Shouting at storms watches for a few more minutes, allowing the silence to continue. Then he whimpers oddly at you before recovering himself and sharing a few quiet words.
"So, Yuwen Xiao? I don't know what happened to drive the price so low, you could have expected at least 50 gold a year," you know exactly what Shouting at Storms doesn't, but there's no point in telling him that. You got someone high up mad and now he's taking it out on you.
You start to agree, but you can't bring yourself to say the words. You probably should go with Yuwen; but something about the way her smiling servant tried to buy you with a few pieces of candy, set you on edge. You've seen a few people in the Lower City who liked to smile at you street-rats, give them treats and sometimes offer to take them somewhere. It never ended well. Maybe you could go with her if you knew why Yuwen Xiao actually wants you, or what she plans for you to do, but without that information you can't bring yourself to trust enough to sign this contract.
Han Wei doesn't even bear thinking of, which leaves... You look at the idiot, wonderful. Hopefully he can actually pay, and his clan actually backs up the contract. Then again, you can't imagine that the big clans just let their brats wander around anywhere without a watcher normally, so there has to be something special about the idiot.
You smile at Shouting at Storms, then shake your head.
"I'll take Lord Mu's offer."
The merchant stares at you as if you're some strange and terrible beast. He takes a deep breath and then positively hisses at you, "You do realize that it's only one fiftieth of the money that Lady Yuwen's offering?"
You nod, "The, umm, other perks? of the deal look good enough?" you're not a bad liar, you just haven't leveled enough to be a good one yet. Still, you made your announcement loudly enough and the idiot's already bouncing up to the stage, vaulting onto it with ease to approach Shouting at Storms. Miserable, the merchant takes Lord Mu to a prepared table.
The old man stares at Lord Mu for a few more moments, then shakes his head and departs. Han Wei's thugs amble slowly out. You wish you could trust them to leave for real.
Then Lord Mu pulls you over excitedly and shows you the contract. Damn. You don't think the idiot would have it in him to trick you like this, but... you can only read a few of the characters on the paper, nowhere near enough to understand what you're actually going to sign. For all you know Shouting at Storms swapped it for a slave deal or something.
"Do we need to use something like this?" you do your best to keep the uncertainty out of your voice as you glance between them.
Shouting at Storms gives you an odd look, "Without the contract there wouldn't be anything to hold either party to the terms of the deal. Perhaps if you were in a position of equal power, it might be unnecessary. Please just sign already." the merchant seems wan and apathetic, infinitely less willing to come to your aid than he was before the auction. Your request to have him read the contract to you dies on your lips.
You could run, turn and dash out of the tent and the city and leave it all behind. Sure it's dangerous out there, but you're a beast tamer and you can work out something or... No, Han Wei's thugs would grab you, you're sure of it. You're trapped now, and no matter what the contract actually says, signing can't be worse than not signing. So you sigh and write the characters for 'little' and 'bee.' At least you know those. Shouting at Storms snaps the contract off the table, rolls it up and hands it to the lord in exchange for a very small purse.
"Now please leave so I can forget this whole unfortunate process." Shouting at Storms sighs miserly and begins counting. Lord Mu, or should that be master now—nah, impossible—smiles at you then thumps you on the back with surprising strength.
"Cool! Now, let's go, I can't wait to show you the estate, there's so much stuff there and then we can plan a trip and..." he may be your 'master' for the moment, but you still manage to drown him out, while bowing your head and nodding thoughtfully at his every word.
He stops at the tent's exit, "Wait a second, I'll go and check to make sure those nasty guys aren't hanging around." 'Master' walks out of the tent, and you watch the entrance carefully, ready to run. If they are waiting, they might be stupid enough to attack Lord Mu then grab you. You jump as thunder crack's the sky and raindrops begin to pound on the tent's roof. Behind you Shouting at Storms mutters a few quiet curses.
A heart-pounding minute later, Mu walks back inside, soaked and no less cheerful.
"It started raining, but I think they're gone!" he smiles cheerfully, then taps his chin thoughtfully, "But a genius like me knows better than to trust to that kind of thing so, how are you at running?'"
"That's..." without waiting for an answer, Lord Mu grabs your hand and pulls you out the door into the frigid rain.
"Come on, faster, faster!" he giggles madly as he charges into the storm. You do your best to keep up, stumbling across muddy streets and slippery stones as he pulls you up toward the inner quarters of the city. Trying to spot any of Han Wei's goons, you manage to stumble and trip into a wall, dragging Lord Mu down with you.
Laughing like a maniac, he pulls you to your feet and charges forward. "Oh come on Little Bee, just pretend there's a monster chasing us, like a big cat or an angry dragon," it's not hard to picture a city guardsman behind you, face red from alcohol and thoughts of violence as he tries to hammer another urchin for the fun of it.
Even if you've never met a guard in love with his job enough to work through a storm like this, the thought still spurs you forward, past Lord Mu, who shouts encouragement even as he speeds up to pass you again. You've been running for your life since you've been on the streets. It's no fair at all that this snobby little crazy lordling is in better shape than you are!
+10XP
Eventually he slows to a walk, waterlogged enough that there's no point in hugging a building or waiting out the storm under an awning. Your master leads you skipping through the storm laughing and panting (him laughing, you panting) to the entrance of a massive fortress. A pair of spear-carrying stone-faced guards stand outside the outer wall, ignoring the rain as best they can.
"It's kinda small" you stare at the massive stone building, just shy of a castle. Its roof is ornate. Angry dragons stand, flashing bright gold on black in the brief illumination from the storm's lightning. Small he says...
"But land in the city is really expensive or something, I don't really pay attention to any of that money stuff, but they say we couldn't buy anything bigger or awesomer unless we were the emperor."
The guards move to bar your way, stare at Lord Mu's muddy rain-soaked face for a few moments and rush to push open the thick iron gates.
"The young lord returns!" both shout at once, solemn, then they slam the gates behind you.
Lord Mu leads you through the courtyard, walking slowly now despite the rain. Well, you're already muddy and wet (And you already had a bath this month too!) so you might as well see what you can. The gardens are amazing. Trees and flowers and even a small pond stand around the three storied wooden building at the estate's center. Everything is arranged just so like someone actually spent time deciding where to put all the weeds! A few smaller outbuildings dot the estate. Are.. are you really going to live here? It's almost too much to believe. It's too big, too open too unlike the squat crowded tenements and back-alleys teeming with beggars in Lower City.
Gently Lord Mu pulls you into the building properly, standing cheerfully inside a stone entryway where guests can remove their shoes, "I'm back, and I brought a great souvenir!"
His obnoxious voice shatters the building's solemn quiet. Presently an older man with spectacles steps smoothly out from a side room, "Yes, you were expected days ago, when those guards that were meant to be accompanying you arrived and..." he looks at you. You try desperately to hide behind Lord Mu.
"Did you have someone kidnap a monk in training?" the older man must know Lord Mu because he doesn't sound unbelieving, just exasperated, "Nope! This is Little Bee, she's..."
The older man slaps his palm against his face, "Oh, everyone knows who
that is. Please next time just have your guards raid a monastery. Easier to explain and less of a headache for anyone involved"
You glance between the two, then dip your head nervously, "A-are you going to have him throw me out sir?"
The man shakes his head, "Unfortunately in this matter, I lack the authority to overrule my childish cousin. I am Mu Gan. I expect when he gets bored and forgets about you in a few weeks you'll be remaining here, and you're really too talented to leave as a normal servant."
"HEY!" Lord Mu shouts, "Little Bee's interesting and a friend so I won't forget her at all!" Mu Gan ignores his younger clan-mate with a look of long suffering.
"Winter Breeze, Veiled Tiger," two identically dressed young women step forward, wearing simple robes of black lined with elegant strands of gold, "Please assist the young lady in bathing and changing her clothes. Young Lord Mu and I will be explaining this
situation to the honored elder."
Lord Mu nods, then kicks off his shoes and hops onto the wooden floor despite the fact that he's dripping wet, "Ooh, Gramp's around? Cool!"
Mu Gan and the servants just sigh, then follows Lord Mu inside. Hmph, not like there's anything strange about getting a bit of mud inside a normal house. And just like that you find yourself alone with two servants, two fellow servants. They look at you for a moment, you raise a hand and try to wipe the mud from your face. One goes to fetch a towel.
Winter Breeze and Veiled Tiger are both professional, if way too forceful when you object to the bath. You might be able to get away if you bolt for the wilderness now! Everything inside passes like a dream, as you're pulled doll-like from strange happening to stranger happening inside this devilish house. By the time you snap out of it, you're dressed in the Mu clan's colors: black with gold trim, waiting to be called in to meet the clan's elder.
You don't have a clue what's going on, aside from knowing that the man one rice-paper door aside from you is one of the most powerful people in the world, one of the few at the very top of a great clan. All you really know is how powerful he is, how you need to be on your best behavior and that you're about to be introduced to a man who could have you killed on a whim. It's your last chance to run.
"Enter." the voice is old, and stern, lacking any noticeable warmth.
Quietly you slide the door open and step into the Mu Clan's audience chamber, bowing deeply.
"Hmph, show me your face girl and sit. I'm too old to cramp my neck staring up at anyone."
Hurriedly you raise your face and drop yourself down on a cushion, then you bow deeply again for being so inelegant about sitting down, promptly remember that he told you to show your face and sit up tent-pole straight.
The clan elder sits across from you, rain-soaked idiot ruining a cushion at his left hand and exasperated Mu Gan at his right. He's small, pruning with age. The old man seems practically dwarfed by his robes. They're a dozen shades gold, unadorned save for the outlines of black dragons circling around like vultures waiting to devour a soon to be corpse.
"You know," the man gestures at you with his pipe, "Han Wei convinced all of us to have you killed. Charisma at 7 stars is simply too dangerous he said, a resource sure, but a treasure that none of us would want our enemies to have. Better to buy you cheaply and push you on one deadly task after another, use you up and let you die before you can get uppity."
You glance at the idiot, he yawns then waves back at you before dropping his hand to his side. No help there. Mu Gan seems an impassive wall.
"Han Wei may be an overlarge boil that badly needs a good popping, but he is right from time to time."
You tense, as if you could really escape from the Mu clan's headquarters within the capital. You made a mistake, you should have run, should have left the city as fast as you could once you realized how talented you are. Monsters out there? Wolves would have made better masters than anyone here and now you're going to die without ever getting to live and...
"However, the young master," the clan elder reaches over with his pipe and shoves the wet idiot, "seems to have decided otherwise. And, Han Wei needs to have a plan blow up in his face every now and then. It's no good if we all dance as he wants now, is it? the old man laughs, it's a painful, brutal sound like claws dragging across stone.
"So you're the Mu clan's little monster for the next seven years. Any questions girl?"
[ ] No. You're just going to shut up and sit very quietly and hope they forget you exist.
[ ] Yes (write-in)
I wasn't here.
