Roan shifted their (Quite heavy) backpack of belongings as they approached the city walls. The great capitol of Zerkos was right in front of them, the only hope to ending the war behind the heavy steel gates. Roan took a deep breath as they spoke briefly with the guards, paid the entrance fee, and waltzed into the crowded streets. Thus began their hunt, as they eyed the colorful crowds for just the right individuals
While Zerkos was among the most patrolled cities in the region, it simultaneously suffered from the most crime. How ironic. The alleyways through the capitol were cutting, dark, and narrow, which meant it was the best way to hide from capitol guards and easy to escape them, should a chase actually begin amidst the crowded streets.
As a soldier, Farah had learned the safe routes of the guard patrols. Where in Zerkos they were allowed to step foot and also where they weren't, despite being soldiers of the national military. But that life was behind her. Now, she had not only knowledge of the patrol routes, their numbers, and their times, but she also knew the paths of darker and swift passages through the alleys that could be either be shortcuts or a maze of dead ends – depending on what your goal was.
Farah was a one-woman, entirely underground operation now. It had taken a while, but she'd built up quite a reputation while keeping her name away from anywhere the royals or their guards might see it. And that reputation was coming in handy now as she cornered a dirty-looking teenager in one of the alley-maze's dead ends.
"D-Don't hurt me," the boy begged, curling his body around the gold pieces he'd stolen from a merchant just inside the city walls.
"I'm not going to," Farah replied, drawing her hood off her head to reveal her elegant and intricate updo before she knelt down to the boy's level. He must've been between twelve and fifteen. "I just want to talk."
His eyes refused to meet hers. "You… You can't have this gold. It's mine."
Farah's eyes darted to the pouch the boy had concealed in his grip. There. "That merchant you nabbed it from may say otherwise," she replied as her eyes went back to his face. "I'm not going to hurt you," she promised again. "But stealing isn't right. I might have a better option." Slowly, she held out her palm face up with her fingers curled around it. The boy didn't want to show his interest, but he couldn't help it. His eyes met Farah's, then looked to her hand.
With a smile, Farah revealed the contents of her hand, and the boy's eyes widened. "A royal piece!" he cried quietly at the sight of the much larger coin swirled with both gold and silver and stamped with the signet of the Aumorians. "Where–?"
"I don't answer questions, I ask them," Farah interrupted. "Now, do we have a deal?" The boy nodded eagerly. "Good," she said, extending her hand to him. He reached out and took the piece while giving the bag of gold back to Farah. "Now, you have to promise me that you don't tell anyone where you got that, alright? Put it in your pocket. Say you worked hard for it."
The boy nodded, but then wrinkled his nose. "But I don't have a job."
Farah rose to her full height and pulled her hood back up. "Would you be willing to change that?"
A few moments and a decent amount of smooth-talking later, Farah had returned the gold to the merchant – Julian Oling – and got the boy a job with him. The boy looked so happy, and Farah had good relations with Julian to begin with, so it hadn't been too difficult. With her work done, she took to the streets again with her eyes alert.
(I'm sorry this is so long, but I got inspired and then hyperfocused…)
In Harper's not-so-subtle opinion, the woman was the most interesting thing in this godsforsaken city since plumbing had been invented and people stopped having to shit off the walls into the streets. He was sitting on the wall of a building, high up in the air, where not many people would notice him or care. He has been watching the things happening, and one woman, someone who walked like a general with an attitude problem, had caught his attention. He couldn't see her face.
Was he supposed to be there? Absolutely not. He was supposed to be doing his princely duties somewhere with the officials of this city, and to be honest, he could care less. It wasn't like they cared enough about the country to actually help with anything, so why should he be respectful?
So here Prince Harper was now.
He watched as the woman made her way down an alley. She passed out of sight for a minute, making him crane his head slightly to see what she was doing. She had cornered a young boy at the end of the alley, and she was talking to him. The boy was cringing back, until something in her hand made him perk up.
Harper focused on his hearing, long enough to hear, "A royal piece! Where–" before he lost interest.
He turned his gaze away from the woman and continued to watch, ignoring the sound of the soldiers calling in the distance, most likely looking for him, trying to find where he had hidden this time. He just leaned back on his arms, legs dangling over the edge of the roof, and continued to scan the streets, watching with idle amusement as a man, pretending to be drunk, ran into a street vendor and stole some coins without the other man noticing.
Smart, he thought, gaze turning elsewhere.
August crouched on top of somebody's roof. He was watching people, contemplating running up to someone and having a vison for them. He was looking for literally anything to do, and just as he was picking out a person to jump down in front of, He saw a man, who was obviously not from here, who was dressed in some very fine clothes. And, August figured, if he had such fine clothes, he must have a pretty penny to spare. August jumped down from the roof and landed in front of the man. "Oh!" said the man, accidentally dropping his bag.
"I am so sorry." August apologised as he bent down to help pick up the items that had fallen out, slipping the man's purse into his sleeve as he set the last thing back into the bag. "Here, I-I am so sorry for doing that. I should really start watching were I fall." The man clearly didn't believe him, and walked off in a huff, muttered something about passing a law that children should be kept of a leash. August grinned, and spinning on his heals, turned and walked in the other direction, almost bumping into someone on the way.
After Julian and the boy had settled down, Farah turned and disappeared easily back into the streets. Among the crowd of capitol residents, it was easy to blend in. She just made sure to keep her hood up and her head down. By deserting the royal military, she hadn't exactly earned the favor of the crown, so as a troupe of guards passed by, she quickly turned away and red-headed boy with an eager grin still on his face. Her hood slipped for a moment to reveal a bit of her elegant updo, and she quickly yanked it back in place. "Watch where you're going," she demanded.