Mmmischief! (Attn Darling Dilly)

[Lavinya]

It was a bright warm morning that found Satine practising her tumbling in the open field outside the city gates. While she was not in one of the flashier outfits she saved for performing, she was still dressed scandalously enough to attract some attention while she trained. Her pants were blood red, voluminous yet gathered around her calf, showing off a good deal of ankle, and her blue blouse left little to the imagination as she flipped upside down.

 

Blue crystal beads ticked together softly at the ends of her blonde braids as she moved. She dropped into a split, grinning broadly as she earned herself an appreciative little clap from one of the nearby men. Some of the small audience that had gathered while she practised had moved on now, their attention drawn elsewhere, making Satine wonder just what could be more interesting out here than her?

 

Satine stood, hands on her hips as she glowered. Even though she had only been rehearsing, she liked to be the centre of attention. Whatever was pulling people away must be rather exciting, she determined. Collecting her blue satin slippers, Satine withdrew her coin purse from within one and looped it through her silvered belt and cinched it around her waist. The tinkle of the coins was a pleasant sound as she walked her feminine walk after her audience. She was smiling by then, all thoughts of attention gone as curiosity took over.

 

A squeal of delight left her lips as she saw the wagon, surrounded by people, haggling with the woman that must own it. Even as big a city as she was in, peddlers always seemed to have more curiosities that couldn't be found in the markets. Satine skipped closer, using her dazzling smile to push through so she could better see the wares on display. A reel of the prettiest blue ribbon Satine had ever seen was nestled among some other colours, and Satine was instantly in love. She adored ribbons and laces, especially when they were blue. Already she was imagining the way her new blue sequined pants would look, trimmed with this ribbon.

 

Satine had not brought much of the money she had pilfered from Simon Jornin with her this morning, so she did not know if she had the money to purchase the ribbon. Still, that was of no matter. Likely it would be highly overpriced, and Satine loathed to spend a small fortune on something she could obtain for nothing. Satine picked up the reel, a finger tracing the smooth material. She swore it sang to her. She had to have it!

 

Setting the ribbon back, Satine looked around her. There were several other women and men, and some of those Aiel savages, not that she'd ever call them so to their faces. Too many eyes...or perhaps just enough to distract the peddler woman? Feigning disinterest, Satine moved back from the crowd, moving behind some taller people and pretended to be interested in a shiny tin pot as she awaited her chance.

 

 

Satine "sticky-fingers" Whyre

Acrobat Extraordinare

[Winter Mist]

~Dilora~

 

Her wares displayed before her, Dilora felt a little stab of pride as she saw eager faces of different races examining this and that. Fingers would pick the items up and turn them over in careful hands that were careworn or clean, pampered or poor, and put them back down again before moving on to the next one. Dilora loved it when a group of people approached her wagon and asked to see what she had on offer. It always meant that she could afford to go to a nearby tavern without having to dip into her under-floor strongbox for the coin necessary to have a good time. Not that she had not been able to flutter her eyelashes at some peddling friends or potential customers to shout her a drink…

 

Reels of ribbon, books, trinkets, little bottles of perfume … the list went on and on. The sun baked down, causing a mild sweat to blossom on Dilora’s forehead and making her wish for a tall, cool drink. How many people would make quick purchases just to avoid the midday sun? The Aiel, used to the baking heat of the sun, would not be at all fazed and would be far more likely to haggle to get the best bargains, but the others… She wondered what else she could garner along the way to sell. Dilora rather fancied the idea of finding out what people wanted to buy from villagers and the nobility alike – a bit of market research to help meet the needs of the general populace. There was no point in trying to sell salt to the Sea Folk, after all.

 

The long brown skirt she had chosen for today had panels of a metallic bronze colour, heavily embroidered and patterned in a style she had taken a fancy to, teamed with a plain white blouse and a small necklace around her neck. It was a bit cumbersome though sometimes, impeding her progress when she needed to run, and when gathering herbs and mushrooms … well, that didn’t bear thinking about.

 

Taraboner braids with blue beads in blonde hair ducked among different shades of hair, but the style stood out a mile off. That would be an interesting avenue to go down – maybe she would know where to get some nice barrels of dye, or some interesting old artefacts. Maybe she should go a little more specialised and enter the world of buying to order. Slender, yet strong looking fingers examined some of the ribbon, then backed away. Dilora’s eyes didn’t follow her, as an Aielman had made an enquiry on a carved wooden lion.

 

“Yes, it’s oak. Sadly, it isn’t sung wood, but I do know this is of the highest quality…” And so, down to business.