Ed sat there in his boots and pants, shirt and overcoat discarded to be repaired and cleaned of the blood and other stains. Peabody had tried to look him over first, but Ed insisted the manservant take care of himself before anything, and then the girl, who had still not said a word to any of them. Considering the things she had gone through, Ed wasn't surprised and was unwilling to push her. The simple truth was, he didn't want to get attached to her. Once she was cleaned up and calmed down some he would need to work on finding someone in this city to take her in. He was already thinking through all the contacts he had made here over the years, none of which he would exactly name as friends, but some of which he would trust. He would need to trust them, if he was going to get the mage girl back. Girl, girl, girl. He needed them to have names, if only to keep them straight in his head. Looking up from the ground, he had been staring at the same stain on the floor for a while now, he looked at her.
"How about you tell us your name?"
Peabody had emptied out the little medical kit they had brought with them. There really wasn't much to it, but there was enough for the most basic of care. When time permitted, they would need to find a healer to take care of them properly. Until then he would just need to do his best to stop any of their wounds from festering. The captain had forced him to take care of himself, adamant that if Peabody was the closest thing they had to a doctor then he needed to be at his peak. He supposed he had picked up a thing or two of battlefield medicine over the years, but to be considered their only healer really just showed how unprepared they were. In any other city, their appearance would have caused alarm as they stumbled into the inn from the stables, bloody and beaten. Here, though? It was barely enough to cause one or two of the most curious patrons to even look up from their drinks for more than a second.
He seemed to have gotten off lightly, all things considered. Other than a number of bruises and scrapes, nothing serious, there was just the wound on his leg. The would had been deeper than he had thought, and after clearing off the crusted blood he realised how lucky he had been. Any deeper and he might now have been sitting here right now. He had cleaned it out as best he could before managing to stitch it closed. It hurt, but nothing he couldn't handle. Twinkle had hovered over him the entire time, helping him clean himself off and staring, wide eyed, taking everything in. As he had been stitching the wound closed he even noticed the small movements of her hand as she mimicked him. Standing after he was done had been difficult, the leg was becoming stiff and putting pressure on it caused some pain. It wasn't more than he could bare, however, and there were the others who still needed his help.
Peabody limped over to the girl next, pulling a wooden stool with him so he could sit in front of her while tending to her. As soon as he got close, her breathing sped up and she retreated back further into the armchair she was sat in.
"Calm down, lass. I'm not going to hurt you, just want to check to see you're okay." He kept his voice low and gentle, the way you would talk to a spooked animal. He noticed then that she had a dagger clutched, white knuckled, in her hand and she didn't look to be releasing that grip on it any time soon. She was wearing rags under the leather chest piece she had scavenged, which was far too big for her. Her face was a mess with bruises, and every inch of skin he could see on her was covered in mud or blood. She needed cleaning up so he could check for injuries, but if she wasn't going to let him close then he was unsure what he could do. Sighing, he held his hands up in surrender and backed away from her. He would try again, but for now he would give her some space. The captain called over his question, then, but it remained unanswered.
Ed spent the next eternity being poked and prodded, not only by Peabody, but by Twink as well. She seemed intent on copying every movement the manservant made, which had been cute at first but was now becoming irritating. The diagnosis at the end of this was that he would live. Wonderful. He had broken ribs on his left side, however, and Peabody was unsure how many exactly. There was a cut running from his right shoulder to elbow, though while not deep, the stitches that were put in tugged and pulled every time he moved his arm. That, along with the pain in his left side whenever he moved that arm, or breathed, was deepening his irritation. He would just need to stop breathing and moving, and he would be fine. Wonderful. He needed a drink.
While there wasn't any kind of bathing area within the inn, they were able to order hot water brought to the rooms. Ed and Peabody left to clean themselves up in a separate area, leaving the girl to take care of herself. Perhaps clean, it would be easier to see if she had any injuries. Twinkle remained behind with the girl, either because she wanted to help or just didn't know where else to go, Ed was unsure.
Cleaned up and in fresh clothing, the only other set he had with him being the bright yellow number, Ed returned to the main room to find a mess. Water was everywhere, and in the center of the room was a rather bedraggled looking Twinkle. Her robes seemed to have been used to soak up a tub full of water alone. Sitting by the fire, wrapped in blankets, was the girl. Cleaned up and looking rather annoyed, Ed realised she was actually older than he had first thought. Perhaps not a teenager, but a young adult. Her brown hair hung to her shoulders, and the one eye that wasn't swollen shut was a remarkable green. Ed stood awkwardly in the room, unsure of how to proceed.
"Fieri." Twinkles musical voice, barely more than a whisper, still cut through the silence in the room. She was stood perfectly still, in that eerie way that reminded Ed of statues, her finger pointing at the young woman. "
Is that her name?" Ed asked, and was met with just another repetition of the word before she fished a cat, half drowned from the looks of things, out of her robes and went to sit in the corner, humming a tune to her feline friend. Ed stood dumbfounded, feeling the girl's gaze on him and wishing he had waited outside for Peabody.
"So you're Fieri?" he asked, and once more was met with sullen silence. Great. Well that was wonderful. He should definitely get a drink.
Peabody, thankfully, arrived just then. Coming in, shaved, clean and in fresh, pressed clothing, he looked at the three of them.
"The girl's name is Fieri, we need to go out and start visiting my contacts, and I have the beginnings of a major headache. Questions?" Peabody didn't miss a beat, picking up the sword and attaching it to his belt. "
Where to first, sir?"
Walking through the city, Ed almost felt comfortable. In a way, it was like coming home. Between job, and when not just sailing the skies, this city had been their home port where they would come to dock, sell goods, find jobs, make repairs, kill time. Plans, as always, had begun forming at a breakneck pace. He had a name, one that was not familiar to him. He would need information, introductions, funds. Things would need to be put into place before the meeting even happened, contingency plans. Which is what brought him to Thrustbunion's. While he was probably the worst tailor in the entire city, Thrustbunion made his fortune in secrets. The dwarf seemed to know everybody's business, as it was his business to know.
"You son of a bitch!" a gruff voice growls as Ed enters through the door, into the dimly lit shop. Ed found himself compensating for it automatically with magic, knowing the dwarf didn't have an issue because of his race. Peabody, on the other hand, would struggle to see much of anything. Mannequins were set up with scraps of cloth slung over them. Dusty bolts of fabric lay haphazardly all over. The place was a mess. On the far side of the room, at a mahogony desk that would be overly large for a human, sat Thrustbunion. His skin was pale from having spent so long cooped up in poorly lit areas, his beard was pure white, and while Ed couldn't see it from here, he could remember how it hung down past the dwarf's knees, he in fact regularly tucked it into his belt. Despite spending most of his time in here, sat at that very desk and taking care of visitors, somehow he had avoided becoming obese like others might in his position. In fact, he looked to be fit and ready for action. Where he found the time to do this was beyond the captain. Magic, perhaps. A wide grin splits Ed's face and he walks quickly over to the desk, the weight beginning to lift from his shoulders.
They spent hours, catching up. Of all the people in the city, Thrustbunion was the only one Ed could come close to trusting. He had had to trust him, for so long. Ed had lived on the information provided by the dwarf, and in return he had provided him with information whenever possible. The two worked well together, despite any issues Ed might have had with follow through on some contracts. The dwarf had a soft spot for the simple headed human. It had been a while since Ed had last visited the pirate city, he had been busy with his crew following up on a lead which had taken them on a journey that had stretched across both continents. Then there had been the mutiny. Thrustbunion grew still while Ed recounted that particular tale, though Ed didn't notice the peculiar way he began to act.
"Well your first mistake was thinking you could bring Him," Thrustbunion began, after they had finished catching up and Ed had given a brief outline of his future plans. "I recognise him, and I won't be the only one. He and his made plenty of trouble for our ships, back in the day. If you're seen with him, or if he's seen at all, that will only lead to trouble. Secondly, what kind of stupid idea is it to play host to a gang of escaped slaves in an inn in the middle of the city?! You'd be better off having your man there take them to one of the abandoned old mansions and hole up there."
Ed thought this over, seeing the sense. He had overlooked the slave issue, but this raised questions about Peabody. Ed knew he was a hell of a manservant, but hadn't questioned him about his life in the military. He had known the man was a sailor, even that he had been in the navy. The exact details hadn't really occurred to him as something that might ever effect him, though. He ran his fingers through his beard as he thought things over, before landing on one particular property he knew of. It would be suitable. He, or Twinkle, could take supplies to their little army. In fact, things worked out even better. With the extra space it would give them, and taking them out of the public eye, maybe this famed solider of his could do something to whip them into shape. Truly, the thought of taking them into battle against hardened pirates and guards as they were was not something that he relished. It would all come down to time, though. How much time could they afford to spend training these slaves, turning them into soldiers? How much time did the girl have, before it would be too late? Was it already too late? He groaned, then. These thoughts were getting him nowhere, the guilt was strangling him. He licked his lips, thinking of how good it would be to wet his lips with some wine right now.
They settled things, finally. Said their goodbyes. Ed even ordered some clothes for the two girls back at the room, as well as for himself and Peabody. Thrustbunion agreed to take the order, telling them he knew of an excellent tailor who would be more than happy to make a house call. There was one more stop that Ed would have to make, tonight. Then tomorrow he would see about meeting with Drien.
***
Burt and his companion arrived just in time to see the action go down. Slaves running, magic unleashed, others collapsing and being beaten. This sure was a lively place. How was a profit turned, though, if you had to constantly replace slaves? It was beyond his pay grade, but perhaps he would send a message to the boss. A messenger would work, as a distraction. He would need a mage, though, to make sure his reports would arrive secretly. The slave who had been making a fuss about the collapsed dwarf seemed familiar, somehow. It took some thinking, but as they dragged her away in what he assumed was the direction of the mines, it clicked into place. Son of a bitch. That was the girl who had attacked the warehouse! He stalked after her, then. He needed to be sure, but how could her really? That entire encounter had happened so fast that he had only caught snatches of her face between the shouting and fighting. But those burns. They were distinctive, weren't they?
