It had been a long day for Byssu.
Starting out was a brief return of the nervousness that she had first encountered when leaving Gridania. It made its triumphant return as Byssu entered into Ul’dah. The local of Ul’dah was bustling and industrious, quite unlike the quiet and serene greenery of Gridania that Byssu had grown accustomed to during her stay in the forest. Not to mention that transitioning from The Wood to Gridania had been a relatively smooth experience since it was moving from a lush forest to a lush forest. Ul’dah was a harsh city of brick and stone. Magnificent in its own way, but still quite intimidating for someone that was used to trees and brush.
Byssu could feel the presence of many eyes upon her as she moved throughout the city. Thankfully, she knew they were drawn more to her prominent ears than anything else thanks to the traveler's cloak that was draped around her body. It hid everything below her neck from view, which thankfully included her bulging travel pack and gunblade. No doubt that they’d be tantalizing targets for the quick fingered or the foolhardy. Byssu had gone to the meeting place described on the recruitment flier. Arriving at the quicksand, Byssu looked around for anyone that appeared to be hosting a meeting.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t anyone. Approaching what appeared to be the innkeeper, Byssu presented the copy of the flier that she had brought and asked where the meeting way. Momodi explained that Byssu had missed the meeting by several minutes, but helpfully pointed out the location that they’d agreed to travel to: The Goblet. Thankfully, it wasn’t that far away. Byssu thanked Momodi and began to travel once more, this time in the direction of The Goblet, and hopefully somewhere where she would be on-time.
Byssu shook some of the sand from her traveler’s cloak as she entered into The Goblet. There’d be no way to get it all off without washing, but Byssu wanted to at least not leave a trail of sand everywhere. Looking around, Byssu spotted the house that she had been instructed to seek out and began to head towards it…
As Byssu walked, three small figures whizzed through the path, each one taking special care to avoid colliding with her. They all converged onto the northwestern-most plot, splitting up shortly afterwards. A female Mi’qote stood at the entrance to the property, ginger hair tied up in a long braid while what remained spiraled down as it rested on her shoulders. Despite both her long dress and well placed hands in front of her, her expression was anything but relaxed; green eyes glared sharply at the authority figure before her. She was accompanied by a smaller kit, hair kept down by a lovely red ribbon as she clung onto the green dress, looking up nervously at the man.
”...is simply ridiculous,” Their conversation was more audible the closer Byssu got.
”The Goblet’s housing specialists should be the only ones removing anything. It is neither the Brass Blades’ nor the Immortal Flames’ duty to act on their behalf.”The man in uniform seemed unamused by her protest, crossing his arms. The Elezen seemed to get more irritated, shaking his head in disagreement.
”You lot should have thought about that before carelessly giving away your title,” He replied coldly.
The conversation that Byssu overheard was quite concerning. Something fishy seemed to be going on. This was the house that she was told to head to, but the house was abandoned? Or moved out of? That made no sense. Why would someone set an abandoned or recently forsaken home as their meeting grounds? Something didn’t add up.
Stepping quickly, Byssu’s shadow loomed over the female Mi’qote as she approached and began to speak. [color= #00FFFF]”Pardon my intrusion, but I was told to come to this location for a meeting. However, I overheard that things are being removed from this house? Why would that be?”[/color]
Byssu’s stance was stiff and authoritative. Her old guard tendances were kicking in and she had taken on an authoritative stance, though the stance was mostly hidden by the fact that Byssu still had her traveling cloak on. As another method to assert her authority, Byssu maintained fierce eye contact with the Elezen as, from what little context Byssu had gathered, he seemed to be someone that was contributing to the shaky situation. Or, at the very least, he spoke like someone that was perpetuating the problem instead of trying to solve it.
Regardless, Byssu could do nothing more than question. If she went for her gunblade it would certainly draw attention and, as was told to her many times during guard training, if she drew first blade the consequences of the outcome would rest firmly upon her shoulders. There would be little that could be done to fix a perfectly legal punishment, so Byssu kept her hands by her sides for now.
There was a tiny squeak heard as the kit jumped in place and promptly hid under the Mi'qote's long skirt, causing the woman to look up at the Viera for a moment with wide eyes.
"A meeting? You must have seen Lyveva's flyer," She said once she regained her composure, gently patting a bump under her.
"That would be because the new owner of this place would like to occupy it sooner than later," The Elezen ignored her remark, addressing Byssu directly.
"You lot already sent someone that caused quite a stirrup at the Immortal Flames; you're only making things worse by causing trouble."Byssu gave a nod to the Mi’qote before she blinked in annoyance at the Elezen. It was incredibly rude of him to automatically assume that Byssu was here to cause trouble. But Byssu didn’t bring the subject up after considering a few factors that might have contributed to his sour mood. Perhaps it had been a long day? Perhaps the Elezen needed to rest from the heat? Perhaps he needed a drink to cool his throat? A number of factors could have made the Elezen grumpy, and Byssu was not inclined to make trouble for him. Clearing her throat, Byssu spoke again.
”New owner? Who would the new owner be? Can you give me their name? Or, even better, their location? I’m sure that if we talk things over with the people involved that we can get this situation sorted out in a manner that ends well for everyone.”Byssu did not like how the Elezen was speaking. Homes were not sold so quickly. At least, not in Gridania they weren’t. Buying a home was a lengthy and competitive process and on a routinely normal basis when a home was sold the previous occupants belongings were already well moved out, so the belongings of the previous occupant being removed after the home was already sold meant that something quite fishy was going on. However, Byssu did not directly blame the Elezen. By his authoritative uniform and insistence upon things Byssu assumed that the Elezen might just be a cog in the machine. Neither wholly good or evil, just doing the role that he was meant to do which unfortunately placed him at odds with Byssu and the Mi’qote.
An unfortunate situation, and one that probably caused him quite a lot of irritation.
"Unfortunately, that information is classified until the new tenant comes in, though I wouldn't know it off the top of my head myself," The Elezen replied.
"Though I suppose that's the better direction to go in, but I'll say it again: if you keep causing trouble, you're only going to land the free company in more hot water. I suspect the new tenant will go to Ul'dah to collect their new title."The woman shook her head in disagreement, though she said nothing. The Elezen nodded to the pair, turning to make his leave before a mighty yell startled the two of them. From the lamppost above something leapt down and onto the Elezen, knocking him down. It looked like a young male Mi'qote, expression contorted into one determined to bring justice, much to the woman's horror.
"Suki'a!" She exclaimed, shocked.
The other child poked her head out from under her long skirt, apparently encouraged by the battle cry. She ran out and jumped on the Elezen as well, the two terrorizing the man in uniform.
Byssu was caught in quite a pickle now. If she intervened, she risked provoking the wrath of the mother, who Byssu was standing next to. If she did not intervene, the Elezen did potentially risk injury and, beyond that, would potentially foist his wrath upon her as well for the crime of not intervening. Quite a problem, there. Looking to the Mi’qote Byssu spoke quickly and gently.
”I’ll be honest, I’m not sure what I should do here. Part of me wants to assist the Elezen since he doesn’t seem to deserve being randomly attacked as far as I feel, but then again I don’t want to make you angry if I were to grab them by the scruff or otherwise stop them. So I suppose I’ll ask you: Do you want me to intervene or would you rather I stand back and you’ll handle it?”Byssu eagerly awaited the Mi’qote’s reply, as the longer the attack went on the greater the risk of serious injury to the Elezen.
The woman stared at Byssu incredulously, though before she could properly respond a pair of yelps caught her attention. The Elezen had risen to his feet, promptly throwing both kits off. The younger one fell off, tears in her eyes as she rubbed her shoulder. The older boy hissed at the Elezen, pulling out a slingshot and a rock as he aimed it at the uniformed man. The woman's hands flew up to her head, mouth wide with shock.
"Suki'a no--!" By the time his name was said he had released the rock, pelting the Elezen in his right eye. He let out a howl of pain, doubling over as the woman ran over to her son.
"Have you gone mad?! What in the world do you think you're doing?!" She scolded him, snatching the wooden toy out of his hands.
Byssu stood fairly dumbfounded as she watched the Mi’qote discipline the kit, At this point she was frankly paralyzed. Regaining her senses, Byssu shrugged her shoulders to remove her traveling pack and began to fish around within it beneath her cloak. Since Byssu was guided by touch it took her a few moments to find what she was looking for, but she let out a soft
”Aha.” when it was located.
Closing her travel pack up and putting it back on, Byssu stepped forward and offered a bright blue potion to the wounded Elezen. It probably wasn’t a bad hit, but swift treatment would surely help regardless. Beyond this, Byssu could do no more.
The Elezen grumbled something resembling thanks as he took the potion, straightening up as a rather shiny black eye was revealed. The Mi'qote winced slightly as the young boy hid behind her, figuring any more negotiations were off the table, so to speak. He inhaled and exhaled slowly to calm himself down, leveling a look at the shorter woman.
"I will see if I can inform the new tenants that you have yet to vacate. However!" He punctuated his word carefully, pointing at the kit.
"You lot are walking on thin ice. Do I make myself clear?" Suki'a stuck his tongue out at the Elezen, much to his mother's dismay. She nodded on his behalf, kneeling down to pick up the younger of the pair.
"We understand," She said. He seemed satisfied, giving Byssu a nod as he took his leave. She sighed, looking up at the Viera.
"Forgive me, but I need to find the other children. I know you saw Lyveva's flyer, but I'm sure she went after the lead she found in the Silver Bazaar."Byssu watched as the Elezen spoke to the Mi’qote and her kits before they turned their attention to her. Giving a nod to the Mi’qote’s statement and gave a look around before looking back to her.
”Well. I can help you look for your kits if you want, or I can simply remain here and wait. Or I could attempt to seek out the others at the Silver Bazaar, though I do not know where it is. I don’t mind either way. Standing around for hours on end is something that I’m quite accustomed to.”"I'd appreciate the help, but I would feel bad keeping you," She admitted, gently rubbing her little one's arm.
"My name is Suki. This is my daughter, Rika, and my son, Suki'a," At hearing his name he poked out his head, his hands behind his back. Now that he was still, it was easier to see him. He bore male Mi'qote marks near his big, hazel eyes. Both he and Rika had the same shade of eye color, though Rika's hair was more on the brown side while Suki'a's was redder, like Suki's.
"Nice to meet you," He replied, tugging on Suki's dress.
"May I have my slingshot back?""No, you may not, and we will discuss its proper usage later," She replied without skipping a beat, letting out a weary sigh.
"I'm sure Nikulas and Eji are around, if Suki'a was planning to attack the officer, I'm sure the other two weren't far behind. They should be close. But if you'd rather join the others, simply tell them you're with Lyveva, and they'll take you to the Bazaar free of cost."Bysso nodded at Suki, pleased to finally learn her name. Bringing a hand up to her chest, Byssu gave a slight bow before she spoke.
“I am pleased to formally meet you Suki, Suki’a, and Rika. My name is Byssu.” Returning to a full standing position, Byssu thought for a moment before she made her decision.
”Well. I am already here, and searching for lost children isn’t something that I have no experience in. Before I came here I used to be a guard in Gridania after I left The Wood and from time to time reuniting a lost child with their parents in a busy marketplace wasn’t too uncommon. Additionally. I would not like to arrive late to the Silver Bazaar and have to run around trying to find everyone once more. If they’re going to arrive here again remaining here is a logical course of action.”Gesturing to the area around them, Byssu made one final comment.
”Well, I am yours as you request. Lead the way?”
