[Kotra's Forge] The Girl at Kotra's Forge

[Dominic Veldiris]

TS: Brightening 7 of Optia, Summer, Era XIV PF

Dominic did not delay in his quest. He might have been distracted by his night at the Crown, and he might have had other reasons for going to Aelyria Prime besides the search for answers, but he had no doubts about what his priorities were. The name still rang in his head - Anamin Veldiris.

First thing in the morning - which was actually late morning, considering Dominic's late rise - he had left to find Kotra's Forge. It took a little searching, but it was generally without complication. The forge might have been considered the poor man's armory in Prime, but it was much larger, with a more comprehensive inventory, than the L&G Anvil in Portshire. Yet as Dominic looked at the items, he found that most of them were armor pieces, and the only blades not available in Portshire were odd ones like finger blades, which Dominic had no use for. However, the chainmail shirt did catch his eye...

But enough with the shiny distractions. Dominic had come with a specific purpose in mind, and he was wholly committed to that purpose until it was fulfilled. Dominic smiled at the clerk before saying, "Serale. I was just wondering if there was an Anamin Veldiris available?"

[Ffesshssia'ad]

The clerk gave Dominic a knowing leer when he asked his question. "Wondering if a girl is available, eh?" he repeated, giving Dominic's words a sly twist he probably hadn't intended. "I assure you every guy who works here has wondered the same thing."

A moment after the clerk had said this, he seemed to regret the familiarity, and both his expression and manner grew more serious. "Excuse me, sir. Yes, a Miss Vel-"

The rest of his sentence was drowned out by a particularly loud metallic clangour that would probably have made anybody not used to working in a smithy jump; it sounded like a giant in full plate armor falling into a pit full of cymbals while having a seizure. The clerk merely paused, hardly even blinking at the sharp explosion of sound, and waited for the awful din to subside; he did not seem to be particularly concerned or curious about the source of the noise. After waiting a moment to be sure that the disturbance had subsided, he continued as if nothing had happened: "Yes, a Miss Veldiris works here, or rather used to work here. May I ask who is looking for her, and what this concerns?"

[Dominic Veldiris]

Dominic, who did not in fact know anything about Anamin Veldiris, including whether she was attractive or not, raised an eyebrow at the clerk's odd reaction to his request. But then, since he also did not work in a smithy, the crash of metals against each other made Dominic leap back in surprise.

Trying his best to appear unfazed - and generally failing - Dominic collected himself after the startling crash faded away. He straightened himself up a bit and stepped forward again before answer, "Theodore. Theodore Eysseric, if you care to know. I'm a friend of a relative of hers, Ahan. He, ah, sends a message for her."

Dominic forced a smile, before adding, "Do you know where I might find her? It's rather... urgent."

[Ffesshssia'ad]

The clerk allowed himself a brief, slight grin when Dominic jumped at the noise. "New apprentice" he explained briefly. "Poor guy's in the throes of a growth-spurt, and he's always knocking things off the rack."

He chuckled quietly, as if in response to some private joke. "You know, it's funny that should happen just as you mention Ani- Miss Veldiris, I mean. While she was working here, she got herself one of those funny cats...what do you call them? Ossylocks or something like that. Used to get into the merchandise and knock things over sometimes. I wonder if she still has that thing. Ought to be pretty big by now..."

The last sentence trailed off as the clerk broke from his reverie to look at Dominic more sharply as the youth proceeded to misrepresent his name and his business. It was not clear whether he suspected that the visitor was lying, or whether he simply wasn't pleased by what he was hearing. When the clerk spoke again, his tone was cooler and more guarded:

"Miss Veldiris didn't talk much about her family, and when she did, it was always bad news. I hope yours is better?"

The clerk eyed Dominic appraisingly, one might even say suspiciously, for another moment before finally shrugging and continuing in a more non-chalant tone. "At any rate, I'm afraid that you're out of luck if you need to speak with her quickly. She hasn't worked here in two eras or so. I believe she said she was leaving for Eunesia, though I couldn't tell you exactly where."

At that moment, somebody else came into the store behind Dominic: a somewhat menacing-looking orc. The clerk, however, did not seem intimidated or surprised by its appearance. "Serale, ma'am" he greeted, suddenly taking on that cheerful, ingratiating anything-for-a-good-customer manner that experienced clerks practiced so well. The orc grunted in a deep, rough voice that might lead one to wonder if perhaps the clerk had not erred in addressing its owner as "ma'am".

"Your merchandise is waiting for you, I shall get it right away. Just let me finish taking care of this gentleman." He looked pointedly at Dominic. "As I said Mr...Isaric, was it? She doesn't work here any more. But if you like, I can give you the address where she used to live. Perhaps her neighbors or landlord can tell you more."

After giving Dominic the address in Old Prime, and explaining briefly where to find it, the clerk turned his attention completely to the orc. He seemed to consider that there was little point in wasting further time with this Theodore character while a paying customer was waiting.

[Dominic Veldiris]

Cats? Dominic had always been more of a dog person. They were just such noble, loyal creatures. Cats were sneaky and sly. But anyway. Dominic had more important things to think about. The clerk acted like it had been a long time since had last seen Anamin, which worried Dominic.

What also worried Dominic, though not as much, was the fact that the clerk seemed offended by the name that Dominic gave. Theodore Eysseric. The clerk seemed to know that something wasn't quite right about the name, and Dominic's lie put him on guard. But even after that passed, Dominic's original fears were confirmed - Anamin might not have even been in Prime at all anymore.

"Eunesia?" Dominic repeated, more to himself than anything. That was quite a trip for a man who'd scarcely left Portshire for his entire life - that had scarcely left the docks, really. And after two eras, Anamin could have left again, to the other side of the empire! Arakmat, Mystique, she could have even gone off to Kattaria! (So, perhaps that was a little irrational, but it was disappointing to have lost his lead nonetheless.)

Dominic opened his mouth to reply before abruptly closing it again with the entrance of an orc - apparently, a female, although she could have fooled Dominic. He couldn't help but stare a little bit - not horribly rudely or noticeably, but staring all the same. Where he came from, orcs were rare and feared. He wasn't as surprised as some others might have been, since he did in fact know an orc in Portshire, but it was a bit unnerving all the same. He carefully stepped out of the hulking orc's way.

"Thanks for your help," Dominic said, in a rather guarded, insincere manner, to the clerk after he was shown Anamin's former residence in Old Prime. Getting the distinct impression that he was no longer welcome in the shop, Dominic regarded the chainmail on the wall wistfully before turning to leave.

Back on the streets of the Student Quarter, he walked slowly towards Old Prime as the clerk had instructed him. Prime was an enormous city and, while Portshire only had two main areas, Dominic could hardly keep track of all the little parishes of the capitol. He got a little lost along the way, but generally went along the right course, glancing at the various interesting street vendors or entertainers but carefully keeping himself from getting too much off track.

[Ffesshssia'ad]

The female orc returned Dominic's stares with an open but not particularly friendly curiosity, as if she were wondering what he tasted like. Fortunately, she did not act on that curiosity, and as soon as the visiting human took his leave, armed with all the help the clerk would give him, he left the shop and made for the rather humble Domicilium district where Anamin had once lived.

The journey took Dominic through parts of Aelyria Prime that did not show off the city particularly well. The Artes Doces Parish in which Kotra's Forge was located was old, cramped, and worn. Shabby buildings crowded the antiquated streets like tattered, smelly vagrants with little sense of personal space, keeping some distance only from the parish's small, glum cemetery.

The Domicilium district was similarly cluttered and shabby, although at least the streets here were wider; laughing bands of grubby-faced children could run to and fro in their frantic pursuit of nothing in particular without barrelling into grown-ups like Dominic, who went about their presumably important errands at a more sedate "adult" pace.

The Kotrah's Forge clerk had managed to give Dominic fairly good instructions; the hardest part was finding the exact address once he was in the general area. The youth would need to circle around a few times, and to approach and ask several Domicilium residents for more guidance before he finally found the place. The longtime residents, precisely because they knew their neighborhood so intimately, had little use for the abstractions of street numbers and names; it was, ironically, a recent move-in, a nervous shrin who knew Prime only marginally better than Dominic himself, who was actually able to pinpoint the location for him. Nobody he talked to in the street would remember anything about an Anamin Veldiris, should Dominic bother to ask.

The hovel where Anamin had reportedly once lived was inhabited; there was smoke from a fire seeping from a hole in the ceiling, and a well-fed cat parked comfortably beside the front door, flicking its tail lazily as it watched the approaching human with a look of casual predatory interest not unlike the one the orc-wife had given him back at the forge. One could only hope that the cat, unlike the orc, was more interested in the tastiness of whatever goodies Dominic might have with him than of the human himself.

[Dominic Veldiris]

Dominic explored the Domicilium with surprising patience - his need to find answers about his father pacified him, apparently. Yet throughout his searching, he was puzzled. No one seemed to remember Anamin, and it seemed like everyone had lived their for a fairly long time, save the little shrin who was actually able to help him, so it meant that either the store clerk lied about Anamin's home or she had lived such a quiet life that no one noticed her.

When he finally did find the little place that Anamin once owned, or at least resided in, Dominic approached it boldly. He was never one to shy behind... well, anything. He wanted answers, and he was convinced that he would at least learn where to next search if he played his cards right. He regarded the cat with peculiar glance before directing his attention back to the door in front of him.

He knocked on the door three deliberate times, took a step back, and waited for something to happen.

[Ffesshssia'ad]

Apart from the cat unceremoniously jumping up to withdraw from the landing to a corner of the house, there was no immediate response to Domininc's knock. After several moments, however, just as he might have started to wonder if he should knock again, he heard a stirring on the other side of the door. Unseen hands fumbled at a latch, and then the door creaked open to reveal a portly human woman, perhaps just this side of sixty eras old, with a round red face and bright blue eyes that regarded her visitor with a guarded friendliness. Flanking her feet were the faces of two more cats.

"Serale, young man," the woman said somewhat breathlessly, as if she had just run up some stairs to come to the door. "What can I do for you?"

[Dominic Veldiris]

Dominic was beginning to get frustrated as there was no apparent response to his knocking. Part of him wanted to take a seat on the porch and wait for the owner to return - he had already assumed that there was no one there - but he was about to raise his hand to knock again when he finally got a response. A small sigh of relief escaped his lips as he turned to look at the portly woman who greeted him.

"Serale," he responded when the door finally opened, a pleasant smile crossing his face. "I'm looking for an Anamin Veldiris... I've heard that she used to live here. Have you heard of her before?"

[Ffesshssia'ad]

The woman frowned slightly at Anamin's name, as if it were bothering her where she had heard it before. She took a moment to catch her breath (whatever the reason was that she had lost it in the first place) and to wipe some non-existent sweat off of her flushed face. Then her expression cleared up and she flashed Dominic a quick smile. "Goodness! It has been ages since I heard that name. Yes, she lived here before I did. Pretty young thing. Moved to ,erm.. Ieffreon, I think, a couple eras ago."

Her eyes twinkled with a hint of mischief. "Was she a friend of yours perhaps?" she asked slyly.