Library of Rain

Rain had no idea what to do. The poor girl following her didn’t seem to have a safe place to go, but it wasn’t safe for her to be near Rain either. Rain had told her she couldn’t take her in, but the girl had just looked at Rain sadly and followed after her as she started walking away. Now Rain was walking slowly enough that the girl could keep up while pretending she wasn’t aware of the girl. After all, if Rain left her behind in her state, she might get attacked or taken. The very thought made Rain feel ill. 

 

Maybe if Rain brought the girl to a healer and left her behind while the healer tended to her, Rain could get rid of her. But what if the healer realizes Rain isn’t returning and takes advantage of the abandoned girl? If Rain waited for her to be treated, she would probably be even harder to lose. 

 

If Rain did try to take her in, where would they sleep? Rain had been sleeping in her library, but having the girl sleep in a library full of books that could turn her into a raging monster was an idea Rain wasn’t willing to entertain. 

 

As she pondered for a solution to her problem, the two small girls continued towards Mr. Markson’s warehouse. The dark-haired girl in front walked slowly, taking lots of unnecessary breaks and throwing covert looks over her shoulder while the sunny blond was trying to skulk behind, poorly hiding from sight and limping as fast as she could.

 

By the time her destination came into sight, Rain was thoroughly stumped. The blond was trying to hide behind the corner of a building as she watched Rain. Clearly, she didn’t understand how to hide; half her body was peeking past the corner she was trying to hide behind, and the way she crouched made her look more suspicious than if she just walked out into the open. The more Rain saw the more she worried for this girl.

 

Trying to put the girl out of her mind, Rain entered the warehouse through its massive loading gates. The inside was worn but well maintained, with plenty of thin-slitted windows high up in the stone walls to let in light. Two empty handcarts were sitting just inside the loading doors. Some areas close to the carts looked like they were for temporarily storing goods while the carts were being loaded or unloaded. In the back were some doors Rain guessed led to the warehouse proper and another set that should lead to an office area.

 

Rain headed towards the door that should lead to an office, ignoring the blue eyes and blond hair peeking out at her from behind the warehouse entrance. Knocking on the door, Rain realized Mr. Markson might not own this building anymore. Her information was a couple days old now, and he had been in a desperate situation. He might have sold the place to cover his losses.

 

After a few moments, a red-haired man with dark bags under his eyes opened the door and gave Rain a kind, if exhausted, smile. 

 

“How can I help you, young miss?”

 

“Are you Mr. Markson?”

 

“What’s left of him.” Mr. Markson said with a tired chuckle. “What can I do for you?”

 

“It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Markson. My name is Rain.” 

 

Rain was trying to sound as formal and polite as she could. Her original plan had been to change her clothes into something fancier when she got close to the warehouse, but with the blond girl following her, she hadn't been able to find a place to do it in secrecy.

 

“I want to become your partner, Mr. Markson.” Rain said with all the confidence she could put into her voice.

 

“Do you now. And what do you want to be partners in?” 

 

Despite having his world falling apart around him, Mr. Markson was willing to spend some of his time humoring a strange girl who had shown up uninvited at his door. If Rain had any doubt that she had picked the right merchant, it disappeared. 

 

“I want to offer you the money to finance your business back to its original size and beyond, as well as give you a way to get rid of the bandits that have been targeting your shipments. In exchange, I want half the profits and a say in the business.”

 

Rain wasn’t sure how he would react to her statement. She was, after all, a poorly dressed ten-year-old. She gave it good odds that he would dismiss her out of hand. 

 

“Why don’t you and your friend come in?”

 

Rain wondered who he was talking about before realizing who her ‘friend’ must be; looking back at the blond girl, she sighed. Realizing she had been spotted, the girl squeaked and tried to hide. Rain could still see her foot peaking past the edge of the warehouse loading gates. 

 

“She’s not… She’s hard to explain. I helped her out on my trip here, and she started following me.” deciding that she wouldn’t get rid of the girl easily, Rain gave in on getting her wounds treated. “She also has some bad bruises. Do you know someone who could treat them? I can pay for it.”

 

Mr. Markson chuckled. “I do. Why don't you have her sit inside while we talk?”

 

Rain chose her steps carefully; as she went to the door, she made sure not to make a sound. When she was on the other side of the wall from the girl, she popped her head around the side of the open gate. 

 

“What are you waiting for? Come in!”

 

The girl let out an even louder squeak and almost fell over. Rain felt kind of bad for scaring the girl but she had to admit it had been fun. She would probably make the same choice again. 

 

Realizing that Mr. Markson was watching her and she was currently not helping her case as a mature and trustworthy future business partner, Rain straightened up and tried to pretend that she hadn’t been messing around. 

 

“Er, why don't you come in and sit down if you plan to follow me anyway?”

 

That sounded properly mature and haughty, right? 

 

The girl hesitantly limped into the warehouse. When Mr. Markson saw her limp, he came forward to help her walk to a seat in his office. Rain was grateful. She had been about to do the same herself before remembering that she wanted to avoid touching people as much as possible. That didn't stop her from getting a little jealous when Mr. Markson patted the girl's head. What did that feel like? It probably felt really nice. Rain reached up to touch the top of her head. Seeing Mr. Markson start to turn around, she quickly put her hand down; she didn’t need him to see her act like more of a child. Plus, she didn’t like the emotions she was feeling right now.

 

“Now that that is taken care of, young miss, why don’t we step into my office?”

 

Rain gratefully followed, happy for the distraction. They entered a nice, if simple, office room. On the pine desk were a set of bronze scales and some papers. The walls had lighter patches where paintings or drapes once covered the now bare walls. 

 

“So young miss, why don't you explain to me what you have in mind to miraculously fix my problems.”

 

Despite the somewhat aggressive choice of his words, Rain detected no malice yet. To begin with, Rain pulled out the pouch of stones she had concealed under her cloak and poured them onto the table.

 

“This is just a small token of the wealth that I have at my disposal. I am prepared to finance your trade operations for the next year to help get your business back to its former glory and beyond in exchange for half the profits going forward.”

 

Mr. Markson picked up one of the gems and began looking it over. After examining the gem, he put it in a separate pile and picked up another rock. He repeated this process until he had examined every gem, then sat back in his chair.

 

“And may I ask who you represent, young miss?”

 

Rain had been expecting this. Once she proved that she had wealth and that this wasn’t a childish prank, the next best explanation for her presence here was that she was here for someone who wanted to work through her for secrecy or to teach her how to do business at a young age. The truth was, of course, neither of those things.

 

“I represent only myself.”

 

She had initially planned to use a fabricated story to lead him into thinking she was part of some declining lord's house, but given the ease of this meeting so far, Rain had a suspicion about the man.

 

“I see. In that case, I presume you don’t want me to know how you came into your wealth?”

 

“Correct, I don’t see any reason to share that information.”

 

“Very well. In that case, how do you plan to eliminate the band of brigands attacking my shipments? Even if you give me all the gold in the world, I can do nothing if I can’t get goods where they need to go.”

 

Perfect. Rain had been correct. Mr. Markson either knew of her before she showed up on his doorstep or, what Rain felt was more likely, he had some kind of merchant class that allowed him to get a good read on the negotiations similar to her truth sight.

 

“To get rid of the bandit problem, I need you to procure a strong box big enough to hold a large book. Then, I need you to prepare a caravan to ship that box somewhere your competitors will find threatening. I'll provide the contents of the box. Once the caravan is raided and the box stolen, your problems will fix themselves. You can, of course, pay for all of this by selling those gems.”

 

Mr. Markson gave her a long, searching look before finally putting two fingers to his lips and nodding.

 

“Deal.”