Legend of Ransera

Alyssum had been to Kalzasi a number of times in the past during her global travels. A couple of times had been as a child when she'd clung to Isra and watched curiously from a distance, occasionally slipping off into the city on her own, the fact she lacked a Visa being discreetly disregarded. She'd visited a couple times later in her life, after she'd gotten older and figured out how to explore the world on her own. Though, she couldn't say she remember the exact dates of her travels. When you were as old as she was, the dates eventually started to blur. Everything turned into a running, endless story without any clear landmarks or milestones aside from those which bore the most significant impact to her and her character.

She wondered if that one sweets shop was still standing.

With courage and minimal stupidity, Alyssum charge forth into this semi-new city. Perhaps charge was a strong word. She leisurely walked, tail swishing this way and that, trailing out from under both her cloak and her crimson robe. She'd enjoyed her visit to Kalzasi with Isra when she was a pup, her favorite thing back then had been the architecture. That seemed to hold true even now. Of course, she couldn't considering anything more beautiful than the wild freedom of Atinaw's vastly unclaimed terrain, but Kalzasi was its own kind of beautiful. And just as dangerous if you managed to wander into the wrong section of the city.

Being that she wasn't a citizen and didn't greatly expect to become one within the season she'd set aside to live in Kalzasi, she was likely to spend a good majority of her time roaming the commons in an attempt to find some temporary entertainment while she waited out the full extent of her visit. Maybe she'd find something that caught her interest long enough to stick around for more than a season! It'd been a while since she'd stayed anywhere longer than a single season. She was pretty sure the last time she had was before Rúnar passed. What followed was her jumping between cities, staying in tents as well as that various towers around Ransera when she could. She was an initiate of the Scholia Arcana, she'd survived her test and she had the full intention of using the resources that provided her.

Her feathers ruffled slightly at the memory of her test, curling around her body in a protective manner as she took a deep breath in and let it out in a quiet hiss. That was all she could manage in her true form, quiet.

She shook off the memory, perking back up slightly as her nose managed to pick up the scent of food. That reminded her, she'd need to be finding somewhere here to work. She'd managed to get herself a Visa when she arrived in the city, knowing it was probably for the best to claw her way through the bureaucratic slog that was getting one for even a single season. She usually gave herself a certain spending amount per season to keep herself adequately fed. The rest went into the bank to save. For what? Well, that was her secret until she started to get at least borderline close to her end goal. It still felt such a long ways off, but she was sure that it would be worth it in the end.

Unfortunately, saving money was harder than she'd originally expected and for a traveler keeping any kind of consistent income to save money with was even harder. She'd mostly been relying on the multitude of skills taught to her by Rúnar to survive. She picked up jobs working under locals smiths whenever she could, but even with her skill and magical expertise that could only take her so far... If worst came to worst she could always go back to being a back alley alchemist, but that only paid so much and for someone who wasn't willing to do anything strictly illegal, it was hard to find willing clientele.

Maybe if she finally bought herself a proper caravan style cart she'd be able to sell potions out of that, and people might be willing to trust her a little more. Even then though, there were still issues that went along with that. A lot of places had it so only citizens could run businesses, she believed Kalzasi was one of them. Isra was pretty keen about teaching Lys the ways to wiggle around politics and laws to get what she wanted, but she was out of practice and she didn't consider herself slippery enough to get her business cleared without either forsaking sales or incurring the wrath of whoever or whatever was in charge.

Ultimately, it left her with two options. Find a patron and finally get herself citizenship, or buckle down and take the L by working with a different smith. She didn't really mind doing that. The problems started cropping up when 40 year old men thought they were better and older than her and she couldn't ever possibly be good a forging! A girl so small? So weak? So young?

Every time someone said that to her she just laughed and went along with it. It wasn't worth it to the Rathari to even try to explain anymore.

Speaking of which.

Her feet had managed to wander her into the The Plaza of Jeweled Arches. Even if she probably didn't remember any of the businesses lining the streets, she was at the very least familiar enough with the layout of the city to make it to what could roughly be described as a market plaza thanks to the sheer number of businesses in the area. It was a staggering sight initially, and Alyssum pressed her poor ears flat against her head just in a vain attempt to try and block out some of the noise. she pulled out a couple pieces of pockets from some of the bags which sat on her belt, stuffing them into her poor overwhelmed ears. The cotton didn't block out the noise completely, but it was enough to bring the constant drone down to a manageable level that wouldn't damage her over sensitive Sharvalain-like ears.

Okay, first thing was first. Finding employment. She wandered down the streets, eyes glancing over each store name and looking for something that would perhaps be suitable for her. The first thing her eyes landed on was called Jacun's Alchemical Goods. Perfect! Alchemy, her first love. If at all possibly, she'd like to start with two jobs if that was at all possible. She needed to make as much money as she could as fast as possible if she wanted to complete her ultimate goal! It wasn't even her Purpose that she was trying to achieve, it was just a deeply rooted compulsion to hoard money.

Unfortunately as she went for the door knob, she found the door itself to be locked. It jiggled a couple times before she turned her eyes upwards slightly and notice a 'closed' sign just a little too above her eye level. Damn it. She was only 5'3, how was she expected to see something that far up?

She groaned internally, weighing her options. She could come back later and try to see if they were open, or she could keep looking for something else. If she couldn't find anything else that was satisfactory then she could keep looking and possibly try here again once they were actually open. Damn it, damn it, damn it! She was going to have a rough one this season. She was already resigned to another Frost sat outside the city in a tent, but a girl could hope for some accommodations that were a bit... friendlier, to say the least. She didn't have the money to splurge again and actually buy herself an inn room, so if she couldn't even find work to feed herself then this Frost was going to be particularly savage, on top of the fact this was Kalzasi. Maybe this had been a bad decision, but she was too deep in to go back now. She didn't have the money or supplies to try and shoot for a different city.

Oh, how she missed Atinaw. Heck, she'd take Cathena over the ice and cold at this point, and she'd spent literally and entire season swearing like a sailor when sand wouldn't stop getting places she didn't care to mention.

Resigned to her fate, she continued to peruse the stretch of the plaza that was in view. Mistblade, perfect! That had to be a weapon shop! She wasn't very good at swinging a blade, but she'd been taught by an absolute master of a smith. She had full confidence in the fact she could do any Smith in this city proud if they decided to pull her on staff for the season. None in the world were as renown as the steel smiths of Atinaw!

The building was thankfully unlocked and she strode in confidently, ears perked and a smile on her face.

That smile faltered slightly when the man behind the counter sighed, giving her a bored look. "What do you want?" He asked in an unimpressed drawn. Ah, yes, she probably looked like she was here for a weapon, he would be unimpressed by her general lack of combative qualities. It wasn't immediately obvious she was someone that should be respected either, as the crimson of her robes was mostly hidden under her cloak and her signet ring wasn't immediately obvious.

She raised her voice as much as she physically could. It felt like she was yelling, but in this form, it was just her regularly talking. "I'm actually looking for a job, I believe that if you allow me to offer my services it could be greatly bene-" she didn't get the chance to finish her pitch as the man audibly groaned and shook his head.

"Listen here, kid, we aren't looking to hire some brat who's 'a little interested in blacksmithing'. We're all seasoned seasoned professionals here, now scram." He said, sounding utterly annoyed.

Alyssum fluffed up slightly, eyes narrowing. How dare he! "I am a seasoned professional! You listen he-" again she was cut off. This time not by words, but by a boot. A very heavy metal boot, which missed her skull by a couple inches as she ducked out of the way just enough for it to barely nip past her ear. She flattened her ears against her head, shaking her head and giving his a furious look. He started to raise another boot.

She yelped, understanding the situation enough to make a quick retreat. Were all the people in Kalzasi this hostile the last time she visited? No, no she didn't believe they were. What a savage, a barbarian brute! A monster in man's clothing. She huffed and chirped to herself, her noises of distress barely audible to anyone else in the area. If everyone else was like this... finding occupation in this city was going to be a challenge she wasn't sure she was equipped for.

Just as she was about to give up for the day, her eyes landed on one last building. It's name? Simple, the Skyforge. It was hard to deny the fact the name alone caught her interest. Curiosity piqued, she tilted her head and gazed in the window. How curious. She walked a little closer, until she could see the items sitting in the window displays. Magical, that was the first thought that came to her mind as she drew on her control over Semblance. She felt a small spark of hope in her chest as she looked at the items. They were good quality too, probably made with Runeforge if she had to hazard a guess. It didn't look like every item in the story was magical, just a couple display items, but all of the items looked like they were at least of some decent quality.

Interesting, very interesting.

She thought about walking in then and there, but it looked like it was locked up for the night. The owner, whoever they were, didn't seem to be behind the counter and it was already starting to get late. Not only that, but she was starting to look like a mess. Her hair was all fluffed up, her tail twice its regular size from her most recent encounter with the unfriendly smith. Much like Jacun's Alchemical Goods, she could try again come morning.