I might, Gwynael had said, have a lead on a place for your free company.
That had been two weeks ago; since then, Evrard had made further inquiries. The house was in the Goblet, overlooking a dizzyingly steep cliff and—so Gwynael had claimed—correspondingly cheap by virtue of being nowhere near the Brimming Heart. It had four floors, a fully outfitted kitchen in the basement, and the realtor was willing to throw in the existing furniture as well. An inspection had revealed no great flaws in the construction or cracks in the walls; though the garden in the front yard was massively overgrown and an attempt at a water feature seemed mostly to attract mosquitoes, Busari swore it was salvageable. (Seeing the look on his lover’s face when he’d suggested moving Cantavrel into the pond, Evrard had bitten his tongue on the idea of simply letting it all dry up and planting cactus.)
And now the realtor—a lalafell who was tiny even for one of her kind, with a voice that was probably quite pleasant to ears not tuned to catch the faintest vibrations in the air—was leading them upstairs. “As you can see, this floor holds the master bedrooms—light and airy, easy to remodel if you’d rather—but first I’d like you to see the crown jewel of this house.” This proved to be up another flight of stairs leading to an enormous set of double doors, all intricately inlaid wood that made Busari whistle softly under his breath. She cleared her throat. “The library.”
Evrard’s ears flicked backwards. A library? Hm. I would have thought that would figure into the price. “Lead the way, Miss Neru.”
It was a sunny day. With its enormous windows recently cleaned and the tables covered with white drop cloths, the library’s brilliance briefly struck him dumb. Even the books had been left on the shelves. As Neneru Neru took up her patter—something about Ladislas Fulke having been a rather electic reader and how they might wish to review the books before opening up the room to all and sundry—he listened with half an ear, wandering further in. A distinctly harp-shaped thing shoved haphazardly into a corner made him smile. Ah, I’ll have to invite Gwynael to perform at some point.
“--and it will be a wonderful draw for your fellow adventurers. Well? What say you?”
Something buzzed in his ear, and he flicked it away. It took a moment for him to realize both lalafell and au ra were looking at him expectantly, and he felt his face heat. “I think—though of course we can’t make any promises yet—that you may have a deal.” Some impulse urged him to add, “Master Fulke’s estate won’t have any issues with the use we plan to put this property to, will they? I should hate to cause a scene.”
She shrugged. “After he died so suddenly and all, they just want to be rid of the place. They’d rather live in Limsa Lominsa.”
Busari looked as though he’d like to agree, but winced at Evrard’s pointed look. Limsa’s white sand beaches also meant having to deal with his sister Tsenxeri and her husbands for extended periods. Neither of them wanted that.
Evrard nodded. “Of course. Is that all for the tour?”
“Mm-hmm, let me just—” She cut herself off as footsteps sounded from the ground floor. Evrard’s ears strained; there were three pairs, light on their feet.
And a voice. “Hello? Miss Neru? Are you there?”
Neneru swore so viciously that Evrard took a step back, only narrowly avoiding being knocked into Busari as she barrelled down the stairs. “I told you three to come back when you ‘ad the gil, and not waste my bloody time before then! An’ you’re late, besides, I’ve just finished showing it to a proper adventurer.”
By the time Evrard and Busari made it to the foyer—Neneru was startlingly fast—they found her glaring up at a trio of auri women. The Xaela in the back was wearing a very familiarly murderous expression, but seemed content to let her Raen comrades handle it. One of them, orange-haired, seemed to be the appointed spokeswoman. “We do have the gil—well, most of it, we’ll have the rest when our checks come in—and we’re early, you told us to meet at 4 bells past noon and it’s not there yet.”
“—I have a better property for you folk anyway, it’ll make a fine storefront—”
There’s...quite a lot of space here. And—from what Miss Neneru said, and by their garb, these three are merchants. A lofty goal is one thing, but if Vidofnir’s Wings are to soar properly...a library and a kitchen won’t be enough. Evrard stepped forward, clearing his throat. “Miss? I believe there’s been a slight misunderstanding, but we’d be happy to work with you regarding this space. You see, my partner and I are adventurers, and...”
The redhead turned out to be Haruka; her sister, black-haired Harumi. Enkhtuyaa, the Qestiri maid, signed excitedly at Busari until resorting to a slate, a piece of chalk, and a drawing that made Busari laugh out loud and Evrard turn red. By the time their discussion of business had turned into all five of them piling into an eatery in the Brimming Heart, Evrard was feeling much more confident in his decisions.
Yes, this will work out. Thank you, Gwynael; I’ll buy you a drink for this.
