The follow up to A Perfect Plan
32nd of Frost, In the darkness before dawn
The gloom was familiar when Leith rose that morning, but her eyes were bleary and unfocused as she dressed. She was used to getting up before the light shone, but this was altogether earlier. She had no choice, however, not with everything that today held. For today was the Shokaze's Return.
Prep Phase
First was her trip to the fish market. She bought a cup of hot tea on her way and downed it in one searing hot go, grunting, coughing, spluttering and handing the cup back to an amused vendor before continuing on her way. The first ship unloading on the docks wasn’t what she sought, nor the second. The third had the salmon she was looking for and the man was a semi familiar face due to her frequency down in the market and docks. He gave her the slightest discount, but she had no time to attempt more haggling, and took her fish and went.
She brought the fish back to the Wayfarer’s rest to store in an icebox, a service she had arranged with the inn keep, then made her way to the Plaza of Jeweled Arches. She had paid another small fee that she now saw many had, to bring the booths they supplied to the plaza where she was not the only individual assembling their food stalls. It was through a series of straining and struggling, as well as peering at those around her, that Leith was able to put together the booth which had been in a rather sad looking state to begin with. The wood was cracked in several places, worn, and nails stuck out at odd angles where after she was done, she wasn’t sure how they contributed to the actual structure of the booth at all. She scrunched her nose at the ramshackle thing, but gave it a few shoves and one half hearted kick, and the thing seemed solid enough. The last stage was a bit of deep blue cloth that she pinned up around the outside to hide the cracked wood and bizarre extra nails, some of which she removed, and borrowed a stool from another vendor to put up her sign along the top of the booth. Leith was no artist, and had cooked a nice meal for some of the children in the slums to help her paint it. It was a likeness of the rolls she would be making with an actual fish head sticking out and surrounded by a little collar of rice bursting out of the conular seaweed wrap. The words ‘Fish, Rice, Delicious’ written in large red letters that dripped down the surface of the sign around the image. It wasn’t particularly elegant, but it was pretty clear and at the very least striking judging by the number of glances she got when stepping down from the stool, wiping her brow.
The Second phase was done as the light began to spill over the city, a comforting yellow pink dawn surfacing as Leith hauled her cooking equipment to the booth and began the fire she’d need for two large pots, one of which would contain miso, the other rice. Several other pots would keep rice warm and she began setting up her workspace, arranging seaweed wraps, the dried bread crumbs, parchment for holding the seaweed wraps, and a spot that would be for the one of two vegetable options someone could have in their wrap, avocado or cucumber. The overall energy of the plaza began to rise, as more and more booths rose and preparations took place in earnest. People wouldn’t be out and about yet, but as Leith peeked toward the steadily rising sun, she knew it wouldn’t be long. She made the vinegar and sugar mixture that would be added to the finished rice, as she heated her miso, and began to get the water hot for cooking the first large batch of rice.
As this proceeded the Rathari began to dart increasingly nervous glances around the plaza. There was someone she was expecting and her nose crinkled slightly every time she peered around not seeing them. She had paid them what she had hoped would be just enough to be enticing, but not enough that they’d take the pay and not show, but she began to grow worried as the minutes passed.
It was just as the rice was finished and she was fluffing it and transferring it to one of the cast iron pots to stay warm that she heard the familiar creak of an old wooden cart and glanced up with a smirk.
Faride was a reed of a girl with dusty brown hair and amber eyes flecked with green. She was covered in the densest freckles Leith had ever seen, and had a perpetual sneer on her lips. She was one of the many casualties of the low city slums, doing petty crimes to survive, not much hope of a bright future, and certainly none that she’d claim to strive for. The cart clattered to a stop on the cobbles and Faride glared at Leith. “The pay you promised better be good, seal, getting me out here this early.”
Leith gave Faride a long hard look. “This early? Girl do you understand when I got up this morning?”
Faride waved a dismissive hand. “You’re part animal, you aren’t the same as me.”
Leith rolled her eyes. “Unload the box and get the ice and the fish in it, please.”
Faride sighed, but did as requested, tucking the cart behind the booth and finding an empty spot away from the fires. Her main task today would be retrieving ice regularly to make sure the fish remained cold and as fresh as possible. When she was finished with setting up the small ice box Leith got her a bowl of Miso and some of the unseasoned rice, then returned to prepping the vegetables and then set out filleting several of the fish, dicing the salmon into neat even cubes that could be tossed by the handful or so into her wraps. She caught Faride peeking over her shoulder with interest, but if she turned to get a closer look the girl would draw into herself and simply stare into the murky depths of the miso, a faint mumbled thank you for the food coming out at some point.
When Faride was finished with her meal she went around the front of the booth and glanced up at the sign, her eyes widening and a derisive laugh mixing with the rising volume of activity in the plaza.
“That looks like absolute shit.”
Leith bristled somewhat, but pushed the anger down. Regardless of the lack of professional signage, it was all she had, and there was no fixing it now. “Can you not insult the booth loudly when customers are about to start coming in? Or do you want your pay to end here?”
The girl scowled, glanced down the cobbles where a small trickle of people had started admiring the booths, and almost looked a little repentant as she made her way back around the booth and sat back down.
Leith leaned out over the counter looking around at her competitors, and the somewhat hesitant first participators in the festival, then beamed. It was about to begin.
Morning
This was going to be the slow time Leith knew, and refused to let Faride’s ribbing that she wasn’t getting any customers due the sign get to her. Many booths had the perfect foods for those just waking up and exploring the transformed city. Hot coffee and tea, pastries, the aromas of roasting meats in delectable marinades wrapped in bread. The aroma of miso attracted a few customers, but it did not compare to the other smells of the market, so she waited patiently, and attentively, and sent Faride for more ice as the sun drew higher in the sky.
Afternoon
Anticipating her audience still being lost to more attractive booths and powerful smells, Leith arrayed a couple trays of miniature versions of her seaweed wrap, for people to grab and try. As the sun shone in she was beginning to grow slightly disheartened, the barest glances coming her way, and few if any attempting to try the samples.
“Give me a bonus, and I’ll go out there.” Faride said.
Leith gave a long sideways look at the girl. “And what, scare any customers away with your scowl?”
Faride was about to make the exact expression Leith referred to, stopped, glared at her, then coughed, stood up straight and actually smiled. It was not very sincere, but her posture changed somewhat, and she snatched up one of the trays of samples and offered it toward Leith. “A refreshing blend of rice and fish for you, ma’am?” Leith blinked, the only partial personality transformation still somewhat shocking, then nodded.
“Go for it.”
“Bonus?”
“If it works.”
A brief scowl, but Faride was out in the milling crowds in a flash, smiling even more genuinely and chuckling and cajoling the passersby into trying the bite sized wraps.
And it did work. First just a trickle of passerby began to come to the booth, asking for a wrap. At first many were the ones that had tried the samples. A few were concerned about the raw fish, but when Leith showed them the ice box the worry seemed to dissipate. The nice trick about the wraps was they tasted substantial, but weren’t precisely filling. The mixture of textures and flavors was satisfying, but then gone quite rapidly afterwards. If paired with the miso it would fill one up faster, but wraps by themselves were more of a snack. And so once people had begun to try and enjoy them they came back. Faride came back and refilled her sample tray, and by the time this had happened twice, Leith was confident she needed the samples no longer, and Faride went for ice. Now that she had people milling around the stall others took notice, and soon there was quite the line to keep Leith busy. When Faride returned there was enough of a demand that Faride needed to be the one taking the money so Leith could just focus on the food. They worked swiftly and efficiently, Leith unaware of just how much time had passed until she glanced up and noticed the sun was starting to dip toward the horizon.
Evening
There were several pauses in activity for customers, which Leith generally used to cook more batches of rice and slice up more fish. Finally both her and Faride were given enough pause to sit out back and enjoy a wrap and miso. After this the demand for dinner arose and Leith’s supplies began to dwindle as the city became lit from within rather than without. First she was out of the avocado, then the reserves of miso disappeared, then the cucumber. No one seemed put out by this, and as the crowds just began to thin, Leith reluctantly sold the last wrap she could for she was also out of salmon. She felt a bit defeated as they disassembled their booth while others continued to serve customers, but the Rathari tried to instead focus on the positives, she couldn’t know precisely how much fish she had needed, and to run out was better than to have too much leftover. They packed the sign, the ice box, and the cloth into the cart, leaving the booth to be collected later by the merchant guild.
Both of them wearily made their way to the docks, and before they reached the slums Faride stopped and turned expectantly to Leith. The Rathari nodded and rifled through her earnings for Faride’s pay.
“Thank you for everything today, you definitely helped get customers started during lunch time.” She put in her original plan of payment, then paused and put another stack of coins on top. Farid’s eyes widened ever so slightly, then the trademark scowl returned.
“If you ask me I should be getting half, but this will do for now.”
“Oh it will, will it?” Leith said, tiredness and amusement mixing in her tone.
“Yes, it will. Night, seal.” And off the girl went, disappearing into the night with her coin. Leith sighed, then went to stow the cart and make her way back to her room where a night cap and sleep would end her celebration of the Shokaze’s return. She wondered if he had come by her booth that night, which was the very last thought she had before drifting into unconsciousness.
