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whiskeyworen · 2 years

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Tijja Lei - Writer’s Block

"Look at you..." She reached out and ran a nail down the side of his cheek. "How long has it been? And yet you still hold back."

She could see his reaction, no matter what he said next. Under her finger's caress, she could both feel and see the goosebumps raising on his skin. His raspy breathing as he tried in futility to resist her advances. Most of all, she could hear his heart hammering. So acute was her hearing that she could hear the panicked beating of his heart, of the blood swirling in his veins.

"I can give you that which you always desired..." She leaned in to brush her lips against his skin. With eyes closed, she could feel the heat of his skin against her lips as she crooned to him. Slowly, she slid her lips to his ear, and whispered softly. "...All you have to do is accept, and give me one thing in return."

She could feel his eyes on her, the unspoken question in them. What did she want? She chuckled softly into his ear, and leaned back a bit, taking in the sight of him with luminous, half-lidded eyes. With her hand gently cupping his cheek, she turned his head to the side, exposing the length of his neck, and then slowly pulled the collar of his tunic aside.

"All I want in return... is to feed...." She sighed with relish, a shiver traveling down her spine. The word had such need woven into it. It spoke of more than just the act of consuming, of devouring. As she lowered her lips -- her fangs -- to his neck, she felt his hand slowly, hesitantly raise to rest on the small of her back.

He did not try to pull her away.His hand merely touched her; the slightest encouragement, the gentlest indication. The weight of it on the base of her spine was an acceptance.

She smiled against the crook of his neck and shoulder... and then very carefully bit deeply. As the rush of hot blood filled her mouth, she heard his quiet gasp of surprise and -- . .

Tijja stopped writing and put the stylus down. Hrm. Did that sound okay? She ran through the lines a dozen times, trying to see it from a reader's viewpoint. She'd been working on the scene all day, scrapping idea after idea.

It was frustrating. She could absolutely see the scene in her head, how it would flow... but to put that into writing? To explain the nuances, the subtle details without getting all clinical about each little thing? So bloody hard to do.

She picked up a scrap of paper she'd scribbled on after last night's dream. All it said was 'what about the SMELL??' in messy scrawl. Tijja had been half awake when she wrote that. What did she mean by it?

Tijja put the paper down and sighed, reaching for her teacup. There was something missing from the scene, and without it, she just couldn't proceed further. To do so would be a mistake that would compound the rest of the story that came after. Doing rewrites at THAT point would be aggravating in the extreme.

Maybe I was thinking about the smell of the other person? Tijja mused, while inhaling the scent of her Canthan tea. The foreign, clean smell always helped her focus. I mean, in a strictly scientific, biological way, yes, everyone puts out pheromones, and there IS something to be said about enjoying the smell of a lover's skin. But how do I write that and not have it come out scientific, OR creepy? Because it IS creepy if you mention it aloud! How do I imply it's subconscious? Intuitive? Implied?

She sipped in silence with her eyes closed, focusing on the tea and nothing else. Clear the mind, clear the body. Calm the mind, and focus. Tijja recited her little mantras in her head. Over the years, they had helped her quite well when she became stressed out. This particular teahouse was down a quiet street, where traffic was light. Sitting on the veranda outside the shop was one of her favorite spots, and she found she gravitated here when she needed to relax. But today, she was still having trouble.

Perhaps it was just time to take a more determined break. Not just a short tea break.

Besides, she still needed to head down to the publisher and drop off the latest submission on behalf of "Lady Gray". At least THAT novel had been finished on time.

A beefy hand slapped down onto her table, rattling both the tea set and Tijja herself. She actually jumped in her seat, and had to readjust her glasses, blinking in surprise as someone sat down --uninvited-- at her table.

"Heya there, cute thing." A grubby-looking Asura with messy dreadlocks grinned at her as he leaned against the table on one elbow. "Now what's a pretty little specimen like yourself doing in Lion's Arch?"

Tijja just stared at him like he'd tossed a Risen flounder onto the table, trying not to recoil in her seat. One glance told her almost everything about him: the salt-crust in his hair and his hodge-podge attire of worn leather and jute. His coarse way of speaking even for an Asura; his sea-going accent was SO strong! The rusty cutlass at his side and the strangely well-maintained boot dagger in the ratty boots he wore.

"....You're a sailor. Aren't you." She didn't ask. Tijja stated, her voice flat and cold with disdain.

"Sure as the horizon is flat!" He grinned, puffing up his chest a bit and raising a floppy ear that she now noticed not only had a pair of rings in it, but what looked like an Alchemy-damned bite taken out of it. "I'm the Bosun's Mate on the great ship Phlunt's Folly. We're running the new trade route down to Elona!"

"How wonderful for you." Tijja tried not to let her lip curl, but her eyebrow twitched with an irritated tic. Why in the Eternal Alchemy did he have to sit at her table? Why did he choose her to bother?

He must have taken her derision for a compliment. "It sure is! Granted, the route is several weeks transit both ways! Don't exactly get to see many ladies down in Elona." He sniffed and shrugged. "Well, any Asura women anyway. Plenty of humans down there. Only Asura I ever see down there are those wishy-washy Priory types." He made a face, and made a dismissive gesture with his hand, wiggling labor-scarred fingers. "Short-ears, the lot of them."

Oh. So THAT's how it is. She felt her stomach turn a bit. He'd looked over and seen her sitting there, with her long, smooth, thick ears, and immediately locked in.

She'd never been able to pin down where it came from, but somewhere, somehow the longer an Asura's ears were, the more fleshy they were, the more attractive they were supposed to be. When she'd mentioned it to her various social contacts, they'd nodded and noted similar 'features' attractive to their various species.

Charr liked the musculature, the clearness of eyes, and the design of one's horns, among other things.

Norn liked those who could either match or outdo them in any number of challenges, and again the muscle thing for most of them. Drinking them under the table was quite common.

Sylvari didn't really seem to have specific things they liked, but some admitted to liking one's bark pattern, or the color or shape of their leaves, and other such things.

Humans... HUMANS. They had too many to count. Everything from size, to shape, to color of hair, to length of leg, to how much leg or chest was exposed -- with either gender. They perhaps, had the most varied interests, next to the Sylvari!

Damn the Alchemy for giving me these ears! she cursed the Universe, trying to resist the urge to reach up and tug on them. A movement like that would absolutely be misinterpreted; that would just spur this smelly sailor on!

As if to rub salt in the wound, her 'companion' leered at her, indicating her ears with a sharp-nailed, calloused, rope-burned finger. "...but then I get back here, and the first thing I see is this cute little knockout with the longest ears I've seen in years! And she's sitting alone, so, I decided 'Hey Brugg, why don't you go over and introduce yourself? You can keep her 'company'!" He made a little 'ta-da' gesture. "...and so here I am! Brugg! A pleasure to meet ya, sweetie!"

Tijja just stared at him coldly for several awkward seconds. Without breaking eye contact, she turned off her dataslate and returned the stylus to its side. Then she finished her tea with one long, loud, uncomfortable sluurrp. Finally, she stood up and started to walk away, leaving a handful of coin for her tea.

This wasn't part of Brugg's plan, apparently. Perhaps she was supposed to swoon over the muscular, tough sailor with his tales of foreign lands. Maybe let him touch her ears and sigh adoringly over the fact he'd chosen her to grace with his presence?

In any case, his smile faltered as she stepped away from the table. "Hey, wait! I just--"

He managed to make a single step before nearly falling on his face. Had he managed to catch himself on the table or the chair or something? He glanced down and... paused.

A pair of skeletal hands, reaching up out of a swirling green-black portal had clasped onto his boot and pants, firmly holding him in place. "What?.."

His eyes drifted slowly from the grasping bones, back to her, where she had paused midstep to show him the black-green glow coming from the tip of a small scepter in her hand, and for the first time recognized the icy cold stare she was giving him.

With her empty hand, she adjusted her glasses, the reflected glare of the sunlight hiding her own glare. "....Go find someone else to 'play' with. I'm not interested."

Wide-eyed, he nodded tightly, a shiver working down his spine. She offered him a slow, curt nod, and released him from the bones, before walking away at a swift pace.

It was about when she was a block away and very much out of sight of the unwanted suitor, she let her frustration out, grinding her teeth and growling. "Why do people like that always have to ruin my day?!"

Tijja stood there seething for a good minute, before taking a deep breath. Closing her eyes, exhaling, she straightened her glasses and adjusted her hair where it had fallen out of position. She had to keep her composure. It would not do to walk in to the publisher's with a rage face on.

. . A little while later, she walked into Kippo and Monroe's publishing house, up to the front desk. She waited patiently until the secretary came back from dealing with some issue in the back.

"Ah, Miss Tijja. Great to see you." The secretary smiled, leaning on the counter top. "Are you here to deliver Lady Gray's new manuscript?"

Tijja nodded and withdrew a fairly large sheaf of pages from her satchel. It wasn't the story she'd been working on when so rudely interrupted; this one was a completed work, ready for publishing. As Lady Gray's 'Editor', she knew she didn't need to submit it for editing. Which shortened the line of people that needed to be paid by one, and granted her a level of anonymity. All she had to do... was pretend she was her own editor.

"Here you go. She called it 'Here we Stand'. Fully edited by me, and ready to go." Tijja kept her face a tired, neutral, long-suffering expression, though secretly she did want to smile. It was always great handing in a new story for print. But she didn't like the attention that would be directed at her if people knew SHE wrote them.

Years ago, when she first started writing romantic fiction, she'd taken time to look at what was on the market. Most of it was typical; clinical Asura 'romance'... Courtly human encounters.... some rather salacious but entertaining stories based off Sylvari... things of that sort.

And then she'd happened upon the most unlikely of names. Snargle Goldclaw. A Charr writer who, if the term could be applied, was extremely...progressive. Possibly so progressive he'd left everyone in the dust.

Then again, no one else was writing about making love to a Branded, or someone having a passionate tryst with a Dredge. Or other such things. But this Snargle dared to dream.

It's just a shame that the way he wrote offended every single cell in Tijja's body. And when she learned how he presented himself in public, her repellance was complete. She deeply admired how progressive he was, as it opened new writing options, new pairings for her own works, but... By the Alchemy!

To the few friends she had, she'd made the observation: "Snargle's worst enemy isn't the audience who doesn't like his material, or his writing (though that does factor into things). It's that he proudly announces he wrote these things. He uses no pseudonym, so there is no buffer between him and everyone else. If he flubs up, offends someone, or embarasses someone, they know who he is. He just can't hide. But if you use a fake name, and you mess up, all you have to do is let that persona fade away, and come back as someone new. It gives you plausible deniability. Of course, there's factors to consider..."

So when she started to write, Tijja came up with the perfect plan. When it came to publishing, she would be her own editor, and the writer, per-say, would be Lady Gray.

Lady Gray, the reclusive, some say hermetic, writer, who makes her home in the upper reaches of Divinity's Reach, in a hard to-access manor on the protective city-wall.

The Lady Gray who no one really knew where she came from, but never questioned, since the unspoken web between nobles dare not be exposed.

The truth was, the manor was empty; Tijja merely used it as a front. It was fully furnished, and well kept by golems imported from Rata Sum. And behind a carefully concealled door in one of the rooms, there was a small Asura gate to her REAL apartment back in Rata Sum.

She'd met Snargle once or twice since then, at author gatherings in the publisher's offices. Tijja, of course, represented Lady Gray, since the hermit refused to come out. As such, Tijja had to be her proxy, which suited her fine.

Except when she ran into Snargle.

Who then proceeded to make a comment about her ears as crude and lewd as it was well-spoken and erudite, and then tried to finagle a 'personal meeting' between either herself and him, or Lady Gray and him.

To which she had flatly declined.

And repeated her decline every time he asked.

It got to the point she made it a goal to never get within eyeshot of him.

When she learned that Bangar Ruinbringer, Imperator of the Blood Legion-turn-Frost Legion had essentially put a bounty out on Snargle's head, with a decree that all his novels be burned the moment they are found....she wasn't really surprised. The only surprise was that Snargle had survived and not run into a single assassin. Possibly because he'd been surrounded by Pact at the time, and the protection of its Commanders.

"Ah, much obliged, much obliged." The secretary smiled, taking the manuscript and thumbing through it a little before putting it aside. "I'm afraid print might be a little ways off though; the director is off on a business junket and can't put his personal seal on it. We're hoping to get a communication line to him so he can at least give a verbal stamp, so we can move along with projects. But it's been nearly two weeks."

That surprised Tijja. "A business junket? Where to? Elona?"

"No. It's the most fascinating thing though!" The secretary leaned in conspiratorially, talking behind their hand. "It's to Cantha."

"Cantha?... you're serious?" Tijja's breath froze in her chest. She'd always loved Canthan tea, from the limited grown-in-Tyria breeds, and the food at the family-owned restaurants in the Canthan quarter of Divinity's Reach. To go to Cantha... "What's his plan there?"

"New market! We have NO idea what Canthan literature is like after what, two hundred years? And if we can get some of our books into circulation over there, imagine the gold that will pour in! Not to mention the fresh writing material to be found over there. That's why Kippo took a bunch of the authors with him as part of the junket. I'm... honestly surprised the Lady Gray and you are not there with them?" They looked at her with open puzzlement. "Did she not get the letter invitation? I mean, everyone got one. Even Snargle."

Tijja's heart and stomach suddenly dropped into a pit of jagged ice shards.

"Letter invitation? No, I -- I mean, I don't believe Lady Gray recieved such a letter. But I will go check on her behalf; perhaps it was just late in arriving?" She offered a weak smile. It barely covered the screaming rage she had inside at that moment. SNARGLE?! Everyone including SNARGLE got an invitation and I didn't?! He's in Cantha RIGHT NOW, and I'm standing here smiling like a damned bookah!

"Well, if you find it, maybe you can get the Lady a berth on one of the merchant ships heading to Cantha now. I hear the border for trade has really opened up, and everyone and their canine is trying to get their foot in the door."

"I'll...take that under advisement, thank you." She replied dully, and turned away, walking out the door. As the thoughts whirled in her mind, her walk became a jog, and then a full-out run as she headed for the Gate to Divinity's Reach. She had to check.

****

Tijja's heart stopped the moment she spotted it, and the sense of dread she'd had since talking to the clerk racked up another notch. It must have fallen out of the mailbox outside the gate of Lady Gray's estate, the last time she'd gotten mail. Which had been nearly three weeks prior. It sat, hidden in a bordering, decorative bush alongside the stone of the property wall, hidden from sight and weather.

She stood there for a moment, staring at it with a lump in her throat and a cold hand grasping her heart. She'd missed out on an opportunity to go to Cantha because...because she hadn't paid attention when she got the mail.

As much as she wanted to start screaming and kicking things right there and then...that would not do well for her own public image, nor that of her 'client'. Instead, she slowly and carefully picked up the letter, headed inside, and carefully shut the heavy oak doors behind her, locking them.

Once inside, and fully secured in her own -- her client's -- home, she opened the letter, and quickly read it. Yes... it was an invite to join the Cantha trip. Tijja took a deep, lung-filling breath... and proceeded to violently crumple the paper in her hands. She crushed it so tightly that her nails punched through it in half a dozen places. A sound began to come from her; quiet at first, but with growing volume. She began to keen, a high pitched tone that wasn't quite a scream, wasn't a growl, wasn't a whine.

As her rage began to vent itself through that sound, Tijja stomped her foot down hard on the carpetted floor. Then again. And again. Each time with more violence, more force put into it until she was pumping her arms with each enraged stomp, punctuated by her tea-kettle shrill.

A few minutes of this, and not only was she out of breath and panting, and her vision was full of stars, but her immediate rage had subsided, replaced by only the more managable irritation she normally felt. It was, however, sharpened by a cold shard of self-directed anger that twisted in her heart. The crumpled paper eventually fell loose from her grasp to bounce across the carpet. Once again, she closed her eyes, and took a deep breath, taking her glasses off and rubbing the bridge of her nose to ease the growing headache she had. "It's okay... it's okay..." she told herself, taking careful, slow breaths to calm down. "So they're all in Cantha, and you're stuck here. So what? You can find your way to Cantha, can't you?"

Tijja began to pace in the foyer, thinking deeply. After a minute, she paused in her journey.

"I could wait for them to come back?" She said it brightly, as if someone had suggested it to her. Her expression dropped; "That would be far too late. For all I know they're on a six month trip."

Back and forth. Back and forth.

Perky. "I could book a spot on a freighter headed to Cantha!" That one had a bit of merit... she tipped her head, one long ear half-raised as she mulled it over. "...Those freighters might take weeks to get there. And if I remember right, most are headed to Elona. Better trade -- for now anyway."

Thump thump thump. More carpet worn by her pacing. As she pondered, she started tracing one of the fractal designs with her path, entertaining herself until something popped into her mind.

Just as she was placing a foot on the central design pattern that vaguely resembled the Rata Sum city-cube, the centerpiece of the elaborate design, something about the freighters clicked in her mind, like a gear snapping into position.

"I could book a cabin...not on a freighter ship, but a freighter airship." She breathed, eyes widening.

That's right. Trade with Cantha was opened now, but it'd take weeks for the larger, more cumbersome sea freighters to make the journey. A journey fraught with peril, in the form of bad weather, lost Risen fleets that simply didn't care that Zhaitan was gone, and whatever nightmares the depths of the Endless Ocean even spawned. By comparison, airships would be much faster, and would be able to at least fly over or dodge more than half of those obstacles.

"An airship. I need to bribe my way onto an airship..." Yes, that was it. That was the way. That was her key to Cantha. She had to move fast though; Tijja had utterly no idea when the next airship left for Cantha. With that in mind, she scrambled for her chambers, to make preparations.

****

Tijja looked up in barely concealed awe as she stepped into the Aerodrome. The tremendous structure, from the outside resembled (at least from the front) a stingray or manta ray. Inside though, it was frankly amazing. Spread throughout the miles long and deep structure, hanging from docking clamps, scores of airships from the old Pact fleet were being refurbished, repaired, or disassembled. Others were clearly smaller, civilian owned 'yacht' airships, and a few had logos she recognized as the Priory, the Consortium, and of course, the Black Lion Company. Really hard to miss that lion's head logo.

None of the ones inside the building appearred to be close to launch, and as she asked around, she discovered that airships not requiring maintenance were docked on external docks. When a ship was finished inside, it was moved outside, and to spare the view in Lion's Arch, they had built the docks on the far side of the structure.

"So there's airships just... attached to the building out there?" She asked a charr engineer who was tightening bolts on a detached engine unit.

"Yup. You've seen the buildings in LA, right?" She nodded, and he continued. "If you've ever noticed those staggered wood beams sticking out of the buildings, it's kinda like that. O'course, those ones were for footing while those buildings were being put up. The docks are just really big metal gangplanks sticking out of the Aerodrome. Big enough to run a couple of fully loaded transport carts in both directions. Anyway, there's a couple of dozen docks out there."

"Do you know if any of those ships have cabins I could rent, and are headed to Cantha?" She asked hopefully.

"Nah, I wouldn't know, little lady." He laughed and banged the side of the engine unit with his wrench before signalling a coworker above with a wave of his hand. As the unit started to rise, lifted by the cables lashed around it, he glanced at her. "I mean, there's probably some, but I'm just a greasepaw. I fix'm up, but by the Flames do I know where they go to."

"Alright... Thanks anyway." She replied, and he waved her off, as the next disassembled component was lowered for his inspection.

****

There has to be at least one airship heading to Cantha. It can't ALL be sea-freighters. Tijja thought to herself as she wandered the various docks. She'd started at the first and was working her way dock by dock, talking to quartermasters, sailors, anyone who looked like they knew where 'that boat' might be going. And she was starting to panic.

"Is this seriously all that's left?" She wondered with rising fear, looking from one ship to another. A number of airships had the symbol of the Consortium on them, but she learned rapidly from talking to crew on the docks that you did not want to ride in a Consortium ship. If she did, she'd end up bankrupt and stranded at the end of her journey, and she wouldn't end up where she wanted to be.

The Pact ships still in dock came in two flavors; Vigil ships that were acting as patrol ships around Lion's Arch, and down in Elona in places 'freed' from Palawa Joko.... and Priory ships, which seemed to be dedicated to cultural uplift missions and archeological studies -- guarded by the previously mentioned Vigil ships.

There were no Order of Whisper ships -- so far as she could tell. From her own reading about that secretive order, they probably had spies on all the other ships. They didn't need ships of their own when everyone else did the hard work for them.

A few were nobleman's yacht vessels, panelled in ivory white plate and golden filigree, or whatever fancied the owner. She doubted she could get on one of those ships easily. It'd take too much time to ingratiate herself to the host through garden parties in Divinity's Reach for her to get to Cantha in time. That, and she hated dealing with smug human nobles.

She was at her wit's end when she spotted one more ship on the end of a long dock, almost hidden from view. It was at the absolute furthest airdock on the backside of the building. There was a steady flow of golem-lead carts of materials heading towards it, marked with different company icons. The ship itself had no company marking she could see, but the presence of Lionguard soldiery guarding the dock at least told her they'd passed muster for trade. It looked to be a fairly large ship too, which might mean more room.

She glanced up at the number of the dock, memorizing it. "Dock 42..."

Tijja followed the supply train to the ship, at first walking, and then jogging, and finally running full out. She skidded to a halt before a hardlight barrier at the portal to the ship, and the attendant who stood there, checking off items on a clipboard as golems and carts trundled through into what was clearly the bay of the ship.

"...Can I help you?" The man asked, tone flat. He didn't so much as raise an eyebrow at her, though he did stare, even as he checked more items off the list without looking. "This is a private dock."

"I... need transportation..." Tijja gasped out, catching her breath. She hadn't run like that in ages. I need more exercise. She looked up at the attendant, and offered a shakey smile, pushing her glasses back up her nose. "I...need to go.... to Cantha... Is this ship (whew) heading there, by chance?"

"I do not believe I am authorized to disclose our destination." The man said woodenly, tilting his head. "If you wish, I can contact my employer and see if they can help you."

"Please!" Tijja nodded. "Anything!"

The man gave a short but slow nod, and then stepped over to some kind of device next to the man-door of the bay, tapping a key on it. An armored eyelid snapped open, and a blue, spherical golem eye floated out a few inches, before turning to face the man. He muttered a few words, too low for Tijja to hear, and a waveform pattern appearred on the golem eye. She could hear a reciprocal sound, but it was far too quiet to hear, especially next to the stomping golems and the sounds of the cart wheels rolling on the metal plate right next to her.

She could tell they were talking about her though, as the man's gaze hardly wavered from her, and the mechanical eye swivelled to examine her at least twice.

After a few more short exchanges, the man nodded, a gesture returned by the eye before it sank back into the wall and the lid snapped shut over it. He turned to her, the same blank expression on his face. "You will be attended to shortly. Please wait here. I need to return to my duties."

Then he was back to comparing his clipboard to the incoming freight, without a single additional word to her.

Such a strange fellow. Tijja thought, perplexed. But that was hardly her concern, and she decided to make herself comfortable.

****

Some twenty minutes later, just as the supply train was ending and the loader golems were returning to the docks, the human-sized door opened, and a middle-aged human stepped out, heavy steel boots clanking on the dock. He patted the attendant on the shoulder and indicated with a tip of his head that they should go inside, before turning towards Tijja.

She'd been sitting on a pile of rope that had been left to the side, and she stood up with as much decorum as she could. She was still fairly embarrassed by panicked way she'd rushed up to the ship, so Tijja straightened her spine and put on her best neutral face. "Are you the Captain?"

The man raised his eyebrow a little, making the scar that crossed over that eye wiggle a little. His eye seemed unaffected by the wound, she could see, but he too, wore glasses. "In a manner of speaking. We don't have an actual captain, but for all intents and purposes, I can serve the role when I need to. And you are?..."

Tijja gave him a slight bow, fist to her heart. "My name is Tijja Lei. I am the editor and agent for Lady Gray, and on her behalf I had hoped to rent a berth on your ship if you are headed towards..." She stumbled a bit. Because of the newness of the destination, she felt that by asking she was asking the impossible. "...towards Cantha."

"Cantha?"

"My employer is willing to pay whatever it takes to get there as quickly as is reasonably appropriate." Tijja reached to her belt and pulled a small satchel off.

"Miss, this is a privately-held ship." He informed her politely. "We don't take passengers. Our ship is not a cruise liner."

She didn't know what a 'cruise liner' was, but she doubled-down. "I don't need much space, or even a cabin. I'll even take a hammock down by the engines if that's all there is. But I need to get to Cantha. And so far as I can tell, the only ships headed to Cantha are ocean freighters, and they'll take weeks to get there. Maybe months."

"So you thought you'd hitch a ride on a random airship and hope it was going that direction?" He crossed his arms, bemused. "What if I told you it was one-thousand gold for the trip? Would your employer commit to that?"

Her mouth dried up. That was a huge chunk of change. She could afford it... but she'd definitely need her next book to sell like nothing else. When the average peasant might see fifteen silver a YEAR, the concept of a thousand gold was insane. "If... if that is the price, then I'm sure she would agree. She... wants me in Cantha as soon as possible."

The man blinked in mild surprise, and considered her. In a softer tone he asked "What is it your employer wants you to DO when you get to Cantha, if I may ask?"

"My mission is two-fold. I need to find my publisher there, an Asura named Kippo and... deal business with him." More like grab him by those upturned lapels and throttle him. She grumbled to herself. "Then I am to absorb as much of modern Canthan culture as I can to bring back to the Lady Gray for her next novel. I'm not exactly going there for 'pleasure'."

He hmmed a little, looking away to see the last of the dock golems pass out of the ship through the hull portal, and the energy barrier there. As it passed through, its eye flashed three times, letting him know its memory circuit had been blanked so it wouldn't have records of what it saw inside.

"So your client and employer is a novelist of some kind, and you're on an info mission for them, but also need to locate your publisher."

"That's the jist of it."

"And you think my ship is headed to Cantha."

"I'm hoping it. The only ships headed that direction are Pact ships and... they won't let me on. I'm not Pact."

"Well, yes, I doubt a military ship would want a civilian hanging around." He shifted slightly, scratching his chin. "....If we let you on, there are conditions."

"Name them." Tijja stepped forward. She was ready for anything.

"First is you would be required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement. Anything you see inside this ship is not to be repeated or duplicated in any way. And that goes for your client's story writing."

He counted off on his fingers. "Second is that while onboard, you will only have limited access to the ship's interior. Don't think of trying to wander into restricted areas. We have some very good defenses and I'd hate to see a 'guest' get injured."

"Okay....Deal."

The man nodded, and then smirked a bit. "Third is that yes, we are headed to Cantha...after we unload this cargo in Amnoon. We've taken a commission from the Priory to drop off relief supplies. That takes priority, and then we'll head for Cantha."

"Understood. I agree, on behalf of the Lady Gray, to all terms."

Almost by magic, he pulled out a dataslate, one with a smaller square screen inset in the corner of the larger one. "If you'll read through this then, please, and press your thumb against the smaller square when you're done?"

Tijja took the slate and scrolled through the asuran script, skimming over the legalese and just making sure she wasn't signing her property away. Damn, they really went overboard with this. I've never seen a contract user-agreement this complex. Not even on a golem! The Council would be absolutely jealous of this! When she was satisfied, she jammed the flat of her thumb against the smaller screen.

To her amusement, it recorded a copy of her thumbprint, and then the device began printing off a paper copy of the agreement. Taking the device from her, the man waited until it was done, tore off the paper and showed her a copy of her thumbprint on it, and then gave it to her. "There. You are now contracted for the trip to Cantha. Travel fee will be fifty gold; that's simply for the quarters you'll be assigned, travel to Cantha, and food. Return is up to you; if you wish to return to this ship, no additional fee will be incurred, as round-trip will be open. But if you wish to stay past our return date, you may seek your own transport, or we will... work something out for you. Our copy of this contract will remain in our data-files, while yours is that paper copy. We will leave tomorrow morning, so if you need to gather your things, you have a little time."

"Thank you, sir. Both myself and the Lady Gray appreciate it."

"Please, call me Cyrus."

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