"These walls are manned by soldiers from the Firestone manor, sent over to help the city with its gang problems."
Jacob leaned back in his seat with the comfort of soone who had learned early that talking filled silences better than letting them sit.
"As an apprentice I’m in charge of a few of them personally. If you encounter any trouble in the city, my hand is always out."
He said it with the specific generosity of soone who expected the gesture to land as impressive.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,
The carriage Derrick had sourced was already filled to the brim.
Treasures packed in careful arrangent from one end to the other, energy rich materials that had taken most of the evening to locate and purchase, leaving absolutely no room for two people to sit down inside it without disturbing sothing that probably shouldn’t be disturbed on a moving road in the city of Dogs.
Arian had looked at the situation and imdiately disliked the available solution.
Jacob’s carriage was right there. Jacob was offering. Jacob was, by every observable asure, extrely pleased with himself about being in a position to offer.
But leaving a carriage loaded with that volu of materials sitting on the streets of this particular section of Davos while they walked or found alternative arrangents was not a reasonable option either. This was a cesspool. Soone would make a decision about unattended valuables within minutes.
Arian weighed it.
She agreed.
Visibly unhappy about agreeing, but agreed.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,
The inside of Jacob’s carriage was nicer than the street outside suggested most things in this part of the city would be. He sat across from them with his hands relaxed in his lap, the picture of a young man who was accustod to having people sit across from him and listen.
Arian and Ember were not listening.
Arian was watching the street through the window with the focused attention of soone cataloguing the route. Ember was sitting straight, hands folded, expression set to sothing that could generously be described as neutral.
Jacob recalibrated.
"Sister Arian." He shifted to warmth. "I must complint your beauty. There are very few won even in this city that match up to you. I, Jacob, am very lucky to have t you today."
He deployed it with the confidence of soone who had used this particular tool before and found it effective.
"Thank you."
Arian said it without turning from the window.
Underneath the word her assessnt of the person sitting across from her was moving in a direction that had nothing to do with gratitude. Shaless was the word that ca to mind first. Persistent in a way that seed completely unconnected to whatever the other person’s face was doing.
Her eyes moved without fully turning her head.
Ember.
She caught it quickly, the way you catch sothing you weren’t looking for.
Ember’s gaze had drifted to Jacob’s wrist. To the bracelet sitting there. Sothing about it had hooked her attention and wasn’t letting go, the quality of the focus slightly too fixed, slightly too still.
The envy curse.
It had taken root again, quietly, the way it always did, latching onto sothing in the environnt and building from there. Arian didn’t know what specifically about the bracelet had triggered it. But she recognized the early signs and knew what ca after them if nothing interrupted the progression.
This Jacob would not make it ho if Ember got much further along that road.
Arian filed it away and kept her expression level, adjusting her position slightly so her shoulder was closer to Ember’s without making it visible.
A small anchor. Enough for now.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,
The carriage pulled into the eastern courtyard near the wall.
The corpse guards stepped forward imdiately, moving to the loaded carriage alongside Derrick and the maid, beginning the process of transferring the materials inside with the kind of efficiency that ca from things that didn’t get tired or distracted.
Jacob stepped down.
He stood in front of the courtyard entrance and looked at it.
He wasn’t inexperienced. He understood what daily life in this city looked like for most people, the texture of it, the ceiling it put on what you could reasonably expect to own or occupy. He had walked through enough of Davos to know what a courtyard like this said about the person renting it.
In the middle of the slums.
Adjacent to the wall.
A pool visible from the gate. A wide circular layout. The kind of space that cost real money in a part of the city where real money was not common.
Sothing didn’t fit.
He stood there and let the idea form without rushing it.
Top grade beauties. Real resources. A luxury courtyard in a bad part of town. No visible male presence when they were out shopping. Corpse guards answering to no one he recognized.
Young won of this quality living in a place like this did not arrive at that situation through ordinary ans.
The conclusion assembled itself with the particular speed of soone who wanted a conclusion and found one waiting.
They had been taken.
So older man with money and no principles had snatched them from wherever they belonged and installed them here, far enough from their families that nobody was looking in the right direction.
Jacob straightened.
As a mber of the Firestone manor he had a certain obligation to justice. To the protection of people who couldn’t protect themselves. To the correction of situations that offended the moral sensibilities of soone in his position.
He would correct this situation.
He would liberate these two won from their circumstances and in doing so demonstrate the kind of character that the Firestone manor’s apprentices were known for producing.
"Ladies." He turned back to them, his expression now carrying the particular gravity of soone who had understood sothing important. "I think I understand your situation. I apologize for not seeing it clearly before." He nodded once, eyes moving between them with what he clearly believed was aningful depth. "Give so ti. I will co back and help you."
Arian looked at him.
Said nothing.
Ember had pulled her attention back from the bracelet and was now looking at him with an expression that had settled sowhere between exhaustion and sothing sharper underneath it.
Jacob took both of these as confirmation.
He got back into his carriage, and a mont later it was moving, rolling away from the courtyard at a pace that suggested purpose, a young man with a plan and the self-assurance to believe the plan was a good one.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Leon ca out of the courtyard as the carriage disappeared around the corner.
He looked at the materials being carried in, ran a quick eye over the volu and variety of what had been sourced, and then looked at the retreating carriage.
"Who was that?"
"So random young master." Arian shook her head with a slight smirk that carried the specific tiredness of soone who had t this exact person in different clothes many tis before.
She had.
They were very annoying.
Leon watched the carriage go for another second, then turned and followed the materials inside.
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