~Gonay~

“I cannot believe how hard it is to find this bookmaker.” I sigh as Eaa and I walk through the streets of the flying Toau City.

“Maybe we should call off the heist?” Eaa asks hopefully and I shake my head,

“Not yet. Let’s try the next level.”

Eaa and I walk up the stairs leading to the next level, anxiously peering over the edge.

“This city needs railings.” Eaa remarks and I turn away from the edge.

“It does indeed. The problem is getting someone to work on the railings so close to the edge.”

We arrive at the top of the stairs and dive into the bustling marketplace in search of the bookmaker’s shop. We peer at the signs of each building until we spot one that says: Trapen Bookmakers.

“That’s the place.” Eaa says and we walk up to the door and knock loudly.

A few moments later, a female trapen pushes open the door, towering over us at about five and a half feet tall. Her pale, pink, furless skin glows in the torchlight and she looks us over with her hard red eyes.

“What do ya want?” She growls and Eaa speaks up as I stare speechlessly at the massive canine.

“We are looking for a book about the travels of the Children Heroes.” Eaa says smoothly and another trapen comes to the door.

“A couple of dwarves like ya? I don’t think so. Read the sign, this store is called Trapen Bookmakers, not Dwarf handouts.” The other trapen scoffs and I stare at her too.

She’s about four inches shorter than the other trapen. Extremely strong muscles ripple effortlessly as she stretches and yawns. Then she looks us over with green eyes when we don’t move to leave.

“What I’m saying is that we don’t accept money from filthy dwarves.” She says slowly like we’re too stupid to understand her.

“Can it, we need the money. Unless ya fancy hunting tonight again, that is.” The tall trapen snaps at the shorter trapen and I chip in.

“We’ll give you eleven gold coins for a book about the travels of the Children Heroes.”

“Eleven gold coins! We could buy a feast with eleven gold coins!” The shorter trapen exclaims, quickly changing her attitude.

“I’ve heard of the thieving of Gonay Eraniin of the erver, saniin, dwarf village, and the two of ya smell like ervers, saniin, and dwarves, so ya’re obviously from that village. Ya will not rob us.” The taller trapen growls at us and I bow my head.

“Gonay Eraniin has put a stain upon our village, but we’re not all thieves like him.”

The shorter trapen scoffs as she looks at the taller trapen.

“They are too weak to rob us anyways, cousin.”

“Go grab the book so they don’t come inside and steal something.” The taller trapen orders the shorter trapen who disappears inside of the store.

As soon as the shorter trapen is gone, the taller trapen narrows her eyes at us and says,

“Ya’re not fooling me. I know the two of ya are the only dwarf-emotio mixes in the whole erver, saniin, dwarf village. I know that one of ya is Gonay Eraniin. If I’m missing a single thing once ya’ve left, I will personally hunt you down.”

The shorter trapen returns with a book in her mouth. She sets it on the ground, and I see that it’s titled, “The Travels of Trouse Rite”. I produce a bag full of gold coins and count out eleven. I set the eleven coins on the ground beside the book and slowly take the book. Eaa and I slowly back away from the trapen. The trapen pick up the coins in their mouths and then return inside. They slam the door closed in our faces. Eaa looks at me.

“That was your first honest transaction.” He says in surprise and I grin.

I pull out a small dagger from my pocket that I had pilfered.

“Not quite. Let’s get out of here before she realizes that it’s missing.”

“You’re impossible.” Eaa groans as we run away from the shop.