Merchant Lady Cunégonde
"I am glad you came, Noura, I was worried."
"No need to worry about me, Milady, I am always careful."
"Ah, and yet you were at that destroyed arena..."
"I was never in any danger, milady, I took precautions."
"Against the building collapsing on your head?"
"I was seated between a pair of chosen of Autochton, you know, those chosen who look like they are made of stone, like Fortifier of hearts and bones?"
"I know him, how did you manage to meet more of his kind?"
"They are visiting him, he is famous among his people for his bringing the cult of Autochtion to us mortals in Nexus, something they were doing in the city of Great Forks, themselves. They think highly of him."
"I've only met one of them, the night-black one, he is most unpleasant."
"Sees-your-soul is... stern, and unbending, but he is not without courtesy."
"And the other?"
"Shun-the-enemies-of-Autochton is the other, he passes for a leader among them, along with Fortifier."
"Isn't this odd, that we have these beings visiting from other lands?"
"Fortifier is from Sijan, I think what's strange is that there are no natives, considering how many there are in the River Province."
"If you'll excuse me, I am looking for Merchant Lady Cunégonde, I am "Trustworthy" Eressanada Purrio, you wished to commission a painting?" A tall, diamantine form stood respectfully away, clad in dark formals.
"You're an Autochtonian too!" Noura sputtered.
"Ah yes, you've met my fellows?"
"Wait, no I've seen you before, you were a guest at Carnelian Peaches, weren't you?" Noura was excited.
"You're... unusually perceptive, most people forgot I was there." Eressenada dimmed, so somber was his mood.
Lady Cunégonde took back control of the conversation. "The people at peaches are friends and business associates, it speaks highly of you that they'd invited you. I would like you to commission a painting, Stelsor keeps mentioning a second party, and that group's been good for so many people in this city, i want to present them with a token of my esteem, provided your rates aren't extravagant."
"What would the painting depict?"
"I'd trust you with that, but perhaps a scene where the inhabitants of 12 Carnelian peaches are all on display?"
"I was there, I don't remember the auction very well, but I remember the service, in the chapel a little better, would that do?"
"Hmm, that would be a meaningful event, for all of them, wouldn't it?"
"Why yes." He started sketching on some canvas, using a simple charcoal stick. The six alchemicals in a block were unmistakable, as were the other chosen, in various ranks.
"Who is this figure?"
"That is the shadow lady, and this is her associate, the platinum lady." He sketched a few more lines of the figure, in the corner of the room.
"Would you say she is a friend of theirs?"
"No, they were unwelcome guests, promptly handled by security, but the scene is burned in my memory. So many chosen, in that room, from so many different types and power blocks. And I want to represent that, with your permission. Show how the many chosen, not all friends, combined to a great result for the city."
"That intrigues me, what are those symbols?"
"Those are marks that the chosen have on their foreheads, usually, but always on their skin, marking them as belonging to their patron." His own forehead, covered in diamond with the rune for diamond cut out in bas-relief, glittered. "I counted at least twenty such marks, in that place." He sketched out Sainted Sinner Jakun's reverse-eclipse mark in the nimbus, then Avaricious Sinner Czoki's ring, symbolizing the light of day, before sketching out Duchess Redmoon under the mark of secrets.
"She was chosen? I thought she was just a visitor from afar, a friend of Stelsor's?"
"She appeared chosen to me, but considering the mark, I could simply omit her. Sometimes the chosen of secrets do not like their presence advertised."
"Let's do that, let's keep her presence our little secret, shall we? Noura?"
"My lips are sealed. But yours? The Tang-Zen would pay you handsomely, for knowledge of any chosen..."
"You know of the family?"
"I've learned to my cost, that all the Guild, the Coin and the Tang-Zen are self-interested creatures, best avoided by sentients of good conscience. But before that, I learned what any child of the streets of Nexus learns before they learn to walk... Who pays, and for what..."
"I would not sell my knowledge of this to the Tang-Zen, and the Tang-Zen knows of my... opinion... I consider Fortifier an ally, practically a brother, and so do all of us who serve Autochton in the city, and this guest in his house was treated like family by him and the others. Selling this information would be betraying family, something the Tang-Zen loathes more than anything. They've not asked again."
"Do you have a suitable space to work on this, in the city?"
"I normally work outside the city, but if you provide me with space for a studio, of course, you could visit and see the progress."
"I just joined 'Peach House' in sponsoring Nurlissa's gallery, let me ask if she has a spare room you can use..."
"That would be most suitable, I could even visit Fortifier, and ask to see the Chapel to get details, if he'll let me."
A few days later...
"Greetings Nurlissa."
"Greetings Eressenada. Someone was here, waiting for you..."
"Prital?" His smile was impossibly bright, like shining diamonds.
Children
Comments