835 NA, Sersia Continent, Motte Kingdom. Bolivia market town.
…
The sun gradually met its place in the sky, allowing its gentle rays of golden light to settle on a town of Bolivia. Gradually the town roared to life, stalled were set up, as merchant and traders gradually flood the town.
Bolivia seemed simple by all regard, settling by the rare end of the Motte Empire. The capital laid two weeks of horse back away, just far enough to develop its own habits and rhythms. The road that connect them was well-worn, its runts deepened by years of merchant wagons, carts and on occasions official envoys who rarely stayed longer than required.
The town was, by imperial standard a market town – though the designation did little to convey it size. With a population exceeding twenty thousand. Bolivia pressed outwards against its original boundaries, streets folding in upon one another showcasing how planning had failed to keep pace with growth. The town rarely quit.
Even at dawn, movement persisted. Shutters lifted, carts creaked into place, voices carried from unseen courtyards. People passed through Bolivia more often than they settled, yet few towns within the kingdom's borders handled transience with so much efficiency.
The Bolaris River curved along it eastern edges, wide and slow-moving, its surface broken daily by barges and fishing crafts it was from this river that the town had taken its name, and upon it that much of its trade depended. Fishmongers in the fish lane claimed the lower banks, their district dense with the stench of the trade.
Further inland, the streets grew cleaner, and more deliberate.
Magistrate lane ran straight and clean, its stones better kept than most, this was the resident of authority in the town. It was a quieter street, though no less watched.
Guild road laid beyond it. Broader and louder. Here, the guild hall announced themselves through proudly, through their arched doorway, carved insignia and guarded entrances that both wealth and caution. Merchants congested here not only to trade but to be seen doing so.
While the rest of Bolivia existed in the space between these centers allies filed with workshops, courtyards shared by too many families, inns that catered to unwilling or unable to venture further. It was a town accustomed to density, to negotiation to the quiet friction that rose when so many lives pressed against one another, it was a town complicated that most.
Polarity couldn't help but have deep sigh as she walked through the streets. She shook her head slightly before he continued onwards. She had nearly reached the end of the ally when she say a familiar silhouette.
'Puffery' polarity muttered in a low almost weary tone.
He was approaching from the opposite direction, his gray coat buttoned to the throat, despite the mildness of the day. When he noticed her, he hesitated. However this lasted only for a brief second before continuing on. As though retreat would be far more troublesome than it would be if she retreated instead.
….
Puffery mentally brushed up his shoulders shrugging of the guilt at the back of his mind, after all it was all his fault for the loss the young woman had had to go through. He couldn't help but wish there was something he could have done different, but alas he was in too deep to back out now. Death was the only alternative not one he would be so kind ad to venture.
He was a coward he knew as much, but what else could anyone else do in his could, he couldn't cross that man, wouldn't cross him, not in his lifetime. Even if at the loss of his dear friend.
With that thought in mind, puffery pushed the rear end of his coat higher up to his neck, as he approached he young woman.
By his count polarity should be twenty one years old this year, how far she had grown. Quit the young woman she was turning into. He couldn't help but size her up.
She was tall, quit so than the average woman, adorned in fine-tuned ember gown that subtly highlighted her figure, coupled with her long straw colored and an unusual ocean blue eyes. Puffery found himself ogling for too long. He swallowed he remembered both siblings draw origins from the Byron continent.
"Miss Polarity," He said, stopping short. Concealing his thoughts to himself, following with an inclination of his head, a habitual gesture that never quit resolved to courtesy. "I hadn't expected to see you in town do early"
"Nor I you" she replied, with a gently rolling of her eyes. Clearly she caught his stare.
To this Puffery released a dry laugh.
They stood between two shop fronts, the space was barely sufficient for a conversation. A cart passed close enough to brush puffery's sleeve causing him to step aside automatically, as if accustomed to yielding ground.
He cleared his throat.
"Haven't seen you in a while"
"Yes, I came in from Rouen this morning." He said with a smile, almost forced, as though the answer required consideration. His eyes drifted past her shoulders, then returned, unsettled.
"And…" He stopped, began again. "I trust you're… managing."
"I am"
The pause lengthened. Around them, the streets carried on. Vendors calling, shuttered opening, and a burst of laughter from the upper window. Puffery shifted his weight, hesitated.
"I wanted to say." He finally said, lowering his voice, "Look, I am sorry. About William. I always meant to say it properly, and it never comes out so"
Polarity regarded him steadily. This was not the first time he was apologizing to her on this regard. She had a nagging feeling that things were much more complicated than she had thought. By all manner Puffery was hiding something. By his tone, she could detect fear.
What Puffery didn't know was she was not as clawless as he imagined, of course she never told anyone about the incident five years, ago, as far as Puffery was concerned, all she knew was that William turned up dead. However there was much she still didn't know. 'I might have to wait for my ascension, and investigate further"
"You've said as much before"
"Yes, I know." His mouth tightened. "Still. It weighs down on me, I often think…, if I had done something differently…"
Polarity interrupted him gently. "It was not your doing."
"There has been… disturbances," He added, too quickly. "You may have heard people talking. Best not to pay them too much attention.
"I rarely do." She said. Baseless assumption was a norm for the common people, especially against things new to the extent of which they cannot explain. Bolivia had experience its fair share of mystery, and at most disappearance and missing cases. People cocked up stories to frighten themselves into submission.
Puffery's gaze flickered again, this time towards the streets behind her.
"Well," He said, stepping back, already aligning his body away, "Best not keep you. Nor be seen blocking the way."
He offered another sallow bow, and took his leave. His pose brisker now, his shudders drawn tight beneath his coat.
Polarity watched him disappear into the crowd.
Polarity stood still for a while. She knew with an even more certainty that required no further reflection, if she wanted answers, puffery was would be where she begins.