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?”
“Hrm.
Ask Evrard.”
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.
ffxivswarm 