Jay stirred, blinking groggily up at the ceiling of her room. She sat up, pushing her blonde hair back out of her fair skinned face and looking around the room to remember where she was. The dècor was familiar and so was the view of the early morning city outside her window. She was staying in the Cozy Crescent inn, part of an underground organization that was mostly legal under Lehrain law. Last night she had promised to assist a man named Ren in finding his family and convinced an old friend, Blaine, to help her.
Rolling out of bed, Jay gathered her stuff. There wasn't much of it, she tended to travel light because she never knew when she would have to move next. Still, she had leather armour of good condition, a small pack of essentials, a money pouch, blow darts and a tube and a staff she had used to block the door during the night. Jay put on the armour, securing the chestplate and bracers, before slipping on her cloak and lifting the pack over her shoulder. Giving her staff a sharp jerk, she freed it from where it was wedged between two walls, and exited the room.
Sleepy chatter carried from the kitchen and tables on the bottom floor and Jay made her way down the stairs. Blaine, a woman mostly covered by a brown cloak with a long black braid, a tanned skin tone and soft features, was already waiting at one of the back tables. Her own pack, looking almost exactly like Jay’s only in slightly better condition, sat on the floor beside her and a book sat on the table in front of her.
As Blaine flipped through the book, Jay dropped into the chair to her left. Blaine glanced up, seeing Jay’s face before returning to her reading.
“What you got there?” Jay hopped up onto the chair and leaned over the table to see the book. Even upside down, Jay could tell that it was written in a language that she didn't understand. Confused because she had a pretty wide grasp of locally spoken languages after her education, she sat back in the chair, crossing her legs. “What on Earth is that in? Looks like scribbles.”
Blaine sighed, lifting her head and shutting the book with a thump. “I am studying, Jay. You would understand the importance of that, I imagine.” She slipped the book into her pack and closed it before sitting back up and smiling at Jay. “You look like you rolled out of your own grave. You're all dirty, your clothes are in rags and you could do well to look more awake.”
“Isn't it charming?” More of her short blonde hair fell in her face as she leaned forward. “I'm thinking of making this my new look, charming men into helping me.”
“This will be good. I bet one gold that you won't be able to go all morning without someone slapping or punching you.” Blaine reached over and shoved at Jay’s hair, only making more fall forward.
“So kicks don't count?” Jay shot Blaine a smile as she started to sort out her unruly hair.
“Actually the idea was ‘without inciting physical violence’ but I'll give you one kick free.”
To Jay’s right, the steps from the second floor started creaking and both of their heads shot up. Ren, a broad-shouldered man with a darker skin tone than either of the women and a rather mild personality was stumbling his way down the stairs. Today he had his torn and stained white shirt underneath his armour, cloak slung over the sliced through and stained shoulder. He joined them, dropping his pack on the floor beside the table and sitting down. Sleepily, he rubbed at his eyes.
“Sleep well?” Blaine flagged over one of the kitchen workers on for the morning.
“Yes. Yesterday was just exhausting.” He yawned and sat up straighter as the kitchen worker approached the table.
They all ordered and put a silver piece in the centre of the table as payment. A second later, three glasses of water were placed on the table.
“If I'm not mistaken, we have to plan.” Blaine stated, drawing the attention of the other two. Noticing the look on Jay’s face, she snorted. “Yes, Jay. Planning. Your favourite.”
“But why? Isn't it a pretty simple plan? Find someone with this wolf head insignia and…” she paused, trying to think of what happened after. Unable to come up with anything, she groaned. “Alright, maybe we need a little bit of a plan. But no patented Butterfingers play-by-play.”
Blaine rolled her eyes at Jay and turned to Ren, who still looked rather asleep. “What I thought of last night was that we strike up a friendly conversation with someone with the insignia. You and I, Jay, both have some traction around here if they won't willingly tell us about what it means. After we have what we need, we can go from there.” She looked from Jay’s indifferent expression to Ren’s sleepy smile.
“I see one problem with that. Are you forgetting how people around here are, Blaine? There's no way they'll tell you about their personal lives and I doubt we'll have that much traction with people who don't much care for the laws.”
“Actually, I did think of that.” Blaine stuck an arm out from under her cloak and rolled the sleeve up to reveal a copy of the emblem on her arm. It was pretty good, all things considered but if you looked close you could tell it was painted on with something. As long as nobody looked to closely, it would probably pass.
“Alright, but what good will it do considering we don't know a thing about this group?”
“We tell the truth. We say he is looking for this group, he suspects he is connected to them and I, pretending to be one of them, ask for an actual member to accompany me.” Blaine gave Jay a pleased grin and her skeptical friend nodded.
Ren turned to Blaine now, more awake and with a question of his own. “What if they're part of some sort of, I don't know, undercover crime organization?”
Blaine paused for a second before shrugging. “Well, you still know. That's as far as Jay’s convinced me to go, I get you to them and then I go back to my life. What you or her do is your own business.”
Ren frowned. That wasn't what he'd been hoping for but these women were just people that he had met and he shouldn't be trusting their loyalty too strongly. He couldn't help but do it, though. There was always the option of paying them but he didn't want to waste funds when he may not even be able to find his parents. At least he knew that they were or had been in this city. That knowledge was better than nothing and enough to at least start him off.
“Come on, be nice Blaine.” Jay spoke up.
“Unlike you, I would like to keep my job. If you want to follow him, that's your own business.” Blaine’s serious expression softened but her voice was still firm. “I will enjoy working with you again but we aren't kids anymore Jay. We have responsibilities.”
“I hate that word. It's just a fancy way to say conforming.” Jay grumbled, glaring at the table before catching herself and putting back on a smirk, though it did look a bit forced. “Anyways, I would kind of like to get a shirt that isn't old and ripped up.”
“As would I.” Ren moved his cloak to show the rust coloured stain and the large slice through his shirt before putting it back.
“There's a seamstress by the bathhouse that you might even be able to exchange those at.” Blaine relaxed.
The kitchen worker came over with their meals and they ate fast. As they stood up, Jay guzzled the rest of her water. Blaine shook her head and laughed to herself while Ren watched with a mixture of confusion and concern as Jay ended up pouring it on her face and down the front of her shirt. Coughing on water, Jay put the glass down. She wiped at her face with her hands, clearing her throat. “I did that on purpose. Had some, uh, dirt on my face.”
“Right.” Blaine pulled Jay forward and led the way.
Jay was still hacking up water as she walked beside Ren, who looked increasingly concerned with every cough. Catching his expression, Jay grinned until she started coughing again. “I promise… promise I'm a… I know what I'm doing.” She managed to choke out between coughs.
Ren slapped her back sharply, making her stumble and cough up water onto the cobblestone street. A couple of passers by watched in disgust, giving Jay a wide berth.
“Disgusting, Jay. It's a wonder you've survived this long without me.” Blaine sounded both unimpressed and unsurprised, not even turning back to check on Jay.
Jay cleared her throat, getting rid of the last drops of the water before smiling sheepishly at Ren. “Thanks.”
He chuckled, shaking his head. Then he reached out and clapped his hand on her shoulder. “You're not allowed to die on me until we finish finding my parents.”
“I guess I did make a promise, eh?” She stood up straighter, trying to regain some dignity, which was hard to do considering that the whole front of her shirt was soaked. “We'll find them for you.”
“And I appreciate you doing this for someone you just met.”
“Jay’s spontaneous like that.” Blaine turned back, giving Jay a look of warning. It carried with it the reminder of all their conversations in which Blaine had warned Jay that she would get herself killed getting mixed up with other people. A bit hypocritical for someone whose job was to mind other people's business, though she didn't get involved in it to the extent that Jay did.
“You saved my life. I owe you a favour, that's all.” Jay shot Blaine a glare. She didn't mention the real reason she was doing it.
“I appreciate it nonetheless.” Ren let his hand fall off her shoulder and he looked around.
