@Lailyn
Kiaran
Laketown docks
Girls sure do act strange, Kiaran thought, puzzled by her sudden suspicion of his offer to help her sell the oysters. He wondered why she demanded to know who he knew, and frowned, with a genuinely confused expression when she wouldn't let him take the bucket. Honestly, he only meant to be chivalrous and carry it for her. It must be getting heavy, with all the rain pouring down and all. Just when he was about to back off and say whatever, she changed her mind and let go. Kiaran was truly baffled by this female. Having not ever gotten too close to them, he didn't know quite what to expect.
After a short hesitation at her insisting to know who it was he knew, he finally answered, "There's just this guy I met, but he seems like a suspicious fellow and I don't think I'd trust him." He tried to give her the vaguest explanation possible. After all, if he let on that he knew Tarric, there's a chance that she might have heard of the merchant as well, and that might be inconsistent with his present story. The young thief made a face at her mentioning a hat, that it was non-negotiable. "A hat? What for?" He laughed, finding that a strange requirement just to travel with her.
Having been given the bucket to carry, he took it and poured a little of the excess water out to lighten the load. Seeing she had turned to look toward town, Kiaran motioned for her to come along as he set out toward some restaurants not too far away, curious as she revealed a side of her that she'd yet to show til now. In fact, Kiaran thought, glancing at her with curiosity, perhaps she wasn't as unaccustomed to the idea of theft as he'd first thought. He couldn't quite tell what was going on with this girl, but she had changed her attitude rather quickly, and that made him raise an eyebrow. "Sounds interesting..." He commented, intrigued what she had in mind, but one must be careful.
"Let's get rid of these, and then we'll talk." He added with a nod toward the bucket of oysters. "You never said what you're asking for them... seems, last I heard, they were going for around...uh," He had to stop and think hard to recall what the going rate was when he'd last tried to sell them. "Thirty-something Castars? Sound about right?" He glanced at her for confirmation before opening the backdoor to the restaurant. The cooks were busy about their work, and none-too-happy to find two wet, probably smelly teenagers intruding in their cooking space. The head chef quickly chased them out, but Kiaran shrugged as he exited the place quickly. "Oh well, next stop, better luck maybe?" He grinned and made for the next place.
Pushing the back door open a bit, he was just in time to hear the cooks talking in a near panic about running out of this, and then out of that...
"What'll we do?"
"Well someone is going to have to go to the market and buy..whatever they can get! Anything! We have to have more food to serve or we'll have to shut down for the rest of the day!"
Kiaran looked at Ljúfa and grinned. "These are as good as sold, just follow my lead, alright?" He whispered before stepping in further, clearing his throat to get their attention. "Good afternoon sir, I hope we're not interrupting, but I wondered if you might be interested in these delightful, fresh oysters?" He spoke quickly before the man could order them to get out. Catching the head chef off guard, the man stared at him in confusion for a second before looking at the bucket, then a look slowly dawned on his face as if he'd just had an answer to prayer fall in right his lap. "Oysters!" He paused, then frowned thoughtfully, a bit suspicious. "How much you want for them?"
"Well, let's see... fresh out of the water, all in excellent condition, quite uniform in size... delivered right to you... and priced at a very reasonable sixty Castars a dozen."
"Sixty!" The man looked like he'd been physically attacked, recoiling in shock. "Sixty per dozen? The going rate is only thirty, young man! Off with you, I'll just send someone to the market to get what we need."
Kiaran shrugged, as if it was no concern of his. "Well, good luck. The market is closed for the day." He had no idea if that were true, but neither did the chef.
"Closed?" The chef looked a bit horrified at this news.
"Well, it's pouring buckets out there, hadn't you noticed?" Kiaran pointed out. "Did you think we got wet by swimming to the bottom of the lake to gather these things by hand?"
The man frowned. "Closed..." He eyed the bucket of oysters a bit differently, now. "I don't know..." He hesitated. "I can offer you...35?"
Kiaran shook his head, making a 'I don't think so' type face. "Sorry, we're asking sixty. I can go to fifty-five..."
"That's far above the going rate, and I'm offering you an excellent price at 35!"
"As I recall, the "going rate" tends to fluctuate according to availability... and these happen to be the only ones available... unless you want to go catch some for yourself. In the rain." Kiaran pointed out.
The man looked torn, glancing back at his kitchen as yet another cook called out to inform him they'd run out of something else, then back at the oysters. "I'll pay you forty..."
Kiaran frowned, taking a good long moment to look like he was thinking hard on that. "Forty...per dozen?"
"Yes, per dozen."
Kiaran looked at Ljúfa and gave a subtle wink, trying to indicate she keep playing along. He turned back to the chef with a heavy sigh. "I really shouldn't do this, my boss might not be too happy, but... how about fifty? That's the absolute lowest I can go."
"Fifty?" The chef frowned. "No, forget it, I can't do that price."
"Alright, sorry we couldn't help you." Kiaran turned with a shrug, and started for the door, but took his time going.
Just then, a server entered, frantic. "A whole group of important-looking people just came in, and they're very hungry! Should I tell them they'll have to go to the place next door?"
"To the competition? Are you out of your mind?"
"But we've nothing to serve..."
Kiaran grinned at Ljúfa, counting in his head as there was a brief pause, waiting for what he knew was coming. Sure enough, the chef called after them just about the time they reached the door. "Wait! Come back...I'll take the oysters." Kiaran turned, feigning surprise. "At fifty a dozen?" He asked, as if suspecting a trick.
"Yes, at fifty." The chef said grudgingly. "It's robbery, of course, but I'm desperate." He grumbled, motioning to someone to get some money to pay them.
Kiaran shook his head in disagreement, holding back a grin. "It's merely chance, sir. That we happened to come here, right as you needed us, with exactly what you needed." He turned over the bucket to one of the kitchen hands and watched them count out the oysters to see how many there were, then as the money was offered to him, Kiaran indicated with a motion of his hand that it be given to Ljúfa.
Having concluded that business ordeal, Kiaran couldn't get out of there fast enough. "Well, what do you think? Did we get enough out money of the horrible, slimy things?" He asked her, grinning with satisfaction. "What do you say we get some real food now, and talk about this 'other way' you have of getting money. While we're at it, maybe we can figure out a few other things, like where you want to go and how to get you there." He suggested, rather hoping to get someplace warm and dry, and hoping she might be more receptive to answering a few things he wanted to know, now that he'd helped her get rid of the oysters. "Oh, and... I'm not afraid of trouble, by the way." He added with a grin. "Some have said that should've been my name."