Once a Thief: Part 2
----- Evolution -----
Like clockwork, a petite figure appeared on the adjacent rooftop. She sat squatting, looking at the city as well, her masked face scanning the surrounding buildings. It was the first time in so many weeks the woman didn't have a bottle in her hand and she seemed steady on her feet, sober.
"Lucky she's not drunk," Tressa thought, then shook her head, reminding herself she didn't believe in luck. The sylvari believed in planning and knowing her objective, cold and calculating as it needed to be. She drew a dagger, wrapped something around the handle, then threw it at the woman, striking the rooftop merely inches away from her foot.
The woman quickly pivoted, ready for an attack. When there was none, she looked distantly for an opponent. Large yellow reflective eyes peered back at her. They dropped to where the dagger had landed, then back to the woman, prodding her to retrieve it.
Kimura tilted her head slightly at the silhouette, recognizing the golden eyes anywhere. She reached down, slowly pulling the dagger from the roof's shingles, inspected it. A small note was wrapped around the handle. She unraveled it, tucking the dagger in her belt. The note simply had the words, "Dead End" written upon it. Kimura looked up from the note, saw only smoke where Tressa had been. She huffed beneath her mask, then leaped off her perch.
---
The Dead End was a bar buried deep between buildings, through an unmarked and unremarkable door. The bar was typically filled with unscrupulous characters and various unsavory contractors. As they always did, Kimura felt the eyes of the bar's occupants upon entering, all weary of the Lionguard, most with bounties on their heads. A moment later, everyone returned to their beverage, and back to their problems.
Tressa occupied a dark corner of the already dark establishment. If not for a quick flash of her golden eyes, Kimura may not have even seen her. The sylvari prided herself at her stealthiness, and did so with good reason. One wouldn't see Tressa if the Black Rose didn't wish to be seen.
Kimura made her was to the sylvari, tossing the dagger on the table. "I think you dropped something."
Tressa smirked her dark lips and retrieved the dagger. "Such a dagger could have taken you out, if its owner wished for such a thing…"
"I've been… around; I've been… watching."
Kimura huffed. "I had a feeling."
Now it was Tressa who huffed. "I'm surprised you even noticed it, having been filling your little human body with more alcohol than it can even hold."
The woman narrowed her lime-green eyes, the only visible part of her face. "I was just… trying to… You know what? Never mind. You wouldn't understand."
Tressa inspected the brambles on her hand a moment before pulling her glove back on, in a futile attempt to ignore the insult. "True, I don't water myself with poison."
Kimura leaned back in her chair, folding her arms. "Yeah. Something like that. So what about you? Where have you even been?"
"Around. A few jobs; a few scores… A few marks," a slight shrug came from the Black Rose. "Business. This is why I summoned you, actually."
Kimura raised an eyebrow under her mask. "Oh?"
An object came from Tressa's waistband and tossed on the table. It was a long-stemmed black rose with something attached to it. Kimura leaned forward, analyzing the rose, then removed the small scroll from it. The missive explained a particular job: a certain woman of a noble house is to be assassinated, quietly, discretely. The bottom of the note simply said, "Dejarin," with a small rose symbol imprinted in wax beside it, Tressa's trademark signature.
Kimura's eyes were large. "I know this one. That… That Lord's son: Olgen was his name. He hired me to do some surveilance for him on this Dejarin woman. His intel turned out to be wrong… But it looks like someone wants her dead now?" She looked up from the missive, squinting at Tressa. "If that's the job, I'm not interested. Wet-work is your specialty anyway; not mine."
Tressa sighed, and did so with extreme exaggeration. "We are here due to this: the previous job you took. I hadn't realized it was the same woman you were sent for, until after I had already accepted the job."
"So you're what? Here to announce to me you're going to kill her? The intel was bad, I say that cancels the job in my book," Kimura reasoned.
"That may have canceled your deal in that circumstance. I weltch on this, the Black Rose will be hunted for those longing to turn her into mulch. I came because of your connection. Give me a good reason why I shouldn't kill this woman. Why were you sent to her and who wants her dead?"
Kimura leaned forward, resting her masked chin on her hand. "Word on the street is you are dead (along with Barrox and Plopp)," her words trailed off for a moment.
Tressa eyed a passerby scrupulously. After they passed, she focused back on Kimura.
"The man's name was Olgen. He was son of some Lord. A wine baron or something; quite a big name in the win circles, apparently. Anyway, he just paid me to spy on her and told me she was buying slaved, ran her business in less than savory ways, all around a bad person. To which I found no evidence of."
"This is the job you were caught on?"
"Yeah. She came out of her bath and… really didn't pose a threat."
"So she was nude and you let that sway your judgement?" Tressa grinned.
"No… No. Not everything about humans has to do with sex, you know!" Kimura had to keep herself from raising her voice. The sylvari did always know just how to get under her skin when she wanted to.
"Doesn't it?"
Kimura sighed. "Look. I took the job because I was told she was a foul woman, and did foul things, and it was only a surveillance job. Like I said, wet-work is your specialty. Only person I want dead is that creep Spurlock," she said, anger traveling on her words.
Tressa leaned forward, closer to Kimura's face than she may have wanted her to. "What if I said this may be the means to do that?" She grinned from the corner of her mouth, a bit of red bioluminescence finding its way to the surface.
Kimura didn't move, stared into the woman's large yellow daunting eyes. "I'm listening. I don't see how killing an innocent girl get us closer to Spurlock," she said, still not connecting the dots.
A sigh came from the sylvari. "Don't be daft. I'm not talking about executing her. Do try to follow along, pink-haired one!" She waited to see a frown beneath the mask. Satisfied she got it, she continued. "So, it's obvious this woman is a target, and not just in the 'path to Grenth's door' sort of way. She's being targeted by someone -maybe someones- with objectives. I haven't pieced it altogether yet, but I've heard rumors… A link between Spurlock and this woman." She slapped a label on the table that had been removed from its bottle.
Kimura hadn't noticed, she stared off at something, thinking intently. "You know, Olgen… I did track his men after I found out he lied to me. They had a caravan of wagons heading to Lion's Arch. He was with them. Barrels were in the wagons; must have been important if he was with them…"
Tressa tapped a thorn on the label.
"Olgen and his father are based here in the Reach… I wonder if-"
"Would you look at the damned paper?" Tressa broke the woman's annoying contemplation.
"What's this?" Kimura inspected the label.
"You mean you spent several nights delivering drinks to men that groped you not noticing any of their labels? Or, perhaps it was because you were being groped that you didn't notice." Tressa smiled deviously.
A small growl from beneath the woman's mask. "I'm sorry if having my ass grabbed every few seconds by drunken idiots kept me from noticing a bloody paper on a stupid wine bottle!" She took a moment more to look over the label. "You know… I don't even know why Olgen is so threatened by this Dejarin woman. I tried her wine the other day. It's not good. Like, at all."
Tressa giggled slightly. "I suppose that depends on where you drink it. In the Emporium, this is what you'd drink." She produced another label, slid it over to Kimura.
Kimura held both side-by-side. "They're… They're slightly different!" She looked up at Tressa with a (what could be seen through the mask) puzzled expression.
A thorned finger was brought to Tressa's nose- a gesture she'd seen humans do to indicate when someone 'got' something.
"Olgen. He's making fake Dejarin wine. And it was being served at the Empor- Son of a bitch!"
"Aaaaaand the seed finally sprouts," Tressa said, mockingly.
Kimura bit her lip beneath her mask. "The Dejarin woman," she said, glazing over the slight, "We should warn her!"
Tressa threw her brambles in the air. "That's your brilliant plan? To warn the Dejarin woman that I'm there to kill her? How will she take that? The estate undoubtedly has guards which will seize us on the spot. And if she recognizes you… Please tell me you kept your mask on? You wear that atrocious thing for a reason!"
"First of all, no one will see us! Second, you should call it off. If it was Olgen that hired you, you should definitely not go through with it! And… And third: of course I kept my mask on! I'm not new at this!" Kimura inadvertently slammed her fist onto the table out of frustration.
A few patrons paused their conversations, glanced toward the women. Both remained quiet until the attention had dissipated.
"To be candid, I did not speak directly with this employer. The missive was upon the flower stand when I ventured back to it." Tressa said, almost ignoring the woman's points.
"Either way, call it off. It's the right thing to do; especially if there's some connection to Spurlock. It's the human thing to do, and gods know you try to be as human as you can when you think no one is watching!"
Tressa raised what would be an eyebrow and slightly snarled, but she tried to remain as calm as possible in her retort. "That's… That's not… I blend in; it's how weeds like me survive."
"Well, weeds eventually get trampled on. For once, let's do something because it's the right thing to do. Barrox, Plopp, all of us are… were… thieves, scoundrels… society's misfits. Let's do something good for once. Besides, if we show up there with proof that she is being targeted, there is an opportunity for us!" Kimura implored.
"Oh? Oh! I see," Tressa leaned forward, her golden eyes gleaming. "So we rob this Dejarin woman?"
Kimura wiped her masked face and sighed. "No. I mean… Look, she has the money. We don't have Barrox's connections anymore, and we need to make new ones. We don't rob her; we help her… for a fee."
Tressa tapped her chin. "So you want us to become… mercenaries?"
"What I want is to do what we do best… and get paid for it! I'm tired of living off scraps. You might be alright out there on your own, but… well, I need this. I need something… someplace I belong," Kimura said, dropping her guard.
"And if we have assistance with Olgen, it should lead us straight to Spurlock again. And, that is something I would very much like to do: show him the skills which I possess."
Kimura nodded. "So, about the mark on her?"
Tressa leaned back, calculating the situation, as she always did. "This would almost assuredly put an end to the Black Rose…"
"You know… It doesn't have to be," Kimura offered. "Prove you're more than that; put a different purpose to the name."
"Kimura, I am a thorn; I cannot be more, for I prick those who would embrace me."
"Yeah, well even thorny stems have roses at the end. You just have to get through them to see it," Kimura winked.
Tressa's bioluminescent glow (usually controlled) began to glow a deep red. "I have certainly never been referred to as a beautiful rose. This… blackness," she placed her hand on her chest, "is not superficial; In the darkness I was born."
"Well then, prove you have a heart in there (like I know you do!) and join with me. I'd rather us do this together, and not fight due to opposite goals."
"You do know I am sylvari? By nature we don't even have hearts; just an echo of what it should be."
Kimura chuckled. "I didn't mean literally. I meant how you act."
Tressa furrowed her brow beneath her hood, stared at the table a minute. "I act as I am; nothing more or less."
The woman's fingers slid up to her mask and removed it revealing bright pink locks fading from white at their roots. Her complexion was fair and she had a small mouth and nose, that were slightly pink as well. Kimura's entire appearance was almost the exact opposite of the sylvari's black and reds. "I am glad to see you Tressa," she grinned.
Tressa stared intently at the woman's features. By all accounts, she was very beautiful; a fact that was lost on her. Her protests to 'fleshlings' as she called them, notwithstanding, Tressa did find the woman attractive, but would never admit it. Her glow increased in intensity at her thoughts of the human. She shook her head, tapped on the table. "Fine. We go there, you do your altruistic act. If the woman alerts her guards, I complete my contract."
Kimura rolled her lime-green eyes. "I really do think once she hears about all of this, and sees the proof, we could find ourselves with employment, perhaps. Or, at the very least, the contact of a noble which owes us."
"And then we rob her?" Tressa said, only half-jokingly.
"No! No we…" Kimura realized the woman had baited her.
Content, the Black Rose smiled, glanced around to survey the vicinity, then removed her hood, allowing her top fawn leaves to fan out. Their tips were painted with the red glow which circulated around the woman's body, and Kimura would be lying if she said she didn't find the woman's appearance exotic.
"Look at the two of us: actually agreeing on something, for a change," Tressa blinked large cat-like yellow eyes.
"What would Barrox and Plopp say? They'd be laughing right now, I think!" Kimura laughed.
Tressa stifled her own laugh. "Barrox would give us an earful, wouldn't he, 'Kiddo'? And he'd probably call me a 'plant-lady' a few times, I'm sure."
A waitress came to their table, offering a sample of their brewmaster's latest. Both women accepted the drink, inspecting the swirls of the alcohol.
"To the death of the Black Rose, then?" Tressa said cynically.
Kimura pondered for a moment, then winked. "Let's call it the 'evolution of the Black Rose'."
Tressa considered the statement. "Yes; I like that. Plants evolve just as fleshlings do. To evolution, then."
They clinked their respective glasses and drank. Tressa's nose wrinkled at the alcohol. Clearly it wasn't to her liking. Kimura bottomed hers, with pleasing sound at the end of the consumption.
"Agreeing with you; it's strange. I mean, good… but strange," Kimura said.
Tressa fingered the rim of her glass, absently. "Strange is… what I am."
"No arguments here," Kimura said, giggling. "But, this is coming from one with pink hair, so…"
"I… I actually have always thought… The pink hair: it suits you, Kimura." The words were followed by a pulse of red light from within Tressa's body.
Kimura blushed. There was an awkward silence that followed, both women uncertainly navigating new territory of friendship and acceptance. More than once Kimura caught Tressa's eyes wander, and more than once Tressa caught Kimura doing the same. Kimura finally cleared her throat, interrupting the moment, as a thought occurred to her.
"You know… There is one thing that bugs me. The explosion… I assume the Egg was a fake, and that's what caused it." Kimura paused, tapped her glass a few times. "Thing is, where did Spurlock get the stuff to cause that much of a blast? I mean, we're talkin' heavy duty stuff here. If it was just a normal explosive, that Egg would have been the size of a wagon. I went back to the explosion a few days after… Everything was gone. Ash and vaporized." She sighed. "If Plopp were here, he'd know."
Tressa tapped her chin. "Hmmm… Something small enough to go into the Egg, and as you said, only an asura would most likely know… It almost sounds like an asura device, as it were. Maybe a rival asura? Someone Plopp, perhaps had… (what's the expression?) a beef with?"
"I don't know. There wasn't any evidence to collect. I'd wager this was Spurlock alright, but he's too stupid to have come up with the Egg on his own; he had to have had help. We have to-"
"We, huh?" Tressa interrupted. "Sounds strange, doesn't it? But, strange is good, as you say?"
"Aye. It seems to work for us," Kimura stated thoughtfully.
A minute passed before Tressa finally looked seriously at the woman. "Kimura? I… I am sorry for what happened. I know it has taken… its toll on you."
Kimura turned the glass up, as if it still contained any liquor. "It… It has. And, thank you. And… I know it's been hard on you too (even if you won't say so)."
Tressa tried to looked shocked at the allegation, but the expression dies before she ever completed it. "Barrox and Plopp… and you… saw something within this… darkness," she again placed her hand on her chest. "I hadn't known what that actually meant, until it was taken."
"It's okay. To be honest, I'm actually glad to see this side of you. It just assures me that you are not the person that most think you are, and that you're much more than that." The woman's lime-eyes fluttered.
"Now don't you go getting emotional on me, you pink-haired fleshling," Tressa scoffed, jokingly. "Besides, 'evolution,' right?"
Kimura nodded. "Evolution."
[To be Continued...]
