The gift of a Thief

[Alaeha]

Jirah smirked, as Aleyn struggled to escape the ropes binding his hands together. "Hey, you owe me! I don't know how you weaseled out of the auction and stuck me in your place, but the least we can do is give the poor girl her choice, right?"

 

"You signed me up, remember? Without telling me?" Aleyn retorted.

 

The two continued stumbling through the halls, with Jirah dragging Aleyn a great deal of the way. As they neared his destination, Aleyn's desperation grew, and he charged Jirah. The two fell in a heap outside PS' door.

 

"What do you mean, two?"

 

The men looked up to see a girl standing in the now opened doorway, looking at a rat in confusion.

 

Jirah stood up and hastily brushed himself off. "Well, it was originally Aleyn who signed up. I wasn't sure whether you had accidentally gotten me in his place, so I... requested... that he come with me to pick you up. I'd hate to see you get the wrong man by mistake -- and not many people let those with my talents near them at all, let alone pay for them."

 

"Pay?" The girl seemed to grow even more confused, then realization appeared. "Oh! You're Jirah, aren't you?"

 

He nodded, but spoke an affirmative "Yes," for safety. "Did you mean to bid for me? Or was it a mistake?"

 

"Oh... umm..." She backed up a bit, blushing slightly. "I meant to bid on you... but if Aleyn was supposed to be in the auction and you got put in his place..."

 

"No, that's fine!" Aleyn cut in from his sitting position in the hall. "I let him take my place. We just wanted to make sure that you got the right man."

 

With that, the BladeDancer sliced the ropes at his wrists, and left. Jirah shook his head and chuckled softly. The boy had done all his struggling purely for show, it seemed.

 

"Well," he began, "the carnival seems to have disappeared, I'm afraid, but I'll tell you what... I found a lake near here, in the middle of a forest that's all green and gold this time of year. There's a cabin near there that I've kept neat in case I needed to get out of here in a hurry.

 

"I don't know if you like swimming," he continued, "but the lake at sunset is an experience you won't forget."

 

He knew she was blind... but he had a trick or two up his sleeve yet. He took his date by the arm, and they began the walk -- a short jaunt, he thought -- to his destination.

Edited August 18, 2004 by Alaeha

[Alaeha]

"Whoa! Careful there!" Jirah lunged toward PS, catching her as she stumbled.

 

"Sorry... thanks..." PS mumbled. Jirah cursed himself for not realizing how unfriendly the terrain would be for her...

 

"We just have a little while to go," he began, "maybe a quarter mile tops. So... let's make things easier shall we?"

 

'Wait, what?!" PS shrieked a little as he swept her into his arms and began the walk again, but at a slightly faster pace.

 

"Sorry, I didn't realize how bumpy this area actually is. That's my fault. I would've hired a coach or something, but they can't make it through this forest without a path, and we're not on a path." He paused to take a breath and let her translate his explanation into something sensible, and then he continued: "I'd have asked for a teleporter, but this area's a secret.

 

"You promise not to tell anyone where we're going?" He smiled, despite knowing she couldn't see it.

 

A growl emanated from PS' purple knitting bag. Probably her Rat. PS laughed, and confirmed his thoughts when she spoke: "calm down, Rat!"

 

They continued on in silence for a few minutes, until they reached a curtain of foliage completely blocking any sight of what lay beyond. Jirah spoke, as he gently lowered PS to the ground: "Give me a minute. I don't want to carry you through a solid wall of vines."

 

"Hmm?" She didn't speak, but the question was clear. She reached out and grabbed a vine, and he could see a smile burst onto her face, before she slipped through the wall with shocking ease. Jirah dove through the wall, with only a slight rustling and snapping, but couldn't catch her as she stumbled to her knees. Fortunately, it was all grass on their side of the curtain.

 

As he had promised, the trees were all green and gold. Now he just had to wait for the other player to arrive. He reached into his pack and laid down a blanket where they stood.

 

"Here!" He said, "I brought dinner. Care to eat while we wait?"

[Alaeha]

Alaeha looked up from her notes at the sound of her door slamming open.

 

"I don't believe that thief!" Aleyn's voice sounded clearly from the main portion of her chambers. "He dragged me across the entire keep"

 

"I know." She interrupted, as she leaped to her feet and grabbed her purse.

 

"to that girl's..." he trailed off. "You... know? What do you mean, you know?" He demanded. "You know I could never"

 

"I know." She interrupted once again, as she began lacing her boots. "He knows too. I know PS, and I know she knows. We just needed to be sure that I would know when they left. You're entirely too predictable, you know."

 

She ran through the door, slamming it behind as she left her brother sputtering. She had a necklace to pick up, and a picnic to be at. She didn't have time to waste.

 

* * * * *

 

"Of course it's done, Milady." The goldsmith seemed genuinely surprised that she asked. "I always finish my work by the deadline."

 

Alaeha breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. I'm glad to hear it. I brought this to you as quickly as I could, but I was afraid you might not have time." She reached into her purse and dropped a small handful of geld onto the smith's desk, and admired his handiwork.

 

A large sapphire hung suspended from an intricate platinum chain. Each link of the chain had been shaped into a different runic symbol without weakening the chain itself. The sapphire itself had been a gift from Elrohir at the end of their date. She hadn't wanted it damaged, so she had found a smith who could seal it in place without carving the gem. As it was, tiny bands of magic wrapped the gem and held it in place.

 

"Thank you for your work. You did a masterful job in a short time frame." She clipped the amulet in place and stepped toward the door.

 

"It was a pleasure, milady. I only ask that you pass on the name of Trianin, if your friends need jewelry made."

 

As she closed the door, she called back to the goldsmith "We have a deal, then!"

 

* * * * *

 

"Let's see..." Jirah rummaged through his pack. "Sandwiches, apples, oranges, a couple of melons... you do like venison, don't you?"

 

"Venison?" PS asked, blankly.

 

"Deer meat."

 

"Honestly, I've never had it." She seemed a bit embarrassed.

 

Jirah smiled. "I guess we'll have to fix that. You'll like it."

 

He laid out the meal on the blanket -- a deep green woolen blanket. It would resist the grass stains.

 

As he searched through his pack for the last time, to make sure he hadn't missed anything, he heard a sniffing sound from behind him.

 

"Hmm?" He turned around to see a rat sniffing at the sandwiches suspiciously. The girl's rat. He thought. Best to leave him alone.

 

"SQUEAK!" The rat pronounced.

 

"I know it's all safe, Rat!" PS sighed.

 

"Squeak, squeak, SQUEAK!"

 

"Ok, you're right. Have it your way." She turned to Jirah. "Sorry, he doesn't trust any strangers. Nothing personal."

 

The thief smiled. "Don't worry. Trust me, paranoia can be a very good thing to have around you." He smirked as he placed a sandwich into her hand.

 

"Well, since we know it's safe," He began, "shall we eat?"

[Alaeha]

Alaeha stopped herself in midstride as she heard a familiar voice.

 

"The sun's about to set! Come with me for a second?

 

There was a somewhat muffled reply, but Alaeha was certain that it had been Jirah speaking... that didn't leave her much time. She reached into her purse, (grateful that it was a light bag of holding,) and withdrew a flute.

 

"No, that won't work..." She set it aside and drew out a harmonica. "Neither will that."

 

On the third attempt, she found her lyre and softly plucked each string, to test its tuning. It was fine. She replaced her other instruments in the purse and slowly crept around Jirah and PS, and sat in silence by the lake.

 

With her back to the lake, she couldn't see the sun, so she awaited Jirah's signal. When his arm rose, she drew a deep breath, and began a low chant as she softly strummed her lyre.

 

* * * * *

 

"I hear something." PS said. It wasn't a question. Jirah cursed silently for a moment, before remembering that she had to be able to hear, or the song would be useless.

 

"That would be Alaeha." He spoke, after a moment's pause. "I asked her to play for us."

 

"She came all the way out here just to play music for us?"

 

"Shh... listen." He pulled her closer to the shore, and the music, as Alaeha lifted her head to look directly at them. Her voice rose, and finally they could hear her. A blue glow emanated from something on her, and then it dimmed.

 

"It's... pretty,,," PS said.

 

"Wait," Jirah whispered. "It gets better.'"

 

Slowly, a glow appeared around PS, before disappearing, and she gasped.

 

* * * * *

 

PS turned her head about, to the left and then to the right, trying to make sense of things. There had been this hazy sense of things for a little while before, but now it wasn't hazy. She just couldn't figure out what was going on.

 

"Does that mean it worked?" The figure to her right asked, in Jirah's voice.

 

"What?" She demanded.

 

"The song is a rearrangement of Welyn's Aria of True Seeing. We had hoped it would let you see the sunset."

 

"So... this is seeing?" She asked.

 

"If you're seeing me, I would assume so."

 

She turned her head, unused to having to move her neck to perceive things. Normally she just listened... and Rat told her where to go. Jirah sat next to her, it seemed. He wore a dark tunic and light leggings, with hair of a completely different hue...

 

"What color is that?" She asked, pointing at his shirt.

 

"This? This is Navy. It's a dark blue. These are a lighter shade of blue." He pointed at his pants. She pointed toward his hair, and he volunteered "that is brown. Well... sort of a brownish blonde. They call it dirty blonde, even though I bathe regularly." He closed one eye, and she realized belatedly that it was what people called a wink.

 

"Look... The sun is setting now. It's that way." He pointed out toward the lake, and began naming the colors as he pointed to them. "That's orange, and that right next to it is red. That light color in the clouds over there is pink, and the sky right next to it is purple. That flower by your hand is white..."

 

* * * * *

 

"I'm sorry we couldn't make it last longer... it wasn't very nice, I guess, to let you see for just a half an hour and then take it away again." Jirah apologized to his date as they stood by her doorway.

 

She remained silent, though he couldn't say quite why, and before he turned to go, he pressed a flower into her hand.

 

"This is the flower you sat next to while we watched the sunset. I thought you might want to keep it."

 

He turned to go, but turned back as he heard her begin to speak.

 

"Thank you."