was still getting paid.

With that thought, she proceeded ahead to tackle the next item on the list.

“Welcome,” a voice called out from the back of the store as Rosa closed the door behind her, her eyes adjusting to the dim interior.

It was quaint. If there ever was one place that was the inspiration for the term ‘nook and cranny’, she could easily see it being this one. The air was thick with the scent of dried herbs, mixing with the earthy aroma of aged books and wood. Only a few flickering candlelights illuminated the cramped space, casting dancing shadows across the narrow aisles.

Packed shelves reached up to the low ceiling, filled with jars, vials, strange tools, books, and containers of various shapes and sizes. Unknown elixirs stood on display, their vibrant hues shining through the darkness like small beacons, while dried plants hung from the rafters, casting whimsical silhouettes against the backdrop of worn, tapestry-covered walls.

She couldn’t see all the way to the back of the store from the entrance, so Rosa navigated through the tight aisles with careful steps, her eyes scanning the items before her. Maybe Allyssa and Shin had already visited this place for some of the alchemy reagents.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out the folded piece of paper there. Unfolding it, she once again read through its contents. Scarlett had clearly put some thought into it when she’d made the list and dropped them off where she did, since Rosa had been able to find almost all the items within a few streets from each other. It was all very structured and tidy, reminiscent of the woman’s personality.

However, she had been having trouble finding the last item on the list. She didn’t even know what ‘oracle wax’ was supposed to be. She had already asked around in over a dozen places, but none seemed to have it. Still, she trusted that Scarlett hadn’t included something that couldn’t be found in the area.

Which was why she had finally ended up in this place.

‘Oracle wax’ sounded suitably mystical and all that, and this store had the same vibe going for it. If this was a bust, she might actually have to meet up with the kiddos and see if they had a clue. Worst-case scenario, they returned to Scarlett without the wax. It was unlikely the woman would give the lashes for that, at least.

As Rosa reached the back of the store, she found the proprietor standing in a tiny space behind a low wooden desk. The elderly lady had a look of intense focus as she leaned over a weathered old book. Her simple grey clothes and bunned grey hair made it look like she’d woken up this morning and forgotten what colors were, and the face adorned with wrinkles did much to add to that effect.

“Why, hello there,” Rosa greeted as she approached the desk.

The lady looked up from the book and fixed a gaze on her. “What’s your business here?”

Rosa glanced over the items on the nearby shelves in line with her head, pretending to examine them with great interest. “Well, that really depends,” she said slowly, reaching up a finger to run it over a dusty vial that had what she was going to pretend was a floating crow’s eye in it. “If I’m lucky, I’m here to buy some of these very intriguing baubles you have in this fine establishment of yours. Let’s hope for that, shall we?”

The store proprietor gave her a long look, and Rosa smiled as she tilted her head. “You wouldn’t happen to have any oracle wax, would you?”

The woman’s expression turned into a frown, and she studied Rosa for several seconds. “Oracle wax, you say?”

“Those were indeed the words that left my mouth. Minus the odd intonation, mind you.”

The old lady closed the book and pushed it to the side before leaning down to a bottom shelf near her, supporting herself with a hand on the counter, and pulled up an old box. Placing the box on the counter in front of Rosa, she opened it and brought out a turquoise blue resin that was lumped together. A sweet scent filled the air, piercing through the other heavy aromas in the store.

“Is this was you want?” the woman asked.

Rosa inspected it for a moment. “If that’s oracle wax, then yes.”

A snort left the woman. “So you aren’t here for this.”

She closed the lid on the box and pushed it to the side, making Rosa wonder what was going on. The old lady turned her attention back to Rosa and held out a wrinkled hand with weathered, sun-touched skin.

Rosa looked down at the hand.

“The payment,” the woman said.

Rosa blinked. Usually, payment came after a transaction had been agreed upon.

Despite that, she brought out the pouch Scarlett had given her and pulled out a few gold coins. “How much?” she asked, starting to count them in her palm.

“I’m not talking about solars.”

Rosa glanced up at the woman. “I’m flattered, but I think I’d prefer to stick to coins.”

The old lady's cheeks twitched. “Girl, what are you on about? Either you show me a token or you leave.”

Token?

Rosa gave the woman a long look, unsure what she was talking about.

What kind of place didn’t take solars—

Her hand stopped counting the coins as a thought struck her. She showed a sheepish smile as she started putting the coins away. “Sorry about that. Of course, you meant the token. Silly me!”

She reached into her pocket, where she kept an item that she had been told to hold on to a while back. With a flourish, she pulled out a single large silver coin, holding it out to the woman. It had a talon clasping a bleeding heart engraved on its face, with small indentations at the bottom that were barely visible.

The proprietor examined the coin for a moment, taking it from her and running a thumb over the indentation at the bottom, before looking up at Rosa and studying her. Then she nodded and put the coin away in her clothes before stepping out from behind her desk and heading towards a door at the back of the establishment.

“Step inside,” she said, opening it and looking back at Rosa.

Rosa hid her confusion as she looked at the open passage leading down a dimly lit hallway. “Why, if I might ask?”

“You’re a client, aren’t you? Then come with me to the back. I don’t handle Talonborn business here.”

Rosa swallowed.

What in the world had Scarlett gotten her into?