Stories/NightOverGem1

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Night Over Gem, Part 1
by CrownedSun

Prologue – “Of An Orphan’s Life in Gem”

Gem was never a safe place for orphans. Usually, one would find oneself sold off into slavery. They’d mostly end up working for some of the wealthier merchants, learning some craft, their life not much worse than anyone else’s. The especially unlucky ones would end up working in the Tyrant’s gem mines, or even in the Gladiatorial Pits if they seemed old enough and looked like they’d provide good sport.

The luckier orphans ended up with one of the small gangs that roamed some of the forgotten tunnels of the city. That was the fate of Dewdrop, born into one of the larger and more prosperous gangs. A product of rape, her mother had been one of the older girls of the gang who’d had the misfortune to attract the wandering eye of a guardsman when she was alone. Nine months later, the girl had died in childbirth and a blue-eyed little girl had come into the world.

She was named Dewdrop because she was said to be as rare and precious as a bead of water in the South, and the entire gang chipped in to raise her. Dewdrop grew up with many mothers, and only slightly fewer fathers, and was well loved. That was about all any child in Gem could hope to ask for, especially an orphan. The young child grew up into an adorable young girl, and was quickly put to work at the child’s trade

Dewdrop took to pick pocketing quickly, and quickly excelled at it. Very rarely was she noticed, and when she was very few expected this cute and attractive young lady of being guilty of anything. In the few cases that she was spotted, she proved to be quite fleet of foot and adept at hiding.

Well beloved by her fellows, she continued to grow – changing from an adorable young girl, to a beautiful young woman. Some of the boys in the gang started to notice her and she’d blush at their attention. Yet as shy and innocent as she was when she was around her family, she was growing into the thieves trade as well. She was picking locks now instead of pockets, stealing from the wealthy and annoying for the benefit of her family and the elders of the gang. Those same elders started to notice her as well, and she found herself doing even more exciting things. She learned how to use a knife, and even a small sword. She assisted in cons, and even ran a few of her own.

It was an open secret in Gem that the gang that Dewdrop belonged to was a front for a local thieves organization named the Five-Sided Star. Though the thieves themselves thought of it more as a charitable gesture and a training field for young members of their group. Most of the leaders of the Star, after all, were former orphans themselves and had been members of the gang themselves once. Not every member of the gang went on to become a member of the Five-Sided Star, but most of them would lend a little hand to their “elders” when it came time to do so.

This story, then, is the tale of how Dewdrop joined the Five-Sided Star.

Chapter One – “Reaching for Stars”

It had been a hard couple of weeks during the week of Resplendent Air, with trade slowing down due to the impending rumors of ill fortune between Gem and Paragon. The Orphans in Dewdrop’s gang were taking this worse than the others, especially the younger children. Food was hard to get even among those with money, and the gang was finding it harder to steal fruit or bread when there was less of it to go around. The merchants watched what little there was more carefully, after all.

Thus when Dewdrop came into the small common room where most of the orphans gathered, hefting a large and full seeming sack, the other Orphans looked up and smiles came to their faces. Those smiles turned to open praise and blessings to the Gods when the older girl opened up the sack and began holding out bread to the gathered children.

“That’s quite a haul,” commented Grayskies, one of the older boys in the room, of an age with Dewdrop. He was tall, somewhat muscular and handsome. No few of the other girls had eyes on him, but he was smitten by Dewdrop and very rarely gave anyone else much of his attention.

Dewdrop found that attention rather embarrassing however, and just blushed at Grayskies’ comment. “It really wasn’t that impressive,” she noted, voice soft. “I just snuck past the guards at the Guilds’ storage cave and filled up the sack.”

Grayskies couldn’t help but smile at this, “Maybe, Dew, though I’d wager many here would disagree on that not being impressive. I’d certainly would, and that’s not even considering the fact that you managed to get out again.” He chuckled a bit, smiling larger, and added, “With the sack, even!”

Dewdrop just blushed all the more, fidgeting a bit with her arms. “I hid the sack behind one of the guards,” she offered by way of explanation. “He wasn’t really paying a lot of attention…”

“I guess,” Grayskies noted, still grinning a bit, but he let the matter drop.

“Uhm,” Dewdrop asked, looking down a bit. “Do you know where Mountain Hollow is? I promised I’d talk to him later,” she noted, shuffling her feet a bit.

The smile disappeared off Grayskies’ face, and it took him a few minutes to answer. “I think he’s in the back,” he finally offered. “What you want to see him for anyway?”

“What’s wrong with Mountain Hollow?”

“Nothing, you know, but you spend a lot of time with him and the rest of us miss you…”

“Oh. I’m sorry…”

She frowned, her face twisting as she genuinely felt a bit of shame that she was ignoring her friends. The people she’d grown up with, lived with, trusted more than anything. Maybe she had been spending a lot of time with Mountain Hollow, but he was so interesting and exciting. He always had interesting challenges for her, too.

“No, it’s okay. Just, don’t be a stranger, eh?”

“Of course not! We should get together soon, but I’ve really got to go talk to Mountain Hollow now.”

She darted off, and Grayskies just watched her go, kicking himself for not telling her. He was always so much more courageous when she wasn’t around.

---

“Mountain Hollow?” she called out, softly? “Are you back here? I finished the job.”

The back room had been dark, lit only by a single flickering candle. It served more to distract the eye from adjusting entirely to the shadows of the room than to shed any light. Dewdrop was able to make out shapes in the darkness, and her memory served to conjure up that which was obscured by the shadows. She could thus make out the shape of the desk, partially lit by the candle, and could dimly sense the high-backed chair behind it as well as the bookshelf. The largest armoire was mostly a blur in the darkness, but she recognized it.

She didn’t see Mountain Hollow, however, but she strongly suspected that he was here. Not just because of what Greyskies had told her either, but deep down in her gut. “Don’t play around,” she warned the darkness. “I know you’re here.”

“Prove it,” came the soft reply, teasing.

She frowned as the master thief called her bluff, quickly glancing around once again but not making any more progress. The eyes could prove to be distracting, however – Mountain Hollow had taught her that enough times. So she closed them, and relied on her ears and the memory of his few words.

She quickly darted to her right, between the table and the armoire, darting out with her hands to try to tag the fleet form in the shadows. She felt the soft touch of silk under her hand, and then her keen ears picked up the feet silently padding away.

With a smile, she twirled to follow the retreating form and swept low to the ground with her right leg. She felt the blow connect, and heard the sound of her mentor tumbling down to the ground. Everything was silent in the darkness for a few long moments.

“You never cease to amaze me,” Mountain Hollow finally said, chuckling lightly from his crumpled position on the floor, his voice tinged with amusement and wounded pride. “I think I’ll let you light the lantern.”

Dewdrop giggled a bit, a hand shooting up to cover her mouth, and moved over toward the desk to do as he’d asked. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” she asked cautiously, as she heard the sound of her mentor climbing back to his feet. Within moments she’d found the lantern, refilled it’s oil supply, and lit it – filling the room with a much more comfortable amount of light.

“Only my pride,” he admitted, looking over at her and rubbing his elbow where he’d landed. “I didn’t tell you to trip me, though,” he noted, grinning.

“You didn’t tell me not to either,” she smirked back.

“True,” he laughed back. “Moving on. You were saying, as you came in? You retrieved the item I requested from the Guild vault?”

“Yes,” she noted, softly, digging into her heavy jacket and finding the hidden pocket where she’d stowed it away. “Oh, I stole some food too. The Guild had a lot of surplus, and everyone has been so hungry lately. I’ve already handed it out.”

“How much did you take?” he asked idly, watching her idly as she removed the pendent from its hidden cache. Unlike some others she could name, she never really blushed under his gaze – Mountain Hollow was always professional, never looked at her in an inappropriate way, never made her feel uncomfortable. He wasn’t interested in women, at least not that way. They were colleagues, and that’s all.

“Just a large sack filled with bread,” she answered, taking out the silver pendent. It was about as large as her fist, and in the middle was set a large emerald that sparkled in the lamplight. Ancient runes in a language she didn’t understand lined the rim. “I couldn’t carry anymore without dragging it, so I just got the one small sack.”

Mountain Hollow looked away from the Pendent at that, his eyes looking into hers as if to check if she was joking, forcing her to gaze down at her shoes. She could feel the surprise, admiration – even envy, perhaps – that was hidden in those eyes.

“Good lord, Dewdrop. Do you have any idea how dangerous that could have been?” He was laughing, though, which was the only thing that stopped her from falling to her knees and begging forgiveness. “If they had captured you, and found this pendent…”

She just shrugged a bit, not comfortable with this subject. “They’re just guards,” she noted, her voice showing how little impressed she was by them. “They might as well be blind; hell, I know blind monks that are more observant than the guards the Guild hires to look over their valuables.”

“Your good, child,” he noted, taking the pendent up in his hands and putting it away in his pocket. “However, you're not that good. You have to be careful.”

“Yeah, I got back didn’t I? I got you your pendent. That was the mission, as I recall. So??”

She looked at him with her large blue eyes, waiting to hear what his answer was going to be to the question she couldn’t bring herself to actually voice.

“I still don’t think your ready,” he admitted, raising a hand to quiet the protest that was on its way. “However, you have completed every test I can place before you – with little difficulty. Thus, in the name of our ancient traditions, I have little choice but to name you a member of the Five-Sided Star.”

Dewdrop just looked at him for a bit; she’d wanted to hear that for a long while, but she didn’t like the way he’d said it.

He had anticipated her question, though, and answered it before she bothered to voice it. “You are good, dear, don’t misunderstand me,” he began, voice almost apologetic. “I have no doubt that you’ll be a great addition to our ranks. You’re already better than any of our master thieves.”

She gave him a ‘get on with it’ glance, and he nodded.

“You don’t have the proper mindset, dear,” he said, not looking wholly at her when he said it. “You think of this as a game, and have little or no respect for the dangers that you face or the risks that you routinely take. I suspect this will lead you into trouble one day, and only hope that it doesn’t get any of my friends or compatriots killed.”

He paused, and looked back up at her. “If such a thing is possible, Dewdrop, I think you’re too good.”

“I think I understand,” she said haltingly.

Mountain Hollow just shook his head.

“No, dear. You don’t.”