Deceitful Sunshine, <open>

[Sianna]

People bustled about carrying their wares to sell, making a melodic sound in the air of the small town. The day was bright, birds fluttering about the rafters of houses and laughter rife in the air. The sun shone brilliantly in the sky of light hue. All was good in the world. Well it was on first appearances.

It was here Sianna was found, wandering through the people, smiling as she moved. She took looks at what people were selling, but there was nothing of interest to her. The girl had however, purchased an apple, juicy and red, and was steadily making her way through it, savouring the sweet taste. Yes, the day was happy, and Sianna had no worries in the world. In fact she was quite content.

She soon reached the water's edge, looking out over the calm blue surface. Many people were milling around it's edge, children dashing about trying to catch fish. Many families appeared to be taking breaks from their chores and enjoying the unusual weather, not taking much notice of the dark cloud hanging over the distant mountains.

But it caught Sianna's eye. The cloud was far too dark to be normal. A few strikes of lightening could be seen flashing within it if one looked closely enough. But it appeared to be unmoving, just hanging over the peaks. So Sianna guessed there would be no trouble from it. But she stood there anyway, watching it curiously, wondering what it could be.

[Erberk Dankil]

The Dwarf was at the watering hole, trying to make his living selling weapons and some other wares that he could pawn off on people. Trinkets, armor, emblems, rings. Whatever they wanted, he made. His dogs sat around lazily in the sun, or playing in the water. Whatever. They were near Erberk while he was working. He had a man or two helping him work the counter, mainly so he wouldn't have to sit there all day and also so he can feed and take care of his dogs. Though this most often devolved to playing with them.

So Erberk was working when a small ruckus drew his attention and Odin and Steven went running off. Erberk sighed, called in his help to take over the counter and ran after his dogs. His short stubby legs and the fact that he wasn't in the best of shape, he ran after his dogs at a much slower pace. The ended up running circles around Sianna, using her as the post in which they used to shield from each other. They ran in circles around her, running closer to her then farther away. When Erberk caught up. He yelled at them. "Steven! Odin!" Steven instantly disappeared. "Damn blink dog, I'll deal with him later." He mumbled to himself. "Odin. Here." He said pointing to his foot and Odin was hiding behind Sianna, his playful attitude gone. His tail between his legs. Erberk didn't look happy at Odin. "Odin." He said slowly. "come here." Odin took this to mean it wuold just be worse ot hide and slowly slunk toward him. as soon as he was close enough Erberk swung his hand down and grabbed his collar before he could jump away. "BAD DOG." He growled at Odin and pulled out a piece of Rope from his pocket and tied it ot the collar so he now had a leash.

Erberk turned to look at Sianna. "I'm sorry miss. They just get overactive and run around. It's hard to run a store and keep them in check. I'll work harder next time. Sorry." He said his face changed from angry at the dog to sorry at Sianna.

[Sianna]

The Mercenary's attention on the distant cloud was distracted as blurs of movement could be seen and felt around her legs. She began laughing, in good humour due to the sunshine. And the dog's antics were rather...well they looked like playing children. A shout of names turned her head and she noticed a dwarf come running towards her. She assumed the names were those of the dogs. Still laughing when the dwarf arrived, she turned her head to look at the male. One of the dogs went running off, and the other hid behind her.

A look of sympathy formed on her face as Odin slunk away from her and was captured by his master. But as the dwarf began apologising, she waved his apologies away, fixing him with a smile.

"Oh don't worry about it! They were funny! Besides, they distracted me from darker matters."

As he spoke of running a store, she looked over to where the stalls were, trying to figure out which one it was he ran. But she couldn't make it out.

"What do you sell then? And how did you find the name Odin? Its rather unusual!"

[Erberk Dankil]

"You think that's wierd. The one that disappeared is named Steven." He said rolling his eyes and shaking his head. "But it's mainly because an older dog is cheaper than a puppy, and older dogs already have names, you can't just change it mid-way. they won't respond to you for a month or two. So I just kept the names." He said shrugging.

"But I sell weapons and other small metal trinkets. It's just down the way there. It's not very hard to miss, it's the only one with a bunch of dogs around it. I have 5 in all." He said smiling to her, looking up because he was much shorter than her.

[Sianna]

"Why do you have so many dogs?"

It seemed like a stupid question, especially as the reply would most likely be protection, but it just seemed polite to ask. It was hardly polite to just fall silent and ignore the dwarf. It was quite a new thing to her to actually look down on someone while she spoke. She normally spoke to those who towered above herself. So she did deem this a strange experience.

As he spoke of weapons, she looked over in interest, She adored her staff, but a dagger would come in handy. When a blunt object just couldn't quite cut it. With her ability to get herself into bad situations, it seemed sensible to have a blade to hand.

"I might just take a look!"

Her voice was sincere and she wasn't joking. She was still surprised at the fact the other dog had just disappeared. Dogs didn't generally do such things!

"And why do your dogs seem to have powers?"

[Erberk Dankil]

"Naw, that's only Steven." He said starting his walk back, looking back and up at Sianna to see if she'll follow. "He's a Blink dog" He said shaking his head. "I don't really undersatnd the magic of it all, but it's essentially a dog who can teleport around, but rather slowly. You know how wizards teleport they spend that split second not here an not there, but somewhere? That's where the blink dog goes when it... well blinks." He said using fingers to show parenthesis around the last word. "The others are just normal dogs." He said shrugging. "They are for company and protection. I am generally traveling alone since I'm not exactly a rich merchant and it does get lonely out there in the middle of nowhere. I lost my first dog to bandits, so I bought more dogs, thinking that a group could do well enough to survive. They really like me and tend to defend me if someone comes at me in a menacing manner." He explained to Sianna.

"This way to where I set up shop." He said as he made a turn and just a little walk farther there was a half tent set up, to block off the sun, and a table with weapons and some armor and stuff. Next to it were two dogs running in circles playing. As you got closer there was the fifth dog just laying there next to a seat. He lifted his head as Erberk walked around the counter. Erberk stopped and petted the dog-giving him a good scratching behind the ears. The black man that had been working the counter looked over at Erberk and the one dog returning. "You can go on break now Tim." He said to the man. Just then Steven appeared at Erberk's side. The man's eyes widened at the sight of the dog just apeparing. "Go on, you earned it." Erberk just smiled as the man walked out.

Erberk turned to look at Sianna. "So, what can I do for you?" He asked her, turning into shopkeep mode.

[Sianna]

Sianna looked to the dwarf with intrigue as he started explaining what kinda of dog Steven was. She'd never heard of a Blink dog before. But she could imagine such creatures would be sought after. No doubt cost a lot too. She wondered what kind of teleportation it was. For she'd experienced one type while she'd stayed with the Mercenary Band. It had no been the most pleasant of experiences. In fact it had pretty much been the most painful! She'd felt as though she'd been ripped limb from limb then reassembled haphazardly. It had been awful, though that had been preferable to the death she'd faced. A slight shudder rippled through her body as she remembered that day.

"Do you get much bother when you're travelling?" she asked with curiosity. She didn't think many people would attack a man with an arsenal of weapons, but she supposed it was possible.

As they approached the table of wares, Sianna's eyes instantly began looking over the various weapons gathered there. As Erberk spoke, she looked up and smiled.

"I suppose I'm just looking for a dagger. A staff isn't the best weapon for swift death..."

[Erberk Dankil]

"Not enough to be a common occurrence, but often enough to complain about." He said with a grin. "I myself am not much of a weapons user. I make and sell them, but all I know about a sword is that you swing it at people." He said and shrugged. "It's why I need the protection.

As she mentioned the dagger she wanted, he looked down at his wares. "Well, I've got many of different weights and materials. Are you looking for something light? Well with delicate hands like yours, of course you are." He said, knowing it won't be offensive. A woman fighter knows their limitations and their assets. Small, light, and quick. At least he hoped she wouldn't be offended. He already got her to his tent, would be sad to lose the sale now. His eyes popped open. "I've got a nice glass dagger. It's very lightweight and can cut through rope in a matter of moments." He said smiling at her.

[Sianna]

As he commented on what she would suit, she smiled.

"For someone who doesn't know how to use weapons, you've got good judgement of what a person needs."

She nodded as she continued to look at the weapons.

"Yes something light would be perfect."

Sianna kept up the friendly appearance, having taken no offense from the dwarf's comment. Occasionally her eyes drifted to the dogs playing about nearby and a small smile would form before she looked back to the weapons. As he spoke of a glass dagger, she looked up to fix the dwarf in a stare.

"But surely a glass dagger would be highly impractical and prone to breaking?"

[Erberk Dankil]

"I'm a merchant. If I couldn't tell what a person wants by looking at them, I wouldn't be able to sweet talk them into buying it from me." He said with a knowing smile.

"Ah," He said, his smile growing, he already knew she was going to ask "That is the beauty of it. I picked up how to make it in my travels and after a little experimenting of my own, i have come up with a nice dagger that is hard to break, as light as air and twice as sharp as any steel. You can taper glass down so thin and sharp it can cut through almost anything as bread would cut through butter." He said smiling. "But, there are some downsides to it. You generally don't want to use it to defend yourself, It won't break if you drop it on the ground or cut people, but you use it to block and well, somtimes it holds... somtimes it doesn't. But this can be good for you, if you have enough money that is. I've seen people cover these things in poison, and heard that when they do their assasinations, they bend the handle after it goes in, and it snaps off, leaving a large peice of poisoned glass inside the man's skin. Very useful." He said smiling. She mentioned killing when she first got here. He wasn't sure if she was an assasin or used those tricks, but it's a good idea if you want someone dead.

[Sianna]

"Well I suppose that's fair enough." she said in reply to him knowing what people wanted. It did make sense. She listened with interest as he spoke of the dagger, wondering how glass could be so strong. It did indeed seem very appealing. To have something so sharp would be good indeed. Though when he spoke of a price, her eyebrow raised.

"And just how much are you selling it for?"

A small weaved onto lips as he spoke of what assassins used it for. She would use it for the same type of work, but if it was as useful as he said it was, she wouldn't be purposefully breaking it. Especially if it was expensive. Jobs were hard to come by nowadays and money did not flow in so steadily.

"Ah I know nothing of poisons and would not willingly break a weapon so easily." she replied with a laugh, fixing him with a soft gaze as she awaited the price.

[Erberk Dankil]

He smiles at her when she asked for price. "Well, wouldn't you like to hold it first? I trust ye enough not to run. Unlike some other vagabonds would." He said and held it out, hilt first. "Now as for price. I'm thinking somewhere in the 500 to 1,000 gold range. Since it's not really enchanted nor has any poison on it. It just takes a long time to make such a weapon and glass isn't exactly the easiest item to turn into a hard to break weapon.

"Well that's good. I might not sell it otherwise. I made that one myself and I put the sweat of my brow into it. Took many hours, almost a whole days, work to make it at the right sharpness and hardness." He said to her nodding.