Soul Bound

1            Soul Bound

1.1          Finding her Feet

1.1.4        An Intriguing City

1.1.4.16     Was there ever a cat so clever

Rings and gems of all description were stacked in haphazard piles on chairs, tables, hanging from light fittings, and seemingly anywhere except the locked display cases which were empty and gleamingly clean. A short, compact man in a white felt hat was facing away from them, trying to use a walking cane as a feather duster, in place of the actual duster that was tucked behind his ears.

As they entered the shop, the opening door rang a chime. The man startled with an exaggerated yelp, fell backwards like a chopped down tree and then, at the last moment, turned it into a supple flip that sent the duster flying and left him balanced upside down with his head on the stick, which he held steady with one hand. With his other hand he made a looping ‘welcome’ gesture in place of a bow, then caught the falling feather duster with his feet. His clothes matched the diamond design of the sign, and his face was red from the blood rushing to it. He had a small puggish nose and, when his hat fell off, it revealed two rounded bumps on his forehead, almost like those sported by some does.

“Customers!” he said in apparently genuine delight.

Kafana grinned: “I think, rather, that you mean ‘audience’, or perhaps ‘playtoys’. I have met Columbina, you know.”

He righted himself, and sat cross legged on the display table he’d just cleaned, and pointed at different parts of her with his stick.

“Blue hair, afraid of nothing, surprising ideas. You can be nobody other than Columbina’s new apprentice, Madame Kafana. You see, I do keep my ear to the ground.” He matched action to word, launching himself forwards and landing to place his head cocked sideways as though to listen.

He rolled backwards and stood up. “But, come come, Massimo I know of old, but you must introduce your two friends. What can I do for you all?” he moved swiftly among them, plucking 4 brooches from a nearby pile seemingly without looking, and pinning one onto each of them. The broaches matched their colouring.

Massimo sighed. “Wellington, Bungo, to my shame I am acquainted with this untrustworthy reprobate. Harlequin’s only redeeming feature is that he has the memory of a goldfish when it comes to anything other than pretty women and his stock in trade.”

Harlequin appeared to stab himself with his staff, dying noisily, energetically and tragically on the floor.

Massimo: “Harlequin, gracing your shop are the questing spirits, Madame Kafana Sincero, Wellington Fiducia, and Bungo the Flash. Trust me when I say that they are not your run-of-the-mill customers.”

Wellington spoke up: “I would like to propose a trade. Do you by any chance have jewellery that enhances the level of the wearer’s crafting skills?”

Harlequin nodded several times, flicking his dropped cap up off the floor with one foot and catching it back in place upon his head with the final nod.

“Oh yes, but they are ruinously expensive.”

Wellington: “Rather than buy, I would like to borrow three such items for a night and a day, spirit time. In exchange I offer a potion of resurrection, a song you have never heard, and an invitation to a social event the like of which you will never have seen.”

Harlequin put his face right close to Wellington’s and said in an overly suspicious voice: “I get to be the judge of it?”

Wellington replied in an easy tone of voice, not budging an inch: “Columbina described Massimo as having remarkably good judgement. Let him decide if we meet the terms of the deal. If he decides against us, you may keep the item that we’ll leave with you as surety.”

With a bit of drama, Wellington turned to Kafana and proclaimed: “Kafana! Produce the stone, the stone that is the only known means in this whole world of magically redeeming those forsaken by Cov, The. Stone. Of. Truth.”

Bungo got into it: “No, not that. It is priceless. Irreplaceable. A holy artifact.”

Kafana held out an empty right hand for Harlequin to examine, prayed to Cov, and then clicked her fingers using her inventory box to retrieve the citrine diadem. It was blazing not just golden this time, but sending out a rotating dazzle of beams in all colours except white. The effect reflected in all the gems of the shop was stunning. Harlequin froze as she placed it into his reaching hand, and for once his nearly dropping it was real rather than just apparent.

Reverentially, he placed it on a shelf of its own. It kept shining.

“I accept this as surety, and guarantee on the name of Pantalone, the owner of this store, that it shall be returned to you safe and in good condition immediately upon the return of the items that I loan you. Let me pick them out for you now.”

Kafana halted him with a commanding tone. “Wait!”

“We must fulfil our side of the bargain first, that you may fairly judge what to loan us in return to balance the debt. Wellington, inscribe The Invite!” (she capitalised it in her own mind - Harlequin seemed to be the type to appreciate drama.)

She passed Bungo the golden potion of resurrection, to hold onto for a moment, and then said: “Here is a theme tune for you, Harlequin. Imagine wearing cat ears.” Harlequin immediately twisted his hat and used two brooch pins to deform it into passable cat ears.

{Guys, join in on the chorus, and focus your emotions on him having playful fun}

She pinned an image in her mind of a cat strutting around, chasing a laser pointer, and generally being cattish. The whimsy of it brought back a memory. Her mother had been a sweet woman, but Kafana had learned to spot the naughty twinkle that, on rare occasions, would sneak across Izeta's eyes just before launching into the sort of performance that filled every corner of a room full enough to leave her audience stunned and Kafana wondering if jaws could actually drop off entirely and clatter down to the floor. Her younger self had been very impressed and, proud of how big her voice had already grown, had eagerly awaited her next opportunity to perform so she could try doing the same thing.

She'd failed ignominiously.

But Izeta had just laughed kindly, and given her daughter a hug. She'd explained that even a voice as loud as a foghorn couldn't properly make jaws drop, unless the singer also knew a special secret trick, and then she'd gone on to describe her own first failure in such a rueful tone of voice that Kafana had soon forgotten her own disaster and started pleading to be taught.

Possibly her own eyes twinkled just a bit, as she slipped into full performance mode and started singing "Mr. Mistoffelees" with all the energy she could. The trick, she now knew, was in the filling. Volume, or even the sound itself, was just a side effect. What you had to fill the space with was your personality - you had to project it with such energy that people felt the space and everything in it rightly belonged to you, including their attention and imagination. What you gave, you got back - dare to put in everything you have without holding back and, in return, people couldn't take their eyes off you.

Wanting him to have a fun experience, rather than cast a spell upon him, she took no shortcuts and sang the full song. She tried being an attentive admiring audience for his antics, and he was soon swept into it, dancing and performing with the best she’d ever seen doing “Cats” on stage. Bungo and Wellington did their best to sway in time to the music, and stay in tune on the chorus.

At the denouement, Wellington and Bungo stepped forwards in unison, and presented Harlequin with The Invite and the Golden Potion. Massimo, wise to Harlequin’s tricks, quietly removed the brooches Harlequin had pinned onto them, replacing them on a shelf.

Kafana, now in a stern voice, imitating a school ma'am, said: “Well, Harlequin? Have we delivered, or do you need Massimo to adjudicate? Will you now give us fair trade for what you have received, as you pledged to do in your employer’s name?”

Massimo muttered to Harlequin: “I did warn you. She’s one of a kind. Give in gracefully, old chap, don’t try to cheat her on this. Safer to cut your own throat.”

Getting into her new role, Kafana turned a glare upon Massimo designed to peel paint. He obligingly flinched back, winking at her with the eye away from Harlequin.

Harlequin threw up his hands dramatically: “Fair measure, fair measure, my master beats me black and blue if I ever give someone fair measure. But you surely are not spoiled society damsels, so I will give you nearly fair measure, and Massimo, next time we meet you must let me cheat you outrageously to compensate for bringing such a dragon to my shop.”

He picked out 3 items, 2 buried deeply in piles, and one locked in a safe. “These will be the best three for your purposes. Two +3 rings and one +5 pendant. The +5 is unique and also has quite nice buffs to dexterity and vision. They don’t stack, so I hope that fits your plans.”

After they got out of the shop, Kafana spoke up: “Wellington, that was our only resurrection potion. They’re an incredibly rare critical success. Isabella was overjoyed to get just one to auction. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Wellington: “We’ll see. Let’s not spend too long looking at musical instruments. We want to have a good two hours to spend with Isabella crafting more potions.”