Princess of austerity

Diplomatic meetings with one of their trade partners in Reim had gone well. Ja’far had been sent with a small group to settle things, leaving Sindria a few days earlier. He’d spent the previous day moving from meeting to meeting, reestablishing trade contracts with few breaks in between. The company head was going to spend the day with his subordinates, going over Ja’far’s offer before getting back to him with their agreement. Rarely did someone fail to reestablish connection with Sindria, especially with Ja’far at the head of the table. He was a formidable opponent, both in battle and out. 

Reim was a lovely country, especially this time of year with all the trees in bloom. Since he had the day too himself, he’d decided to take some time to walk around the city. It was rare he got time to himself – even rarer for him to take it. Perhaps that’s why Sinbad was so adamant about Ja’far heading the expedition, despite the fact that they had a number of skilled negotiators in their palace staff ( all trained by Ja’far, naturally. )

He only hoped Sinbad wasn’t taking advantage of his absence. 

No, best not to think of that. He’ll only stress himself out. He’d checked in last night with Yamuraiha’s Eye to ensure he’d gotten to Reim safely. 

Ja’far browsed through the markets quietly, figuring he might bring something back to him ( a reward if Sindria is still standing with him there to put out fires, perhaps? ). He’s standing at one of the market stalls when he feels a tug at his robes. He glances to the side, then down to see a young child standing beside him. 

Too young to be a beggar, in his opinion. It tugged at his heart a bit, despite how many times he’d seen a child on the street before. Reim, of course, had it’s short comings. When he had lived here with Sinbad as children, he’d seen many in a similar situation. Most had been slaves.

Ja’far smiled, quiet and reassuring, bending down to reach her level. The rest of the city’s patrons continued on their way as if she didn’t even exist – nothing like Sindria. 

“You know, I think I do need some help. I was just about to stop for lunch; but it would be awfully lonely to eat all by myself. How would you like to accompany me? I’d treat you, of course.” 

Better than a handout, this way. If he gave her money, he had no way of knowing that it would even stay in the child’s hand. He’d seen parents send out their own, knowing people are more likely to fill a child’s hand with coins than a conniving adult. And this way, he could make sure she got something good to eat.

❀When he knelt down to be closer to her, it filled her with a sort of surprise that she wasn’t used to. She’d expected him to brush her off or take pity on her and offer her some odd job as an afterthought like the others that had helped her out. Normally, people with wealth were unkind to her however after he came closer and spoke so softly to her she decided that she liked this man very much. She listened carefully as she got a closer look at his face and fought back the urge to reach out and trace her index finger over the dots on his nose, which she was sure would be rude also she wasn’t exactly the cleanest and most people disliked touching her as a result.❀

❀She was still forcing herself not to become distracted by this thought when she heard his request and took a moment to be sure she heard him right. She didn’t know what ‘accompany’ meant, not certain if he meant one of the companies in the merchant’s district or another word since the former didn’t make much sense in the context. Abandoning trying to figure that out, because if she spent too long thinking about it he might think her rude or unintelligent and leave already, she was able to piece together that he wanted her to go to lunch with him and do whatever that big word was. Since he seemed nice and she didn’t have much chance to be selective anyway, she smiled and managed a nod.❀

❝Mhm! I can go with you! And I can show you my favorite spots in the city too! And stay with you as long as you’d like so you don’t have to feel lonely anymore!❞

❀She thought it was the least she could do, if he wanted her to. After all she understood what it was like to be lonely, she hadn’t had someone to really just talk to more than necessary in a long time. In fact, she couldn’t actually remember someone just wanting to be with her for no other reason, even her own parents had hated it when she said too much. Of course, she always had her friends from the junkyard they’d left her at and the friends she’d made around the city, but they weren’t like real people they were just inanimate objects she liked to talk to so she didn’t think that they really counted. She wondered how come he was lonely too, since she’d never considered that grown ups ever felt like she did, especially when they were rich. Didn’t he have friends or family?Well, if he didn’t have anyone to spend his time with right now she was more than happy to do so, even if she probably wasn’t the best of company all things considering.❀

❀Giving him a toothy grin then, she wiped her hands against the rags that she wore unsuccessfully trying to get the grime off of them and held her hands out a little, revealing two thin and bony arms.❀

❝I can carry your stuff if too if you want, sir, if you have anything you don’t wanna. I’ve been getting really strong see? So it’s easy for me!❞

❀After working and living near Napolia’s market district for a few months now, Nomi had started to memorize the faces and people that frequented it. She quickly picked up on telling who was able to spare a coin or two in exchange for her help and for the most part who was either charitable enough or lazy enough to do so. Many people she learned to avoid altogether, since the cruelest people all seemed to have the same vibes somehow.❀

❀Needless to say, when she saw someone new there she recognized it almost immediately. Whilst she could have just not noticed an average person before, she could tell right away this one was different. The clothes he wore were of a different fashion than most Reiman nobleman, but clearly he was well off since they were vibrantly colored and the fabric seemed finer than most from where she stood a little ways off.❀

❀She watched him for a few minutes before trying to decide the best way to approach him, after all she couldn’t exactly afford to be shy if she wanted to eat that week. Still, a raggedly dressed brat approaching someone clearly important was risky as well. Eventually, once he didn’t seem preoccupied with something else, she came and timidly tugged at one of his sleeves.❀

“You shouldn’t insult yourself so much.. You cannot help if you have money or not, especially not at your age. You’re far too young for an actual job, and it is your parents fault for not supplying for you like they should have. Same with your education. If they didn’t teach you it doesn’t mean you’re dumb, just that no one ever taught you things you needed to know. You’re for sure not ugly either. You’re a very cute little girl.”

When she began to speak about decorating her old home he had to contain the frown again, instead keeping a look of interest, as though he was very curious to hear her story. Which he was, of course, but he was also appalled yet again with her mother’s behavior.

“Well we won’t be breaking anything you enjoy here. If you want when we’re gone touring we can go to the market and see if theres anything that catches your eye, okay?”

❝You really think I’m cute? That’s the first time I’ve heard that, thanks so much!❞

❀She wasn’t used to hearing so many nice things, or having the things her parents and the rich people in the city had told her challenged. Her instinct was that it was a little scary, just cause she didn’t know how she was supposed to react or what she was really supposed to say. Still, she liked that he thought good things about her a lot, she wondered if he was the kind of person who often thought the best in people or if she was just lucky.❀

❝That’s good, although I don’t mind broken things so much. They’re like me since they’re not wanted but are trying their hardest still I think so I like looking after them.❞

❀When he offered to take her to go looking for things in the market, she considered this. She was a little anxious to leave the company building, in case someone recognized her and thought less of Ja’far and the others because of her or if he left her even if the latter of the two was pretty unlikely. There was also the chance her mother really would come back for her and though she’d wanted that before now the idea of living with her mother instead of the nice people here was kind of depressing. Still, she thought it could be fun and he did seem to want to so she pushed these thoughts away.❀

“Did he now? Well, things got really tense for awhile, but I think that we all handled it really well.”

He laughed as she began flexing, covering his mouth with his hand to stifle the noise. He couldn’t help it when she put on such a little ‘show’ for him. She was just so cute sometimes, he really couldn’t help but get happier when he saw her. Especially with how energetic she seemed. He was happy to see her more filled out, more full of life. She was growing too, he was sure of it. It was exactly what the young girl deserved.

“Dogs too? Those two want to be the death of me.” he groaned, shaking his head. “The birds are fine, they come and go, but cats and dogs? Geeze..” he shook his head, then paused. “I need to catch up with Parsine too.” then a huff. “If they ever let me out of this bed, that is.”

Her pulled her closer, smiling as he continued to pet her head with a quiet hum. He was so glad to spend time with her again.

“I think you’re the coolest.”

❝Uhuh! Masrur said you had to fight n’ you lost on purpose to save him...I’m sorry you had to do something that scary, though I’m really glad Masrur’s okay! He’s been the nicest even back in that scary place we came here from so I’d be really sad if he got hurt...❞

❀She knew that went without saying, after all she’d come to love everyone there. Still, Masrur had looked after her back when the others didn’t quite know what to do with her yet. He was her first friend amongst the children from the Mariadel Company and she looked up to him a lot. She didn’t want to dwell on the sad things though, since everyone was okay and she could sense they didn’t want to think much on it now. So instead she grinned, happy that she could make him laugh; she liked collecting his laughter since he didn’t laugh as much as some of the others did.❀

❝Your laugh is so nice!!❞

❀She’d said it before, but she really loved it a lot so she was saying it again. When he pulled her a little closer, she cuddled him her smile softening as he hummed. She’d missed this, missed him, so she was really happy now that he was back. When he complimented her, she blushed, not knowing how to express how happy hearing that made her. Now was one of those times that she got so happy it was overwhelming and she struggled to talk.❀

“Exactly.”

He was glad that she actually accepted that, and he let out a small sigh of relief. He did not want the child to be afraid of things like storms that were unavoidable, after all. So if saying that the sky was a baby that was just crying helped her to calm down? Then that was a lie he was gladly able to keep on.

“I think it’ll be big and brave and strong. Like you.”

His words are accented by a playful ruffling of her hair, and he nods when she agrees to hear a story. He does not yet move to grab any books or anything, as some stories are better told without them anyways.

“What kind of story do you want?”

❀She giggled when he ruffled her hair, looking innocently up at him. She still wasn’t used to people saying such nice things about her! She’d thought herself to be something like a coward since she got scared so much. The idea of her being big or brave was one she hadn’t considered before, but it wasn’t like he could be wrong since the people at the Sindria trading company knew everything!❀

❝You really think I’m brave? Aah, you’re so niiiice!❞

❀When he asked her what kind of story she wanted, she considered for a moment, resting a finger on her chin absently. She liked all kinds of stories, whether real or made up, and about almost anything so she had a hard time choosing something that she wanted to hear about.❀

❝Hmm...oh! I know! What’s a story you really like?❞

❀When Nomi had admitted she’d been having nightmares about the Mariadel company, she hadn’t expected a whole knight to come and protect her! She wasn’t super familiar with Mystras just yet but he seemed really nice and cool so she was happy that he was spending time with her now. She wasn’t even really tired yet since the excitement of having new friends was giving her energy, nevertheless she got ready for bed and tucked herself in because she knew it was her bed time now. She wasn’t used to having one of those yet, since her parents had never cared how late she stayed up, but Rurumu had told her if she got the right amount of sleep that she’d be able to do more during the day.❀