Talismans & Tailors: A Cozy Fantasy (Tales From Neomia Book 1) by S.R. Meadows

Author:S.R. Meadows [Meadows, S.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Protheka Publishing
Published: 2023-05-11T16:00:00+00:00

16

ALVA

Siora and I walk beside Ghirzan, the grit and grime of Low Town either crunching or squishing under my feet depending on where I step. It's a far cry from the polished streets of High Town, but I’ll have to get used to it. The buildings here are cramped and leaning, and the steam-powered machines that power them belch black smoke into the air. The night is still so dark, even with the lights coming from the buildings, the smoke is hard to see.

Ghirzan ducks under one of the long tubes and I see an opportunity for conversation. Let’s hope he takes the bait.

“What are all these tubes that run along the buildings like veins? Do they pass the oil your people use to power the lights?”

He chuckles and shakes his head. “No. They send messages. There’s different ports for the type of message. You tell it where the message needs to go.” He points to a section of wall where ten of the tubes converge. “That’s one of the spots where I get my jobs. If someone wants to hire someone like me, they can send their message to that drop box. There’s a few others like it around the city for odd jobs.”

“Like tailoring?” I glance up at him. Maybe if we talk about his job, he’ll open up more.

He shrugs. “No. Not exactly.”

I wait but he doesn’t share any more. “Tell me more.” I keep my voice light to sound genuinely interested, and I am. If I’m going to live here, I want to know more about it, but the hurt of his disinterest in me threatens to cut through.

He scoffs, glancing around at the soot-covered buildings. “Why? You wouldn't last a day here. You belong in High Town, with all the fancy folks.”

Siora rolls her eyes but remains silent, allowing me to continue my attempts to connect with Ghirzan.

“Well, I'd like to understand you better.” The hurt of his disinterest grows, but the annoyance of his open rudeness is poised to outshine it. Why does this idiot not understand there’s no getting around this? “We're soulbound now, whether we like it or not.”

Ghirzan sighs. “Fine. Rham and I only get those jobs directly. Once we get a shop, we’ll be able to get orders sent to us.”

“Is there a district for merchants?”

He rolls his eyes again. “We don’t have districts. Districts cost money that we don’t have. People build when they can scrape enough materials together, and the building is whatever the owner says it is.”

The rest of the way isn’t much better, but when we reach the border of our two worlds, Ghirzan stops on his side. There are several bridges that span the Myssar — a calm manmade river — but none quite as large as this one. On the other side, the Sentinels of Light stand like unmoving statues, only the wind rustling their feathers giving them away as real.

“Will you still be here in a couple hours?” I ask. “Or should I find you back at your tent?”

Ghirzan turns around and walks away.

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