The Sound of Silence (Aliyah 3)

[Mikayla]

Author's note: My thanks to the players of Rain, Ali'Hussein and Toby Menzer for the events detailed in this story.


The Sound of Silence


Rain and Aliyah took turns collecting their coins. They’d been hired to kill, and kill they had. Now it was time to collect. Their employer did not hold back the coin or the praise, but neither Rain nor Aliyah spoke a single word in return. They just collected their coins and walked on the same way they had killed. Silently. They had been traveling and working together all day and not one word had passed between them, not even when fighting.

The sun was setting now, and the shadows on the streets of Silverymoon were growing long. They strode through the gloomy streets, still splattered with blood and mud. They did not care and they did not speak. Rain led, and Aliyah trailed.

****************

It was mid-day in the Silverymoon market, and the leather merchant, like the grocer and the other merchants would not take Aliyah’s small cache of semi-precious stones. They were not worth much, these stones, but they were worth something and the fact that no merchant in the market would buy them was frustrating Aliyah to no end.

A man with a broad-brimmed hat was shopping with the very same leather worker. “Do you know where I could find a merchant that would buy gems?” Aliyah asked him. “Small ones.” She added quickly. “Not terribly valuable.” You never knew who might be listening, and Aliyah did not want to get her throat cut by some gem-hunting thief who thought killing her might be the path to wealth.

“Are you talking to me?” The man in the wide-brimmed hat asked.

“Yeah.” Aliyah answered, still speaking in the trade-tongue. “The merchant doesn’t know a place, so, yeah, I am asking you.”

“Um …” The man looked about the market. “Over there.”

Aliyah looked and saw a temple. She asked if that was what he meant and he shook his head. “No, over in that direction.”

Aliyah looked but did not see anything. “You don’t really know, do you?” She asked.

The man ignored her question. He was digging in a satchel. “Wait … here …” He said, pulling out a piece of paper from his bag. “Take this.”

Aliyah took the paper and read it. Written in the trade tongue was an advertisement for an educator, mentor, sage and practitioner of the mystic arts, available for this that and the other thing. The flyer went on and on.

“So,” Aliyah said, looking up at the man, “what this really says is ‘wizard for hire’, yes?”

The man in the wide-brimmed hat nodded. “Well, yes, if you need to put it in simple language such as a fool could understand.”

A fool? Aliyah thought. Only a fool uses twenty words where three will suffice. “Yeah, well, that’s me, I am pretty much a fool.” She said, her tone riding the razor’s edge between self-deprecation and sarcasm.

“Well, you are just a woman.” The man replied.

“Yeah, that must be it.” Aliyah answered. “Oh, but wait.” She added, pausing for effect. “Isn’t this whole city ruled by a woman? Yeah, it is.” She paused again, looking the man straight in the eye. “Dumb ass.” She snarled.

*************************

Rain and Aliyah sat at a table in the courtyard of the Golden Oak. Rain was drinking from a bottle of rum, while Aliyah was knocking back shots from her bottle of almond brandy. Rain looked about, from the bottle to the table, to the tree to the other patrons of the inn. Everywhere but at the girl sitting across from him.

Aliyah looked mostly up at the stars that she could see between the branches of the great oak tree. When she drank from the bottle, she was careful to avoid any eye contact with Rain. She stared at her bottle when needed. Neither spoke.

Aliyah shifted in her seat and put her muddy boots up on the table, laying back, getting comfortable. She drank and she star gazed, but mostly she wondered what Rain was thinking. This silence thing was not as easy as it sounded.

***************************

In the Silverymoon market, the man in the broad-brimmed hat immediately blushed and began stammering out an apology.

Aliyah’s ire dissipated quickly. “Its alright. You were being a bit of an ass, but I should not have been so hard on you. You can call me Aliyah.” She extended her hand and he shook it.

“Toby Menzer.” He said.

Ali’Hussein’s voice suddenly interrupted them. “Aliyah.” He said.

“Ah, your Highness.” Aliyah smiled warmly. Turning to Toby, Aliyah gestured towards the approaching hin. “Let me introduce His Highness, Ali’Hussein, Lord of the Gutter and Prince of Cats.”

Ali bowed with a flourish.

“Your Highness,” Aliyah continued, “may I introduce Toby Menzer, a wizard for hire and a commoner.”

“I’m no commoner!” Toby protested.

“Oh?” Asked Aliyah. “You are a noble then? You did not identify yourself as one.”

“I’m a practitioner of the mystic arts, and that is a rare thing. Not common at all.” Toby turned from Aliyah to Ali and extended his hand. “Pleased to meet you.” He said. Ali frowned at the hand and glanced at Aliyah.

Aliyah in turn, looked to Toby. “His Highness does not touch commoners.”

It took every ounce of self-control Aliyah had to keep a straight face and not fall down, laughing hysterically.

**************************

Her bottle was getting light as she watched the stars above. She and Rain had been sitting at the same table drinking for over an hour now and neither had said a single word to the other. Aliyah was just starting to get used to it, when Rain’s voice broke the silence.

“I’m going to go look for Ali.” Said the big genasi.

“Alright,” Aliyah replied quickly, “I will come with you.”

And with that, they set out, walking through the streets of Silverymoon, out its fortified gates, and on to the road to high-hold. They did not speak again. They did not need to.

Aliyah had to admit to herself that they really did seem to get along better when they did not talk. Still, it was kind of boring. She reminisced about the day she met Toby Menzer; silence might be golden, but words were a hell of a lot more entertaining.