Tales of an adventurer: Phyllo's Vagrancy III : The city that never sleeps

"..r!"

"...sir!"

An annoying noise and a tremendous pain made it impossible for me to understand what was happening..
I tried to remember what happened, the cart, the gobbue... oh yeah the accident!
I raised my torso quickly while an old lalafell was looking at me with a worried face.



"Are you alright sir?"

Me-..Er.. Yeah.. No problem... It's just the heat...i guess...

I looked around, people were all in shock, well no wonder after what happened..

Me- The.. The monster, is it dead?

"Pardon? What monster are you talking about?"

I hopped up on my feet, looked for the gobbue, no sign of it... did it had already vanished? Probably.
I searched quickly for the others, the playboy, the glass guy... the trio... the songstress... none, all gone.

"You don't seem that well, maybe you should go to Momodi, at the Quicksands, her inn is sort of an head-quarter for adventurers like you"

Guess I passed out for quite a long time, I looked around one last time before I thanked the old man and made my way to the inn.

~~~~

Even from outside the inn i could smell the "delicate" fragrance of drunken fighters soaked in sweat, all looking for a fight... great...
I took a deep breath, got a hold of my courage and pushed the doors, what I saw is exactly what i expected; drunken dudes, dancing miqo'tes, people fighting over some leve rewards... your typical adventurer's guild.

"Oooh a new face. Are you an adventurer?"

A lady lalafell popped out of nowhere, talking to me with a smile on her face.

Me-Mhm.

She continued a soon as I nodded.

"Welcome to the Quicksands! We dont just serve drinks and food here, we also host a lot of adventurer like you."

Still with a smile on her face, she keeps going, she probably is the Momodi the old man spoke of.

Momodi-Probably planning to roam around the lands aren't you? If so you'd best get your stuff ready, you'd quickly be tanned by a few monsters if you don't.

Me-Huuuuuuh... Sure, i guess all advice is good to take.

Momodi-Thats the spirit! This is Ul'dah, the safest city in all Eorzea.
Wealth, honor, glory... all is granted to those who work for it here.

She'd probably keep going on if I remain silent, so i talked about the incident.

Me-Wasn't there an huge commotion when the monster broke free during the fete?.

Her eyes widened in shock.

Momodi-What? A monster broke free? the very first day of your arrival?.... Oh you mean the one that escaped during the parade back then...

Once again i felt this annoying dizzyness, as if I was going to collapse once again, it was less stronger than the one before the parade but it was still enough to make me step back.

"Indeed, beautiful flower of the sands, imagine the panic that monster created. Who knows what would had happened if I hadn't intervened."

And here comes the playboy, so he's still doing great and still flirting so casually.

Momodi-A-And you are..?

The playboy kneeled in front of her and gave her a pink lilys

"Thancred at your service. Bard of my state, I roam the lands to preach love.

She took the flower as she was blushing with the other hand on her cheek to hide her red face.

Momodi-For me? ... Such a valuable present is....

Thancred-Something you deserve! Just like you, these flowers ought to be admired and loved.

She raised her head, still blushing.

Momodi-You certainly know how to talk to a lady, will you be staying in town?

Thancred-To be honest, I thought that this land's soil would be to rich for the empire to miss it and so i did not had the intend to stay for long.
However now that you crossed the path of my eyes, the danger is nothing to me.

Momodi-You are mistaken if you think that the war will harm Ul'dah, it's quite the opposite, it would be an excellent occasion for it's people to prosper.

The playboy's look suddenly became less calm and his tone deeper.

Thancred-So there already talks about war?

Momodi-Indeed, I have trustful sources.
Like this accident, at the parade, they say that the empire might be behind it.

Thancred-I see.
quite intriguing, I shall then stay in town.
Until i wrote the most exquisite loves song for you, dear flower of the desert!

He then left, as we watched him walk away, i felt this troubling dizziness once more.

Momodi-So, what were we talking about?
Ah yes, adventure.
well, lets skip the part about the adventurers's duty to the city, after all, what you're interested in is making some money right?
We have a saying here; wealth does not come during one's sleep.
For starters, I recommend you to get some skills, whatever are your passions and interests, if you have enough skills, one of this city's or another's guilds will come to you, also, since the surroundings of the city are not especially known for being fertile, you can make some decent amount by selling products from other cities.

Her eyes widened for some reason and so did her smile.

Momodi-My, my, you seem to already possess some interesting item!
It might be the chance to make a good deal, let me take a look.

And so i gave her a flower i had picked up earlier, she looked at it with some interest.

Momodi-Oh, such a pretty Velodyna cosmos! ...and what a rare color it has!
You must either be lucky or have quite a keen nose to get your hands on such a thing.
both are needed to become a true adventurer, something tells me that it will benefits me to help you.

She smiled once more and gave me the flower.

Momodi-That said, here is my linkpearl, no need to call me just for some small talk of course, unless its for love stories he he he.

She walked away, still laughing, i too was laughing but it was probably not the same kind of laugh...

----------------


"You wish to sell something?
Very well, show it to me."

I took the flower out of my bag and showed it to the lady that was running the shop, she looked surprised as she saw it.
As i was about to hand it over the dizziness came back and someone else spoke up to me.

"You wish to sell this flower?"

A young man with silver hair and glasses slowly appeared, as the dizziness was wearing off, it took me sometime to recognize him, that Niel dude.
The lady seemed pleased to see him.

"Ah, master Niellefresne, you are back."

Niellefresne huh, that "Lhaminn" girl was calling him Niel, i guess they are somewhat close.
He nodded to her, as if he was telling her that he will take care of my case.

Niellefresne-Welcome to Eshtaime's Lapydary.
I myself am a jeweler and if you allow me to, i'd be glad to examine your belonging.
Judging by your attire, i can guess that you are an adventurer, it is the first time you come here right?

Me-Not exactly, but it's been years since i've been in Ul'dah.

Niellefresne-I see.
Either way, the first assessment is free of charges.

His eyes slowly became darker as he took the flower.

Niel-Why in the world is it not whitered? .... hmm... I'm really sorry but we do not take such things anymore.
However i do not want you to be empty handed, here take these few gils as an apology.

He took his own wallet and took out some gils and gave em to me, he then continued his speech.

Niel-These flowers rarity make them a luxury here but our shop is already trading with the forest city of Gridania.
Of course all of this will be pointless if a war breaks out...

He gave me the flower before walking away with a worried look on his face... leaving me in the dark with his weird behavior.
"Why in the world is it not whitered?"
His words were still ringing in my head, why did he reacted so strangely?
The pain started once more, i use the counter to stand still, then i noticed that the lady from a few minutes ago was back.

"Are you okay?"

Me-Yeah, no problem, I just haven't quite recovered from a fight i had earlier

"I see, the life of an adventurer must be tiring."

She had that bitter sweet smile on her face that people have when they think "good thing that's not my line of work", well, not like i can blame her, I chose it.

"So, about your flower, these are getting quite rare because of the fact that the fights with the beast tribes are happening more and more frequently.
That is why the people of Ul'dah is quite fond of products that are shaped like flowers.
We make jewel of all prices and for all kind of people, so don't hesitate to make request whenever you want!"

This time was the bright smile that shows that she really like her job, I wonder if i'd have the same kind of smile if I had a more decent work....