Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
From: li@Data-IO.COM (Phyllis L. Rostykus)
Subject: Kardia Looks Around Merchant's Hill
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1993 17:27:24 GMT


        Kardia had entered the city from the east gate, and she walked
slowly along the right edge of Dragon's Lane as she took her first look at
the busy city. 

        The city square was a bit of a push and a struggle for her to get
through.  A street urchin did a flip when he tripped over her walking
stick.  From the ground she saw his eyes flick towards her bag and then his
eyes met hers and grew wide.  He scrambled to his feet and was lost in the
crowd.  No other thieves seemed to think the plain, dusty woman and her
small bag, box and bow worth their bother.

        She only glanced at the GateWay of the Worlds and most of the shops
along the road.  For a long moment she stood in front of Miggung's Magic
Shop then a smile quirked her lips and she moved on.  At Throcken's Armory,
she walked into the shop and looked through the weapons available and
pricing.  She shook her head a little ruefully at them and left with a dip
of the head to the shopkeeper and a regretful smile.  She unconsciously
rubbed the inside of the knuckle back from the tip of her index finger with
the thumb of her left hand as she left.

        She watched the entrance way to the Dragon's Inn as she walked by
it, and saw the door open and close on it's own.  She shook her head at
seeing that; and then forgot the incident at seeing the shining cobbles of 
the plaza in front of her.  She knelt, touched the metal and then laughed.  
A few of the folks that were walking through smiled at the crazy tourist, 
but she never even noticed. 

        The change upon reaching Merchant's Hill was markable.  She took
the left and walked along lanes of beautiful houses.  Sure enough, about
where the architecture changed again, there was a big house with a wall
over it.  She shook her head and then looked at it intently for a while, and 
then walked up to the front door and knocked. 

        The door opened very, very slowly.  When Kardia first looked to see
who opened it, she saw no one.  A shy giggle came from below, and Kardia
saw a little girl with brown hair and wide blue eyes hanging from the
doorknob with two hands and laughing up at her.  She smiled in responce,
and the child blinked and dropped from the doorknob to land in a heap on
the hardwood floor.  Kardia knelt to make sure that the tyke was all right;
but the child only smiled at her. 

        "No need to worry about her," said a woman's voice, "'lana's used
to fallin'."  A chuckle, "Aren't cha?"  Kardia looked up to see a small,
wiry woman, who scooped Elana up from the floor and put her, with ease and
long familiarity with children, on her hip.  Elana leaned against her
grandmother and put one arm around Mrs. Cludne's neck.  Kardia took a
little time getting up again, as the leverage without the ball of her left
foot still threw her off.  "You here for a room?"

        Kardia nodded.  

        She was given a whirlwind tour of the place, trying not to trip
over the other grandchildren who were visiting, attempting to remember all
the meal times, and finding that she liked the small, energetic woman
rather a lot.  There were only a few other guests.  A couple of dwarves and
a gnome that Kardia carefully didn't stare at.  She paid for a week's stay.

	She put the clothes and her replacable belongings in the chest of
drawers in her room.  The rest went into a smaller pouch that she could
strap underneath her coat.  The pouch, the harp case, and her last set of
clean clothing went into the washroom with her and she took a luxurious
hour to wash up.  When she was done she felt her stomach growl.  Mrs.
Cludne's strict schedule meant dinner was a good three hours away.  Kardia
went out to orient herself to at least this section of the city.  The bow
strapped onto the lower portion of her staff, the harp went on her back,
and so she set out.

	The Yanigzia Purizshita was a pleasant surprise for her.  She, in
turn, was a pleasant surprise to the waiting staff, as she spoke
Etarus'ian fluently and bantered with them while she waited for her food.
It was excellent, hot, spicy enough to make her cry, and beautifully
presented.  After paying in Generica coin, she bowed a bow of respect to a
meal well served, and the staff bowed the bow of respect to an
appreciative customer.  She left smiling.

        Slowly, she circled Merchants' Hill, staying away from anything
heavily guarded, concentrating on finding the Weaver's Guild and located
it's device on a building.  Crossing Dragon's Lane, she searched for and
found the public gardens, and then left for the waterfront.  

        By this time it was evening.  She went towards the sunset, and at
the end of the river, she found the sea.  The docks were quieting down with
the end of the day and dockworkers heading out to a local tavern to get
drunk.  She knew she shouldn't stay long, but the gentle motion of the
water drew her out to the end of one of the docks, away from the bustle and
noise of the city, the Bazaar that was so close behind her.  A white bird
arrowed across her horizon and she watched it as it streaked away, and then
turned towards the west.

        She watched the sun as it burned the sky into all the colors of
flame, and then slowly drew the shadow of night over itself as it readied
itself for a night's sleep.  As she watched, she thought she heard music,
and as she concentrated on the sound of it her eyes went wide.
Contradancing here?  A blur of information on Generica and its surroundings
and she frowned when there was no reference, whatsoever, to any culture on
the planet that supported a similiar art form.

        Kardia notched it up as another point for Generica's reputation as
an unusually varied nexus and hobbled back down the dock.  There was the
noise and shouting of a brawl to her right, so she slowly moved left.  As
it came nearer her, she stepped into a doorway and watched as a group of
drunken dockworkers roared by.  After they were well gone, she stepped out
and kept going, shivering a little with adrenaline.  Eventually, she headed
into the heart of Merchant's Hill and with all the house security, the
lights on the streets, she relaxed.  She got back to Mrs. Cludne's just in
time for dinner.

-----
[ADMIN - I still need to know if there is someone I should contact for
Vitor of the Public Gardens.  Kelly Cooper was kind enough to inform me
that no one really claimed Mrs. Cludne and her household, or hadn't for
quite some time.  Is there someone I might contact for a harper in the
Dragon's Inn?  Might be fun to play with someone sometime...]
-- 
Phyllis Rostykus |  "... and how you feel can make it real 
aka Liralen Li   |       Real as anything you've seen... "
li@Data-IO.com   |                      Peter Gabriel _US_