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It wasn't the first time Kristen had seen the grandeur of Vel Luin with her own eyes. Even putting aside a rather poor mission involving guard duty at a warehouse, Kristen had visited Vel Luin several times during her childhood (how it felt now so akin to a past life!). Her father Neil had trade business here in Vel Luin, and though Kristen had no part in that, oftentimes trips here for business included leisure as well: socials and parties and all the like. Vel Luinara, despite its outwardly imposing appearance, had some grand interior halls within it to rival its sister structure of Vel Aerelos in Vel Anir proper. Kristen remembered those halls and the gatherings within them well.
But, alas, these were not those times, and she was not here for leisure.
At least this time, on the mission currently assigned to her, she did not have as companions Liliana and Beatrix (were it not for the interventions of Henk and Delaney, that warehouse mission would have been entirely awful). This time she was accompanied by two Initiates of the "Gilded" Class whom she did not know overly much, but whose reputations were not nearly as bad as Liliana and Beatrix's own. One was Ambrosie, who had before the Revolution famously suffered extreme punishment in the Box for saving another Initiate's life—she seemed quite nice. And the other was Malik, who was as quiet as Fennec and as terse as Soleil when he had to speak, but seemed to at least be thoughtful and inwardly reflective rather than brooding or plotting.
Presently, however, neither Ambrosie nor Malik were with her. Because...well...they were all waiting.
Their mission here in Vel Luin was a straightforward one: they were to assist the renowned and rich merchant, Aulane Markle, in transporting a large gold donation to the Treasurer of the Army of the South. This was, apparently, a regular occurrence for Markle, not necessarily out of altruism so much as his notable outright hatred for elves and support of, specifically, the Army of the South and their endeavors. Aulane Markle was a Vel Luin native, and he remembered the Elven Wars very well.
Markle was, also, a busy man. Quite so. When Kristen, Ambrosie, and Malik first arrived in Vel Luin, they were informed that Markle was out of town on some other business, but should arrive back in a small matter of days.
It was day four now, and Kristen was considering sending a prayer up to Aionus Himself for Aulane Markle to be urged along in whatever other business was stealing away his (and by extension, her) time. She kept up with her physical training during the downtime, but that only covered so much of the day, and she was half-worried that the workers at the docks might start to think her running past in the morning to be a now permanent fixture to tell the time by.
Midday.
Kristen was craving a snack. There was a dwarf in town selling Roasted Belgrath Chestnuts, and though the aroma had enticed her yesterday she ultimately decided on another option. Yes, mayhap that would make for a fine treat today. So Kristen started down the busy streets of Vel Luin toward that vendor stall.
And once she got there, she saw a familiar face nearby.
Alistair Krixus
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