Betwixt But For Hire

[Saej Mirilla]

Searing 13, 120 Year of the Age of Steel
Sundered Rise¤

Sipping her morning tea, Saej was rapping her fingertips against the wooden table in The Spinning Coin. She was hoping today was the day someone would come looking for her services as recently she had hit a dry spell with her work. It had been some days since she had found anything to either deliver or any letter that needed put in a box. She was starting to get worried. As the tea dwindled in the cup so did her hopes. Poppy sat beside her watching the patrons with slight boredom.

Throwing a look to the bartender she saw a man with a shiny sword on his hip talking to them. The man was rather attractive with blonde hair and a cut jaw. Sighing to herself she took her attention away and began gathering her things to head out the door. By now it was noon and no one would come looking for her later in the day. As she got up to leave the young man accosted her, throwing his muscled arm out in front of her, then lacing his fingers behind his head.
“Saej, right?”
He said, and introduced himself as Martin.
“I’m looking for someone to deliver a letter. It needs to be sent as SOON as possible! I found your notice on the board at The Proving Grounds”
From his pocket he withdrew a rolled up note tied with a black ribbon, there was a blue seal of wax on it.

Looking him up and down, as if in disbelief, she struggled to recall putting a notice up on their board, but if he said so it must be true.
‘So the man truly is a fighter then?’
She thought, eyes once again resting on the shining sword at his hip.
“I can take your letter. Where can I find you for payment when I’m done?”
Martin gave Saej his address and she took the letter from him.
“So where is this letter going?”
She asked, with a raised eyebrow.
“To a man named Scar-Faced Jim. As I said I need you to be swift with this letter, he can be found usually at The Fighter’s Pit. If not try the Silver Glade Hot Springs, that would be my next guess.”

Shrugging her bag to her shoulder she motioned for Poppy to come by patting her leg and whistling. They were still working on the coming and staying which was made more obvious by Poppy giving her a baleful look at first, pretending not to hear. The dog had her eyes on someone’s lunch, it was a large sandwich dripping with juice. Her jaws were slavering as she looked from the sandwich and back to Saej. Finally after some pestering and kissing noises Poppy tore her eyes away and made for the door with Saej.

[Saej Mirilla]

¤

Heading through The Fighter’s Pit’s door she found herself in a whirlwind of sweaty, smelly men and women. They didn’t look like the types she would usually find good company with from the get go. As well, coming from somewhere she could hear a roar of cheering along with the clang of weapons. Looking for someone who looked in charge she had inquired if “Scar-Faced Jim” was around. She was greeted with grunts of obscenities until finally learning from this person that no, he wasn’t here. Sweating herself she quickly found the exit, dragging the excited Poppy out of the door and away from the commotion.

It was quite the trek to get to the hot springs but she knew her way around enough, eventually she found herself bracing over the rocky path towards the entrance. Abruptly she was hit with a wave of steam that clouded her vision. Waving her hand in front of her to cast the steam away she was greeted from the disappearing mist by a view of the hot springs, it was devoid of people during this season except for one huge statured man. A long, deep white scar ran down the left side of his face from his nose to his chin. Other than this blemish he was attractive and well built for an older man. Black, greying hair could be seen on his head and in his stubble of beard while his tan skin had almost a blue tone to it somehow. His skin seemed to make his blue eyes shine brighter, though he looked not at her but at the sky. Sharp but short ears poked out on either side of his head, marking him as at least half-Dratori. He seemed to be meditating.

She made her way over to him with the parcel in hand walking around the spring to get to him.
“I am a courier, I have a letter for you.”
The words came out with her usual diction.
“Oh yeah? From who?”
Came a flat reply in accented Common. Saej told him Martin’s name and his features were only betrayed by the cold tone of his words.
“Give it to me.”

Whatever was in that letter Saej couldn’t tell, but it must have been pressing. After reading it Jim had a neutral facial expression and told her to wait, he had a reply. She stammered out about the payment and he waved her way saying, lightly, of course then getting out of the hot waters and clothing himself. From his bag he pulled out a roll of parchment and ink well with a quill. Watching him scribble down his response made her somehow uneasy. The old adage, “don’t shoot the messenger” came to mind, she thought it was his too-calm demeanor. Poppy was waiting at the top of the hill and pacing, she wouldn’t dare come near the hot springs. Truth be told, it was a miracle she was even out in the sun during this season.

Now with his letter in hand and a small amount of coin she was slightly more at ease knowing after all this time she would make out with TWO deliveries and maybe even a tip from Martin. She and Poppy made their way now to Martin’s home.

[Saej Mirilla]

¤

What ensued was two hours of Saej running back and forth delivering messages for the two men, she was beginning to be irked and wondered why they couldn’t just talk about this themselves. She was also becoming exhausted. With each letter Martin was more fidgety and seemed angry while Scar-Faced Jim only became more and more cold, seeming to sink deeper into a meditative state. Something was definitely wrong. This time though delivering the message to Scar-Faced Jim she was told by Martin, with certainty, Jim would be at The Fighter’s Pit and to deliver the message there.

She plodded the long way to deliver this message, she was getting quite tired of their games. Despite the amount of coin she was making she couldn’t be bothered to keep volleying their messages so took her time with Poppy and checked on her horse and mule before carrying on to The Fighter’s Pit. It was also a good enough rest to have her carry on one last time before she put her foot down to demand them talk it out themselves. She found Jim there with his head in his hands, leaned up against the building near the entrance. He looked surprised to see her.
“I am so sorry.”
The large, scarred man apologized, taking her off guard.
“I don’t know what came over me, I can’t believe I made you run like that. He shouldn’t even know I’m here at the ‘Pit, but keep the letter and take some coin. Please don’t go back to him, he needs to stop harassing me. Listen, once he and I were lovers. We had, well, a falling out. Things have gotten betwixt today and I am seeing even more of his true colors. I shouldn’t have stooped to his games. Just go and leave me be, let me be free of this man.”

Saej took her tip and decided it would be the right thing after all to return the letter to Martin at least, even if she was truly ready to wash her hands of the situation. The mail was rightfully his and not her own, it was not business of hers to keep the letter OR discard it. As she made her way back up towards Martin’s house she hadn’t made it very far from The Fighter’s Pit before she saw Martin himself coming towards her. He looked furious.
“Errr…"
She croaked while stopped and grabbed for Poppy, the dog could get excitable when there was yelling.

And yelling did ensue. Saej couldn’t help herself for standing there and gawking while trying to calm Poppy. With Scar-Faced Jim being a rather imposing man it was almost comical to see the thin Martin giving him a piece of his mind. All of Martin's previous charm had washed away once he revealed the true ugly of his jaded personality. Throughout it all Jim had remained stony-faced and quiet, before something that sounded like a size comparison was brought up and he socked Martin in the jaw with his closed fist. Martin was wailing and whining at the top of his lungs about honor and how dare Jim deny his letter to duel but strike him, then drawing his sword and going to attack Jim. A crowd had formed, it seemed some were even taking bets.

Jim had a sword of his own and quickly overpowered the younger and smaller Martin, getting him into a headlock just as the guards were showing up. Saej and a few others were testifying as witnesses that Martin had indeed started the fight, the man Scar-Faced Jim was innocent as well as only defending from an assault. In the end Saej gave him his money back but kept Martin’s. She vowed never to deal with him again.

[Leliana]

---

Saej Mir'illa

---

[indent=30]Experience: 5 points

[indent=30]Knowledge: Running; Courier jog
[indent=30]Running; Sustained for nearly two hours
[indent=30]Running; Back and forth through Kalzasi
[indent=30]Running; Making sure you rest
[indent=30]Animal Handling; Keeping a dog calm through commotion
[indent=30]Animal Handling; Distracting a dog away from food

[indent=30]Injuries/Overstepping: None

[indent=30]Comments:

► Show Spoiler

I was NOT expecting this thread to unravel like that, which is great because I was tickled pink when things started to unfold. I was "oh"ing and "ah"ing when you revealed they were ex-lovers, and laughing at the thought of Saej running around for hours while these two quarreled through letters. It's like a horrible form of text messaging. This was very entertaining and creative, I loved it!

---

Please edit your review request to show that it has been graded!

---